in natural philosophy, a general term used to denote the cause by which bodies tend towards each other, and cohere till separated by some other power. Hence there are four different species of attraction mentioned by philosophers, viz. of Cohesion, Electricity, Magnetism, and Gravitation. See those articles.

Concerning the cause of attraction there have been many disputes; the most general opinion at present is, that it is a property originally impressed upon all kinds of matter by the Creator himself, and consequently that it has no natural cause. But others ridicule this account of the matter; affirming, that as the tendency of the different parts of matter towards one another is merely a natural phenomenon, we ought to seek for a natural cause of that phenomenon, it being equally unphilosophical to resolve attraction into a quality of matter, as to solve the phenomena of thunder, whirlwinds, hurricanes, &c. by saying they are qualities of the air.

Descartes accounted for attraction by his materia subtilis;