[T]he easier, simpler and less composite these theories are, the more they will be consonant not only with what has already been observed... but with… - David Gregory

Upon this account it is, that every Problem in the Terrestrial Physics is very operose and perplex'd, on the contrary, in the Celestial Physics, much more easy and simple; tho' even the latter has its difficulties, arising from the different distances and magnitudes of the Celestial Bodies, For the Fix'd Stars are so vastly distant asunder, that they have no mutual action upon each other, observable by us...

Descartes's cosmic system, which he jokingly called his fable of the world, is shown to be a fable indeed.

Lucretius and those whom he followed, believ'd that all Bodies did Gravitate towards the Matter placed around them, and that every single Body was carried by the more prevailing Gravity, towards that region where there was most Matter.