

SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



Carelessness 

 Cause 



indisputably connected) with volition, and 

 by inevitable consequence, with motive, with 

 intellect, and with all those attributes of 

 mind in which personality consists." CAR- 

 PENTER Nature and Man, lect. 12, p. 363. 

 (A., 1889.) 



428. CAUSE AND EFFECT IN MEN- 

 TAL PHENOMENA Law in Realm of 

 Mind. When we pass from the phenomena 

 of matter to the phenomena of mind, we do 

 not pass from under the reign of law. 

 Here, too, facts do range themselves in an 

 observed order; here, too, there is a chain 

 of cause and effect running throughout all 

 events; here, too, we see around us, and 

 feel within us, the work of forces which 

 have always a certain definite tendency to 

 produce certain definite results; here, too, 

 it is by combination and adjustment among 

 these forces that they are mutually held in 

 check; here, too, accordingly, special ends 

 can only be accomplished by the use of spe- 

 cial means. ARGYLL Reign of Law, ch. 6, p. 

 163. (Burt.) 



429. CAUSE AND EFFECT, TESTS 



OF Change of Result Corresponding to Change 

 of Agency. The dependence of one thing 

 upon another is ordinarily shown by two 

 classes of facts the first, the presence of 

 the cause followed by the presence of the 

 effect; the second, the absence of the cause 

 followed by the absence of the effect; as 

 when we prove that lighting a fire is the 

 cause of smoke, or oxygen the cause of pu- 

 trefaction and decay. Of the two methods, 

 the second the absence of the cause fol- 

 lowed by the absence of the effect is the 

 most decisive; the preservation of meat by 

 excluding air is the best proof that air, or 

 some ingredient of it, is the cause of putre- 

 faction. More especially convincing is the 

 abrupt removal of a supposed cause, leading 

 at once to the suspension of an effect. 

 There are cases, however, where we cannot 

 make the experiment of removing an agent. 

 We cannot get away from the earth where 

 we live. We cannot remove the moon from 

 its sphere, so as to see what actions on the 

 earth depend upon it; we cannot by an 

 abrupt suspension of lunar gravitation 

 prove that the tides are very largely de- 

 pendent on lunar influence. For such cases, 

 recourse is had to a third expedient, which 

 happily solves the difficulty, and furnishes 

 the proof required. If the agency in ques- 

 tion, altho irremovable, passes through 

 gradations whose amount can be measured, 

 we are able to observe whether the effect 

 has corresponding changes of degree; and 

 if a strict concomitance is observable be- 

 tween the intensity of the cause and the 

 intensity of the effect, we have a presump- 

 tion that may rise to positive proof of the 

 connection. It is thus shown that the tides 

 depend on the moon and the sun conjointly; 

 that the gaseous and liquid states of matter 

 are due to heat. BAIN Mind and Body, ch. 

 3, p. 5. (Hum., 1880.) 



430. CAUSE BEHIND CAUSE Sub- 

 terranean Forces Built the Mountains 

 Fain, Snow, Frost, and Rivers Carved Them 

 into Shape. We are led by recent geologi- 

 cal investigations to reject the notions 

 which were formerly accepted, by which 

 mountain ranges were supposed to be sud- 

 denly and violently upheaved by volcanic 

 forces. . . . The actual forms of the 

 mountain ranges are due directly to the ac- 

 tion of denuding forces, which have sculp- 

 tured out from the rude rocky_ masses all 

 the varied outlines of peaks and crags, of 

 ravines and valleys. But it is none the less 

 true that the determining causes which 

 have directed and controlled all this earth- 

 sculpture are found in the relative posi- 

 tions of hard and soft masses of rock; but 

 these rock-masses have acquired their hard- 

 ness and consistency, and have assumed 

 their present positions, in obedience to the 

 action of subterranean forces. Hence we see 

 that tho the formation of mountain ranges 

 is proximately due to the denuding forces, 

 which have sculptured the earth's surface, 

 the primary cause for the existence of such 

 mountain chains must be sought for in the 

 fact that subterranean forces have been at 

 work, folding, crumpling, and hardening the 

 soft sediments, and placing them in such 

 positions that, by the action of denudation, 

 the more indurated portions are left stand- 

 ing as mountain masses above the general 

 surface. JUDU Volcanoes, ch. 10, p. 290. 

 (A., 1899.) 



431. CAUSE BEHIND THE PRIMOR- 

 DIAL GERM In the case of Mr. Darwin, 

 observation, imagination, and reason com- 

 bined have run back with wonderful sagac- 

 ity and success over a certain length of the 

 line of biological succession. Guided by 

 analogy, in his " Origin of Species " he 

 placed at the root of life a primordial germ, 

 from which he conceived the amazing va- 

 riety of the organisms now upon the earth's 

 surface might be deduced. If this hypothe- 

 sis were even true, it would not be final. 

 The human mind would infallibly look be- 

 hind the germ, and, however hopeless the at- 

 tempt, would inquire into the history of its 

 genesis. TYNDALL Fragments of Science, 

 vol. ii, ch. 8, p. 127. (A., 1897.) 



432. CAUSE DEMANDED BY HUMAN 

 MIND FOR EVERY EFFECT Every oc- 

 currence in Nature is preceded by other 

 occurrences which are its causes, and suc- 

 ceeded by others which are its effects. The 

 human mind is not satisfied with observing 

 and studying any natural occurrence alone, 

 but takes pleasure in connecting every nat- 

 ural fact with what has gone before it, and 

 with what is to come after it. TYNDALL 

 Forms of Water, p. 1. (A., 1899.) 



433. CAUSE, FINAL, NEVER FULLY 



KNOWN We See Immediate, Not Ultimate, 

 Purpose. When man makes an implement, 

 he knows the purpose for which he makes it 



