The Mighty Deep 



term may be counted amiss. No law is worth 

 anything without a sufficient force to back it 

 up ; and no force is worth anything unless 

 it acts according to law. But we might almost 

 as reasonably call this behaviour of things ''an 

 Obedience" as ''a Law." 



Each particle of each substance draws and 

 is drawn by each other particle of every sub- 

 stance. And each body in the Universe, from 

 a grain of sand to a sun, draws and is drawn 

 by each other body, whether far or near. 

 All these drawings are in obedience to that 

 mysterious something — that force, or power, 

 or influence — which has been named Attraction 

 or Gravitation. So much we know ; and beyond 

 it we know very little as to the nature of the 

 said ''Attraction;" but we find that the out- 

 come of it is Weight. 



By means of weight, the sun, the moon, the 

 planets, yes, and even the countless multitudes 

 of stars, are kept in their paths ; in each case 

 the inward pulling being counterbalanced by 

 the impetus and outward pulling of a rapid 

 rush. By means of weight, houses, rocks, stones 

 rest firmly on the earth ; by means of weight, 

 the atmosphere is bound to the earth, the 

 Ocean to its bed. Had sea- water no weight 



28 



