Very-Frank · Source catalogue

A 1919 pamphlet by the astronomer Frank W. Very (Westwood Astrophysical Observatory) that revives Emanuel Swedenborg's 'Principia' physics in terms of early-20th-century electron theory and quantum ideas. Very separates a universal, interstellar medium he calls the 'aura' (Swedenborg's term) from the 'ether' proper. The ether is electrically organised: a bound shell around each electron and each atom. Light is not a wave in a continuous medium. It is made of discrete 'ether-particles', elastic spheres about electron-sized that move at c and carry one least quantum each. Each is formed when an electron's superficial ethereal sheath is shaken off at a gyroscopic overturn of the electron, which reverses its electric sign. The Planck quantum is the energy to do that overturn (agreeing 'in a general way' with R. A. Fessenden's 'Gyroscopic Quanta', Science 1914). Part I builds the electron as a rotating vortical sphere of aura. It is the greatest possible condensation of electric force, with a surface that rotates at the speed of light. The size is set by Fessenden's 'breaking strain' of the ether. Very takes Fessenden's surface 'tension and pressure' (2 x 10^32 dynes, revised by Very to 'more nearly 10^33') and derives a volume elasticity of 10^73 from (pressure)^(3/2)/surface, so that the electron does not collapse. He gets 1.660 x 10^22 rev/s at the equator for Millikan's radius 1.9 x 10^-13 cm. The book rejects a positive electron, and describes all atomic mass as electrical (hydrogen = 1,844 electrons). The atom has a nucleus of thousands of electrons (uranium about 439,000) and Moseley-number satellite shells in a hollow multi-layer structure. Bohr's frequency for hydrogen is cited. Chemical bonding is by shared satellites. Hicks's vortex-atom thermal theory is adapted. Part II covers refraction (light slows in matter because denser 'bound ether' retards the light-bearing ether-particles through induced electromagnetic reaction). It also covers the Michelson-Morley experiment (explained by a bound-ether shell carried with every atom and thus with the Earth). The aberration of light is explained by a corpuscular theory (Stokes 1845), independently of the bound ether (p.52: 'aberration of light is entirely independent of the bound ether'). The Rayleigh (1902) and Brace (1904) double-refraction nulls are cited separately, as evidence that the bound ether travels with the Earth (p.36). Hirn's resisting-medium computations (pp.34-35) are used to argue that no large material mass fills interplanetary space, from which Very infers that ethereal atmospheres are confined near massive bodies (the deep read notes that this goes beyond what Very reports Hirn showing). Very also dismisses d'Auria (1897) for confusing Maxwell's ether density reference (water, not air) and notes a numerical error in Maxwell's value, without giving the size. There is an entropy section ('Is Entropy always One-Sided?') arguing that matter is destroyed into radiation and re-originates from the aura, citing Very's paper 'What becomes of the Light of the Stars?'. Gravity is treated as a synchronous pulsation of electrons in the aura (Bjerknes, Hicks, Burton, Leahy). It is limited to a 'galactic cell' around each galaxy, and galaxies are said to repel each other at intergalactic distances because, at about 1,000 km/s and spacings of 'a few centimetres' on a millimetre-dot scale, they should collide often and are seen not to. On Very's own distance scale (Andromeda at 1,600-8,000 light-years, our Galaxy 'much smaller' than 50,000 ly, the Curtis nebulae about 80,000 ly away) the deep read finds mean collision times of about 1e8-1e9 yr, so his inference follows from his own distances; it fails because those distances are about 300 times too small by modern measure (the 1885 Andromeda event was a supernova, not a nova). Very turns Leahy's 1889 objection (pulsating-matter gravity would turn to repulsion beyond a quarter wavelength) into a prediction by setting the quarter wavelength to the radius of an 'aural cell' (pp.50-51). There is a long assessment of Swedenborg's vortex theory of planetary motion, which