IDENTICAL CHANGES 



And there is a perfect equivalent in the relative 

 energy required, in the two cases, so that it will 

 take exactly as much force to start a ball weighing 

 10 pounds with a velocity of 10 feet a second as is 

 required to start a 100-pound ball with a velocity 

 of 1 foot a second. 



But can the ball, by itself alone, multiply or 

 divide force? Certainly there must be something 

 outside of the ball that participates in this multi- 

 plication. 



Because force itself is irresistible and instanta- 

 neous (Prop. IV, B. 3), any identical manifestation 

 of force can be amenable to laws of time and dis- 

 tance only through a multiplication of identities 

 participating. (Prop. X, B. 3.) 



The question really underlying a radical con- 

 sideration of inertia is the same old question that 

 has always been asked about and never answered 

 what is the true relation of the individual to the 

 whole ? And one party says there is no individual, 

 and the other party says there is no identical 

 whole. 



Can force move from one body to another body 

 and through an infinitely great number of bodies 

 back to the first body? 



However theologians might answer such a ques- 

 tion, a reasoning based upon impressions received 

 through changes wrought in matter by force can- 

 not admit any number of bodies to be an infinite 

 number. Neither can any body or particle be 

 without size. Therefore, as far as human reason 

 123 



