40).
Of course the "law" suffers no alteration, but the force of gravitation
suffers considerable modification if you catch the apple in your hand,
or if the planet has an impulse given to it which compels it to career
round the sun instead of falling upon his surface. Again (page 40):--
"The harmonious action of physical laws, and their adaptability to
an infinite variety of forms, constitutes the perfection of that
code which produces the order of nature. The mere superiority of man
over lower forms of organic and inorganic matter does not lift him
above physical laws, and the analogy of every grade in nature
forbids the presumption that higher forms may exist which are exempt
from their control."
The number of fallacies in this short passage is remarkable. In the
first place laws never act, _i.e._ of themselves. They have to be
administered. Forces or powers act under the restraint of laws. I think
I am right in saying that all physical _laws_, as distinguished from
forces, are limitations of force.
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