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CHAPTER XI. 

 The Laws of Motion. 



WE shall now make a few remarks on the 

 general Laws of Motion by which all mechanical 

 effects take place. Are we to consider these as 

 instituted laws ? And if so, can we point out any 

 of the reasons which we may suppose to have 

 led to the selection of those laws which really 

 exist ? 



The observations formerly made concerning 

 the inevitable narrowness and imperfection of 

 our conclusions on such subjects, apply here, 

 even more strongly than in the case of the law 

 of gravitation. We can hardly conceive matter 

 divested of these laws ; and we cannot perceive 

 or trace a millionth part of the effects which they 

 produce. We cannot, therefore, expect to go far 

 in pointing out the essential advantages of these 

 laws such as they now obtain. 



It would be easy to show that the fundamental 

 laws of motion, in whatever form w<s state them, 

 possess a very preeminent simplicity, compared 

 with almost all others, which we might imagine 

 as existing. This simplicity has indeed pro- 

 duced an effect on men's minds which, though 

 delusive, appears to be very natural ; several 

 writers have treated these laws as self-evident, 

 and necessarily flowing from the nature of our 



