interesting phenomenon observed recently by P. Villard in the effect of an intense magnetic field on the production of the cathode rays, appears to receive a simple explanation in the hypothesis of free magnetic charges; but it is not certain that this hypothesis is necessary.
(2) The Equations of Hertz. The two fields, electric and magnetic, of which the ether can be the seat, are related to one another in such a manner that one of them can exist only on the condition that the other varies; all variations of an electric field produce a magnetic field; it is the displacement current of Maxwell: and all variations of the magnetic field produce an electric field; this is the phenomenon of induction discovered by Faraday. These two relations are expressed by Hertz's equations; they sum up completely our knowledge of the electromagnetic medium, and from these it results that all disturbances of this medium are propagated with the velocity of light. Hertz had the glory of proving this fact experimentally.
(3) Energy. We can now say that the ether is the seat of two distinct forms of energy, the electric and the magnetic, capable of transformation from the one into the other, but only through matter as an intermediary, that is to say, by means of the electrified centres which it contains.
In the ether alone, in fact, in the free radiation which it propagates, the electric and magnetic fields, transverse with respect to the direction of propagation, represent always equal energies in each element of volume, without oscillation of the energy from one form to the other. In the presence of matter, on the other hand, the electric energy can exist alone, and it is the motion of electrified centres which allows the transformation into magnetic energy, and vice versa. Matter only can be the source of radiation.
It is necessary, to the two preceding forms of energy, to add gravitation, which corresponds probably to a third mode of activity of the ether, whose connection with the two others is still obscure.
I insist here on the point that the principle of equivalence of various forms of energy, as far as the process allows of measurement, can be attained independently of all dynamical notions, by the process of using solely material systems in equilibrium.
One can find some information on this subject in a recent exposition by M. Perrin.[1]
(4) The Theory of Lorentz. The ether being thus completely known to us from the electromagnetic and optical point of view, the problem which follows as a continuation of the work of Maxwell and of Hertz is that of the connection between ether and matter, inert matter, the source and recipient of the radiations which the ether
- ↑ I. Perrin, Traité de chimie Physique. Les Principes. Gauthier-Villars, Paris.
