that the only logical and philosophical conclusion that
can be arrived at is, that it is also subject to those properties which
are the chief characteristics of all matter. These properties may be
classified as follows: atomicity, gravitation, density, elasticity,
inertia, and compressibility.

ART. 43. _Aether is Universal._--Young in his first Hypothesis on the
Aether medium states that, "A Luminiferous Aether pervades the Universe
rare and elastic in a high degree" (_Phil. Tran._, 1802).

As Young points out, this invisible and elastic Aether fills all space
and floods the universe at large. In it suns blaze, stars shine, worlds
and planets roll, meteors flash, and comets rush in their mysterious
flight. In it all material and physical things exist, for it is to them
not only the primary medium of their existence, but, just as the
infinite and ever-active energy of the Divine is to the universe in its
entirety and fulness, the exciting and stimulating spirit of its
energies and powers, so this aetherial ocean is to the material and
physical universe, the exciting and stimulating medium of all its
activities, energies, and powers; and without which, though all material
and physical things were endowed with the varied capacities of their
kind or life, yet they could neither exert nor exercise them, nor even
exhibit the simple activity of motion. Hence everywhere, where material
and physical things are, there, as the medium of their existence and
energy, the Aether is; and where the Aether is not, no material or
physical thing is, or can be. That the Aether is universal is proved by
the phenomena of light. Light-waves have a velocity of about 186,000
miles per second. Now the distance of the sun from the earth is about
92,000,000 of miles, so that light takes about eight minutes and a half
to travel from the sun to the earth.

A ray of light from the nearest fixed star takes about three and a half
years to reach the earth, while there are some stars so far away that
astronomers tell us, that though light travels with so great a velocity,
yet it would take several thousand years to reach the earth. This fact
implies that throughout boundless space there is to be found this
aetherial medium. Thus interplanetary and interstellar space is not
empty, but is filled with this ever-present, all-pervading Aether; and
not only so, but every particle of matter in the universe is surrounded
by this universal Aether, which form