Newton's philosophical rules, and the result of
discarding everything that is not in accordance with experience and
observation. Thus the lines of force which exist and surround a magnetic
or electrified body are as real as ocean currents, or the waves of the
sea, in that they are the manifestations of the motions of the universal
Aether, which is as truly matter as air or water.

Let us look at the analogy which exists between the lines of force and
the gravitative Aether, and we shall see that a gravitative Aether fully
agrees with the conception of an electric Aether as revealed to us by
the lines of force in an electric field.

As is well known, the lines of force are closer together in that part of
the electric field where the intensity of the field is greatest; and the
intensity of a field being greatest at the surface of an electrified
body, the lines of force are therefore closer together nearest to the
surface of such a body than further away.

Now according to Art. 45 Aether is gravitative, therefore the Aether
nearest the surface of a body is densest, and the aetherial atoms are
therefore more pressed upon than the layer immediately above it. Such a
result is exactly what should happen provided that Aether has an
electric basis, and that Aether is gravitative. For, in Art. 45, we have
seen that because Aether is gravitative, therefore it must possess
various degrees of density, being densest nearest the surface of an
attracting body.

In electricity we find a similar phenomenon which corresponds to
aetherial density, which is known as Electric Density, by which term is
meant the amount or quantity of electricity spread over a certain area
or surface. If we double the quantity of electricity on that given
surface, then we double the density, and we say that the electric
density is doubled, while if we halve the quantity of electricity, then
we say the electric density is halved, and so on.

But this is exactly what happens in the case of aetherial density, as
proved in Art. 46. We have only to picture the number of aetherial atoms
being doubled on a given area, and at once the physical conception of
electric density is furnished, if we remember that Aether has an
electric basis as suggested by Maxwell and proved by Hertz. Thus we see
at once why it is the lines of force should be closer together nearer
the electrified body than farther away.

_Electric Potential._--There is another aspect of the electri