273 



touching the vast bodies which are above us, and pene- 

 trates so little a way into the earth beneath us, that it 

 seems confined to but a small share of a superficial part 

 of a physical point/' 



Perhaps it will be I acceptable to calm, dispassipnate 

 men, If I add another extract from a very sensible writer, 

 containing a few short observations, oil the whole present 

 system of philosophy. 



1. The first axiom in the present philosophy is, that 

 all matter is indifferent to motion or rest. But do we 

 not here stumble at the threshold 1 Laying as a funda- 

 mental truth, what is manifestly false] For motion and 

 rest are such opposites, that it implies a contradiction to 

 suppose an equal disposition to either, inherent in the 

 same body. The one ii> a positive, which necessarily 

 implies power, the other a mere negative, which implies 

 no power in any direction* 



2. Matter containing in itself no power of any kind, 

 can give no resistance to any impression upon it : neither 

 can it of itself continue to exert the effects of that im- 

 pression. Therefore the second axiom, or rather the 

 phenomena, from which it it is deduced, must arise, not 

 from matter in itself, but from the relation which ail 

 matter bears to the universal system of nature. 



3. The third axiom x concerning re-action is as excepti- 

 onable as the two former. For it may easily be shewn, 

 that the re-action of matter depends entirely on gravi- 

 ty. If gravity were subtracted, there is no proof or rea- 

 son to suppose, that bodies would exert either resistance 

 or re-action. All these axioms therefore, instead of being 

 absolute laws, are mere phenomena depending on- other 

 causes, which causes, it is incumbent upon the philoso- 

 to look for. 



4. The projectile power never caa balance that of 

 gravitation, so as to maintain the motion of the planets, 



X 4 