Very rejects, and of Swedenborg's 'fifth natural form' and 'conatus'. Religious and spiritual language appears (aura tied to 'an infinite source of energy which is spiritual', p.44; synchronous pulsation as 'the finger of God', p.49; a hypothetical resting atmosphere of free ether-particles as 'perhaps the physical basis of ... telepathic thought', p.55, which Very says 'must be left undecided'). The deep read checked Very's arithmetic. The exponent arithmetic for 10^73 is right as written, but the formula is not dimensionally a pressure. The printed 1.660e22 rev/s does not follow from c/(2 pi r) with r = 1.9e-13 cm, which gives 2.512e22. Very's 'more nearly 10^33' for the revised radius goes the wrong way for Millikan's larger radius. The claim of about 1,000 times the atomic frequency does not match standard spectra. Fessenden's 2e32 is reproduced if his stated diameter is used as the radius. No number links the Planck quantum to the rotation rate. On p.19 Very does write that the energy of formation of an ether-particle is proportional to the frequency of the luminous vibration (the Einstein/Lenard photoelectric relation h/e = deltaV/delta-nu), but gives no value for it. The digest lines for pp.37-38 give wrong exponents (e.g. 10^10, 1.660e21). Those are OCR misreadings and the deep read's page-image values are the ones to use. The deep reads of pp.11-35 and 42-59 add the experiments and numbers Very relies on (all as Very reports them; the originals were not available): (1) the only first-hand measurement by Very is the firefly spectro-bolometry (Langley and Very, 'The Cheapest Form of Light', Am. J. Sci. XL p.97, Aug 1890, p.21): short-wave emission that would correspond to several thousand degrees if thermal is given off at body temperature without the matching infra-red, used to argue that luminescence comes from satellite electrons, not nuclear vibration. (2) Eichenwald 1903 (Rowland's experiment repeated with a charged, rotating, metal-coated glass disk, p.23): a magnetic effect was found, which Very says proves the aura is immobile with respect to matter moving through it; this is the aura, not the bound ether. (3) Lenard 1902 (photoelectron energy independent of intensity, pp.19-20), used as showing a 'structural' energy source in the ether-particle. (4) Bragg's corpuscular X-rays (pp.14-18), reinterpreted: the electron keeps its identity and its stripped envelope becomes the ether-particle. (5) Millikan's oil-drop objection to fibrous field structure (pp.18-19), turned into support. (6) Swan's 1897 resin stress-figures (pp.26-27), read as showing electrons with inflow and outflow poles; sign of charge = handedness of spin. (7) Hydrogen = 1,844 electrons (922 + 921 + 1 satellite), Bohr frequency 3.29e15 per second, uranium 6+11+15+18+20+22 = 92 satellites and about 439,000 nuclear electrons (= 1,844 x 238), all arithmetically consistent as written; Marion Erwin's 1,732-electron (12^3 + 4) hydrogen atom is rejected on Millikan's electron mass (p.28 footnote). (8) Thornton's cube rule (p.32): H, B, Al, Cu, Ru and Os 'have their atomic weights proportional to the cubes of the first six natural numbers' (1, 8, 27, 64, 125, 216); against modern atomic weights [memory, high] the ratio weight/(1.008 n^3) is 1.00, 1.34, 0.99, 0.99, 0.80, 0.87, so it holds for Al and Cu and fails for B, Ru and Os (the deep read did not check Thornton's paper, so his definition of 'proportional' is unknown). Very uses it to support a 'twelve-storied' uranium. (9) Hicks 1898 vortex aggregates (pp.30-31), cited both as inspiration and as a theory Very says cannot fit as stated. (10) Bound-ether refraction (pp.26, 33-34): index said to be predictable 'in proportion to the atomic weight', with no table or data. (11) Galaxy, gravity and entropy material (pp.42-51): Shapley's M13 result (no selective absorption) accepted, but Very says colour-independent absorption by the aura is not excluded and cites his own white-nebula study (Astron. Nachr. 4536); Nova Persei 1901 mass 1,149 suns (Astron. Nachr. 