MECHANISM OF NATURE 



it than there was before, or that body must have 

 created force, and that creation of force must be 

 continuous. (Hypothesis.) 



But a constant addition of force, to the Uni- 

 verse, would be directly perceptible in planetary 

 action, while on the contrary the manifestations 

 of force are plainly repetitions, and the result of 

 previous change. 



If we deem the force, heat, inherent in coal, it 

 is only by changing the coal that we can liberate 

 the force, heat, and in order to change the coal 

 we must have force to ignite it. 



No material body can change itself by its own 

 inherent force, as far as our science can observe. 

 If there is any material body that is an exception 

 to this, it is a fetish. 



But true science has nothing to do with fetishes, 

 but argues from cause to effect, and any body that 

 gives off force is itself changed in the process. 



Then, everywhere that we trace the action of 

 force, we do it by the changes wrought in mate- 

 rial; and, if anywhere, we fail to see change in a 

 material, which exhibits force (radium giving out 

 X rays, for instance), we must conclude that there 

 is a change going on in the material; and if we 

 want to know anything more about it, we must 

 find the nature of that change. For if a material 

 does give out of its own inherent force, then it is 

 a thing separate from the economy of nature, and 

 there remains nothing to be said or done or known ; 

 we must simply give it a name and note its action. 

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