Page:Somerville Mechanism of the heavens.djvu/80

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1. activity of matter seems to be a law of the universe, as we know of no particle that is at rest. Were a body absolutely at rest, we could not prove it to be so, because there are no fixed points to which it could be referred; consequently, if only one particle of matter were in existence, it would be impossible to ascertain whether it were at rest or in motion. Thus, being totally ignorant of absolute motion, relative motion alone forms the subject of investigation: a body is, therefore, said to be in motion, when it changes its position with regard to other bodies which are assumed to be at rest.

2. The cause of motion is unknown, force being only a name given to a certain set of phenomena preceding the motion of a body, known by the experience of its effects alone. Even after experience, we cannot prove that the same consequents will invariably follow certain antecedents; we only believe that they will, and experience tends to confirm this belief.

3. No idea of force can be formed independent of matter; all the forces of which we have any experience are exerted by matter as gravity, muscular force, electricity, chemical attractions and repulsions, &amp;c. &amp;c., in all which cases, one portion of matter acts upon another.

4. When bodies in a state of motion or rest are not acted upon by matter under any of these circumstances, we know by experience that they will remain in that state; hence a body will continue to move uniformly in the direction of the force which caused its motion, unless in some of the cases enumerated, in which we have ascertained by experience that a change of motion will take place, then a force is said to act.

5. Force is proportional to the differential of the velocity, divided