APPLICATION OF THE TEEM " FOKCE." 34:1 



not?), must have a name given to it ; and in accordance with 

 the logical instinct of man, as manifested in the genius of lan- 

 guage, no other name can be here chosen than the word 

 " force." But since this expression is already used in a quite 

 different sense, we might be tempted to create for the concep- 

 tion which is as yet in the fundamental parts of science at 

 least unnamed an entirely new name. But before betaking 

 ourselves to this extreme course, which for reasons that are 

 not far to seek would be the one whereby we should be 

 brought most into conflict with existing usage, it is reasonable 

 to inquire whether the word " force," which' in itself answers 

 so well to the requirements of the case, is in its right place 

 where it was first put by the schools. 



According to the common custom of speech, we under- 

 stand by " force " something moving a cause of motion ; and 

 if, on the one hand, the expression "moving force" is for 

 this reason, strictly speaking, a pleonasm, the notion of a not 

 moving or " dead" force is, on the other hand, a contradictio 

 in adjecto. If it be said, for instance, that a load which 

 presses with its weight on the ground exerts thereby a force 

 a force which, though never so great, is unable of itself to 

 bring about the smallest movement the mode of conception 

 and of. expression is quite justified by scholastic usage, but it 

 is so far-fetched that it becomes the source of unnumbered 

 misapprehensions. 



Between gravity and the force of gravity there is, so far 

 as I know, no difference ; and hence I consider the second 

 expression unscientific, inasmuch as it is tautological. 



Let it not be objected that the "force" of pressure, the 

 " force " of gravity, cohesive " force," &c., are the higher 

 causes of pressure, gravity, and the like. The exact sciences 

 are concerned with phenomena and measurable quantities. 

 The first cause of things is Deity a Being ever inscrutible 

 by the intellect of man ; while " higher causes," " supersen- 

 BUOUS forces," and the rest, with all their consequences, be- 