3771); his page-46 star-spacing arithmetic prints 192 km where his own expression gives 19.2 (the miles/km mix gives about 31 km); Lodge's steel-rod comparison (10^12 rods) is self-consistent (about 540 MPa); Bjerknes/Hicks/Burton/Leahy pulsating-sphere gravity (pp.48-51). (12) Swedenborg and Newton (pp.53-58): Swedenborg's atmospheres and vortices are rejected as 'futile' on friction grounds (sun's equatorial speed 4 1/3 times the Earth's and 1/6 of Jupiter's, stated not derived); R. W. Brown's 1916 critique; Swedenborg's five motions; Newton's 'aetherial spirits' letter (Phil. Mag. 1846) read as akin to the aura, not the ether. What c is measured relative to: the deep read of pp.51-59 (and a whole-text search) finds that no passage states a reference frame for the speed of light. The text says only that free ether-particles move 'with the speed of light'. The nearest hints are the aura 'immobile in respect to the motion of matter' (p.23), the hypothetical earth-resting ether-particles that 'do not move with the velocity of light' (p.55), and 'independently of its state of relative motion or rest' (p.53, no reference body named). The book does not mention Fizeau, Fresnel's drag coefficient, Airy, Sagnac, de Sitter or relativity. The text supports neither an emission-theory nor a stationary-aura reading.

Key claims

• Light consists of discrete, electron-sized, elastic 'ether-particles' travelling at c, each carrying one Planck quantum, not of transverse waves in a space-filling continuous ether.
• A universal interstellar medium (the 'aura', after Swedenborg) exists and is distinct from the electrically organised 'ether' that carries light.
• The Planck quantum is the energy needed to gyroscopically overturn an electron and reverse its electric sign. The shed ethereal sheath becomes the ether-particle (qualitative; no number given). On p.19 the energy of formation of an ether-particle is said to be proportional to the frequency of the luminous vibration, but no value or derivation is given.
• Every point of the electron's surface rotates at the speed of light, which is the fundamental relation between electrostatics and electromagnetics.
• The equatorial rotation rate of a Millikan-size electron (r = 1.9e-13 cm) is 1.660 x 10^22 rev/s (c/(2 pi r) actually gives 2.512e22; printed figure implies r = 2.875e-13 cm).
• From Fessenden's surface pressure (2e32, revised to ~1e33 'dynes') the electron needs volume elasticity of 10^73 to avoid collapse, computed as (pressure)^(3/2)/surface area.
• The Michelson-Morley null result is explained by a shell of bound ether carried along with each atom and so with the Earth, while the light-conveying free ether is separate. Rayleigh (1902) and Brace (1904) double-refraction nulls are cited as showing that the ether concerned in refraction is bound to the Earth (p.36).
• A corpuscular theory of light explains stellar aberration simply (after Stokes, 1845); aberration is 'entirely independent of the bound ether' (p.52).
• A positive electron does not exist; there is one kind of electron, and its two electric signs are two aspects (opposite rotation handedness) of one unit.
• All atomic mass is electrical: hydrogen contains 1,844 electrons, uranium's nucleus about 439,000, with 92 satellite electrons in shells of 6, 11, 15, 18, 20 and 22.
• Gravitation arises from the synchronous radial pulsation of electrons in the aura. It extends only over a 'galactic cell', and galaxies at intergalactic distances repel each other.
• Matter is gradually destroyed into radiation and re-originates from the aura, so entropy increase is not universal and the universe has regions of building-up.
• Hirn's resisting-medium computations (as Very reports them) rule out a large material mass in interplanetary space; Very infers that light-bearing ether is not a continuous space-filling medium and that ethereal atmospheres are limited to the vicinity of massive bodies (p.35; Very's inference goes beyond what he reports Hirn showing).
• The aura is immobile with respect to matter moving through it: Eichenwald (1903) repeated Rowland's experiment with a charged, rotating, metal-coated glass disk and found a magnetic effect, which Very says proves the aura is not carried along by matter (p.23).
