THE CONSERVATION OF FOECE. 



~T"T"ARIOUS circumstances induce me at the present mo- 

 V ment to put forth a consideration regarding the con- 

 servation of force. I do not suppose that I can utter any 

 .truth respecting it that has not already presented itself to the 

 high and piercing intellects which move within the exalted 

 regions of science ; but the course of my own investigations 

 and views makes me think that the consideration may be of 

 service to those persevering labourers (amongst whom I en- 

 deavour to class myself) who, occupied in the comparison of 

 physical ideas with fundamental principles, and' continually 

 sustaining and aiding themselves by experiment and observa- 

 tion, delight to labour for the advance of natural knowledge, 

 and strive to follow it into undiscovered regions. 



There is no question which lies closer to the root of all 

 physical knowledge than that which inquires whether force 

 can be destroyed or not. The progress of the strict science 

 of modern times has tended more and more to produce the 

 conviction that "force can neither be created nor destroyed ;" 

 and to render daily more manifest the value of the knowledge 

 of that truth in experimental research. To admit, indeed, 

 that force may be destructible or can altogether disappear, 

 would be to admit that matter could be uncreated ; for we 

 know matter only by its forces ; and though one of these is 



