58 THE NOMENCLATURE 



one dimenfion at the fame time, and our fenfes 

 reaching no farther than furfaces, we cannot pe- 

 netrate matter : But Nature, in a moment, puts 

 every particle in motion. She produces forms 

 by exertions almoft inllantaneous. She at once 

 developes them in all their dimenfions. As foon as 

 her movements reach the furface, the penetra- 

 ting forces with which Ihe is animated operate 

 internally. The fmalleft atom, when llie choofes 

 to employ it, is inftantly compelled to obey. 

 Hence fhe ads, at the fame time, on all fides, 

 before, behind, above, below, on the right and 

 left ; and, confequently, fhe embraces not only 

 the furface, but every particle of the mafs. How- 

 different likevvife is the produd? What compari- 

 fon is there between a ftatue and an organized bo- 

 dy? How unequal, at the fame time, are the pow- 

 ers, how dilproportioned the inftrumenis? Man 

 can employ only the power he poflelTes. Limited 

 to a fmall quantity of motion, which he can only 

 communicate by the mode of impulfion,his exer- 

 tions are confmed to furfaces ; becaufe, in general, 

 the impulfive force is only tranfmitted by fuper- 

 ficial contact. He neither fees nor touches more 

 than the furfaces of bodies ; and, when he wifhes 

 to attain a more intimate knowledge, though he 

 opens and divides, iVill he fees and touches no- 

 thing more than their furfaces. To penetrate the 

 interior parts of bodies, he would require a por- 

 tion of that force which ads upon the mafs, or 

 of gravity, which is Nature's chief inftrument. 

 If man could employ this penetrating force as 



be 



