Able aus des Arit. Niche, Nr. 5058 {Gravitational Action propagated with the Velocity of Light. In the first paper on the New Theory of the Aether, AN 5044, e have shown that the existence of this medium is a necessary condition for conveying physical action from ne body to another across the celestial spaces, and have given the elements of the kinetic theary of the aether-gos | as the subtile vehicle of energy, AZaxmell had a very clear conception of this medium 47 years ago, when be pointed fut, am the closing paragraph of the celebrated ‘Treatise &n | Electricity and Magnetism, 1873, vol-I, p. 493, that »whenever | energy is transmitted from one body to another in time there mst be a mediyya or substance in which the enerey exists after it leaves one body and before it reaches the others. | No better description can be given of the aether, as tie vehicle of energy, than that just quoted. And since Maxveeld savs that the energy must exist in the medium, | ster it bas left one body, but before it has reached the other, owing to the propagation in time, we see that this energy obviously must be conveyed through the agency of waves teavelling with the velocity of light, just as radiant heat from tie sun and elecsrodynamic action tavel with the same ve- | locity, 300008 kms per second Progression of Perihelia in a Juni toe. From the celebrated leer of Gans to Weer, Match 1845, (Gauss, Werke 5.629) we leara that a6 exty as 1856 Gants looked upan physical action serosa space ts conveyed in time, and was teying 10 formulate a law of this acton, Bu pu it aside temporally, and onty recurred to Ie when Teter bad foranlated hie fondamenalelecrodyamieal lew Gwontir?) (c= (1/e8) (deja + (2rfet) arid) (4) ‘The first term of this formula is Azwson's law of gravitation, 1686, whilst the other terms take account of the effects of induetion in the relative motion of the two bodies m and a, ‘The minor terms thus give the energy effects of the velocity and acceleration or change of velocity, under wave action, in the direction of the radius sector, as required by the present author's Electrodynamic Wave-Theory of Phys. Foce., vol. 1, 3917. In the work here cited (p. 143-140} I have calenlated the elects of Hééer’s Taw upon the progressive movement of the perihelia, periplaneta, and periastra of the best known | published in 1846 | bodies of the solar systema and of the sideresl universe. The tabulated the progression of the orbital peribelia in 8 Julian century, owing to the propagation of gravitation With the velocity of fight Julian Century Water's Law Pranets Salites de Comets Ber | Binary Stars dx Mercury Jupiter: V seas63s | Encke ctoaro8 | Casiopeine o°ecobéoor Yemie 1 18212383' Tempeh errs: PB Pencin gzaness The Fah i Pigase | fsossen oassor2 | aoe Eridani ” ocoasr64n3 Mars Wl o743sa4 Tempel. Seite rse9as |aAuryie, Geese Jopter cones IW gage Winnecke o.tgog66 | Canismaj. asoepa8s Stumm Sooabes VE 068085 | DeVico-F. Swift oog8878 |e Geininorum —ovestarg Vrsns S.o0a80305 YUL .084838 Tempel 06616 | @Caniemine osaseer® Nop sosasors Vit G.094680 | Finlay oids32 |p Virgins Soe 08803 to IX oo3yra8 Hanet olga | Commu Sannsayy reites : icin oxeg7o | po Ophinchi — oostgostog rein (Cah) esos; Suns ings aayoy BR ypomiens, Seotatd Phobos {Mars} costae Enceladus a.gessag | NOt lgstema — SofssS38 Veins Gorta98 ‘Tethys egaenn, | Holme 5 ; Ariel (Uranus) ea Byao Dione .Go811, 2400 2063389 | Umbriet + 003335 Rien egg64q | pe 2.066374 Tenia sobesas Tian o88a25 See ceen Oberon > Sofagya Hyperion oagraea | (net 201793 Japetus | Newton, 1680. oetsis84 Phoebe Say eras i | ess2 ar erobiyss! ‘This table shows that the difference between the effects | perihelion, which Leverrier in 1859 found to ave a progression ©f Aiveton's lass, with fixed perihelia, and of Weber's funda- | Jagger than known gravitational theory would explain, ental electendynamic law, with progressing perihelia, is always | As the tnexplained miotion of Mercury's perihelion Saull. ‘Fhe chiet interest centers arotind the motion oF Mercury's ; Found by Newcomb in 881. is about 43° per century, theabove effect of H72ber's law remoses 14°5 of the total amount), leaving outstanding about 28%5 instead of the 43” assumed in Binrein's Theory of Relativity. The outstanding 2875 can be explained by the transformation and absorption of wave ‘energy. from the atoms on the opposite side. of the sum, yielding a law of attraction of the very form approved by Newton i. the Principis, 1687 °F = mij roenoiens meni (2) ‘This explanation of the motion of Mercury's perihelion is more fully discussed below. Such a result was long ago | anticipated by Newton, and in 1894 carefelly examined and | | | | | proposed by all, and subsequently used by Newzomd and Seeliger. Wt therefore has the sanction of the most eminent astronomers, and as it rests apon a known physical cause, it involves no vague and chimerical reasoning such as underlies Einstein's mystical Theory of Relativity. “Towards the end of this paper, we develop a new view fof the experiments of Afiekclzon and Morley, 1887, and of Sir Oliver Ledge, 2801-07, which results from the kinetic theory of the aether, originally outlined by Newton, 1721, approved by Maswel/and 5. Tolver Preston, 1877, and recentiy developed by the present