IX. A dynamical theory of the electric and luminiferous medium.— Part III. relations with material media

Abstract

1. In two previous memoirs* it has been explained, that the various hypotheses involved in the theory of electric and optical phenomena, which has been developed by F araday and Maxwell, can be systematized by assuming the aether to be a continuous, homogeneous, and incompressible medium, endowed with inertia and with elasticity purely rotational. In this medium unitary electric charges, or electrons, exist as point-singularities, or centres of intrinsic strain, which can move about under their mutual actions ; while atoms of matter are in whole or in part aggregations of electrons in stable orbital motion. In particular, this scheme provides a consistent foundation for the electrodynamic laws, and agrees with the actual relations between radiation and moving matter.