Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1901-07-25
THE SUMMER SCHOOL.
Interesting Lecture by Prof. Dolbear
on "The Luminiferous Ether"

The event Of the day at Queen City
Park Friday was the lecture by Prof.
Doibear of Tufts college on THE Lumin-
ferrous Ether The professor was intro
duced by Rev. J. j. Lewis as the discover
err of the Roetgen Rays and inventor of
the telephone.
The speaker said that the subject of the
lecture was one far outside our experience.
1t is In the realm of pure science, and man
lived on earth thousands of years before
he became Interested in science. Little
by little, however, knowledge of the Sc
crets of science fas become dlffused. We
know the magnitude of the earth the
moon, the sun; we have some knowledge
of the immcnsities of space. On the other
hand we have gained through the micro
scope the knowledge of things infinitely
small. Thus the atom has been discov-
cred though ii Is but fifty milionths of
an inch In diameter. Knowing the size of
an atoia we can compute the number Of
atoms in cubic inch, a foot in the earth,
the solar system, the universe. Any num-
Der will be a definite number, which
means that we nave a definite knowledge
of things so vast. The number Of atoms
in the visible universe is represented by
the figure with 81 ciphcrs after it. Does
this help MS in any practical way? NO
But these are things that 1t is interesting
to know.
Sir Isaac Newton. while studying the
question of Gravitation. first stated the
''i''l ,"'t 'ii'ic nus N'' " ,i' w., :,
, ni,,.e W i'.','io ~ ""is ,t,oa athar
Not gravitation only. but light also gave
a clue to the existence and nature OF
ether. Light travels $4,000 miles per sec
IN ~, :. ''''.i , ~-,,,,,,a 4, T.,
, mao" i,,v =" w ~ "i' ,pn,.a,i,, ~, sost
1o'' l.,l"',l9 ~ ,,a S,,r .o,,. g.,
r,ot1 ,,,t' ma nnaro.t axnd star
. ,'' i ,l"9 l''',. - rn,o &C. f,u- ana
W .,i,iS az .n' 1i'''. ii, SO r,,.th-
, ,iu, , g. too non ,.oore dist.rt
,r,,..'iiir ,ee oon ,,i,os ncr snrond
,rt,,,t ,,t ai-,or,r l,gh, oo,,.o nc
,,..,,..s /, ro,iL not nnes u,thout a mo-
ill.,, - N'"'' '''' i''
rh, ,ro,ort,, of otbor is sucb that with
90. 4. tLl ,,id 10 30 I,,bt It,b+
,,.,,.ats h,. ,,,o,ns Of otbor If at auy
$780,, IL .,,.,,a ,th.r 1id not o1ist ught
n,'',,1 no, ,rass tb,t niaco but wo,,,d he
81 ,harafrn,r Sncb 1urninous snota
do not o,iist l,,,rtho,, We can CAV, mat
thar T.; a,.t,,,a,e Ia tho eerc. tbat
II bne No intnrsnacrs in itself In this
IL L. uu1il,n MATTER Nnonifv matter and
,,o,, disr,,.o, lie constituent otnms. MAJ
nifv ether and no atoms appears-i, re-
mains always homogeneous
Again ether Is fricttonless We're II NOT
Gu tbe north's snoed would I've retarded a !
II uassos throuah # Ether Is NOT subject
ia rho action Of rravitaiion. II il were we
vould find =, d.n.er near tho large 1nas.-
cs Of matter such "a planets and stars.
No nav ,onrludo tbor mar ,tbor is not
,nattor at ain II, any nronar sense of tive
word Is,ortrir and magnetic phcnomoua
cnn ho account. "a for host nv INC hvnothe-
ois If otbor
rho rolotinn Of ethcr to tho con.truc-
tion of matter may he illustrated bv A
ring of smoke the vortex ring marine
this ri,p rroving smaller tiu il becomes
as small as tho .to, Irn.ino II made n /.
eth,r instead of smoke or s,cam. and Won
bnvo M idoo of NO oo,,,tr,,,.tio, of INC