THOUGHTS ON NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 13 



Matter moves. 



In Newton's Principia the first law is that "Every 

 body continues in its state of rest or of uniform 

 motion in a straight line, except in so far as it may 

 be compelled by impressed forces to change that 

 state." 



Let us transpose the wording as follows: Every 

 body continues in its state of uniform motion in a 

 straight line, or in its state of rest, except in so far 

 as it may be compelled by impressed forces to change 

 that state. 



The reason that the law as transposed is more 

 correctly stated is as follows: It is acknowledged by 

 scientific inquirers that in scientific matters we must 

 reason from the known to the unkno\vn. The only 

 state of rest known to us is a relative and occasional 

 state. Take a book between the two hands, apply 

 an upward and a downward pressure; when the 

 pressure is equal in opposite directions a state of 

 equilibrium will result, and the book will be at rest. 

 The force that causes this state of rest is energy 

 exercised in opposite directions. What is true of the 

 book is true of other matter. Energy (or material 

 motion) causes the state of rest, therefore energy 

 (or material motion) must be the original thing, and 

 rest a secondary matter or effect. To take the effect 

 as the basis of an argument or system of philosophy, 

 and then invent some imaginary force (which, after 

 all, can only be a name, a word, a no-force) to 

 account for phenomena caused by a force already 

 in existence is fallacious and absurd. 



The first law should therefore be that: Every 



