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DIIARMA AND ETHER
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fluidity and yet, it has no effect on the motions of the cosmic bodies Notwithstanding this flaw, the scientists were so eager to establish the existence of a medium for the motion that, they could not abandon the conception of the ether Whereever, necessity for a medium arose, they conceived another with special properties to suit the conditions, so much so that they conceived a special ether which assists the travelling of messages from one part of the body to another In other words, the number of (various) ethers which could harmonise the logical reasoning with the problems, mounted up to hundreds Inspite of this the conception of ether is considered to be, the greatest contribution of the science in the nineteenth century
The ether, upto this time, was similar to the Dharma Dravya of Jain philosophy, only in that they both were mediums of motion But from other points of view, on account of the difference in their material and nonmaterial nature, they were quite opposite to each other Whereas Dharma Dravya was believed to be a non-material medium which cannot be conceived to possess colour, odour, taste or touch as also its, fluidity, density elasticity and rigidity, etc, the ether was quite opposite to it But further investigation in the 20th century brought about a revolution in the conception of Ether. The latest characteristics of ether are given by the Einstein's Theory of Relativity'.
