that it is from opposing motion to matter, that machines derive their powers.*

The re-action of bodies, is the next law of motion which I must explain to you. When a body in motion. strikes against another body, it meets with resistance from it; the resistance of the body at rest, will be equal to the blow struck by the body in motion; or to express myself in philosophical language, action and re-action will be equal, and in opposite directions.

Caroline. Do you mean to say, that the action of the body which strikes, is returned with equal force by the body which receives the blow.

Mrs. B. Exactly.

Caroline.

But if a man strikes another on the face with his fist, he surely does not receive as much pain by the re-action as he inflicts by the blow ?

Mrs. B. No; but this is simply owing to the knuckles having much less feeling than the face.

Here are two ivory balls suspended by threads, (plate I. fig. 3.) draw one of them, A, a little on one side,— now let it go ;-it strikes, you see, against the other ball B, and drives it off, to a distance equal to that through which the first ball fell; but the motion of A is stopped, because when it struck B, it received in return a blow

* In comparing together the momenta of different bodies, we must be attentive to measure their weights and velocities, by the same denomination of weights and of spaces, otherwise the results would not agree. Thus if we estimate the weight of one body in ounces, we must estimate the weight of the rest also in ounces, and not in pounds; and in computing the velocities, in like manner, we should adhere to the same standard of measure, both of space and of time; as for instance, the number of feet in one second, or of miles in one hour.

equal to that it gave, and its motion was consequently destroved.

Emily. I should have supposed that the motion of the ball A was destroyed, because it had communicated all its motion to B.

Mrs. B. It is perfectly true, than when one body strikes against another, the quantity of motion communicated to the second body, is lost by the first; but this loss proceeds from the action of the body which is struck.

Here are six ivory balls hanging in a row, (fig. 4.) draw the first out of the perpendicular, and let it fall against the second. None of the balls appear to move, you see, except the last, which flies off as far as the first ball fell; can you explain this ?

Caroline. I believe so.

When the first ball struck the second, it received a blow in return, which destroyed its motion; the second ball, though it did not appear to move, must have struck against the third ; the reaction of which set it at rest; the action of the third ball must have been destroyed by the re-action of the fourth, and so on till motion was communicated to the last ball, which, not being re-acted upon, flies off.

Mrs. B. Very well explained. Observe, that it is only when bodies are elastic, as these ivory balls are, that the stroke returned is equal to the stroke given. I will show you the difference with these two balls of clay, (fig. 5.) which are not elastic; when you raise one of these, D, out of the perpendicular, and let it fall against the other, E, the re-action of the latter, on account of its not being elastic, is not sufficient to destroy the motion of the former; only part of the motion of D will be communicated to E, and the two balls will move

on together to d and e, which is not to so great a distance as that through which D fell.

Observe how useful re-action is in nature. Birds in flying strike the air with their wings, and it is the reaction of the air which enables them to rise, or advance forwards; re-action being always in a contrary direction to action.

Caroline. I thought that birds might be lighter than the air, when their wings were expanded, and by that means enabled to fly.

Mrs. B. When their wings are spread, they are better supported by the air, as they cover a greater extent of surface; but they are still much too heavy to remain in that situation, without continually flapping their wings, as you may have noticed, when birds hover over their nests: the force with which their wings strike against the air must equal the weight of their bodies, in order that the re-action of the air may be able to support that weight; the bird will then remain stationary. If the stroke of the wings, is greater than is required merely to support the bird, the re-action of the air will make it rise; if it be less, it will gently descend; and you may have observed the lark, sometimes remaining with its wings extended, but motionless: in this state it drops rapidly into its nest.

Caroline. What a beautiful effect this is of the law of re-action! But if flying is merely a mechanical operation, Mrs. B., why should we not construct wings, adapted to the size of our bodies, fasten them to our shoulders, move them with our arms, and soar into the air.

Mrs. B. Such an experiment has been repeatedly at

tempted, but never with success; and it is now considered as totally impracticable. The muscular power of birds is greater in proportion to their weight than that of man; were we therefore furnished with wings sufficiently large to enable us to fly, we should not have strength to put them in motion.

In swimming, a similar action is produced on the water, as that on the air in flying; and also in rowing; you strike the water with the oars, in a direction opposite to that in which the boat is required to move, and it is the re-action of the water on the oars which drives the boat along.

Emily. You said, that it was in elastic bodies only, that re-action was equal to action; pray what bodies are elastic besides the air?

Mrs. B. In speaking of the air, I think we defined elasticity to be a property, by means of which bodies that are compressed returned to their former state. If I bend this cane, as soon as I leave it at liberty it recovers its former position; if I press my finger upon your arm, as soon as I remove it, the flesh, by virtue of its elasticity, rises and destroys the impression I made. Of all bodies, the air is the most eminent for this property, and it has thence obtained the name of elastic fluid. Hard bodies are in the next degree elastic; if two ivory, or metallic balls are struck together, the parts at which they touch will be flattened: but their elasticity will make them instantaneously resume their former shape.

Caroline. But when two ivory balls strike against each other, as they constantly do on a billard table, no mark or impression is made by the stroke.

Mrs. B. I beg your pardon; but you cannot perceive any mark, because their elasticity instantly destroys all trace of it.

Soft bodies, which easily retain impressions, such as clay, wax, tallow, butter, &c. have very little elasticity; but of all descriptions of bodies liquids are the least elastic.

Emily. If sealing-wax were elastic, instead of retaining the impression of a seal, it would resume a smooth surface as soon as the weight of the seal was removed. But pray what is it that produces the elasticity of bodies ?

Mrs. B. There is great diversity of opinion upon that point, and I cannot pretend to decide which approaches nearest to the truth. Elasticity implies susceptibility of compression, and the susceptibility of compression, depends upon the porosity of bodies, for were there no pores or spaces between the particles of matter of which a body is composed, it could not be compressed.

Caroline. That is to say, that if the particles of bodies were as close together as possible, they could not be squeezed closer.

Emily. Bodies then, whose particles are most distant from each other, must be most susceptible of compression, and consequently most elastic; and this you say is the case with air, which is perhaps the least dense of all bodies ?

Mrs. B. You will not in general find this rule hold good, for liquids have scarcely any elasticity, whilst hard bodies are eminent for this property, though the latter are certainly of much greater density than the former; elasticity implies, therefore, not only a suscep