342 THE MECHANICAL EQUIVALENT OF HEAT. 



long to the delusive middle region of naturalistic philosophy 

 and mysticism. 



By a law that is universally true, waste and want go hand 

 in hand. If to the case before us, where this rule likewise 

 meets with confirmation, we apply an equalizing process, and 

 take away the word " force " from the connection in which it 

 is superfluous and hurtful, and bring it to where we are in 

 want of it, we get rid at one time of two important obstacles. 

 The higher mathematics at once cease to be required in order 

 to gain admittance into the theory of motion : nature presents 

 herself in simple beauty before the astonished eye, and even 

 the less gifted may now behold many things which hitherto 

 were concealed from the most learned philosophers. 



Force and matter are indestructible objects. This law, to 

 which individual facts may most simply be referred, and 

 which therefore I might figuratively call the heliocentric stand- 

 point, constitutes a natural basis for physics, chemistry, phys- 

 iology, and philosophy. 



Among the facts which, though known, have been hith- 

 erto only empirically established and have remained isolated, 

 but which can be easily referred to this natural law, is the one 

 that electric and magnetic attraction cannot be isolated any' 

 more than gravity, or that the strength of this attraction 

 undergoes no alteration, so long as the distance remains the 

 same, by the intervening of indifferent substances (non-con- 

 ductors) . 



Among facts which have remained unknown up to the 

 most recent times, I will refer only to the influence which the 

 ebb and flow of the tide exerts, in accordance with the known 

 laws of mechanics, on the motion of the earth about its axis. 

 A fact of such importance, standing, as it does, in close rela- 

 tion with the fundamental law just stated, having been able 

 to escape the attention of naturalists, is of itself a proof that 

 the prevailing system has no exclusive title. 



For the rest, it will not have escaped those who are ac- 



