The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-04-01
ur. WinslOw on COsmicAl RepulsIOn.

inc notice of work recently published IN
London
There are many signs tending to prove the
present time to be III many respects CfiIlcaI
one IN the history Of physical science. moIS
especially Is this the case in the oroauest auU
most extensive field to which the science ol
physics seeks to extend its poWers-tntH ~
namely, OF the cosmical forces, with thelr I'll,
mate nature and Laws OF ooeration' oIuse 'HJ of
publication OF the PrinclpId the pro3reS3 0i
cosmical science has been one OF unmlXeu tIl-
umph for the Law OF pTayliauon, conceiVeu Us ae "
principle of attraction lnhrrent III Az uasyioiI'
applicable TO all bodies terfestrlll anu
Dervadtnp all space, and capable OF eXpIauiuS
the motions and periodical changes WHICH SUI SUI
cessiye obserya ions brought to ouI view ~ % ~
growing knowledge OF the unlNere' " VI lS 80
15oars II car not be denied, "A suspicion mas Deen
Taininq ground that the monopoly 30 70 sPe1S,
eniovpd by this magnificent ana uluupndus
hvnothesis is liable to question.
~ az bot the slightest doubt exists, or need be
starfed as regards the absolute truth or tue
universal applicability OF The laH OF graVlGatlon.
Certain facts and phenomena however, oil greaG
physical Importance, which had either escaped
fhp notice of illustr1ous men from age to age or
have been only brought to light by aids TO 90,
seryalion not within their reach, have opened
new aud almost startling fields OF speculation
and discovery in relation to tnls mOmeutOls
tkeme Anomalies have not seldom been en-
Countered in the study OF nature Dy the single
LIGHT of The established hypothesis. In the ap.
piication of mathematics TO physical fac.s and
ohsrryations cases have been found to resist
every form OF analysis based upon the exclusive
truth of that assumption, or at best recourse has
been had to treatment through the use of en-
nirlcal or exceptional formule aside OF the
original law. A query has thus been raised In
the minds of many astronomers and physicists
whether some subtle principle antagonistlc to
attraction does not also exist as an all pervadng
element in nature, and so operate as IN some
way to disturb the action of what has generally
been considered by the scientific world unique
force.
IL is the aim of DR.. Winslow's recent work on
'tForce aud Naturen to establish the existence,
and to trace the fundamental lawson arepui:lye
force in nature Complementary TO the attractive
force inherent in matter In folloWlEg out this
thesis he has shown great subtlety and strength
of reasoning combined with much width OF
observation aud marked po wer in generalizing
from facts. This is not the nrst tune tnat nus
views upon this important problem have been
submitted 10 the public. AS early as the year
1862 treatise was printed by him on Repul-
sion as Cosmic Force" In justice to the
oremality of his speculatons, Or. Winslow feels
called upon TO explain that he was at that time
unacquanted with the "Theoria" Of Bosco-
Vich, in which that learned Jesuit presented,
in 1745, the hypothesis of repqlsion, and
a middle range Of speculation between
the theories OF Newton and Leibnitz.
Acute and even prophetic as were BoscoVichs
ideas, they seen to have made no impression
either upon his own or subsequent times; nor
have they proved 10 DR., WlDslow himself
suggestive either OF law OF fact during his
observations and researches IN the same held.
The general idea of "moecular repulsionn was
indeed, as the author allows, as old as The
early Greek philosophy, and vas shadowed out
in the pOetical cosmology OF Lucretius, though
at no time bro1ght within the range OF inductive
or experimental proof letter from Newton
to Boyle is adduCed by the aathor to show that
the conception of force unlike and opposed
to gravtation had crossed the mind OF that
great philosopher, although his vleW 10 the
main were but conectural, and were never
carried ont with the full and clear
development as his other leading hypotheses.
Hooke was led, in 1862, by his observations
upon comets to conceive repeliant agency
proceeding from, the sun, and urging
the tails Of those bodies in direc-
tion contrary to that which gravitaton
would cause them to take. This agency he
supposed to be light, and applied to it the name
''evitation.a Conjecture7, more or less vague,
had been hazarded by Kepler, Euler and
Others, that the light emitted by the sun might
be repulsiye force per Sc; by others, that the
suns electricity exercises a repulsiVe influence
upon distant bodies. The observations of
Bessel upon Halley'S comet impressed him with
the idea of some element of power contrary to
gravity inherent in the sun, and eugendering in
the resisting medium condition opposed to
that ofthe cometary particles, TO which be gave
the name of polarity, considering it as some
thing akin to magnetism. In l65S-60 this idea
was revived and expanded by NJ. Faye, who
from his own observations, as well as theoe of
Mr. Bond and others, upon the comet Of DonatI
deduced the idea of a defnitive repulsive indu,
ence exerted by the sun upon comets in gene
raj, but not upon the denser c0smiC bodies,
nee de la chaleur solaire, ct exercee au loin
par la surface inCandesCente du soleil." He
dwells with interest upon the problem of
determining the quality OF those forces which
govern the heavenly bodies around
u.s." DR.. Wlnslow is particular in drawing
attention TO the date OF this de laraton of NJ.
Faye, with the view of establishing his own
claim TO the priority of research and publica-
tion. 1t was IN March. 1863 he tells US, that his
first demonstrations of ''repulslon as plane
tary solar, and universal force" were given to
the pubic. Whether this essay or treatlse was
published in America or England we are not
given to understand. Since that time his un-
dertaking has been furthered aud stimulated,
not only by the general drift Of scientdc thought
IN relation to cosmlc cal and molecular Dh ysIcs,
but in particular by efforts like that OF Profes.
sor Rankine in his "Outliues of the Science of
Energetics." The writer has also to speak of
direct encouragement and assistance given to
his labors by Baron Liebg, as well as by Fara.
day, from whom most generous and encour-
aging letter reached him in the year 1858.
Molecular repulson has, as a fact IN physics,
long been placed beyond dispute The problem
now 0etore men OF science-the problem which
Dr' WmsloW considers himself TO have solved in
the afiirmative-is the extension of this law
through all the acts and conditions of molecules
TO their grandest combinations and phenomena.
IL may one day be in the power of the calculus
10 assign to this universal law its definite and
progressive quantities and functions. 1t may,
on the other nand, be reserved for this discovery
TO mitigate or clear up much of the reproach
that, In certain sense, may be said TO haue
over the department OF analysis. There are Ger
tain anomalies or difficulties, such as those il
the lunar theory in the problem OF the tides, anC
IN the secular variation of the earth's mean mo
non, which are held, go to say, in suspense for
lack OF the means OF integIating the equaton
involved. What If it should turn out that th
real defect lay in the assumption of an attractlv
force as the sole cosmical condition of the pro
DlemT Telescope science, enlarging and de6nin
stellar