DEFINITION OF THE GRAVITATING POWER. 383 



that particles at different distances are urged toward each 

 other with a power varying inversely as the square of the 

 distance, is a truth : but the definition has not that mean 

 ing ; and what I object to is the pretence of knowledge 

 which the definition sets up when it assumes to describe, not 

 the partial effects of the for^e, but the nature of the force 

 as a whole. 



