264 



Essay on Motion and Force. 



joining the centers of masses, and that it is imparted, as 

 these centers approach, according to the law above enun- 

 ciated. I cannot believe that the motion of gravity is the 

 result of a single so-called force acting in right lines be- 

 tween the centers of bodies, from the fact that it is affected 

 by distance, according to the law referred to ; for agreeing 

 with Prof. Faraday, " that there is no apparent reason why a 

 force acting upon two atoms of matter at a distance from 

 each other, should vary as the distance is increased or 

 diminished," and that such a theory conflicts with "the 

 highest law in physical science which our facilities permit us to 

 perceive — the conservation of force," it appears plain to me that 

 in an aglomerated condition, the result of such attraction, 

 by a constant unvarying force, would be motion increased 

 by distance and not decreased. 



In the following figure suppose a, b, c, d, and e, 

 to be particles possessing such an attractive force not 

 variable ; suppose further the particle b in the figure to 



be placed at an equal distance from two other equal 

 particles a, c, and in a line joining their centers ; it would 

 move toward neither ; its motion therefore would be o. 

 Now if another particle d, be placed at a distance from 6, 

 and in such a position that a line joining the centers of 

 b and d, should bisect the angle included by the lines 

 joining the centers a and d, and of c and d, d would 

 move toward 6, but the force which a exerts upon d, 

 and the force which c exerts upon d, act against each 

 other, while b exerts its force directly upon d. Now 

 if d should be removed to e, the forces respectively 

 exerted by a and b would act in lines more nearly parallel 

 to each other, and the motion produced by them should 

 be increased and not diminished. 



