L 43 2 J 
in unbending itfelf, or, if you pleafe, in exhaufting 
all its Force. 
It is plain, therefore, that the Followers of Mr. 
Leibnitz have no Right to fay, A Body has fuch or 
fuch a Force, becaufe fuch or fuch a Spring has put 
it in Motion by unbending itfelf, or can be bent 
by it. This is not a Pofition to be taken for granted* 
but Bands in need of a Demonftration, which nobody 
has as yet attempted to give, at leaft from any uncon- 
troverted Principle j and, till this be done, the lay- 
ing down any fuch Pofition can have no other Effed, 
than to perplex the Controverfy more and more, 
without Hopes of ever coming to an End of it. 
For which Reafon I propofe to take a quite dif- 
ferent Method in what follows, and to lay down no- 
thing, by way of Principle or Axiom, but what is- 
allowed of by all the World, or, at leaft, has never 
yet been contradided a priori. 
Axiom. X. 
When a bent Spring does, by unbending itfelf, 
pufh a Body before it, the greater the Body is, the 
more flowly will the Spring unbend itfelf. 
Axiom II. 
The more any Spring is bent, the greater is its 
Preflure. 
Axiom III. 
A greater Preflure produces a greater moving Force, 
if the Time be given. 
