Chap. 11. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 339 



There is another diftindion, of great Importance, which the 

 Newtonians, as I have elfewhere obferved, do not appear to me to 

 have accurately made : — It is betwixt fnoving, and being moved ; 

 for, if they had not confounded thefe two things, according to 

 the ufe of vulgar and unphilofophical language, they could hare 

 been at no lofs to make a diftin<3:ion of ftill greater importance, 

 I mean the di{lin£tion betwixt Mind and Body; for Mind would 

 have immediately appeared to be that which moves^ and Body 

 that which is moved. And we fhould have feen at once in 

 what that Vis Inertiae, which all the Newtonians afcribe to Bo- 

 dy, but which they do not appear to me to underftand, confifts ; 

 for the Vis Inertiae is nothing elfe but that perfeft paflivity 

 and inactivity, which makes Body abfolutely incapable of moving 

 itfelf, or of exerting any Power of any kind. Of what ufe this ob- 

 fei'vation is, will appear in the fequel of this argument. 



There is another inaccuracy of expreffion in this matter, which it 

 is proper to obferve, and that is the calling by the name oiVis Iner- 

 tiae this paflive quality of Body, which, I think, is very improper, 

 even when applied to it in a ftate of Reft ; for the expreflion un- 

 doubtedly denotes a Force, or adive Power, by which a thing either 

 continues or changes its ftate. Now, I deny that Body has any 

 power of either kind ; and therefore I think it is improper to fay, 

 that Body continues itfelf in a ftate even of Reft. 



But it is ftill more improper, and, indeed, I think, abfurd to fay, 

 that Body continues itfelF likewife in Motion by its Vis Inertiae. It 

 fhould have been called by a name very different, viz. Vis Mobilita- 

 tis ; for it is truly no other, according to the hypothefis of the New- 

 tonians, than a power of moving itfelf from place to place, and this 

 forever. 



U u ^ Before 



