d upon it must obviously be
gravitative. It would be unphilosophical to suggest that it was held in
its place by any other force, as that would be introducing a new force
or law into Nature, contrary to our experience in relation to an exactly
similar phenomenon of Nature.

We have therefore, it seems to me, direct proof by actual experiment
that Young's fourth hypothesis was correct, and that not only in
relation to the atomic world, but also in relation to the planetary
world, and the stellar world, all bodies exert an attractive influence
upon the surrounding Aether, by means of which the Aether is accumulated
near the surfaces of all bodies in a state of greater density, and
therefore of greater elasticity.

Let us apply this truth to the solar system, and see what we get. If it
is true that the earth exerts an attractive influence upon the
surrounding Aether by means of which it is held in its place relatively
to the earth, then it is equally true that Mercury, Venus, Mars,
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune also exert gravitating or attractive
influences upon the surrounding Aether, in the same way that they do
upon their own atmospheres. So that in their cases also, the surrounding
Aether is carried along by them through space. Professor Stokes has
suggested that this is so, in order to account for the aberration of
light, as we shall see later on.

Not only so, but the sun also would have an attractive power over the
Aether by means of which its aetherial atmosphere would be carried
through space, as it moved along in its progress at an estimated rate of
17,000 or 18,000 miles per hour.

I would like to point out here, that this explanation of the effect of
the planets' attractive power over the surrounding Aether is only a
partial one, as there are other effects directly involved in the fact
that the Aether is subject to the gravitating influence of all
satellites and planets.

This is not the place, however, to go fuller into the matter, the
consideration of the subject being taken up in a later chapter.

Thus I have tried to show a gravitating Aether is strictly in accord
with the three Rules of Philosophy, for it is simple in conception, is
not contrary to experience, and by it I premise that it is possible to
explain the physical cause of Gravitation, with all that is involved in
that law.

Once more, if Aether is gravitative, then every atom and particle in the
universe, as well as every planet,