74 A VIS IN E UTIAE \

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atom in motion coming upon any quantity of ;

matter at rest, the whole terraqueous globe, >v. g. mus necessarily carry that ’whole mass a- ;long with it, with the fame celerity; because ],it makes no resistance to be put out of a state Iof rest j and yet could mt carry it along, mak-ing no resistance itself to continue in its ownstate of motion, and therefore not acting ;action being the effect of resistance. Thus the jsame proposition would be both true and false ]at once. Let us suppose again two equal bo- idies encountering each other directly, and jwith equal celerities; these meeting must stop ;each other, or penetrate into one another’s jdimensions. One of these must certainly be jgranted. If the last, matter is an unextended $substance, the phantom or shadow only of >solidity: if it is said they are stopped, here jis a plain positive effect produced, by no ac- ; '

tion or cause, by nothing, which is a very :express contradiction. By supposition this is \not the action of matter upon matter, there jbeing no resistance on either side; and thereis nothing else to which the action can be.ascribed. .Again, since action, pressure, andresistance are the same thing; and since mat-ter on this supposition, is incapable of actionor resistance, it is equally incapable of pref- j

sure,