"Riccati... attempt[s]... a general explanation of the character of elasticity... in his Sistema dell' Universo [System of the Universe]... written before 1754... [and] first published in the Opere del Oonte Jacopo Riccati... 1761. [Two chapters] are respectively entitled: Delle forze elastiche and Da quali primi principi derivi la forza elastica... display... dislike... of any semi-metaphysical hypothesis introduced into physics; and desire to discover a purely dynamical theory for physical phenomena."