Ether drift

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*Amazing Stories*, June 1947, pp. 152—6
**IS THERE AN ETHER DRIFT?**
**By**
**Roger P. Graham**

IS THERE an ether drift? In these days when
the most advanced science seems based on the
premise that there is no ether, that question
might seem silly to some. Nevertheless, it is asked
in all seriousness.
At one time not so long ago science based much
of its theory on an "imponderable medium" per-
vading all space, which was supposed to offer NO
RESISTANCE whatever to the passage of matter
through it. It was supposed to be stationary in
space, so that by relating all movement to the
stationary ether we would have more or less ab-
solute motion. Thus, the Earth, according to this
theory on the ether, was moving at least many
miles per second THROUGH the ether.
This theory was accepted by scientists and be-
lieved to be true. So when Michelson and Morley
performed their famous experiments on ether drift
they did it with confidence that they would be
able to measure the velocity of the ether. No one
was more surprised than they when their results
proved negative consistently. Nevertheless, being
honest scientists, they had to accept their experi-
mental data. THE EARTH DID NOT MOVE
THROUGH THE ETHER.
Two different types of setups were used in these
experiments. Both were essentially the same in
principle. The one, now famous and described in
most advanced physics books as well as in THE
MYSTERIOUS UNIVERSE, by Jeans, floated in
a pool of mercury, so that the paths of light
WERE AT ALL TIMES IN THE HORIZON-
TAL PLANE. The other, reported by Michelson
in the AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE,
Series 4, Volume 3, 47S-78, year 1897, was set up
in a fixed frame so that NOTHING ABOUT IT
MOVED RELATIVE TO THE EARTH. The
rotation of the Earth itself was supposed to turn
the apparatus in the ether stream.
These two experiments were done many times
and always gave negative results, so the conclusion
had to be accepted that THERE IS NO STA-
TIONARY ETHER THROUGH WHICH THE
EARTH MOVES.
It is one of the peculiarities of the human mind
that a specific statement can be used to generalize
far beyond what it originally implied. Today the
former conclusion of the ether drift experiment has
been subtly altered to state that there is no move-

ment of the ether that could be detected under
ANY experimental conditions.
Nevertheless, the Michelson-Morley experiments
DID NOT COVER EVERY POSSIBLE CON-
DITION. A careful study of those experiments
will show anyone that they could not possibly
have measured any drift of the ether TOWARD
THE CENTER OF THE EARTH. In other
words, the ether could be flowing THROUGH
the apparatus used by Michelson in both types of
experiments he performed TOWARD THE CEIJ.
TER OF THE EARTH, and that velocity could
not possibly register in his interferometer!
He did not think of this possibility because the
accepted concept of the ether gave it the property
of being incapable of affecting matter and altering
its velocity as it drifted through the ether.
If we deny that and postulate that the slightest
drift of ether will cause matter to change its
velocity, then it follows that all fields: gravity,
positive electrical, negative electrical, and magnetic
are ether drifts of some sort.
Then the effect of gravity is the effect of an
ether drift!
If it is, there should be some way to measure
the velocity of this drift.
IN SEARCHING for some method to fill the gap
left by the Michelson-Morley experiments,
and measure the possible downward drift of lie
ether, I first decided to use essentially the same
system that Michelson used, but with a more
rigid setup, and rotated on a horizontal shaft. The
drawback to that setup was that the change in
shape of the frame due to the shift of gravitational
stresses as it rotated would affect the measure-
ments and hence the results would be inconclusive.
Also it would be a very expensive setup, since it

would require a solid sttcl plate at least six inches
thick and ten feet in diameter, fixed on a heavy
shaft and set on a huge concrete foundation.
Nevertheless, since it seemed the only way to
perform the experiment, I was determined to go
through with it and had even spent several months
tracking down the various parts needed.
Then a much simpler idea came to me which
could give much more certain results, and immedi-
ate (though inaccurate) confirmation that there
IS a downward drift of the ether, IF THERE
IS ONE.
The idea is pictured in the diagram shown with
this article. Simply expressed, if a mirror is placed
flat on the floor and two surveyor's transits are
set up about five feet on either side of it, so that
they look down on the mirror from a height of
about five feet, and the first transit is centered on
a thin line scratched in the silver of the mirror;
then the second transit is moved about until its
hair lines are centered exactly on the line scratched
in the mirror, and also the reflection of visible
crosshairs plated at the end of the first instru-
ment; then, when you go back to the first instru-
ment which is already centered on the scratch in
the mirror, it SHOULD be exactly centered on the
reflection of the second instrument's external
cross hairs just as the second instrument is on the
first— UNLESS THERE IS AN ETHER DRIFT.
If there is an ether drift it will not be possible
to have both instruments exactly in line with THE

