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CHAPTER X. 



FORCE. 



WE may endeavour to cast a glance on some of the 

 subjects which thus open themselves out before us, 

 and briefly note how the phenomena of the physical 

 world present themselves as a book to be read by 

 the light of our moral and emotional nature. First 

 among these subjects stands Force. 



We are familiar enough by our own experience 

 with the idea which this word conveys. We use 

 force whenever we effect any motion of ourselves or 

 other things ; we feel it as acting on us when we are 

 moved. Naturally from this basis we extend the 

 idea into the whole series of physical events, and 

 conceive a force as operating in every change which 

 takes place around us. But in this natural idea we 



