DEFINITION OF THE GRAVITATING POWER. 383 



that particles at different distances are urged toward each 

 other with a power varying inversely as the square of the 

 distance, is a truth : but the definition has not that mean- 

 ing ; and what I object to is the pretence of knowledge 

 which the definition sets up when it assumes to describe, not 

 the partial effects of the force, but the nature of the force 

 as a whole. 



