CHAPTER VI. The Ether

THE ETHER

§ 1. The Luminiferous Ether: First idea of Ether due to Descartes--Ether must be imponderable--Fresnel shows light vibrations to be transverse--Transverse vibrations cannot exist in fluid--Ether must be discontinuous.

§ 2. Radiations: Wave-lengths and their measurements--Rubens' and Lenard's researches-- Stationary waves and colour-photography--Fresnel's hypothesis opposed by Neumann--Wiener's and Cotton's experiments.

§ 3. The Electromagnetic Ether: Ampère's advocacy of mathematical expression--Faraday first shows influence of medium in electricity--Maxwell's proof that light-waves electromagnetic--His unintelligibility--Required confirmation of theory by Hertz.

§ 4. Electrical Oscillations: Hertz's experiments-- Blondlot proves electromagnetic disturbance propagated with speed of light--Discovery of ether waves intermediate between Hertzian and visible ones--Rubens' and Nichols' experiments--Hertzian and light rays contrasted--Pressure of light.

§ 5. The X-Rays: Röntgen's discovery--Properties of X-rays--Not homogeneous--Rutherford and M'Clung's experiments on energy corresponding to--Barkla's experiments on polarisation of--Their speed that of light--Are they merely ultra-violet?--Stokes and Wiechert's theory of independent pulsations generally preferred--J.J. Thomson's idea of their formation-- Sutherland's and Le Bon's theories--The N-Rays-- Blondlot's discovery--Experiments cannot be repeated outside France--Gutton and Mascart's confirmation-- Negative experiments prove nothing--Supposed wave-length of N-rays.

§ 6. The Ether and Gravitation: Descartes' and Newton's ideas on gravitation--Its speed and other extraordinary characteristics--Lesage's hypothesis--Crémieux' experiments with drops of liquids--Hypothesis of ether insufficient.