Matter and Motion. 15 



two, in their approach one to another, 

 ivijl move twenty-six foot, while the oth- 

 er moves but one foot. 



Wherefore the quantity of matter in 

 the earth being twenty-six times more 

 than in the moon, the motion in the moon 

 towards the earth, by the common force 

 of attraction, by which they are impelled 

 towards one another, will be twenty-six 

 times as fast as in the earth ; that is, the 

 moon will move twenty-six miles towards 

 the earth, for every mile the earth moves 

 towards the moon. 



This attraction is the strongest, the 

 nearer the attracting bodies are to each 

 other ; and in different distances of the 

 same bodies, is reciprocally in the dupli- 

 cate proportion of those distances. For 

 instance, if two bodies, at a given dis- 

 tance, attract each other with a certain 

 force, at half the distance, they will at- 

 tract each other with four times that 

 force ; at one third of the distance, with 

 nine times that force ; and so on. 



Two bodies, at a distance, will put one 

 another into motion by the force of at- 

 traction ; which is inexplicable by us, 

 though made evident to us by experience, 



