Grove, Dr. Carpenter, and Mr. Faraday. This
idea is no novelty, though it seems so at first sight. It was maintained
and disputed among the giants of philosophy. Des Cartes and Leibnitz
denied that any new motion originated in nature, or that any ever ceased
to exist; all motion being in a circle, passing from one body to another,
one losing what the other gained. Newton, on the other hand, believed
that new motions were generated and existing ones destroyed. On the
first supposition, there is a fixed amount of force always circulating in
the universe. On the second, the total amount may be increasing or
diminishing. You will find in the "Annual of Scientific Discovery" for
1858 a very interesting lecture by Professor Helmholtz of Bonn, in which
it is maintained that a certain portion of force is lost in every natural
process, being converted into unchangeable heat, so that the universe
will come to a stand-still at last, all force passing into heat, and all
heat into a state of equilibrium.
The doctrines of the convertibility or specific equivalence of the
various forms of force, and of its conservation, which is its logical
consequence, are very generally accepted, as I believe, at the present
time, among physicists. We are naturally led to the question, What is
the nature of force? The three illustrious philosophers just referred to
agree in attributing the general movements of the universe to the
immediate Divine action.
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