REFLECTION of the other AND the scratch in
the mirror.
In this crude setup accurate results can't be ob-
tained, but POSITIVE results can, and HAVE
been obtained. I rented two surveyor's transits
and set them up in the editor's basement and
spent an afternoon get-ting them lined up so that
one instrument was lined exactly with the scratch
on a small mirror on the floor AND a white
thread carefully centered over the end of the other
transit, which had been set in line with the scratch
on the mirror. Then I went back to the first in-
strument and saw that it was about a twentieth of
an inch off.
Time after time I undid the setup and did it
over again. Each time I got the same results.
Then Mr. Palmer himself tried it and got almost
exactly the same results I did.
From this roughly set up experiment I de-
termined that there IS AN ETHER DRIFT TO-
WARD THE CENTER OF THE EARTH AND
THAT IT IS SOMEWHERE AROUND
EIGHTY MILES PER SECOND. I think it
may be less, and Mr. Palmer thinks it is probably
between eight-five and a hundred miles a second.
Any reader can perform the same experiment
and get the same results. THEY ARE DEF-
INITELY POSITIVE.
TN ORDER to get very accurate measurement
* ■ of the ether velocity the path of the light ray

should be at least a hundred feet.
The transits should have fifty power instead of
twenty-five power lenses, and the external and
internal cross hairs on each telescope should be
accurately lined up.
The mirror should be polished metal instead of
silvered glass, and should be mounted on a base
that can be leveled accurately, with the mirror in
a mounting that can be shifted by a micrometer
that will give accurate readings in thousandths
of an inch.
One of the transits should be mounted on a base
that can be moved forward or backward in thou-
sandths of an inch. The other, which will be
lined up with the mirror scratch only, can have
a stationary base.
For a distance of a hundred feet the path of
light should be in a pipe each way from the mir-
ror, and the pipe exhausted of air so that there
will be no heat effect on the path of light.
With that setup the downward velocity of the
ether could be measured to within a quarter of a
mile per second.
The reader should bear in mind that although
Einstein denies the existence of an ether, at least
half the most reputable scientists do believe that
an ether of some kind exists. Sir Oliver Lodge,
who has been the staunchest supporter of tie ob-
jective existence of an ether in recent years, writes :
"The ether in its various forms of energy dom-
inates modern physics, though many prefer to
•void the term 'ether' because of its nineteenth-

century associations, and use the term 'space.'
The term used does not much matter." (p. 124,
Jeans, Mysterious Universe.)
The purpose of this article has been to present
the METHOD by which it may be definitely
proven by anyone that there IS an ether drift,
and that it is TOWARD THE CENTER OF
THE EARTH. The velocity of this drift must be
greater than sixteen miles per second, since free-
falling objects from space sometimes attain to that
velocity when they strike the atmosphere. Our
first experiments show that this velocity is under
a hundred miles per second— probably around
eighty miles per second.
This experiment must be repeated under more
accurate conditions and done by many different
people before its conclusions can be accepted as
final.
For the mathematical record, the mathematics
used by myself in this experiment follows :

In the experiment performed on Feb. 25, 1947,
we had
d = 69.5 inches
h = 59.5 inches
and the value of x was found from several trials
to be about l/20th of an inch. Hence
x — 0.05 inches
The latest value for the velocity of light is
c = 186,284 miles per second.

*This diagram shows how Mr. Graham performed his experiment, using two surveyor's transits*
*focused on a mirror on the floor from a height of five feet. See page 153 for detailed explanation.*

