AND ITS SELF-CONSERVATION. 209 



depend upon the conditions both in the cause and in the 

 effect. 



But thus 'it would seem that, after all, the "cause" is 

 not confined to one side merely. Not only doss the vapor 

 of the explosive press outward against the ball; the ball 

 presses back upon the vapor. Not only does the moving 

 ball cause* vibrations in the air; the friction between the 

 air and the ball has the effect to raise the temperature of 

 both the air and the ball. Not only does the ball rend 

 the tissues of the bird; the resisting tissues of the bird 

 diminish the velocity of the ball. There is ever action 

 and reaction. Each phase is cause and each phase is 

 effect. In other words, cause and effect are but the recip- 

 rocal aspects in every event which takes place, and hence 

 are simultaneous rather than successive. 



The relation between cause and effect is, nevertheless, 

 commonly presented as one of succession. A as cause is 

 followed by 1) as effect; b by c\ c by d, etc. But here two 

 caiises at least alternate with effect as the characteristic 

 of the same term, though b as cause is related only to c, 

 while as effect it is related only to a. In this way caus- 

 ality is extended into an infinite series c is the cause of d, 

 d of e, * * * x of y, ad infinitum. In such infinite 

 series, however, the phase of cause utterly vanishes, a on 

 its part being likewise an effect of a cause which again is 

 effect, and so on forever. 



Here again we have all reduced to the infinitesimal 

 degree and then spread out so that the limit is lost to 

 view, whence it is supposed we have reached a solution 

 of our difficulty. But far from any correlation of forces, 

 we have here really no force at all only the fleeting 

 shadows of mutually exclusive forces, all which vanish 

 into an infinite series of "effects" without cause. 