writer, as shown in the first paper. This new view of the chief physical experiments on which the theory of relativity so largely rests may well claim the attention of natural philosophers. As bearing on the same question we treat carefully of the outstanding motions of the perihelion of Mercury and of the Tunar perigee; and show that neither phenomena lends the slightest support to non- Newtonian mechanics. In fact, although the theory of rélativity has océupied much space in scientific literature, and many treatises, memoirs, and other papers have appeared on the subject, it is impossible for a careful observer to escape the conviction that the whole development heretofore brought out is false and misleading, — a veritable foundation laid on quicksand — and that some ay philosophers will wonder that such am improvised ab- | surdity ever became current among men. Among the most | pernicious of these temporary doctrines is FiteGerad’s hypo: | | i thesis, which under the kinetic theory of the aether is wholly tuntenable. ‘A considerable number of persons are much impressed with the admissibility of any doctrine which becomes current annong contemporaries, yet the study of the history of science shows that truth is neither dependent upon popularity, nor dis- | covered by majorities, but by the few individuals who think | carefully and frequently in complete isolation, and who thus | In'promlgeting his new System of the Worl, 1543, | Copernican describes his renening. in dating 10 depart om | the opinion of te msjory Thovgh T knows, he s8ys, >that the thoughts of a | philoropher do not depend on the judgment of the many, | Fis study being to seek cut truh in altiogs afar ax that, fs permited by God to human reason: yet when I considered, | *) In the Monthly formula (Zetuchr- Math. Phys. 43.93~104, 1898) i which for the Newtonian potential 7 ie put fr he adds, show sbsurd my doctrine would appear, T Tong hesitated whether I should publish my book, or whether it were not better to follow the example of the Pythagoreans and others, who delivered their doctrines only by tradition and to friendss. 2. The Effect of Resistance is to break up Long Waves into Shorter Ones and actually to increase the, Amplitude of the Principal Component, as noticed in Breakers at the Sea Shore, In his celebrated work on Tides and Waves, Eney- clopedia Metropolitana, 1843, Sit George Airy obtained one of the most comprehensive and useful theories of wave motion ever developed. .i7y’s theory has the advantage of being {intensely practical, because it applies to wave motion in a canal, water being the chief liquid found upon the earth, and nearly incompressible. ‘The formula for the periodic time of the waves is gt (asstig) (ets) fA" — 1). (3) Jt may be shown analytically that when the wave length is shortened, as by resistance to the movement of the fuid, the exponential expression e¥*4 increases, and thus the amplitude inereases ). “This change hes been much discussed in various treatises and memoirs, and we shall not attempt to add to it here, except in the practical application of the result to physical problems. Now airy finds (art. 201216) the following theoretieal ‘curves for the breaking up of water waves ip rivers, considered fs straight canals, with smooth banks. After explaining bis Analysis of these’ theoretical waves in water, Airy interprets the results as follows: s{201). ‘To represent to the eye the form of the wave produced by the combipation of the two terms, we have con- | nicted the eurve in figure 9. ‘The horizontal line represents the level line of the mean height of water: the elevation for depression of the curve represents (on an enormously exaggerated scale) the elevation or depression above the mean height, given by the expression above. The value of is supposed to increase from the left to the right: on which supposition the quantity mof—mx’, representing the phase of the wave, diminishes from the Ieft to the right (ve? being constant).« (202,) To exhibit to the eve the law of the ascent and descent of the surface of the water at different points of the canal, the figures 10, 11, 12, and 23 are constructed. ‘The first of these is intended for the point where the canal Jommunicates with the sea: the others for points successively more and more distant from the sea, ‘The horizontal Tine is used as a measure of time, or rather of phase mo?— mx" in which, for each station, x” is constant: the elevation or depression of the corresponding point of the curve represents the corresponding elevation or depression of the water above ts mean height, a3 given by the expression above.« An inspection of these diagrams will suggest the following remarks: tices for Apri 1917, ps Soa, Dr."Slertcin teats a some length of the Eistrn calgsltions, based on Gister’s fevdri, and concludes" ¥As far as etn understand trom Sepreys tvestigation, QIN THira-118), h would rather alleviate che astronomers difalies Hf the som by self gave ‘Sly # part of these 43 seconde.e Accordingly this eal he more rearon for adopting Waters law, though I reseed it from a diferent paint of view ‘)'Thie increase of amplitude sit prove of high importance in the new theory of molecular frees, to be desl within a ftuce paper slo for sh wp at the tin the ae 73