  Standard treatments of general relativity accept the gravitational slowing of
clocks as a primary phenomenon, requiring no further analysis as to cause.
Rejecting this attitude, I argue that one or more of the fundamental
"constants" governing the quantum mechanics of atoms must depend upon position
in a gravitational field. A simple relationship governing the possible
dependencies of e, h, c and m is deduced, and arguments in favor of the choice
of the electron rest mass, m, are presented. The reduction of rest mass is thus
taken to be the sole cause of clock slowing. Importantly, this dependency
implies another effect, heretofore unsuspected, namely, the gravitational
elongation of measuring rods. An alternate ("telemetric") system of measurement
is introduced, leading to a metric that is conformally related to the usual
proper metric. In terms of the new system, many otherwise puzzling phenomena
may be simply understood. In particular,the geometry of the Schwarzschild space
as described by the telemetric system differs profoundly from that described by
proper measurments, leading to a very different understanding of the structure
of black holes. The theory is extended to cosmology,leading to a remarkable
alternate view of the structure and history of the universe.
