a physical explanation for the
Hodograph of any planet.

In applying the rotatory Aether currents to the various planets, and in
endeavouring to find out the quantity of the force impressed upon the
various planets at their mean distances, by those currents, we have to
take into consideration, as we have already seen, two facts, viz. the
mass of the Aether at any point in space, and the velocity of the Aether
at the same point. We will first take the effect of the difference in
mass. We have seen that at the distance of Mercury from the sun the
density of the Aether is greater than at the distance of Venus, and that
the density at Mars is greater than the aetherial density at the Earth,
the aetherial density decreasing the further the Aether recedes from the
sun.

What, therefore, is the effect of the decreased density of the Aether on
each planet? Even supposing the velocity of the moving Aether is the
same at the respective mean planetary distances, which it is not, the
total impressed force at the respective mean planetary distances will
gradually be decreased upon the various planets, proportionate to the
decrease in the mass and density of the Aether.

So that on Mercury, which is pushed along by a denser electro-magnetic
Aether than Venus, the impressed force, according to Newton's Second Law
of Motion, will be greater than the impressed force exerted by the
moving electro-magnetic Aether on Venus; and, consequently, Mercury
should have a greater velocity through space than Venus, due partly to
the difference of the aetherial mass and density, by which the impressed
force or motive power that acts upon Mercury is produced.

In the same way, Venus should have a greater velocity through space than
Mars, and Mars a greater velocity than the Earth. The same principle, when
applied to the outer planets, equally holds good; with the result, that
the greater the mean distance, the less the orbital velocity of each
planet, due partly to the decreased aetherial density at the increased
distance from the sun. But this is only part of the cause. Not only is
there a decrease in density of the Aether, as the distance from the sun
is increased, but there is also a decrease in the velocity of the moving
Aether, with the result that the Aether at the distance of Mercury,
possesses a greater angular velocity than at the distance of Venus.

It may be at once asked, How do we know that? Well, Philosophy alone can
give us the ke