The Cause of Life and Motion 21 



can be reconciled with conventional theories. 

 Before proceeding with the investigation, the 

 author would state that henceforth the forces 

 will be frequently alluded to as the Celestial 

 forces, particularly, where it may seem necessary 

 to distinguish them from indirect forces. 



A cannon ball, when impelled from a cannon, is 

 followed for a very short distance by the initial force, 

 nevertheless, it speeds its way onward in the face of 

 obstacles, sustaining itself in its flight against what is 

 called the force of gravity. What is it that sustains 

 the weight and keeps up the momentum of this mass 

 of iron ? Scientists gravely tell us that it has no power 

 to stop, and that it would go on forever, unless it 

 should be opposed by one or more impediments equal 

 in effect to the initial impulse. According to the 

 scientist's view, momentum is power, and since the 

 ball has momentum, it follows that it has just as much 

 power to stop as it has to go on. On the other hand, 

 to say that it has no power to stop, would absurdly 

 enough, imply equally that it would have no power 

 to go on beyond the limit of the initial impulse. In 

 truth, it has no power whatever, nor is it capable of 

 receiving or transmitting any power except what is 

 continuously given it by force. How then is the momen- 

 tum kept up ? We have seen that the displaced energy of 

 the forces within a body are accumulated about its 

 exterior. This accumulated energy may be likened to a 

 series of minute quick moving waves gradually becom- 

 ing less, as their distance from the body becomes 

 greater. These waves are ever tending to recover their 

 normal condition and consequently their greatest action 



