Page:On the various forces of nature and their relations to each other.djvu/48

 LECTURE II.

GRAVITATION—COHESION.

O me the favour to pay me as much attention as you did at our last meeting, and I shall not repent of that which I have proposed to undertake. It will be impossible for us to consider the Laws of Nature, and what they effect, unless we now and then give our sole attention, so as to obtain a clear idea upon the subject. Give me now that attention, and then, I trust, we shall not part without your knowing something about those Laws, and the manner in which they act. You recollect, upon the last occasion, I explained that all bodies attracted each other, and that this power we called gravitation. I told you that when we brought these two bodies [two equal sized ivory balls suspended by threads] near together, they attracted each other, and that we might suppose that the whole power of