of M _ 
ioe 
are not the laws of logic but the Jaws of nature ; and that in 
this world are found a series of facts as certain, and Which’ ea 
- om 
consequences as sure, as are the conclusions Heciuced by the 
ometrician from his definitions, postulates and axioms. ee e, 
natural Pagoeepter considers the existence of body and space 
distance and motion, to be among such facts; he os wer ob- 
servation and experiment, that bodies moving in oppos 7 
tions through space sometimes pass by each other, that a body” 
», moving in the same direct tion with another body will sometimes 
~~ overtake it, and he believes, that ee ae faces of app 
* ing solids sometimes come'in cont 
*: * He ue reasons, that if a body is in motion through space to- 
ward another body at any given distance from it, and if these 
two finally come in contact, then antecedent to such contact thee 
ale ‘intervening distance not occupied, or filled up, by 
1e appre coaching body. In other words, that when the bodies are 
ntact no. distance intervenes, and when not in contact some 
diaiuhité intervenes ; distance, in the case supposed, being the in- 
terval between the opposite faces of each solid unoccupied by the 
esence of either body; while, of all the distances which can be 
pos 
sed to intervene, the least is that next antecedent to contacts 
- same consequence follows in respect to bodies moving in op-" 
site directions, and also in respect to bodies which overtake each, 
ther If Achilles overtake the tortoise, the greyhound the hare, 
rT inute-hand the hour-hand of a cloc k, then there must, in, 
nature of things, be a least intervening distance next antece- 
e term magnitude, then this will be the least magnitude which, 
ture ¢ of things, can be conceived to be, that i is, can be con- 
having a real as opposed to an ideal existence. Andi Ne 
east di 
eal existence. ’ 
t follows from this, first, that every body which has a real ex- 
ence, if it be a definite body such as a tree, the globe or a star, 
must be made up of indivisible units, or impenetrable and extend- 
particles having a form; and next, that the mr ae of these 
particles can in: no case be less than. the “least space ; n_ other 
words, that the ultimate particles of a body'can in no case ‘be act 
reduced so as to become less than the’ magnitude, which, by 
ning from the nature of actual extension, has been shown to 
onceivable, that is, the least which ‘can be conceived 
las opposed to an ‘ideal existence. 
a i 
‘to each event. Should the distance thus limited be denoted 
ed to be, that is, be conceived as having a real as opp 
y 
ee 
