raYSICAL AND LITERARY. 49 



«* diftances." And adds, " That he has 

 •* not been able to find out from phaeno- 

 *' mena, the reafon of thefe properties of 

 '* gravity, and that he does not chule to 

 " deal in hypothefes." It need not be fur- 

 priCng, that this great philofopher 

 fhould be referved upon the caufe of a 

 theory fo extenfive and fo wonderful, when 

 it was his own child. New difcoveries 

 are always received with fome degree of 

 hefitation; Becaufe it is the effect of no- 

 velty to produce doubts as well as fur- 

 prize. But now, that this theory is ful- 

 ly eftabliflied by habit, as well as by rea- 

 foning, and has got a firm hold of the 

 mind; it is not obvious, why later philo- 

 fophers fhould affed the fame referve. 

 For my part, I cannot fee any dilEculty of 

 explaining the caufe of attradion or gra^ 

 vity, more than of explaining the caufe 

 of a body's continuing in the fame degree 

 of motion with which it begins to move. 

 And this I fhall now attempt. 



It is above eflablifhed, that the conti- 

 nuation of motion in bodies mufl be an 

 eflfed of a power inherent in all matter. 



Vol. I. » G of 



