ATTRACTION OF GRAVITATION. 



would otherwise have been, whereas they are as 

 strongly as ever repelled towards each other 

 by the blows which fall upon their rear. The 

 result is that they are driven towards each other, 

 or, as we say, attracted. And it can easily be 

 shown that the force which drives them to- 

 gether must vary inversely as the square of 

 the distance, in correct agreement with the law 

 of gravitation. 



The theory has certain weak parts, and 

 the present author, in his book, " Radium 

 Explained/' has suggested amendments to 

 strengthen these portions and bring the theory 

 into harmony with the most recent knowledge 

 of the minute structure of matter. 



All that can be said within our present limits 

 is that Le Sage's theory is the only explana- 

 tion of the attraction of gravitation which is 

 intelligible and workable. 



And, once more, it explains that attrac- 

 tion, so called, is not a special force, but only 

 a special case of the indirect action of repulsion. 



It is probable that the same principle holds 

 regarding the attraction of cohesion which 

 exists between extremely small particles in 

 extremely close contact, which gives us the 

 solidity of iron and the tenacity of silk. 



In the days of the old view of atoms, that 

 they were indivisible particles, though it was 

 easy to realise that one atom striking another 

 could communicate its motion or energy to the 



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