William Bower Taylor

“ The only additional hypothesis that will now be made is that there are undulations of the aether for which the values of λ are very much inferior in magnitude to those of the undulations which produce the phenomena of light. The origin of this class of undulations may, as well as that of all others, be ascribed to disturbances of the aether by the vibrations and motions of atoms. Although the periods of the aetherial vibrations may, under particular circumstances, be determined by the periods of the vibrations of the atoms, this is not necessarily the case. ”

“ With the multitudinous duties imposed upon the much-suffering aether, in all the varying ranges and orders of undulations derived from atoms and from molecules with ever-changing motions, amid all the perturbations and transformations of the mechanical energy of matter, [254] there is one resultant alone which never by any accident incurs a composition or experiences a commutation, the constant and unchangeable undulation of gravitation. ”

“ But if force be a virtue resident in the particle, it must at its origin be either attractive or repulsive, and it seems impossible to conceive how by emanation to a distance it can change its quality. This difficulty, as will be shown, is not encountered in a theory of molecular forces which deduces their laws from the dynamical action of an elastic medium. ”

“ But when we [251] seek the cause of this pressure, it forever eludes us. Here then the system stands self-convicted of impotence to exercise its prime prerogative. At whatever point in the infinite series of descending orders of aether we stop, the secret of its power is ever one step backward. We must still "conceive of the existence of another order of aether having the same relation to it" that it had to the preceding. And that no possible, element of embarrassment may be wanting to our conception, the first tether is absolutely "continuous," without atoms and without interstices ! ”

“ Mathematical Theory of Attractive Forces," based on the assumption " that all substances consist of minute spherical atoms of different but constant magnitudes, and of the same intrinsic inertia; and that the dynamical relations and movements of different substances, and of their constituent atoms, are determined by the pressures of the aether against the surfaces of the atoms, together with the reaction of the atoms against such pressure by reason of the constancy of their form and magnitudes. ”

“ How the school-boy's personal experience of the strain exerted in drawing by a cord his winter's sled can be resolved into a sensation of "pressure" does not seem easy of discovery.
Assuming then an order of aetherial waves having a much larger range than those of light. Professor Challis endeavors to deduce the several laws, of action proportional to the number of atoms acted upon, of the inverse square of the distance of action, and of simultaneous action in different directions. ”

“ We have ocular evidence that stars transmit light-undulations, and it is quite possible that they originate others not sensible to the sight." [5] As our sun is one of the stellar fraternity, surely this device of mutual borrowing is an extraordinary method of production.
" That action at a distance is not a universal condition of force is proved by the modern discovery that light and heat, which are modes of force, are transmitted through space by the intervention of a medium. If one kind of force requires a medium of transmission, why not another ? ”

“ In the same matter it must continue to be always the same." [6]
"All physical force being pressure, there must be a medium by which the pressure is executed." And the origin of this pressure is therefore, the origin of "all physical force." The fundamental postulate of this medium is that it is a uniformly continuous elastic fluid, exerting a pressure always proportional to its density. As it is contrary to principle to ascribe elasticity to atomic matter, the question might arise, why is it more proper to ascribe this occult property to the aether ? ”

“ He thinks that this alone will explain why the sidereal system does not collapse toward its common center of gravity. "According to the theory of gravity I have proposed, although the ordinary law may be exact through the solar system and far beyond, there must be distances at which the condition that the excursions of the vibrating particles of the aether are large compared to the dimensions of the atoms ceases to be fulfilled. In that case the attraction changes to repulsion." ”

“ However small may be the condensation propagated from a single atom, the resulting condensation from an aggregation of atoms contained in a spherical space will be of sensible magnitude at distances from the center of the space very large compared to its radius, provided the space be not less than a certain finite magnitude, and the atoms contained in it be not fewer than a certain finite number. ”

“ And in dealing with a residual effect of vibration, " which in fact is the attraction of gravity, and determining that the accelerative force is independent of the size of the atom or molecule, he says : " This result expresses the force of gravity as due to the attractive action of a molecule of a higher order as to magnitude than the molecule of molecular attraction. For distinction, a molecule of this superior order might be called a gravity-molecule. ”