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Show Another Theory Doubted By Science After Years Does the ether of space, that odd medium in which the earth and everything ev-erything on it vere once supposed to swim, actually exist? A generation genera-tion ago school books described this mysterious medium in such definite terms that many who are now middle-aged, but who have not kept close track of science since leaving school still believe in the ether as faithfully as they believe in the existence ex-istence of their noses. Today, however, how-ever, science suspects that the earlier ear-lier school books were a bit too certain cer-tain about the ether, says the Scientific Sci-entific American, for there never has been any really watertight, final, experimental ex-perimental evidence for its existence. exist-ence. There is only logical evidence and logic without actual test often goes astray. ( Because they reasoned that there must be some medium through which light could be transmitted, the scientists of a generation or more ago "created," as it were, a medium medi-um f'r this purpose out of nothing-i-oss. That is, they "postulated" it. Then they used the word over and over till il sounded substantial and taught it to the youth those middle-r.yed middle-r.yed men of today. Thus it came to have almost the same standing as if thoy had actually seen some ether, weighed it. felt it, tasted it, smellcd of it, or heard it. |
