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INVENTIONS OF NIKOLA TESLA.

and, what is more important, the electro-magnetic theory of lightand all facts observed teach us that electric and ether phenomenaare identical. The idea at once suggests itself, therefore, thatelectricity might be called ether. In fact, this view has in a cer-tain sense been advanced by Dr. Lodge. His interesting workhas been read by everyone and many have been convinced byhis arguments. His great ability and the interesting nature ofthe subject, keep the reader spellbound; but when the impres-sions fade, one realizes that lie has to deal only with ingeniousexplanations. I must confess, that I cannot believe in two elec-tricities, much less in a doubly-constituted ether. The puzzlingbehavior of the ether as a solid to waves of light and heat, andas a fluid to the motion of bodies through it, is certainly ex-plained in the most natural and satisfactory manner by assumingit to be in motion, as Sir William Thomson has suggested; butregardless of this, there is nothing which would enable us toconclude with certainty that, while a fluid is not capable of trans-mitting transverse vibrations of a few hundred or thousand persecond, it might not be capable of transmitting such vibrationswhen they range into hundreds of million millions per second.Nor can anyone prove that there are transverse ether wavesemitted from an alternate current machine, giving a small num-ber of alternations per second; to such slow disturbances, the ether,if at rest, may behave as a true fluid.

Returning to the subject, and bearing in mind that the exist-ence of two electricities is, to say the least, highly improbable,we must remember, that we have no evidence of electricity, norcan we hope to get it, unless gross matter is present. Electricity,therefore, cannot be called ether in the broad sense of the term;but nothing would seem to stand in the way of calling electricityether associated with matter, or bound ether; or, in other words,that the so-called static charge of the molecule is ether associatedin some way with the molecule. Looking at it in that light, wewould be justified in saying, that electricity is concerned in allmolecular actions.

Now, precisely what the ether surrounding the molecules is,wherein it differs from ether in general, can only be conject-ured. It cannot differ in density, ether being incompressible;it must, therefore, be under some strain or in motion, and thelatter is the most probable. To understand its functions, itwould be necessary to have an exact idea of the physical con-