Abstract
THE principal object of this lecture was to show experimental evidence of a hitherto unrecognised fact of fundamental importance in mechanical philosophy. This newly-recognised property peculiar to granular masses (named by the author “Dilatancy”) would be rendered clear by the exporiments. But it was not from these experiments that it had been discovered. This discovery was the result of an endeavour to conceive the mechanical properties a medium must possess in order to act the part of the all-pervading ether—transmitting waves such as light, but not such as sound, allowing free motion of bodies, causing distant bodies to gravitate, and causing forces like cohesion, elasticity, and friction between adjacent molecules, together with electricity and magnetism.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Dilatancy 1 . Nature 33, 429–430 (1886). https://doi.org/10.1038/033429b0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/033429b0