s
molecular structure.

THE ETHER CAN MAINTAIN A SHEARING STRESS.

The phenomena in a magnetic field show that the stress is of such a sort
as to twist into a new directional position the body upon which it acts
as exhibited by a magnetic needle, also as indicated by the transverse
vibrations of the ether waves, and again by the twist given to plane
polarized light when moving through a magnetic field. These are all
interpreted as indicative of the direction of ether stress, as being
similar to a shearing stress in solid matter. The fact has been adduced
to show the ether to be a solid, but such a phenomenon is certainly
incompatible with a liquid or gaseous ether. This kind of stress is
maintained indefinitely about a permanent magnet, and the mechanical
pressure which may result from it is a measure of the strength of the
magnetic field, and may exceed a thousand pounds per square inch.

21. OTHER PROPERTIES OF MATTER.

There are many secondary qualities exhibited by matter in some of its
forms, such as hardness, brittleness, malleability, colour, etc., and
the same ultimate element may exhibit itself in the most diverse ways,
as is the case with carbon, which exists as lamp-black, charcoal,
graphite, jet, anthracite and diamond, ranging from the softest to the
hardest of known bodies. Then it may be black or colourless. Gold is
yellow, copper red, silver white, chlorine green, iodine purple. The
only significance any or all of such qualities have for us here is that
the ether exhibits none of them. There is neither hardness nor
brittleness, nor colour, nor any approach to any of the characteristics
for the identification of elementary matter.

22. SENSATION DEPENDS UPON MATTER.

However great the mystery of the relation of body to mind, it is quite
true that the nervous system is the mechanism by and through which all
sensation comes, and that in our experience in the absence of nerves
there is neither sensation nor consciousness. The nerves themselves are
but complex chemical structures; their molecular constitution is said to
embrace as many as 20,000 atoms, chiefly carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and
nitrogen. There must be continuity of this structure too, for to sever a
nerve is to paralyze all beyond. If all knowledge comes through
experience, and all experience comes through the nervous system, the
possibilities depend upon the mechanism each one is provided with for
absorbing from his environment, what