Between these phases comes the intermediary phase of which we say that it is a period of virtual or potential energy. This is a way of remembering in some measure the preceding phenomenon—i.e., the work of lifting up, and of indicating the phenomena which will follow—i.e., the work of the fall. And thus we connect by our thoughts the present situation with the antecedent and with the consequent position, and it is from this consideration of continuity alone that the conception of energy springs—that is to say, of something which is conserved and is found to be permanent in the succession of phenomena. This energy of which we lose no trace does not appear to us new when it is manifested. Our imagination eventually materializes the idea of it. We follow it as a real thing, having an objective existence, which is asleep during the latent potential period, and is revealed or manifested later.
Among other examples, that of the coiled spring which is unwound is particularly suitable for showing this fundamental character of the idea of mechanical energy, an idea which is the clearest of all. Machines are only transformers and not creators of mechanical energy. They only change one form into another.
In the same way, too, a stream of water or the torrent of a mountainous region may be utilized for setting in motion the wheels and the turbines of the factories situated in the valley. Its descent produces the mechanical work which would be a creation ex nihilo if we do not connect the phenomenon with its antecedents. We look on it as a simple restitution, if we think of the origin of this water which has been transported and lifted in some way to its level by the
