e requisite basis from which to start,
just as the aeronaut cannot rise without a solid surface from which to
spring.

Now if we realize that the ether is an infinitely subtle fluid,
pervading all space, we see that it must constitute a connecting link
between all modes of substance, whether visible or invisible, in all
worlds, and may therefore be called the Universal Medium; and following
up our conception of the Continuity of Law, we may suppose that trains
of waves, inconceivably smaller or greater than any known to modern
science, are set up in this medium, in the same way as the
electro-magnetic waves with which we are acquainted; that is, by an
impulse which generates them from some particular point. In the region
of finer forces we are now prospecting, this impulse might well be the
Desire or Will of the spiritual entity which we ourselves are--that
thinking, feeling, inmost essence of ourself, which is the "noumenon" of
our individuality, and which, for the sake of brevity we call our "Ego,"
a Latin word which simply means "I myself." This idea of spiritual
impulse is quite familiar to us in our every-day talk. We speak of an
impulsive person, meaning one who acts on a sudden thought without
giving due heed to consequences; so in our ordinary speech we look upon
thought as the initial impulse, only we restrict this to the case of
unregulated thought. But if unregulated thought acts as a centre of
impulse, why should not regulated thought do the same? Therefore we may
accept the idea of Thought as the initial impulse, which starts trains
of waves in the Universal Medium, whether with or without due
consideration, and having thus recognized its dynamic power, we must
learn to make the impulsions we thus send forth intelligent, well
defined, and directed to some useful purpose. The operator at some
wireless station does not use his instruments to send out a lot of
jumbled-up waves into the ether, but controls the impulsions into a
definite and intelligible order, and we must do the same.

On some such lines as these, then, we may picture the desire of the Ego
as starting a train of waves in the Universal Medium, which are
reproduced in corresponding _form_ on reaching their destination. As
with the electro-magnetic waves, they may spread all round, just as
ripples do if we throw a stone into a pond; but they will only take form
where there is a correspondence able to receive them. This is what in
the language of