CONCEP TS OF RE A SON &quot; A ND &quot; CA USE &quot; 8 1 



correlative. If the cause ceases to act, then the effect ceases to be 

 produced; for the &quot;action&quot; (actio, facere] of the cause and the 

 &quot; production &quot; (passio, fieri) of the effect are one and the same 

 process of real change. Hence the Scholastic axiom &quot; Cessante 

 causa, cessat effectus &quot;. 



The act of &quot; taking poison &quot; may have ceased long before 

 &quot; death &quot; occurs ; but the poison, once introduced into the 

 system, continues to exist and to operate, effecting changes 

 which in turn cause other changes, until finally a condition of the 

 organism is reached, which is so striking, familiar, and significant 

 that it has received a special title to indicate it, viz. death. The 

 first &quot; act,&quot; and the final &quot; state &quot; or effect, are, therefore, connected 

 by a continuous process of natural causation, each stage of which 

 is both an effect (of the preceding one) and a cause (of the subse 

 quent one) ; and wherever we draw a line of distinction in this 

 process of change, the state of things on the one side of the line 

 is the immediate cause, of which the contiguous state on the other 

 side is the immediate effect. 



&quot; Cause and effect,&quot; writes Dr. Mellone, 1 &quot; are divided by a simple mathe 

 matical line a line destitute of breadth which is thrown by our thought 

 across the current of events ; on one side we have the cause, on the other the 

 effect. There is no pause in reality ; the whole process is continuous ; the 

 immediate cause conies into full action only at the very moment when the 

 effect begins to be produced. The point to be borne in mind is the continuity 

 of cause and effect.&quot; 



The whole process of change in the occurrence of any physical 

 phenomenon is, therefore, continuous : there is one continued 

 &quot; motus &quot; or motion throughout : this motion may be regarded 

 either from the point of view of its origin, or from that of its 

 termination : it will be called action (&quot; actio &quot;) when looked at from 

 the side of the cause or agens from which it originates, and &quot;passio &quot; 

 when looked at from the side of the effect or pattens in which 

 it terminates. The Scholastics marked and emphasized their 

 appreciation of the unity and continuity of the whole process by 

 crystallizing their view in the dictum &quot; Actio et passio sunt idem 

 numero motus&quot; : &quot; Acting&quot; and &quot; being acted on &quot; are one and the 

 same real &quot;motion,&quot; looked at from different standpoints. 



But the Scholastics were at N the same time careful not to 

 confound the actual process of change (&quot; fieri &quot;) either with the 

 efficient causes themselves on the one hand, or with the stable 



1 op. dt., p. 273. 

 VOL. II. 6 



