as postulated atomicity, heaviness or
weight, density, elasticity, inertia, and compressibility for the
aether, and so brought the theory of the aether into perfect harmony
with all observation and experiments relative to ordinary matter. It
will be shown that Clerk Maxwell also definitely affirms the atomicity
of the aether, while Tyndall and Huyghens also use the term "_particles
of aether_" over and over again.

Moreover, in view of the most recent researches in electricity made by
Sir William Crookes and Professor J. J. Thomson, we are compelled to
accept an atomic basis for electricity, and as Dr. Lodge, in his _Modern
Views of Electricity_, states that "Aether is made up of positive and
negative electricity," then, unless we postulate atomicity for the
aether, we have to suppose that it is possible for a non-atomic body
(aether) to be made up of atoms or corpuscles, which conclusion is
absurd, and therefore must be rejected as illogical and unphilosophical.

After postulating atomicity for the aether, we are then able to apply
the Newtonian Law of Gravitation to it, which distinctly affirms that
"every particle of matter attracts every other particle," and so we
arrive at Thomas Young's fourth hypothesis given in the Philosophical
Transactions of 1802, where he asserts that "All material bodies have an
attraction for the aetherial medium, by means of which it is
accumulated within their substance, and for a small distance around them
in a state of greater density." He adds the significant remark that this
hypothesis is opposed to that of Newton's. With an atomic and
gravitative aether it is shown in Chapter IV. how the elasticity,
density, and inertia of the medium are brought into harmony with all
observation and experiments.

In the succeeding chapters the new theory is applied to the phenomena of
heat, light, electricity, and magnetism, and the principles enunciated
therein are then applied to solar and stellar phenomena.

One of the greatest stumbling-blocks to the discovery of the physical
cause of gravitation, apart from the unphilosophical theory of the
aether medium, lies in the fact that apparently the Law of Gravitation
only recognizes a force of one kind. Dr. Lodge refers to this phase of
the subject on page 39 of his _Modern Views of Matter_ just published.
It is here where scientists have failed to solve the problem of
universal gravitation, as there are _two_ forces at work in the solar
system an