Page:The Philosophy of Creation.djvu/140

 lies back of ether, air, and rock, that it is properly called the highest or inmost of these. That the aura is distinct from ether is evident from the independence of their actions and their complete non-interference. The constant, unmodified, independent, and simultaneous activity of gravity and of electricity, which is an activity of ether, in the simple experiment of lifting a bar of iron with an electro-magnet is confirmatory; for the one force of gravity does not merge into the other force of electricity, but both are constant and uninterrupted though acting in opposite directions. The attempts of the most severely materialistic of physicists to level all substance down to the one grade of the grossest matter is effectually defeated not only by the existence of so different forms of matter as aura and air with capacity for so diverse activity, but also by the forced acknowledgment on the part of all that there is a universal medium of ether whose activity gives heat and light. The same process of reasoning that convinces us of the existence of ether, will show also that there is a universal medium of aura permeating ether as ether permeates the air and the earth. The explanation of many phenomena necessitates its existence, which is no more difficult to conceive than it is to conceive of ether. The aura, being distinct