Thanks for the tips
I believed that it was a reference to Berkeley and his "ghosts of 
departed quantities" but by this sentence, Berkeley targeted the 
infinitesimals (or the calculus) not the law of motion. Besides, I could 
not find the expression or an approaching one in Berkeley..
Then I searched in the 4 letters of Isaac Newton to Bentley - in the 
third one, Newton came very close to the idea.. describing a “divine 
arm” placing planets ...
Anyway I continue to suspect that despite google search the expression 
could be found during the 18th century - (possibly as a joke about the 
Holy Ghost)
During the 20th century, the expression in relation to Newton appears in 
A. Koestler, The Sleepwalkers. A History of Man’s Changing Vision of the 
Universe, London, Penguin Books, 1959, p. 511. (and also ghost-fingers)





On 28/07/2014 14:35, Scot Stradley wrote:
> I don't have the quotes at fingertip, but the phrase probably refers to Berkeley's critique of the metaphysics of calculus.
> Newton's method of determining the limit involved the use of triangles whose side adjacent to the curve was gradually
> reduced so that the known properties of geometry could explain the slope of the curve.  Newton lays this out in Book
> I of the Principia.  Obviously the size of the side facing the curve and the area of the triangle were gradually reduced--
> hence the reference to vanishing quantities.
>
> Scot A. Stradley, Ph.D.
> Professor of Finance
> Offutt School of Business
> Concordia College
> Moorhead, MN 56562
>
> ________________________________________
> From: Societies for the History of Economics [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Nicholas Theocarakis [[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Sunday, July 27, 2014 6:44 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [SHOE] ghostly fingers
>
> Dear Alain
> I did a check on Google Books setting time parameters. The phrase "ghostly fingers" does not appear before the 19th century.
> This might help.
> Nikos
>
>
> On Sat, Jul 26, 2014 at 9:58 AM, Alain Alcouffe <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
> Dear Colleagues,
> In the Methodology of economics, Mark Blaug wrote :
> he was unable to meet the objection of many of his contemporaries that the very notion of gravity
> acting instantaneously at a distance without any material medium to carry the force - ghostly fingers clutching through the void! - is utterly metaphysical. (cf. snd edition, p. 6).
> Actually Blaug has added several references in footnote 2:
> Toulmin, S., and J. Goodfield. 1963. The Fabric of the Heavens. London: Penguin Books., pp. 281-2;
> Toulmin and Goodfield, 11965. The Architecture of Matter. London: Penguin Books, pp. 217-20;
> Hanson, N. R. 1965. Patterns of Discovery. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 90-1;
> Losee, J. 1972. A Historical Introduction to the Philosophy of Science. London: Oxford University
> Press., pp. 90-3
> But I could not check any (except Losee). When I read this sentence three decades ago, I took  "ghostly fingers" for an allusion to Berkeley's Analyst (Criticising "fluxions", Berkeley wrote: May we not call them the ghosts of departed quantities?). But working on Smith's History of Astronomy, I am afraid I was wrong and Mark Blaug did not quote Berkeley at all and could have another author or passage in mind. Has anybody a suggestion? (I cannot check Blaug's references myself except Losee)
> best regards
>
>
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