The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1908-03-26
THE ETHER OF SPACE.
English Scientist Gives Some Inter-
estin9 Illustrations in Lecture.

An interesting lecture on The
Ether Of Space" was delivered at
the Royal Institution recently. by
Sir Oliver Lodge, principal of
Birmingham College, England.
Thirty years ago, he said, Max
well made an address on action at
the same place, and he proceeded
to demonstrate that action at
distance was impossible. Unless
there was a medium, transferrence
could not occur, he said. \ body
moved when pushed from behind.
The explanation of cohesion in
vOlved a continuous medium con
Meeting the discrete PARTICLES. His
illustration was that a steel spring
could be bent, but it was not the
atoms Of matter but the ether
which was strained; matter could
only be moved, displaced, rear
ranged, though not strained. Sir
Oliver said the atoms of metal
were like the comets and planets
OF the solar system. If all the
visible stars of Kelvin 5 estimate,
reCkOned equivalent to a thousand
million suns, were concentrated in
one body, the stress might be so
great as to produce ethereal disrup-
ton OF the universe ints an enor-
nous nebula. Sir Oliver did not
think that had happened, though
1t possibly might have been the
way the matter of the universe had
been so scattered.
The density of the ether was i'm
mensely greater than that of any
known substance, he continued.
Compared to the ether all sub
stances were mere gossamer,
though q cobweb was neither
unreal nor unimportant. An cleo.
iron, he said, might be regarded
as knot in the ether: a knot in a
string was composed of string, but
the string was not composed of
knots. Then he said there was an
essential distinction; matter NOV
ed, the ether was strained, exert
ed stress and recoiled. All poten-
tial energy was in the ether, which
could vibrate and rotate, but was
absolutely stationary, so to speak.
Its conhguration could be altered,
but everything else was indirect.
Sir Oliver then proceeded to
answer the question how it was
possible to make a solid out of a
liquid. a solid could be initiated
by fluid in motion. 4 disk set
with wooden spokes was transpar-
ent when stationary, and rubber
balls could be thrown between the
spokes. When the wheel was
spun around its axle, it became
opaque, and the balls thrown at it
recolled back. a jet of water fall
ing from a great height on a Pei
ton wheel could not be cut with
a sword, the sword would break.
\ disk Of paper when rapidly
rotated would cut through a piece
Of cardboard.
The lecturer showed vortex
rings in striking fashion. Cubeb
was burned in cubiCal box, the
back of which was made OF canvas.
The smoke issued from hole in
the front of the box when Sir Oil
yer tapped the canvas. \ round
hole gave round stable rings,
which kept their shape as regards
the vertical plane. When the
hole was made elliptical, the rings
were elleptical and they twisted
about as if made of rubber, demon
strating their theoretical insta-
bility. Some day, he said, elasti-
city would be explained as the
action Of either in motion. His
deductions were that the intrinsic
energy of cubic millimetre of
space was equivalent to the mass
OF one thousand tons moving with
the velocity oflight, all the motion
supposed to be internal and cir
culatory.
All the News t ETs+ ny,