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जैन दर्शन के मौलिक तत्व
180 .
nature of the thing oalled "ETHER". We are all quite familiar with the existence of solide, liquids and gases. Now, suppose that inside a glass-vassel there are no solids, liquid or gases; that all of these things have been removed including the air as well.
If I were to ask you to describe the condition that now exists within the glass-vassel, you would promptly reply that nothing exists within it, that a "Vaccum" bas been created. But I shall have to correct you, and explain that within this vessel there does exist "ETHER' nothing else.
So, we may say that Ether is a 'something that is not a solid, nor liquid, nor gaseous nor anything else which can be observed by us physically. Therefore, we say that an absolute "Vacoum” or & void does not exist any where, for we know that an absolute vaccum can not be created for Ether oan pot be removed.
Well, you might say, if we don't know what Ether is, how do we know it exists ?
We get our knowledge of Ether from experi. ments; by observing results anb deducing facts. For example, if within the glass-vessel, mentioned above, we place a bell and cause it to ring, no sound of Anykind reaches our ears, Therefore, we deduce that in the absence of air, sound does not exist and thus, that sound must be due to vibration in the air.
Now let us place a radio transmitter inside the enolosure that is void of air. We find that radiosignal'a are sent out exactly the same as when the transmitter was exposed to the air. So we are right in deducing that elotromagnetio-waves, or Radio waves, do not depend upon air for their propagation
