1749

Summary

Noble Sir,

Learned and renowned Herr Professor,

Esteemed Sir,

The universal indebtedness to you of all the world for your great accomplishments may excuse my boldness in asking for your illuminating evaluation of these modest Thoughts on the [True] Estimation of Living Forces. The same audacity that prompted me to seek out the true quantity of natural force and to pursue the reward of truth, not-withstanding the laudable efforts of the followers of Herr von Leibnitz and of des Cartes [sic], prompts me to submit this work to the judgment of a man whose discernment qualifies him better than anyone to carry forward the efforts I have begun in these wretched essays and to reach a final and fall resolution of the division among such great scholars. The world sees in you, esteemed sir, the individual who better than others is in a position to rescue the human understanding from its protracted error and perplexity concerning the most intricate points of Mechanics, and it is just this that moves me to solicit most respectfully your precise and gracious appraisal of these poor thoughts. I shall be honored to send you, sir, a short appendix to this book which will soon be ready as well, an appendix in which I develop the necessary explanations and certain ideas that belong to the theory but which I could not include in the work itself without rendering the system too disjointed.