"[Riccatti states that] the physicists of his time had troubled themselves much with the consideration of elasticity: E si può dire, che tante sono le teste, quante le opinioni, fra cui qual sia la vera non si sa, se pure non son tutte false, e quale la più verisimile, tuttavia con calore si disputa. [And it can be said that so many are the thinkers, how many opinions, among which the true is not known, even if they are not all false, and which is the most verisimilar, nevertheless, it is hotly disputed.]"