The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1914-05-28

{, insulation of the wire, the clothing and
bodies Of men and animals, as in case
| of the emission of the X-ray apparatus.
The particles of metal carried away,
| as the current revolves round the wire,
have mass, and when expelled and
driven away into space with the We
locity of light there is an equal re-
action Of "kick back" and often times
, the kick back" is so strong as to
twist up the wire. Electricians do not
seem to have understood either the
twisting Of wire by an escaping cur
rent, or why it Is so destructive to
life, and SO powerful mechanically.
After a careful examination of the
problem Professor See claims that it
is all because of the small amount of
solid matter carried in the current,
with the enormous velocity of light
the enorgy being as the square of the
velocity, and thus enormous even for
very small masses.
In dealing comprehensively with the
discovered that light is not really due
to waves in, the so-called Aether, but Is
| really caused by electrically charged
particles shaped like eggs, revolving
about the shorter axis, and giving by
| their revolution an impression of wave
motion which deceived many eminent
| philosophers of the past century. Thus
by penetrating into the nature of light
Professor See was able to restore New
| tons theory largely, at the same time
retaining the advantages of the Aether
wave theory, without its manifest and
admitted disadvantages, and fantastic
and violent assumptions. BY this dar-
| ing and skilful innovation he puts the
whole theory of light on new basis,
and in line with modern knowledge of
electricity.
The particles of light are similar to
the particles carried awey in electric
| currents, but much smaller in size;
and the whole theory of Aether is
abandoned as having no real existence.
| This elimination of the luminiferous
Aether represents milestone in mod
ern progress, and is sure to awaken
lively discussions in the scientific cir
| cles of Europe and America. In April,
1911, quite a discussion was carried
on at the annual meeting of the Ameri-
can Philosophical society in Philadel-
phia, and it was then agreed, by nu-
merous physicists in attendance, that
the doctrine of the Aether was essen
TALLY wrong, but no one was able to
| substitute a better explanation.
Coming to popular exposition of
the cause of gravitation, Professor
See said it was really only an appar-
ent attraction between bodies, due to
repulsion from them in all directions
Of minute particles moving at the
| speed Of 1860 miles a second, and
thus driving them together. Owing to
the fact that each body acts as a
screen to the other, more OF these rap
idly moving particles come from with
out than from the direction OF the
other body, and thus the bodies are
forced together, and the planets re-
| tanned in their orbits round the sun.
1t had been recognized by philoso-
pliers, he said, that if such rapidly
moving particles could be shown to
exist, they would explain gravitation;
but it was only when he got rid of
the hypothetical Aether, and proved
that light is due to electrically charged
corpuscles of solid matter in line with
other modern electrical discoveries,
that true mechanical basis for gravi-
tation had been discovered and this
force shown to be transmitted with
the velocity of light.
The repulsion of minute particles
from the earth and sun force them to-
gether. by reaction, just as would hap
pen if two parallel moving battleships
! each had six guns directed outwardly,