LIGHT AND ETHER.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIX, Issue 186, 6 August 1918, Page 3

LIGHT AND ETHER.

AN INTERESTING' LECTURE. An exceedingly interesting lecture on "Recent Scientific Thought Concerning Light and Ether" was delivered by Mr. E. V. Miller, in St. Andrew's Hall, before members of the Auckland Institute last night. The lecturer explained that modern conceptions of light supported I the ether-wave theory. He illustrated what was thought „to be the method by which light travelled by performing an experiment with a number of balls suspended by clastic thread and attached to one another by springs. .The analogy between light, colour, and sound was shown in a graphic and interesting manner. Polarisation was demonstrated by means ot a crystal of Iceland spar through which a white ray from an electric arc was passed, and other experiments were successfully performed to show that light in the form of electric impulses in the ether was the basis of wireless telegraphy. Speaking of the belief in the existence of ether, the lecturer said that the theory had first been formulated as the result of a philosophic inquiry into the nature of matter, and it had been, reasoned that matter was powerless to account for the properties of light because light existed where there was no matter. The velocity of light and the highly ingenious method by which it was ascertained were clearly shown. The lecturer briefly described some of the problems of light and ether at present occupying the attention of scientists. The second part of this interesting lecture will be delivered at the next meeting of the institute.