Art. VII. — An Essay on Motion and Force, By L. 



Allen. 



[Read before the Institute, 1865.] 



Gentlemen : It is with extreme diffidence that I venture 

 to present to you some thoughts upon a subject which has 

 occupied my mind for a considerable period of time, and 

 upon which, after careful, although from the nature of my 

 daily avocation, somewhat desultory reading and study, I 

 find myself compelled to differ from others on points 

 which occupy an important place in the foundation of all 

 natural science. 



To those whose minds have been directed to other fields 

 of investigation, the topic I shall discuss in this paper, 

 which I have styled An Essay on Motion and Force, may 

 prove somewhat uninviting. I therefore beg the indul- 

 gence of such, to what may prove a tiresome discussion, 

 and of all, to the rambling character of a paper, written 

 at distant and irregular periods, which, under such cir- 

 cumstances, could scarcely evince that unity which is the 

 result of continued effort in the same direction. I also 

 realize its incompleteness. So important a subject can 

 scarcely be more than glanced at within the limits to 

 which I have proscribed myself ; and yet I have omitted 

 many portions which were originally intended to form a 

 part of this essay, in the fear that I might trespass too much 

 upon your patience. 



In supporting the points which I shall endeavor to 

 maintain, I assume as a postulate the existence of matter 

 Whatever may be the opinions or speculations of men 

 upon the essential nature of matter, whether it be the 

 result of forces acting in opposition to each other, or 

 something which is beyond the reach of science, there is 



