“The laws which govern matter in all its forms, whether that of coal, clay, iron, pebble stones, trees, oxen, horses, or men, are the same; man is the molecule of society; and social interaction operates under the great law of molecular gravitation.”

See main: Social Newton term analysis

Scientific terms	Religious terms	Elements	Metaphysical
Motion (Ѻ) | 85+ Force (Ѻ) | 83+ Matter (Ѻ) | 83+ Work (Ѻ) | 82+ Chemical (Ѻ) | 64+ Mechanical (Ѻ) | 46+ Heat (Ѻ) | 22+ Atom (Ѻ) | 17+ Electricity (Ѻ) | 12+ Energy (Ѻ) | 7+ Bond (Ѻ) | 3+ Affinity (Ѻ) | 2+ Affinities (Ѻ) | 1+ Molecule (Ѻ) | 1+	Life (Ѻ) | 83+ Death (Ѻ) | 41+ God (Ѻ) | 15+ Spirit (Ѻ) | 12+ Soul (Ѻ) | 3+	Iron (Ѻ) | 54+ Oxygen (Ѻ) | 13+ Carbon (Ѻ) | 12+ Hydrogen (Ѻ) | 5+ Nitrogen (Ѻ) | 4+ Sulphur (Ѻ) | 1+ Phosphorus (Ѻ) | 1+ Calcium (Ѻ) | 0+ etc.	Love (Ѻ) | 3+ Ether (Ѻ) | 0+ Hate (Ѻ) | 0+
_________________	______________	__________________	______________

“Gravitation is here, as everywhere else in the material world, in the direct ratio of mass, and in the inverse one of the distance. The greater the number collected in a give space, the greater is the attractive force there exerted, as is seen to have been the case with the great cities of the ancient world, Niniveh and Babylon, Athens and Rome, and is now seen in regard to Paris and London, Vienna and Naples, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston.”

Carey's' 1874 depiction of the "tree of knowledge", annotated to show a post 1954 "two cultures" perspective (see: two cultures department), wherein the branch of social science is located in close proximity to the the physical science branch of knowledge. [4]

“In the inorganic world we find the power of combination growing with the increase of differences. Place a thousand atoms of oxygen in a receiver, and they will remain motionless; but introduce a single atom of carbon, and excite their affinities for each other, and at once motion will be produced. Such being the case in regard to all other matter, it must be so in regard to those combinations in which man is concerned, indicated by the term society.”

“In the inorganic world, every act of combination is an act of motion. So it is in the social one. If it is true that there is but one system of laws for the government of all matter, then those which govern the movements of the various inorganic bodies should be the same with those by which is regulated the motion of society; and that such is the case can readily be shown.”

“To motion there must be heat, and the greater the latter, the more rapid will be the former.”

“In the physical universe, heat is engendered by friction. Consequently the case must be the same in the social world. The ‘particles’ must rub together here, as they do there. The rubbing of the human molecules, which produces warmth, light and forward movement, is the interchange of goods, services, and ideas.”

“In the material world, motion among atoms of matter is a consequence of physical heat. In the moral world, motion is a consequence of social heat—motion, consisting in an ‘exchange of relations’ resulting from the existence of those differences that develop social life. Motion is greatest in those communities in which agriculture, manufactures, and commerce are happily combined. That such is the fact will be obvious to all who see how rapid is the spread of ideas in those countries in which agriculture, manufactures, and commerce are combined, compared with that observed in those which are purely agricultural. In the one there is great heat and corresponding motion, and the more motion, the greater is the force. In the other there is little heat, but little motion, and very little force.”

“In 1858-59, Carey gathered the fruits of his lifelong labors into The Principles of Social Science, in three volumes. This work is a most comprehensive as well as mature exposition of his views. In it Carey sought to show that there exists, independently of human wills, a natural system of economic laws, which is essentially beneficent, and of which the increasing prosperity of the whole community, and especially of the working classes, is the spontaneous result—capable of being defeated only by the ignorance or perversity of man resisting or impeding its action. He rejected the Malthusian doctrine of population, maintaining that numbers regulate themselves sufficiently in every well-governed society, and that their pressure on subsistence characterizes the lower, not the more advanced, stages of civilization. He denied the universal truth, for all stages of cultivation, of the law of diminishing returns from land.”

— Anon (1911), Encyclopedia Britannica [10]

“Carey’s Principles of Social Science is one of the most conspicuous attempts in the second half of the nineteenth century at a physical interpretation of social phenomena.”

— Pitirim Sorokin (1928), Contemporary Sociological Theories (pg. 13)

“Man, the molecule of society, is the subject of social science.”

— Henry Carey (1958), Principles of Social Science (pg. 41)

A later photo of Carey.

“The laws which govern matter in all its forms, whether that of coal, clay, iron, pebble stones, trees, oxen, horses, or men, are the same.”

— Henry Carey (1958), Principles of Social Science (pg. 62); quoted in Sorokin (pg. 13); quoted in Barnes (pg. 3) [8]

“The great law of molecular gravitation … man tends of necessity to gravitate toward his fellow man [sic] … Gravitation is here, as everywhere else in the material world, in the direct ratio of the mass and in the inverse one of the distance.”

— Henry Carey (1858), Principles of Social Science (pgs. 42-43); quoted in Tocalis (pg. 68); quoted in Barnes (pg. 3) [9]