124 GENERAL ECONOMY OF 



communicates with, and acts upon, all kindred bodies, and is 

 acted upon by them in return ; the action consisting in an in- 

 terblending of the forces and properties of the different 

 bodies. When this interblending is harmonious, the action is 

 attractive ; when it is conflicting, it is repulsive. Beyond cer- 

 tain limits of distance, the interblending actions of any two 

 bodies, however dissimilar in constitution, is always harmoni- 

 ous and hence attractive ; within those limits of distance, 

 the action is crowding and conflicting, and hence repellant. 



Suppose, then, that by some controlling arm, or some acci- 

 dental impediment, a planet were suddenly arrested in its 

 orbit, and were thus relieved from the influence of centrifugal 

 force: it would immediately be drawn toward its primary 

 with a force which would uniformly increase as the square of 

 the distance decreased, provided no counteracting force were 

 developed by the approach to the central body. In falling in- 

 ward, however, although the attractive force would, for a time, 

 be increased (that is, until the previous centrifugal displace- 

 ment was overcome), its elastic atmosphere w r oulcT begin to 

 crowd more and more upon the elastic atmosphere of the sun, 

 and even its own solidified particles, by the increased calorific, 

 photic, electric, odic, and vital action due to the proximity of 

 the two bodies as centers of such action, would, in themselves, 

 develop an emanative or repellent force in respect to the pri- 

 mary ; and, owing to these causes, the secondary body could 

 not approach within a certain distance of its primary, within 

 which distance the repellent force would be superior to the 

 attractive. 



The same idea is involved in the theory (before propounded) 

 of the process by which secondary bodies were formed from 

 primaries and which supposes that the secondaries are com- 

 posed of an equal quantity of attracted and emanated particles. 



