A
LETTER
OF
Monſieur Des-Cartes
TO THE
REVEREND FATHER
MARIN MERSENNE.
LETTER
OF
Monſieur Des-Cartes
TO THE
REVEREND FATHER
MARIN MERSENNE.
Reverend Father,
I Did think to have deferred writing unto you
yet eight or fifteen dayes, to the end I might
not trouble you too often with my Letters,
but I have received yours of the firſt of Sept.
which giveth me to underſtand that it is an
hard matter to admit the Principle which I
have ſuppoſed in my Examination of the
Geoſtatick Queſtion, and in regard that if it
be not true, all the reſt that I have inferred from it would be yet
leſſe true: I would not one onely day defer ſending you a more
particular Explication. It is requiſite above all things to conſider
that I did ſpeak of the Force that ſerveth to raiſe a Weight to ſome
heighth, the which Force hath evermore two Dimenſions, and not
of that which ſerveth in each point to ſuſtain it, which hath never
more than one Dimenſion, inſomuch that theſe two Forces differ
as much the one from the other, as a Superficies differs from a Line:
for the ſame Force which a Nail ought to have for the ſuſtaining of
a Weight of 100 pound one moment of time, doth alſo ſuffice for
to ſuſtain it the ſpace of a year, provided that it do not diminiſh,
but the ſame Quantity of this Force which ſerveth to raiſe the
Weight to the heighth of one foot, ſufficeth not (eadem numero)
to raiſe it two feet; and it is not more manifeſt that two and two
make four, than it's manifeſt that we are to employ double as much
therein.
yet eight or fifteen dayes, to the end I might
not trouble you too often with my Letters,
but I have received yours of the firſt of Sept.
which giveth me to underſtand that it is an
hard matter to admit the Principle which I
have ſuppoſed in my Examination of the
Geoſtatick Queſtion, and in regard that if it
be not true, all the reſt that I have inferred from it would be yet
leſſe true: I would not one onely day defer ſending you a more
particular Explication. It is requiſite above all things to conſider
that I did ſpeak of the Force that ſerveth to raiſe a Weight to ſome
heighth, the which Force hath evermore two Dimenſions, and not
of that which ſerveth in each point to ſuſtain it, which hath never
more than one Dimenſion, inſomuch that theſe two Forces differ
as much the one from the other, as a Superficies differs from a Line:
for the ſame Force which a Nail ought to have for the ſuſtaining of
a Weight of 100 pound one moment of time, doth alſo ſuffice for
to ſuſtain it the ſpace of a year, provided that it do not diminiſh,
but the ſame Quantity of this Force which ſerveth to raiſe the
Weight to the heighth of one foot, ſufficeth not (eadem numero)
to raiſe it two feet; and it is not more manifeſt that two and two
make four, than it's manifeſt that we are to employ double as much
therein.
Now, foraſmuch as that this is nothing but the ſame thing that
I have ſuppoſed for a Principle, I cannot gueſſe on what the Scruple
ſhould be grounded that men make of receiving it; but I ſhall in
I have ſuppoſed for a Principle, I cannot gueſſe on what the Scruple
ſhould be grounded that men make of receiving it; but I ſhall in