Mechanics, Volume I

by defining the equilibrium of powers original: "potentiarum"; in this context, Euler refers to forces applied to bodies of every kind; nor is there scarcely anything contained therein that pertains to motion and that science which we indicate here by the name of Mechanics. The celebrated Wolff Christian Wolff (1679–1754) was a massively influential German philosopher and mathematician who sought to systematize all knowledge also, in his Elements of Mathematics, especially in the most recent edition, set forth many excellent things concerning both Statics and Mechanics in the Elements of Mechanics, though he treated them together and without making any distinction between these sciences. However, the prescribed limits and the very nature of the work itself seem not to have permitted him either to distinguish these sciences from one another or to explain each of them sufficiently fully.

For which reason, I do not know whether, besides Hermann’s Phoronomia Jacob Hermann (1678–1733) was a Swiss mathematician; his "Phoronomia" (1716) was one of the first major treatises to use calculus to solve problems of motion, any other work has ever been published in which this science of motion is treated separately and enriched with so many and such exceptional discoveries. Indeed, Hermann not only increased this science with many additions of his own but also added together those things which had been discovered by the industry of others at that time. But since, in that work of modest size, he had decided to include, besides Mechanics, the other related sciences—namely Statics and Hydrostatics Hydrostatics: the study of fluids at rest and the pressure they exert along with Hydraulics Hydraulics: the study of the flow of liquids, especially through pipes or channels—too little space remained for treating Mechanics thoroughly. Because of this, it happened that he was compelled to present everything pertaining to this science too briefly and concisely...