55 



whole bulk; their uprightness, and their majesty, arc all levelled by 

 the woodman. Then begins with them another series of causation, 

 61. But of all productions of the earth the most interesting to 

 man are those which come nearest to himself, the various tribes of 

 animals: these, all curiously endowed, by other causes first dis- 

 posed, the earth maintains them; they for a while enjoy their 

 faculties ; effects produced : causes, producing, they then exchange 

 their properties, and return to earth, assuming new forms, and be- 

 come the actors in another scene. 



62. What in a general way shall we observe of man? In 

 truth he is a theme too complicate for general remark : lie, how- 

 ever, pursues in every point of view, in every single act, and in their 

 combinations, the universal order; related with his own causes; 

 these infinite ; he, an effect. His causes and associated attributes, 

 with surrounding existences allied, affected by, or changing them : 

 still an effect; or in turn a cause. How he is built up, we need 

 not say; the drama of his life need not be told ; what he returns to 

 is also plain. Thus then in more sober form the order of the 

 world proceeds. 



63. The universe is identified by all its parts ; these last by 

 their constituents, in infinitum. The produced contains the pro- 

 ducing. 



64. Causes have their sphere of influence ; that is, as they 

 operate only by supplying themselves, they are causes only where 

 they exist; further the subject of their past operation is taken up 

 by others, and a continuous history of its change* may be preserved 

 to all appearances, when no trace remains of the identity which was 

 formed by preceding causation. Thus 



65. The sun encourages the growth of the stick which be- 

 comes the bludgeon of a highwayman, by which a man is killed : 

 his family is for a while supported by the parish ; a son enlists as a 

 soldier, and a shot from his piece occasions the death of a general 

 officer, whose widow and nation lament him. None of which 

 would have happened, had not the sun, all pervading, encouraged by 

 his influence the growth of the stick. Yet the sun-beams which 

 warmed the tree, are not the cause that one became a soldier, who 

 might otherwise have been a tailor, or of the death of the officer, 

 whose fate his country laments. These are distinct, though con- 

 nected acts of causation, and every cause concerned is to be con- 

 sidered as such only where itself exists ; to that which can exist 

 without it, it is no cause. (See Chap. IF. &c.) 



66. The appellation of " remote cause" is given to express the 

 relation between the sun and the ultimate effect, viz. the death of 

 the officer, in the example just given. This appellation might as 

 well be retained, since its implication cannot be expressed without 

 more words; it must however be understood that there is no such 

 thing as a remote cause, of the description hinted at in our example, 

 simply for the reason that the expression implies a cause, that is 



