1822.] 
single thread of silk from the ceiling 
of a room, and every motion within the 
room will move it as though it were 
touched or pushed; proving that at- 
mospheric air or gas is’ as perfect a 
conductor of motion or force as a bar 
of iron or a rod of wood. 
- 17. Lay or suspend several pieces 
at different distances, and in any man- 
ner act on the intervening air, when it 
will be seen that the pieces will be 
affected inversely as their distances ; 
or, in truth, that the motions will be 
diffused or radiated, and consequently 
must at different distances be inversely 
as the squares of the distances, and as 
the quantities of matter concerned; 
which is the very law by which the 
sun, planets, and satellites, are known 
to act aud>re-act on each other, and 
there consequently is no occasion in 
nature for the composition of such 
imaginary forces as universal gravita- 
tion and projectile force acting within 
a vacuum. 
18. Throw a stone into a pond, and 
‘its action will also radiate or diverge 
in circles, the force of each of which is 
diffused or radiated, or is necessarily 
in each circle inversely as the squares 
of the distances: proving that all force 
or motion propagated in gases and 
fluids is inversely as the squares of the 
distances, and in equal velocities as the 
quantities of matter; and taking the 
gas or water lying between two bo- 
dies (i.¢. an agent and patient), as 
the medium of motion, it may be re- 
garded as a gaseous or fiuid lever, 
which acts inversely as the square of 
the distance, and like a fixed or conti- 
nuous lever of solid matter; but in- 
versely as the squares, and not, as in 
the latter case, in the inverse ratio of 
the simple distances. 
19. Let a person who is running or 
riding on horseback, or in or ona 
moving coach, throw a ballin a perpen- 
dicular direction into the air, and you 
will see him catch it again as though 
he had been fixed; but, on looking 
sideways at the ascent and descent of 
the ball, you will see it perform a 
curve, for its motions partook of the 
actual motions of the projector, and 
also of the direction of the impulse of 
his hand, and the two motions acting 
on the freed ball, occasion the ball to 
move in a diagonal curve.—Just so it 
is with any rising or falling projectile, 
in regard to the earth itself; they do 
not rise or fall perpendicularly, how- 
ever much they appear to do so ; but, 
Experiments illustrative of the New Philosophy. 
299 
owing to the simultaneous motions of 
the earth, their apparently perpendi- 
cular rise and fall is always a curve; 
while, owing to the swiftness of the 
earth’s motions, compared with that of 
a rising or falling body, in a second of 
time, the curve is almost a straight 
line, 7. e, it rises at the apex but one 
foot on a base of 6060 feet. All the 
reasonings founded on the supposed 
rectilinear rise and fail of bodies are 
therefore erroneous; the rise on the 
earth being governed by the joint mo- 
tions of the earth and the impulse of 
the projector, and the fall-back being 
entirely governed by the two motions 
of the earth. If a spectator could 
stand at a distance from the earth, and 
see the rise and fall, he would observe 
the curve just as in the case of the 
person riding, or on horseback. 
20. Place a parcel of gravel and 
sand in a vessel like a sieve, make the 
vessel revolve rapidiy, and it will be 
seen that the larger and densest stones 
will revolve next the sides, or in the 
largest circles: because they invaria- 
bly contain or acquire the greatest 
part of the common force which reyolves 
the sieve. : 
21. Project a handful of gravel ina 
right line with force, and the large 
and dense stones will go the far- 
thest, whilst the small ones and the 
dust will be left behind, because the 
large and dense ones partook of. the 
largest share of the common force 
with which the mass was projected. 
22. Cause the sieve, in the last éx- 
periment but one, to move also in a 
right line, with much greater velocity 
than it revolves, and the order of the 
gravel will be reversed: for the densest 
stones will still seek the line of great- 
est motion, while the revolving motion 
will affect only the rarer and smaller 
parts of the mass. These.are the cir- 
cumstances of the earth; it moves in 
its orbit, or comparatively straight 
line, sixty-two times faster.than it re- 
volves ; hence all the dense bodies, as 
metals and stones, seek the centre, 
and the light ones, as water and air, 
the circumference. Central momen- 
tum or gravitation is therefore a local 
phenomenon generated in each planet 
in the same way as in each sieve or 
vessel ; and is not more universal in the 
planets than it would be in the several 
sieves, in each of which the pheno- 
mena results from the particular sepa- 
rated movements. 
23. View a meteor and its train in 
rapid 
