LUCRETIUS AND THE ATOMIC THEORY 207 



atoms can exert a force upon one another across a void, but 

 Newton spoke of gravitation as an action between two distant 

 bodies, and since then we have got quite accustomed to the idea 

 of finite molecules of matter acting everywhere in the universe, 

 and that, too, without any material medium of communication. 

 This to Leibnitz was either miraculous or absurd. But, in fact, 

 Newton did not teach this ; he stated a fact, he did not devise 

 hypotheses ; he found that from the law of gravitation the vast 

 mass of facts observed about falling bodies and planetary 

 motions could be logically deduced. The one statement com- 

 prehended all the others ; his great discovery was the short 

 statement with its proof; he invented no explanation of how 

 the law of gravitation could be brought about, and neither 

 asserted nor denied that some medium of communication must 

 exist. Leibnitz and other doubters said, How can this be, this 

 attraction at a distance ? We cannot see how it can be done, so 

 we will not believe it ; it is miraculous or absurd. Newton 

 could only reply it was a fact, and we have been so satisfied with 

 the answer as to be somewhat in danger of forgetting that the 

 question, ' How can it be ? ' deserves consideration ; that the 

 statement of the law of gravitation, though a wonderful dis- 

 covery, does not set a bound to further inquiry. 



The law of gravitation considered as a result is beautifully 

 simple ; in a few words it expresses a fact from which most 

 numerous and complex results may be deduced by mere reason- 

 ing, results found invariably to agree with the records of obser- 

 vation ; but this same law of gravitation looked upon as an 

 axiom or first principle is so astoundingly far removed from all 

 ordinary experience as to be almost incredible. What ! every 

 particle in the whole universe is actively attracting every other 

 particle through void without the aid of any communication by 

 means of matter or otherwise each particle unchecked by 

 distance, unimpeded by obstacles, throws this miraculous in- 

 fluence to infinite distance without the employment of any 

 means ! No particle interferes with its neighbour, but all 

 these wonderful influences are co-existent in every point of 

 space ! The result is apparent at each particle, but the con- 

 dition of this intermediate space is exactly the same as though 

 no such influence were being transmitted across it ! Earth 



