Vacuum electromagnetics derived exclusively from the properties of an ideal fluid

If a return to ether concepts becomes necessary or desirable, an event not as unlikely as it seemed a short time ago, the medium dealt with here may be of interest. Maxwell's vacuum equations are derived from the properties of an ideal fluid with no support from experimental facts. The fields E and B, as so interpreted, are statistical in nature and readily visulaizable in a mechanical and geometric sense. The electromagnetic-momentum theorem is shown to be a second-order effect stemming from nonlinear effects which were neglected in the derivation of the vacuum equations. The presence of voids (hollow vortex cores) in an otherwise incompressible fluid allows a mechanical interpretation of the Lorentz gauge. It is suggested as a matter of parsimony that Newton's laws may be replaceable by kinematics, thereby reducing electrodynamics to Euclidean geometry