The evening herald. (Klamath Falls, Or.) 1906-1942, 1919-11-18
NEW LAW Of
ATMOSPHERIC
DENSITY FOUND

| SAN FRANCISCO, Cal, Nov, is
Although II has been believed Tor
moro than two centuries that ether
IN OF uniform density throughout
space its density, as u matter OF Tact
increases outwardly from nll the
heavenly bodies directly ns tho
radius. Professor T. ] ], See. the
government astronomer at Mare
Island. near here, assorted In an ad-
dress to the California academy OF
Sciences here tonight,
In announcing the discovery of "a
! Fundamental law of tho density OF
! ether In the celestial spaces and the
cause OF molecular forces" Prof
| essor Soc said the homogcnaty OF
ether had been taught by such en-
inent philosophers as Lord Kelvin,
| Maxwell. poincarc, Lodge. and Lar
NOR, while Sir Isaac Newton In
l72i had believed It to be hcter-
/ ocenoous. with density increasing
| uutwardly from all bodies,
|
Newton. however. was unable 10
discover the law OF tho density or
to adduce proc OF his opinion,
whereas Professor See said tonight
that proof of his discovery had been
! examined by leading AmerlcHn
mathematicians and pronounced
I incontrovertible,
| Professor See presented his hnnd-
| ings that "the ether about tho sun
and stars IL filled with electro mag
netic waves with amplitudes varying
inversely as the distance, which
leads to forces varying inversoly ms
the square of the distance" This
he said. explains universal graSita-
tion in the simplest and most CON
elusive manner"
The concrete result of his dis
coyery. Professor See said. IL TO
show that ether Is 2ls times denser
at the earth than at the suns sur
face, where Il IL only two millionths
of a millionth OF milllonth of the
density of water.
Although ether has such cx-
cessively small density" said the
government scientist. IL Is able To
transmit the stupendous forces re-
/ quired to keep the planets circulat-
ing in their elliptical orbits. In the
case of the earth this force Is the
breaking strength OF n steel cable
eleven inches In diameter on each
square foot of cross section of the
| globe. us IL the earth's surface were
almost covered with such cables
Ether is In reality gas made up
! of particles, Professor See said, two
billion times smaller than an clectr-
on. which Professor Sir ]. j. Thorn
son OF Cambridge. England. presl-
dent OF the Royal Society, after 80
years labor. showed to be 1860
times smaller than an atom of
| hydrogen.
Professor See submitted tables Of
the properties of hydrogen, helium,
oxygen and other gases to show
their mean free path" that is, the
length of trajectory between success
sive collisions OF their molecules. to
be about one half millionth of an
| inch.
AS compared with this Professor
See calculated the free path of ether
particles at nearly 1000 miles,
about the distance from San Fran
cisco to st. Louis. But in addition
to this extreme length of free
path" said the professor, "ether
particles have the enormous velo-
city of 100000 miles per second,
one third faster than light.
at is b virtue of It's highly
elastic properties, 1,14S, 10000,
900 times greater than that OF air,
in proportion to It's density, that
ether can swing the planets about
the sun without disrupting ITSELF"
In the latter part OF his address
ioltobOT otS utdlt Win the
cular forces as due to short waves
In the ether. In this way he ex-
planned the figures OF rain drops,
drops of dew, globules of mercury
and the round figure taken by shot
and other molten metals The
waves, he said always act to make
the surface Of liquid drop min
imal surface, which Is shown by
mathemathicians to be that OF a
sphere.
"Capillatity, chemical affinity,
surface tension, adhesion, and CO.
hesion" were attributed by Profes-
sor See to wave action. Heretofore,
he said, the mystery of molecular
forces has challenged the ingenuity
of philosophers
prnfaeunr Gan xfhn no cta1 bn