...act upon one another by means of he knew not what. By 1704, Newton would ask publicly, in Opticks: "Have not the small particles of Bodies certain Powers,...act at a distance, not only upon the rays of light . . . but also upon one another for producing a great part of the Phaenomena of Nature?" In his discussion...

...for a discursive and non-mathematical treatment in these Queries. The locus classicus is Query 31: Have not the small Particles of Bodies certain Powers,...upon one another for producing a great Part of the Phaenomena of Nature? For it's well known, that Bodies act one upon another by the Attractions of Gravity,...

...though elsewhere he did entertain the unwelcome possibility that 'small particles of bodies' might have 'certain powers, virtues or forces, by which they act at a distance', absurd as it seems. To the end of his life Newton sought some escape from the dilemma. Mature Newtonian...

...it" (Philosophy of Nature, p. 54). The famous Querie 31 contains the seed for future speculations: "Have not the small particles of bodies certain powers,...at a distance, not only upon the rays of light for relecting, refracting, and inflecting them, but also upon one another for producing a great part of...

...with much discussion of chemistry but, at the end, comes the question of the definition of the atom : Have not the small Particles of Bodies certain Powers,...Virtues or Forces, by which they act at a distance? . . . All these things being consider'd, it seems probable to me, that God in the Beginning form'd...

...among minute particles) and are accompanied by the suggestion that such forces operate at a distance. Have not the small particles of bodies certain powers,...phenomena of nature? For it is well known that bodies act upon one another by the attractions of gravity, magnetism, and electricity; and that these instances...

...components, as well as the involvement of repulsive forces. He stated lQuery 31, Book 3 of Opticks\ : "Have not the small particles of bodies certain powers,...virtues, or forces, by which they act at a distance . . . upon one another for producing a great part of the phenomena of Nature? For it is well known...

...perfecter of the great world machine, we should remember that Newton (in his Opticks) also wondered: "Have not the small Particles of Bodies certain Powers, Virtues, or Forces, by which they act at a distance?"15 And in his great Principia, Newton wrote of a "certain most subtle spirit which pervades...

...space and suggested that such would be important in holding the smallest parts of materials together: "Have not the small particles of bodies certain powers,...virtues, or forces by which they act at a distance ..." (1730/1979); Faraday and Maxwell were to see fields to be as real as atoms (1844); Planck and...

...suggested that some such forces would be important in holding the smallest parts of materials together: "Have not the small particles of bodies certain powers,...virtues, or forces by which they act at a distance . . ." (1730/1979), Opticlcs, (4th edition), Quest, 31, London (1730), reprinted New York (1979), Dover,...