Page:Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Vol 4.djvu/183

Rh admitted in this theory. Now, if the matter be considered ac- curately, it will be found that the only point within a mass of fluid in equilibrium which is at rest by the sole action of the surrounding fluid, is the central point of Newton, or the point of maximum- pressure. The reason is that, on account of the maximum, the pressure of all the canals terminating in the central point, increases continually as the depth increases ; so that, besides the pressures of the canals, there is no other cause tending to move the particle. With respect to any other particle, the pressure caused by the action of the forces in some of the canals standing upon the particle, will necessarily increase at first in descending below the surface, and afterwards decrease ; so that the effective pressure transmitted to the particle, is produced by the action of the forces upon a part only of the fluid contained in such canals. If a level surface be drawn through any particle, it is proved in the paper, that the equal press- ures of the surrounding fluid on the particle, are caused solely by the forces which urge the portion of the fluid on the outside of the level surface, the fluid within the surface contributing nothing to the same eff'ect. Thus a particle in a level surface is immoveable by the direct and transmitted action of the fluid on the outside of the level surface ; but it will still be liable to be moved from its place unless the body of fluid within the level surface have no tendency to change its form or position by all the forces that act on its own particles.

What has been said not only demonstrates the insufficiency of the principle of equality of pressure for determining the figure of equili- brium of a fluid at liberty, but it points out the conditions which are necessary and sufficient for solving the problem in all cases. The pressure must be a maximum at a central point within the mass : it must be zero at the surface of the fluid :. and, these two conditions being fulfilled, there will necessarily exist a series of interior level surfaces, the pressure being the same at all the points of every sur- face, and varying gradually from the maximum quantity to zero. Now all the particles in the same level surface have no tendency to move upon that surface, because the pressure is the same in all di- rections : wherefore if we add the condition that every level surface shall have a determinate figure when one of its points is given, it is evident, both that the figure of the mass will be ascertained, and that the immobility of the particles will be established.

Maclaurin's demonstration of the equilibrium of the elliptical spheroid will always be admired, and must be instructive from the accuracy and elegance of the investigation. That geometer was the first who discovered the law of the forces in action at every point of the spheroid ; and it only remained to deduce from the known forces the properties on which the equilibrium depends. These properties he states as three in number ; and of these, the two which relate to the action of the forces at the surface and the centre of the spheroid, are the same with the principles of Huyghens and Newton, and co- incide with two of the conditions laid down above. The third pro- perty of equilibrium, according to Maclaurin, consists in this, that every particle is impelled equally by all the rectilineal canals stand-