374 



NATURAL THEOLOGY. 



greater portion of the weight ; and that the power 

 of the hand is only given in addition to a weight 

 which, though small, has, by the distribution of 

 the force on the fixed points of the machinery, 

 become balanced against the greater weight to 

 be raised. This is obvious in the simplest form 

 of a machine, the wheel and axle, when we see it at 

 rest, and the lesser weight balancing the greater. 

 In this figure the lesser weight and the greater 

 weight are both sustained by the axle, and rest on 

 the beams which sustain that axle. 



'^''^'^^^ 



i 



^'\: i^ 





Call the lesser body the power, and the greater 

 body the weight; and the motions of these will 

 be in proportion to their distance from the centre 

 of the axle. Accordingly, we may measure the 

 space through which they move, by pulling on 



