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Show I GRAVITATION i j HV HEKEWAIU CAHRINOTuV Ndc-ntlM and Author. N1SW YORK. March 20 Gravitation Gravita-tion Is one of the profound mysteries Of the universe. We know It only by its effects. No man yet has succeeded In harnessing thle great power which holda tho wholo universe together. Wc have no certitude as to the nature of thle mysterious energy, yet we are as sure of Its existence as we are of anything In aclenci . It Is curious that no substnnca yrt de ed In "opaque" to gravitation. Y e can shut off other energies more or less at will, but that is not true of this strange energj Thus, take, light and electricity f'.lass Is transparent to light, but opaque to electricity, while a sheet of steel is opaque to light, but transparent trans-parent to electricity. GOES IHKOU.H EVERYTHING But no one has yet succeeded in devising any combination of substances sub-stances through which gravitation will not act. or which will shut off Its power. Some experiment have i-e-.ently been made in tills direction and if seems possible that Bl ll n a will discover a mode of energy which will offset, to son.e extent, the pull of gravity. What can be the nature of ihi marvelous power, which acts acios millions of miles of empty space, orj within Infinitesimal dlstancea J It is not yet certain whether the power of gravitation acts instantaneously instantane-ously or with the speed Of light Some recent researches and discoveries seem to show that it -icts with approximately ap-proximately the same speed as lightwaves, light-waves, which travel a; the rate of 186,000 miles a second. N'ATURE l GRA1 I I 1 1 N The question lias naturally been asked whether gravitation" must not necessarily be some mode of lbra-tlon lbra-tlon or undulation in the ether ot space nnd the general opinion, until recently, was that It did not possess this vibratory character. Some late experiments and c.ilcu-lattons c.ilcu-lattons undertaken by Professor T. J. J See. the noted astronomer, have tended o confirm tho belief that rrav)tatlon is, after all. a particular mode of vibration, and an "electro- dynamic wave theory of gravity'1 hnsj been formulated. Professor See says the waves op-! cratlve In gravitation are probably the longest of the electro-dynamic j waves propagated through 'he, ethc-r, j like those of electricity and magnet-1 ini. If this be true, many of tho re-1 markablc properties of gravitation and magnetism would be accounted for in asriiore satisfactory manner J '. han had been possible In the past Professor See's theory Is that the! waes emanating from, say the sun! and tho earth. Interlace with one an-1 other like two corkscrews, which' ;ire twisted in opposite direction1-, j their threads interlacing. In the latter case, the handle; of the corkscrews would, of course. ! he pulled towards one another by the pulj of the "nodes'" and "loop" of the corkscrew?, and the same is thought to be true regarding the Interlacing In-terlacing ether waves, pacing be-tweon be-tweon Lwo masses of matter which would thus mutually pull each other by reason of the tension, due to thi stress of the ether waves. |