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THE SUMMARY
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student of physics knows there are nodes and antinodes (places of no disturbance and maximum disturbance) in a system of stationary waves. Who can say that the positions of nodes (slight swellings at which the leaves arise) and internodes (smooth parts between the nodes) in the stems of plants are not determined by the positions of the nodes and the antinodes in the media of motion and rest?
The modern analogue of the medium of motion is the aether. It is undoubtedly regarded as the medium through which electromagnetic waves travel. In the beginning the scientists associated material properties with aether which gave rise to serious difficulties and contradictions. However the idea of aether, after suffering many cataclysms, survives to this day. It is now regarded as an imponderable fluid surrounding every particle of matter and penetrating every atom and the molecule. Physicists made various assumptions about aether in order to explain the electromagnetic phenomena, viz., that (1) moving bodies carry aether along in their motion; (2) moving bodies do not carry aether with them but they only move in a calm aether-sea, or (3) aether is a partially carried and partially not carried by moving bodies. But all these assumptions miserably failed to explain facts and were contradicted by the most delicate experiments. Neither motion of aether nor motion through aether could be detected. The reason probably is that aether does not possess any of the properties associated with matter. We would like to point out that Jaina physics postulates the existence of stationary waves in aether and this assumption needs to be worked out mathematically. It is a new idea and may lead to fruitful results. Even to this day the aether problem remains a great puzzle and we read on 184 of The Evolution of Physics: "All our attempts to make aether real failed.... After such bad experiences, this is the moment to forget the aether completely and to try never to mention its name. We shall say: our space has the physical property of transmitting waves and so omit the use of a word we have decided to avoid. The omission of a word from our. vocabulary is, of course, no remedy. Our troubles are indeed much too profound to be solved in this way!" A similar trouble was anticipated by the Jaina thinkers when they asked the question: What is the harm if we associate the functions of motion and rest with the space which exists everywhere? (See page 102 ante.) And the answer given was: By so doing the