• Firefly light (Langley and Very 1890) is short-wave emission that, if thermal, would imply several thousand degrees, yet is given off at body temperature without the matching infra-red; Very uses it to argue luminescence comes from satellite electrons, not nuclear vibration (p.21).
• Thornton's cube rule: the atomic weights of H, B, Al, Cu, Ru and Os are proportional to the cubes of 1 to 6 (against modern weights the ratio to 1.008 n^3 is 1.00, 1.34, 0.99, 0.99, 0.80, 0.87, so it holds only for Al and Cu); Very uses it to limit an atom to six pairs of shells ('twelve stories') (p.32).
• On Very's own 1918 distance scale (Andromeda 1,600-8,000 light-years, Curtis's nebulae about 80,000, our Galaxy 'much smaller' than 50,000), galaxies moving at about 1,000 km/s with spacings 20-50 times their diameter would collide every 1e8-1e9 years, so their observed non-collision is read as mutual repulsion between galactic cells (pp.45-48); the deep read finds the inference follows from his distances, which are about 300 times too small.
• Leahy's 1889 objection (pulsating-sphere gravity would repel beyond a quarter wavelength) is inverted into a prediction: set the quarter wavelength to the radius of an aural cell, and gravity attracts within a galaxy and repels between galaxies (pp.50-51); no wavelength, period or wave speed is given.
• Colour-independent (grey) absorption of starlight by the aura is not excluded by Shapley's M13 colour result, and Very's white-nebula study is said to show it (p.43 footnote); this feeds the matter-radiation-matter cycle of claim 11.
• A hypothetical resting atmosphere of free ether-particles around the Earth (not moving at c) is suggested as perhaps the physical basis of exterior thought and telepathy, explicitly left 'undecided' (p.55).
• The speed of light c is not stated relative to any frame anywhere in the book (deep read of pp.51-59 plus whole-text search); the retarding effect of bound ether on light is said to be independent of its 'state of relative motion or rest' (p.53) without naming a reference body.

Relevance: The only document in the project and the whole of Very's 1919 case: an astronomer's attempt to replace the continuous luminiferous ether with discrete ether-particles and a quantum origin, set inside a Swedenborgian framework. It is a period piece that sits between the end of the classical ether and quantum mechanics. Its numerical electron model is concrete enough to check, and it is. The deep reads (pp.11-59) show it also carries one first-hand measurement by Very (firefly spectro-bolometry, 1890), several cited experiments he reinterprets (Eichenwald, Lenard, Bragg, Millikan, Swan), a checkable numerical rule (Thornton's cubes) and a galaxy-collision argument whose numbers are consistent on his own, much too small, distance scale.

Mainstream conflict: Mainstream physics rejects a luminiferous ether (special relativity, 1905), treats light as quantised electromagnetic field excitations and not as 'ether-particles', and the electron as a point-like particle with intrinsic spin, with no rotating surface at c. The positron (observed 1932) contradicts the denial of a positive electron. Hydrogen is a proton plus an electron, not 1,844 electrons. The Planck quantum is E = h nu, with no connection to an electron overturn. Galaxies attract, and no intergalactic repulsion is established; colliding and merging galaxies are now observed, and the true intergalactic spacing is much larger than Very's distances implied. Andromeda is about 2.5 million light-years away, not 1,600-8,000 [memory, high]. Entropy and the second law are not accepted as locally reversed by matter re-origination. Mainstream treatment of aberration and of the Fizeau experiment (partial drag) is not compatible with a bound-ether shell carried by the Earth that exerts no drag. Very himself makes aberration independent of the bound ether (p.52) and says the bound ether retards light 'independently of its state of relative motion' (p.53), which implies zero drag; the book never mentions Fizeau or Fresnel, so the conflict is the reviewers' to weigh. The book also states no reference frame for c, and mainstream relativity requires c to be frame-independent. Note: these mainstream statements are for the reviewers to weigh in Step 2; they are recorded here only as the point of conflict.