| Show IB It At a 1 recent meeting of ot the British Association Lord Lara Kelvin it Ills Is stated I expressed tho the very remarkable opinion that hat ether ther though matter is II not sub subject to tho the law of ot gravitation lUll Ills lordships reasoning on this in lit as lIS fol tot follows lows If It ether cthel extends through all space NIce I then hen It Il Is III certain that ether could not be subject to the law of mutual graI gravitation atlon tation between Its parts because It If It wore were subject to mutual attraction be bu between tween ita parts Its ItJI equilibrium m be unstable and If It that occurred In the slightest degree the force of gravity would be so great groat that there thero would be pt bean bean an nn enormous containing pressure While admitting ether not to have hoe any allY atomic structure It Is III postulated as a n batter which performs certain tune tuno lorts and which might have properties b allowing It to 0 perform other othar functions It If f It hail had rigidity enough for Cor the Ion tion of ot light we have no right tight to say that hat it is absolutely incompressible It ether ther Is not Infinitely Incompressible that hat explains the phenomena of ot light electricity and magnetism m On th tb other hand ether extending through space pace Is Imponderable and we must therefore admit that there Is something which we call cull matter and lInd which is ts not subject to Newtons law of at gravitation Our universe Is a n Very small affair after litter all occupying a It very ery small email portion of ot pace of which latter astronomers know enow very nT little although It extends extend to o million millions of kilometers In n our universe the tM amount of ot mattei mattel could coul not be bo moro more than a thousand million times the tho size of tit the sun It has hns ins been beta calculated by b Newcomb that there here are ore tOO million stars visible but I calculate that there are 1000 million mIllions equal In mass to 1000 millions of ot our unit suns It seems probable that there was wasa a time when the tho whole mutter matter of ot the tho universe was atoms not a fiery fier cloua or a n luminous mist The Tho time comb cant when the atoms became denser until the he density of ot gas was reached and ana that hat Was as followed by the density of ot n a 1 liquid and next followed that of ot meteoric stones and fragments |
