ATTRAC´TION, the tendency of all material bodies, whether masses or particles, to approach each other, to unite, and to remain united. Newton was the first to adopt the theory of a universal attractive force, and to determine its laws. When bodies tend to come together from sensible distances the tendency is termed either the attraction of _gravitation_, _magnetism_, or _electricity_, according to circumstances; when the attraction operates at insensible distances it is known as _adhesion_ with respect to surfaces, as _cohesion_ with respect to the particles of a body, and as _affinity_ when the particles of different bodies tend together. It is by the attraction of gravitation that all bodies fall to the earth when unsupported.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: Newton, _Principia_; Thomson and Tait, _Natural Philosophy_; Laplace, _Mécanique Céleste_; Poynting, _The Mean Density of the Earth_.
AT´TRIBUTE, in philosophy, a quality or property of a substance, as whiteness or hardness. A substance is known to us only as a congeries of attributes.
In the fine arts an attribute is a symbol regularly accompanying and marking out some personage. Thus the caduceus, purse, winged hat, and sandals are attributes of Mercury, the trampled dragon that of St. George.
ATTWOOD, George, F.R.S., an English mathematician, born 1746, died 1807, best known by his invention, called after him _Attwood's Machine_, for verifying the laws of falling bodies. It consists essentially of a freely-moving pulley over which runs a fine cord with two equal weights suspended from the ends. A small additional weight is laid upon one of them, causing it to descend with uniform acceleration. Means are provided by which the added weight can be removed at any point of the descent, thus allowing the motion to continue from this point onward with uniform velocity. See _Gravitation_.
ATYS, or ATTIS (at'is), in classical mythology, the shepherd lover of Cyb[)e]le, who, having broken the vow of chastity which he made her, castrated himself. In Asia Minor Atys seems to have been a deity, with somewhat of the same character as Adonis. Catullus has written a celebrated poem (Carmen 63) on the subject of Attis.
AUBAGNE ([=o]-b[.a]n-y[.e]), a town in France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône, with manufactures of cottons, pottery, cloth. Pop. 8800.