"This paragraph... unit[es] the old theologico-mathematical standpoint, with the first struggling towards the modern conception of the . It is this principle of energy which la mia novella sentenza endeavours so vaguely to express, namely that the mechanical work stored up in a state of strain, must be equivalent to the energy spent in producing that state."
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_History_of_the_Theory_of_Elasticity_and_of_the_Strength_of_Materials