THE LAWS OF LIFE. 249 



the cohesion of the gold, and how can the com- 

 pletion of the circuit avail to determine chemical 

 action, if it be not by overcoming that cohesion, 

 through the union of the two momenta ? 



Other instances of the law that change of one 

 form of action into another is caused by a resistance 

 to the action so changed, I need not now adduce. 

 It is, indeed, sufficient to inquire to what else can 

 such a change be referred? or to what else but 

 to an incredible multiplication of specific properties, 

 before which even the imagination stands aghast ? 



This, then, we find in Nature : Motion assuming 

 endless forms in accordance with an ever-varying 

 resistance. But the resistance, though ever-varying, 

 is one. To one force, indeed, there can be but one 

 resistance: if force be single, although multiform, 

 resistance, although multiform, must be single also. 



Force being regarded as motion, all the modes 

 and forms of resistance might be generalized under 

 the idea of cohesion; the variety in it depending 

 upon diversity of structure or arrangement. 



If a ball strike against a wall, its motion, to a 

 certain extent, ceases and is changed. But the 



