ch is
composed of atoms of negative and positive electricity. So that if one
body _A_ acts upon another body _B_, it acts upon _B_ solely and
entirely by the action of the atoms which form the magnetic lines of
force, and the equipotential surfaces around the electrified body, and
that action can be traced mentally step by step across the intervening
space that may exist between the two bodies. It is in an exactly similar
manner, that the Attraction of Gravitation, which we conceive to be the
same as electrical attraction, is transmitted from body to body in the
atomic, molecular, planetary or stellar world. In each and every case,
the pressure and tensions, which are inseparably connected, are
transmitted by the atoms of the electro-magnetic Aether, that is, by the
positive and negative atoms of electricity of which, according to
Professor Lodge and Dr. Larmor, the Aether is composed. So that, if the
sun acts on the earth, by the centrifugal force, it acts on it solely
through and by the pressures which are originated in the atomic Aether
by the central body. If the sun attracts the earth, by the centripetal
force, that action can also be traced to the tensions that are
originated among the atoms of the electro-magnetic Aether. There is
nothing mysterious about the phenomenon in either case, as by accepting
this view of an atomic Aether with its dual character of positive and
negative electricity, the action may be traced mentally from point to
point across the so-called intervening space that exists between any two
bodies. In each and every case, wherever the centripetal or centrifugal
force acts, the action is direct, because it is caused by a physical
medium, which physical medium is in direct contact with each body acted
upon, and also fills the space between those bodies. With this view of
the centripetal force of Gravitation, our Philosophy is made to agree
definitely with our experience, which teaches us beyond contradiction,
that no body moves, unless it is either pushed or pulled by a physical
medium. Unless this view of the centripetal force is accepted, we shall
have to stumble on in darkness as to the physical cause of the
centripetal force, and mentally accept the unphilosophical proposition,
that a body can act on another in a way that we cannot understand, and
by means which lie outside our experience and observation, and this
hypothesis, as Newton and Herschel pointed out, is distinctly an
unphilosophica