William Bower Taylor

“ And considering the question whether ponderable matter is really the medium which vibrates and transmits light in transparent crystals, he decides: "There can no longer exist a doubt on this question ; for it clearly results from our analysis that ponderable matter alone is incapable of producing progressive waves which will explain the optical phenomena of birefractive bodies, or which could have led to the discovery of most of these phenomena. Luminous waves then are produced and propagated in transparent bodies by the vibrations of an imponderable fluid, which is no other than the aether." ”

“ It is scarcely to be doubted that in this intervention, sagaciously investigated, will be found the secret or the true cause of the effects which are attributed to heat, to electricity, to magnetism, to universal attraction, to cohesion, to chemical affinities ; for all these mysterious and incomprehensible agencies are at bottom but co-ordinating hypotheses, — useful without doubt to our existing ignorance, but which the progress of true science will complete by dethroning. ”

“ Lame concludes his Lessons with some reflections on the internal constitution of solid bodies, "It seems highly probable that the progress of general physics will conduct one day to a principle analogous to that of universal attraction, of which this itself shall prove only a corollary, and which may serve as the basis of a rational theory comprehending both mechanics — the celestial and the terrestrial. ”