As a matter of fact, the correct view is exactly the opposite, that is, if we are to form our conception by following out those philosophical rules that Newton laid down. For either the rules are right, or his supposition is right. They cannot both be right, as his supposition is contrary to the second Rule of Philosophy, as all experience and observation from the analogy of Nature teach us that a medium enveloping any body, as planet, star or sun, is densest nearest to the body, becoming rarer the further that medium gets away from the central body. Let us take for our illustration the best example, that experience and observation afford, that of the atmosphere surrounding the earth. The analogy is so perfect, that one is almost tempted to believe that the atmosphere and the Aether are in some way intimately associated with each other. Some years ago Lord Kelvin was of the opinion that the Aether was but an extension of the atmosphere, though I am not certain whether he holds that view at the present time. Clerk Maxwell, writing in the _Phil. Mag._ in May 1861, writes: "I have deduced from this result the relation between statical or dynamical electricity, and have shown that the elasticity of the magnetic medium in air is the same as that of the luminiferous medium, _if these two coexistent, coextensive, and equally elastic media are not rather one medium_." Now for the comparison. Both the atmosphere and Aether are matter. Both are atomic, both are gravitative, both possess elasticity, and both possess density. The atmosphere also possesses different degrees of density, so does the Aether. In the case of the atmosphere, however, experience and experiment teach us that the atmosphere is denser nearer the earth than farther away. When we ascend mountains, it is a matter of common knowledge that the higher we ascend, that is the further we get from the earth, the rarer the atmosphere becomes. When we ascend in balloons, we find that the air becomes so rare and so light, that the blood will flow from the nose, on account of the reduced pressure exerted on it, the pressure inside the body being greater than that outside. Now in accordance with our second Rule of Philosophy, if experience is to be any guide at all, then it most conclusively teaches us that the Aether being subject to the same laws as the atmosphere, the same results inevitably follow. Therefore the Aether nearest the earth is denser than any layer immediately above it, and that layer denser than the one above it, and so on for great distances, with the result that the only conclusion we can come to in regard to the density and rarity of Aether in relation to all gravitating bodies is, that the densest part of the Aether is nearest to them, and the rarest, the farthest away from them. So that while Newton's suggestion in his nineteenth query is correct in principle, it is incorrect in application to space.