Substituting these values in (6) we get
v = 87 4- miles per second.
EDITORIAL NOTE:
We present this experimental report as an in-
tegral part of the Shaver Mystery because (1)
Mr. Graham's own work proved so parallel to the
Shaver Mystery that it was the cause of his con-
tacting us to present us with his thought-provok-
ing material, which, to forestall the accepted au-
thority certain to be quoted at us, is NOT in
accordance with that accepted authority.
Shaver says "empty" space is not empty. It is
filled with his "exd." (Finely divided matter
which had "disintegrated"; and from which mat-
ter can itself be reintegrated.) He says its "veloc-
ity" is what we call gravity— that is, the effect we
notice is due to the friction of its passing through
matter, the specific mention being in this case our-
selves and the earth. He also says that "velocity"
is present only near matter.
The reader will note the startling similarity of
this statement to that just made for the first time
anywhere by Mr. Graham in his experiment to
determine an ether drift in a downward direction.
(The in-flow of ex-disintegrance in matter Mr.
Shaver has postulated.)
Reason (2) is that both Mr. Shaver and Mr.
Grahan\inform us that their initial source of in-
formation is "outside" themselves. Mr. Shaver
from his "caves" with their "telaug thought-
records," "voices," "rays" (one of which we have
photographed), teleportation and materializations
in visible form — and Mr. Graham in a sort of
intuitive manner not entirely within the form of
logical reasoning power.
Reason (3) is that your own editor's studies
have convinced him of similar things (and many

hundreds of readers have, without persuasion of
any kind, advanced similar opinions in many
strange guises from "voices" to just plain deduc-
tion) .
If this experiment can be verified, it is PROOF
of the accuracy of Mr. Shaver's concepts in this
particular matter, no matter how we accept the
METHOD by which he claims to have gained
them.
Your editor has PERFORMED this experiment,
has witnessed an inexplicable thing that MUST
be explained. If the theories of ether drift, exd, or
what have you, DO NOT explain it, then indeed
will the BETTER explanation need POSITIVE
DEMONSTRATION. The burden of proof, it is
said scientifically, lies on the claimant. We have
claimed these things, and now we have PROVED
them by what we (with our meagre equipment
and knowledge) consider at least TENTATIVELY
satisfactory evidence which can and must be ex-
panded beyond all reasonable doubt. Since we
have accepted the burden of proof — we ask those
claimants of the opposite theory — that there is no
ether drift, nor exd — to come forward with posi-
tive proof of error or inadequacy in the experi-
ment we have performed.
ADDITIONAL EDITORIAL COMMENT:
Recently we made the statement in an editorial,
and to a group of fans who polled many on their
opinions on future space flight, that we considered
flight to the planets impossible. We said that,
basing our statement on the present "accepted
authority" on such things as the ether. Because
we believe there IS an ether drift, and that it
exists ONLY near bodies of matter and not in
space, no space ship could overcome the resistance
of that drift and reach another planet, WITHOUT

156

AMAZING STORIES

compensating for it. In short, any space ship
launched to, say Mars, would MISS the planet by
the distance the ether drift would carry it off its
course, just as a plane which ignores the wind
velocity would not arrive at its destination by
many miles — AND, the ship would run out of fuel
long before it reached its destination, IF it ac-
cepted authority, and counted on "coasting"
through millions of miles of NON-RESISTING
emptiness, and instead discovered the emptiness
was not emptiness at all, and offered a resistance
(which might require a constant acceleration of
one gravity, more or less, to avoid coming to a
halt just as a log shoved into a lake will be halted
by the water unless the shove is continuously
applied) .
The reader can see the importance of proving
Shaver and Graham right or wrong. Space travel
tactics and success depend on it!
Other thinkers among our readers will com-
prehend that the Shaver exd concept also can ex-
plain why the planets remain in their orbits, how
they remain there, the forces that produce the
phenomena, and the forces that can "create" a
world, or a solar system.

Readers of Oakspe will note the THIRD start-
ling agreement with Shaver exd in its scientific
theory of how suns and planets are created— by
the "whirlpool" or "vortex" in space. If space is
EMPTY, the concept of a whirlpool in it is silly.
If it is exd, it is NOT silly. It is the MOST
LOGICAL WAY to form any stellar body, to
drive finely divided matter (space — ether) to-
gether to form solid (material) bodies.
It is time to reexamine the "nature of the uni-
verse" to determine what new concrete evidence
can be introduced to modify our obviously
archaic concepts. We can never know the real
nature of the universe, but we can approach ever
closer to approximating it. We have some NEW
evidence to be applied to our concepts. If we
reject it as dogmatists, future men will suffer
for it.
Picture yourself in that first space ship aimed •
at Mars. Picture yourself missing it, dying hor-
ribly in space, forever lost. And all because you
found out that a mysterious ether scientists as-
sured you did not exist, ACTUALLY DID, and it
COULD HAVE BEEN taken into consideration,
and your life would NOT have been lost.