by this doctrine.

103. ATTRACTION SIGNIFIES THE EFFECT, NOT THE MANNER OR CAUSE.--The great
mechanical principle now in vogue is attraction. That a stone
falls to the earth, or the sea swells towards the moon, may to some
appear sufficiently explained thereby. But how are we enlightened by
being told this is done by attraction? Is it that that word signifies the
manner of the tendency, and that it is by the mutual drawing of bodies
instead of their being impelled or protruded towards each other? But,
nothing is determined of the manner or action, and it may as truly (for
aught we know) be termed "impulse," or "protrusion," as "attraction."
Again, the parts of steel we see cohere firmly together, and this also is
accounted for by attraction; but, in this as in the other instances, I do
not perceive that anything is signified besides the effect itself; for as
to the manner of the action whereby it is produced, or the cause which
produces it, these are not so much as aimed at.

104. Indeed, if we take a view of the several phenomena, and compare them
together, we may observe some likeness and conformity between them. For
example, in the falling of a stone to the ground, in the rising of the
sea towards the moon, in cohesion, crystallization, etc, there is
something alike, namely, an union or mutual approach of bodies. So that
any one of these or the like phenomena may not seem strange or surprising
to a man who has nicely observed and compared the effects of nature. For
that only is thought so which is uncommon, or a thing by itself, and out
of the ordinary course of our observation. That bodies should tend
towards the centre of the earth is not thought strange, because it is
what we perceive every moment of our lives. But, that they should have a
like gravitation towards the centre of the moon may seem odd and
unaccountable to most men, because it is discerned only in the tides. But