The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-08-18

motions in transverse directions acquired
a virtual velocity along another line or
direction CE, and we have supposed the
motion along CD to be stopped the instant
the car NJ reaches E, and we have stated
| the fact that when the motion along CD
stops, then the motion along CE stops,
and instead of continuing along Ell the
only motion left is along Egg.
| And we have asked the question, What
becomes of the acquired velocity along
| Ell?
The answer to the question is that
although the virtual velocity be along CE,
the cause of that velocity is not along CE,
but along CT and CD, and consequently
when the cause stops the effect must stop,
unless another cause has been superin-
duced.
Let us now suppose the car M to have
| inertia, and let its mass and its inertia
each equal NJ, and V be its velocity; we
know that its momentum will equal NV
along CT and NV along CD and that the
resultant momentum along CE would be
equal 1.414 NV.
| Now to produce momentum it is neces-
sary to employ force; in the previous IL
| lustration where the car was imaginary
| the motion was spiritual and did not require
| force. The difference between the two
cases is due to the inertia of matter; every
thing else is the same but the introduction
of inertia makes the difference between
momentum and pure velocity.
Now, what is inertia? We might de-
| fine it as q passive resistance. In physics
we say that the inertia of piece of dead
matter is proportioned to the mass of the
piece and that the mass is equal to the
volume and density multiplied together.
| Inertia and matter are so correlated that 1T
| is supposed that to know the cause Of the
one we would first require to know the
| cause of the other, and science must
| acknowledge her inability even to imagine
what is the proximate cause of either.
| We know this however, that matter is a
substance, while inertia is a condition.
The first law of motion is the law OF
inertia. ga body at rest remains at rest,
and body in motion remains in uniform
motion unless they be acted on by a
| force"
| Our experience has taught us to regard
this simple law as an axiom, but no one
can give reason why matter once set in
motion would always continue to have
| that motion. Now, it is that persistence to
| continue at rest or in motion which con-
stitutes the inertia of the body.
Many scientific battles have been fought
over the word inertia as well as force, and
when any new theory crops up in dyna-
mics, we always suppose it is the old fal-
lacy in a new dress, hence the apathy
shown by scientists to my new Theory of
the Potential"
In the pamphlet I have shown that a
body in motion has kinetic stability, and
have proven that fact by numerous expert
ments to my own satisfaction, and | have
challenged, first Berkeley and Stanford.
and now all the scientific institutions in
the world, to prove that my Interpretation
of those experiments is wrong.
| have also shown by experiment that
body which has kinetic stability is elas-
tic in its motion, and that its elasticity CT
motion produces the potential of
gravity" And that what we call weight
or the force of gravity in body is due to
! the kinetic stability of body in motion.
| | have hitherto only made the fact, and
the experiments on which the fact is based,
public, and have dared both of the great
universities in this State to repeat those
experiments in vacuum and prove that
am mistaken; but / am also prepared
with the mathematical proof of the facts
as we'll, and have recently placed that in
the hands of two eminent professors.
| As the fact that motion is elastic and
that the potential of gravity depends on
| that fact instead of the mutual attraction
of matter, is a truth of no ordinary i'm
portance to science, l had hoped that a
young, mbitious university like that of
Stanford would gladly have taken up this
matter and covered itself with glory and
renown; but l suppose owing to DIR. Jor-
dan being such a great evolutionist, he
believes in the grub going through all it's
natural conditions before it presumes to
take wings and fly.
However, as this great truth cannot wait
until nature has raised Stanford to con-
dition where the evolutionary process will
give it knowledge and wisdom, we must
appeal to other institutions who are not so
dead gone on evolution as to be afraid to
Ynfn RI q
process.
Now let US return to our car M and sup
pose it has a momentum along CE equal
to 1.414 NV, and let US equate the momen-
tum NV along CD, with an equal, but
opposite momentum, and again we have
the car moving along EG with the momen-
tum NV.
In this case as in that of virtual velocity
it will be noticed that although the result
tant velocity and the resultant momentum
are along CE, yet the cause of that velocity
and the cause of that momentum are not
acting along CE. but along CT and CD.
Now suppose we knew nothing of the
component causes along CT and CD, but
happening to stand at we saw the car NJ
moving along CE, without any visible
pushee or pullee, would we be correct in
saying that the cause of the motion was
along CE?
Or if by chance we saw smoke from the
chimney of power-house at E, would we
be correct in saying that an engine at E
was producing the motion of M along CE?
acknowledge that as a matter of specu-
lation all these would appear to be prob
| able causes. Now that is just the position
the Newtonian theory of attraction as the
cause of gravitation holds in natural phil
osophy; as a speculative cause it looks
very probable, but when we come to know
the true and actual causes, it becomes
nothing but an error. false theory, a sci
entifc lie, which by virtue of great
name has become established as an ortho-
dox doctrine in the system OF natural
philosophy.
The reason why Sir Isaac Newton as
cribed the cause of gravitation to statical
force was evidently due to his limited
knowledge of the laws of energy. He
thought, as every philosopher at that time
thought, that work or energy was dissi-
pated and lost by friction; but the expert
ments of Rumford, Davy and Joule have
shown that friction transforms mechanical
energy into other forms, which can be col