PHYSICAL ann LITERARY. 61 
Or THE FORCE or BODIES 
ain MOTION. 
N explaining the firft law of motion, that 
I every body perfeveres, as much as in it 
lies, in its prefent ftate of reft or motion eS 
have touched at that remarkable power which 
all matter is endued with, of moving on 
with its original velocity; and to which 
power I have chofen to confine the term vis 
infiza. 1 now proceed to unfold fome fur- 
_ ther properties of this power. It appears 
clear, that the vis infita might have been fo 
_ ordered, as to produce an accelerated or re- 
 tarded, inftead of an uniform motion. And 
it might have been fo ordered as to yield to 
_ the fmalleft oppofing force, which is the cafe 
4 of the vis refiftentiae when the body is at reft. 
_ There is no difficulty to conceive a body en- 
_dued with fuch a property, as to preferve it- 
r q felf in its original degree of motion, where 
- there is no ob{truction, and yet to yield to 
ot the 
* 
