Page:Newton's Principia (1846).djvu/42

 the areas to the times of their description, our author inferred that the force which retained the planet in its orbit was always directed to the sun; and from the second, namely, that every planet moves in an ellipse with the sun in one of its foci, he drew the more general inference that the force by which the planet moves round that focus varies inversely as the square of its distance therefrom: and he demonstrated that a planet acted upon by such a force could not move in any other curve than a conic section; showing when the moving body would describe a circular, an elliptical, a parabolic, or hyperbolic orbit. He demonstrated, too, that this force, or attracting, gravitating power resided in every, the least particle; but that, in spherical masses, it operated as if confined to their centres; so that, one sphere or body will act upon another sphere or body, with a force directly proportional to the quantity of matter, and inversely as the square of the distance between their centres; and that their velocities of mutual approach will be in the inverse ratio of their quantities of matter. Thus he grandly outlined the Universal Law. Verifying its truth by the motions of terrestrial bodies, then by those of the moon and other secondary orbs, he finally embraced, in one mighty generalization, the entire Solar System—all the movements of all its bodies—planets, satellites and comets—explaining and harmonizing the many diverse and theretofore inexplicable phenomena.

Guided by the genius of Newton, we see sphere bound to sphere, body to body, particle to particle, atom to mass, the minutest part to the stupendous whole—each to each, each to all, and all to each—in the mysterious bonds of a ceaseless, reciprocal influence. An influence whose workings are shown to be alike present in the globular dew-drop, or oblate-spheroidal earth; in the falling shower, or vast heaving ocean tides; in the flying thistle-down, or fixed, ponderous rock; in the swinging pendulum, or time-measuring sun; in the varying and unequal moon, or earth's slowly retrograding poles; in the uncertain meteor, or blazing comet wheeling swiftly away on its remote, yet determined round. An influence, in fine, that may link system to system through all the star-glowing firmament; then firmament to