Galileo writes that "all external impediments removed, a heavy body on a spherical surface concentric with the earth will maintain itself in that state in which it has been; if placed in a movement towards the west (for example), it will maintain itself in that movement." This notion, which is termed "circular inertia" or "horizontal circular inertia" by historians of science, is a precursor to but is distinct from Newton's notion of rectilinear inertia. For Galileo, a motion is " horizontal " if it does not carry the moving body towards or away from the center of the Earth, and for him, "a ship, for instance, having once received some impetus through the tranquil sea, would move continually around our globe without ever stopping." It is also worth noting that Galileo later (in 1632) concluded that based on this initial premise of inertia, it is impossible to tell the difference between a moving object and a stationary one without some outside reference to compare it against. This observation ultimately came to be the basis for Albert Einstein to develop the theory of special relativity.