Astronomy and the Bible;

THETRANSFEROFENERGY 69

tous. WefindthattheHghtandtheheat,inpassing
fromthesuntous,haveconsumedsomeeightminutes.
Now, inthisinstanceofthetransferoflight and
heatfromsuntoearth,wehavetheideaofamotion—
themotion ofthis force passing fromsun to earth.
Butinconceivingmotion,wealways thinkofsome-
thingmoved. Thereforeweargue thattheexercise
offorcethroughninetymillionsofmiles,orthrough
anyotherdistance,forthatmatter,ofabsolutevacuum,
wherethereisnothingthatcaninanywisebemoved,
isinconceivable. Wecannotthinkofaforceastrav-
elingunlessithassomethinginwhichoruponwhich
totravel. Hencewenaturallyreasonaboutasfollows

:

Betweenthesunandtheearththereisamotionshown
bythetransferofheatandlight,andhencesomething
moved. Thissomethingthatmoves,andhencetrans-
ferstheenergyofHghtandheat—whatisit? Scien-
tistscallittheether. Someofthemthinkitisasort
ofthinair; othersthinkit isanelastic solid, which
pervades allspace, beingalways present everywhere.
Ashasbeensaid,waves intheether aresupposedto
carrytheenergyoflightandheat,somewhat asthe
aircarriessound waves^orsomewhatas thesurface
ofthewatercarriesthewavesproducedbythedrop-
pingofapebble.
But now, having assumed the existence of this
ether—havingassumeditbecausewecannotconceive
offorceastravelingwithoutsomethingsetinmotion
tocarryit—howmuchbetteroffarewethanbefore?
What is the constitution of this ether, which we
havethusintroducedbetweentheearthandthestars?