68 ESSAYS ann OBSERVATIONS 
foft matter, a double force produces» a qua- 
druple effe& ; which may be accounted ,for 
in the fame manner with the retardation 
which happens in the afcent of heavy bodies. - 
A double force makes the body afcend four 
times the height before it be. ftopt by the 
counteraction of gravity. And it is equally 
reafonable to fuppofe, that when bodies fall 
into refifting mediums, a double force will 
carry the body a quadruple fpace downwards 
before the motion be quite ftopt by the refift- 
ance of the medium. 
I thall conclude this eflay with the follow- 
ing obfervation, that the feveral powers I have 
afcribed to matter, are in nothing fimilar to 
occult qualities. The error of thofe who 
dealt in the doctrine of occult qualities was, 
in attributing every different effect to fome 
quality or caufe confined to that fingle effect ; 
which was in reality faying no more, than, 
what all the world knows, that every effect 
muft have a caufe. This was not advancing 
a fingle ftep in knowledge, but amufing one’s 
felf with words in place of things. The 
powers I have attributed to matter, refolve 
into general Jaws, each of them productive 
of a thoufand different effects. And we have 
no 
