Occasional Scientific Papers of the Westwood Astrophysical Observatory Volume 1-2 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1917 edition. Excerpt: ...are not gravitational. If there be such an atmosphere, it is perhaps the physical basis of exterior thought, which may be said to be "in space," and especially of that telepathic thought which is received by harmoniously attuned instruments. Later on, this theory of gravity appears to have been given up. Its author still holds to the discontinuity of the ether and its existence as a distinct, though not a universal atmosphere; but he assigns the gravitational role to a more subtle atmosphere which extends throughout the celestial spaces: "The three natural atmospheres originating from the sun of the world, are the purer ether, which is universal, and from which is all gravity; the middle ether which makes a vortex about the planets, in which also is light, in which are the satellites, and from which comes magnetism; and the ultimate ether which is the air." This conclusion, though not reached until near the end of his life and not published until after his death, was not explained at length; but it seems to have been deliberately and carefully thought out, and it is in several respects in accordance with present ideas. If Thomson is right, the sphere of bound ether can extend little farther than the air, and can not include the satellites, since it must not be confounded with the planet's magnetic field. In an intermediate stage of his thought, Swedenborg considered the possibility of four atmospheres, two ol them, respectively assigned to gravitational and magnetic activities, being described as universal, but distinct. In his last view, he allows the ether to exercise both electric and magnetic functions and omits the purely magnetic atmosphere. This is in accordance with the salutary rule that it is undesirable to multiply...