centripetation

Updated: May 16, 2025

All motion, he said, is in the direction of the forces; and atoms seek the centre by "terrestrial centripetation" a property which causes universal pressure; but in what these attributes of pushing and pulling differ from gravitation and attraction was not expounded. Many of his "truths" were as mystified as the conundrums of Rabelais; so nothing was made of the motion.

Richard A. (Richard Anthony) Proctor - Myths and Marvels of Astronomy