Chap. 7. PHILOSOPHICAL DISCOVERIES. 355

the parts of the earth nearest to the moon, will endeavour tofall farthest from the tangent, and those farthest from the moonwill endeavour to fall least from the tangent, of all the parts ofthe earth; and the figure of the earth, therefore, will be thefame as if the earth fell freely towards the moon : that is, theearth will still affect a spheroidal for having its longest dia-meter directed towards the moon.

What must be carefully attended to here, is, that it is notthe action of the moon, but the inequalities in that action,that produce any variation from the spherical figure ; and thatis this action was the fame in all the particles as in the centralparts, and acted in the fame direction, no such change wouldensue. Our author, therefore, to account for this matter,conceives first the attraction of the central parts to be diffusedwith an equal force over all the parts, in the fame direction,and then conceives the inequalities as arising from a powerfuperadded, and directed towards the moon where there is anexcess, and directed in the opposite line where there is a de-fect, in the attraction of the parts, compared with the at-traction of the central parts: for thus the sum of these forces ,in the first case, will account for the attraction where it exceeds;and their difference will account for the attraction where it isless than in the central parts. And when the effects of thesepowers are considered as they affect the figure of the earth, itis manifest that they must produce such an oblong spheroid aswe have described ; the fuperadded force drawing the partsnearest the moon towards her, and. therefore from the earth’scentre, while it draws the parts farthest from the moon in anopposite direction ; and therefore still draws from the centre ofthe earth also.

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