Re: Influence machine

[inet@intellisys.net (brian whatcott)]

At 05:44 PM 4/10/97 -0700, Leigh Palmer wrote:
[bw]
> > I understand that Maxwell's Electromagnetic ether metaphor was a matrix of
> > coupled springs (vortices) of great stiffness.

[lp]
> > From Franklin & MacNutt op. cit:
>
> "137. Maxwell's mechanical model of the ether. - The ether
> is to be considered as built up of very small cells of two
> kinds, positive and negative, in such a way that only unlike
> cells are in contact.  These cells are imagined to be gear
> wheels provided with rubber-like teeth...
>
> Leigh

I'll take the opportunity to quote Maxwell's words
(from A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field
Roy Soc Trans Vol CLV  - Read Dec 1864))

"...the parts of this medium must be so connected that the 
motion of one part depends in some way on the motion of the rest; and
 at the same time these connections must be capable of a certain kind of 
elastic yielding, since the communication of motion is not instantaneous,
 but occupies time..."

In this respect, Franklin & Nutt seem to have over elaborated Maxwell's 
metaphor.  

To quote Poincare' on Maxwell:
"The reader therefore finds himself in the presence of form nearly devoid of 
matter, which at first he is tempted to take as a fugitive and unassailable
phantom.
 But the efforts he is thus compelled to make force him to think, and 
eventually he sees that there is often something rather artificial in the 
theoretical "aggregates" which he once admired."

However, to give your 'rubber gear wheels' their due, I note that
Maxwell's last words on the topic, in the Treatise (1873) include these:
"...I think we have good evidence for the opinion that some phenomenon of 
rotation is going on in the magnetic field, that this rotation is performed 
by a great number of very small portions of matter, each rotating on its own 
axis..."

Sincerely
brian whatcott <inet@intellisys.net>
Altus OK