The Earth

The motion of the earth is perpetual, while all artificial motion is temporary.

The one is irresistible, while resistance puts the other to rest.

The earth is said to have three motions: first, upon its own axis; secondly, around the sun; thirdly, with the sun and planetary system it moves in a great revolution through space.

The weight of the earth is forty-six hundred and forty-three trillions of tons (avoirdupois). Yet it moves at the rate of eleven hundred miles per minute, at a distance of ninety-five million miles from the sun, in an orbit of six hundred million miles, without effort or support, without the ruffling of a feather or the disturbance of a grain of dust, however minute or delicate.