400 AN TIE NT METAPHYSICS. Book V. 



being moved all at once, than it can be by any animal who has 

 joints and limbs. 



The Newtonians, who infifl: fo much upon the analogy of falling 

 Bodies here on Earth, will, no doubt, afk me to what diftance I fup- 

 pofe that this tendency of heavy Bodies towards the centre of the 

 Earth may reach ; and, if I cannot afcertain that diftance, they will 

 fay it may go to the Moon, or beyond it. * 



v-'i. ^:r\ /,■ 



But my anfvver is, tliat I know not fo much of the fecrets of Di- 

 vine Wifdom, as to know, with any certainty, how far this tendency 

 of Bodies to our Earth, or Attraction, as it is commonly called, 

 does extend. But this I know, with great certainty, that we have 

 no experiment or obfervation, which can prove that it extends be- 

 yond our atmofphere ; and, indeed, I fhould think it highly probablci 

 that, as the region of our Planet extends no farther, the tendency 

 of other Bodies to it fhould go no further likewife. If, indeed, 

 the Newtonians could fhow by any other example in Nature, that, 

 where there is an attradion, or tendency of one Body to another, it 

 does not ceafe at any given diftance, I fhould think there would be 

 a good deal of weight in their argument from analogy. But the di- 

 redl contrary is the fa£t ; for we know Bodies that have a mutual 

 tendency to one another at a certain diftance, but have no fuch ten- 

 dency when they are further removed from one another. This is 

 the cafe of the Magneiical and Eledlrical Attradions, and all the At- 

 tractions of the fmall particles of Matter. Thofe, therefore, who 

 maintain that the Attraction betwixt Bodies takes place at any di- 

 ftance, how great foever, are not only not fupported by any faCt or 

 experience, but argue direCtly contrary to it. 



Thus, I think, I have proved, that the Motion of the Planets is 

 both begun and carried on by Mind : Nor will any one be furpri- 



fed 



