Somewhat unconsciously, men were developing a tendency to believe that if you could explain motion on the earth, this would help to explain also the movements in the sky. In other words, they were tending to depart from the older view that everything in the heavens was composed of a special kind of matter subject to its own peculiar laws.

해석

Somewhat unconsciously, men were developing a tendency to believe that if you could explain motion on the earth, this would help to explain also the movements in the sky.

다소간 무의식 속에서, 사람들은 만일 지상에서의 (물체의) 움직임을 설명할 수 있다면, 하늘에서의 움직임도 설명할 수 있을 것이라는 것을 믿으려는 경향을 발전시키고 있다.

In other words, they were tending to depart from the older view that everything in the heavens was composed of a special kind of matter subject to its own peculiar laws.

환언하면 우주의 모든 물체는 각자의 고유한 법칙에 지배받는 특별한 종류의 물질로 구성되어 있다는 기존의 견해에서 벗어나려는 경향이 있었다.

※ depart from

∼에서 벗어나다 (멀어져 가다)

※ subject to N

∼복종(지배)하는, ∼을 받기 쉬운

※ peculiar [pikjú:liər]

① 기묘한, 괴상한, 별난 (strange, queer, odd)

ex) peculiar ways 괴상한 버릇

② 이상한; 남다른, 특별한

ex) a peculiar talent for writing 남다른 글재주

③ 특유의, 독특한, 고유의

ex-1) a style peculiar to the 18th century 18세기 특유의 스타일

ex-2) an expression peculiar to Dickens 과연 디킨스다운 표현

④ 한 개인(단체)에 속하는, 전용의

ex) his own peculiar property 그의 사유 재산