THE CAUSES AND CONDITIONS OF KNOWLEDGE. 175 



We thus find that in passing west, the coal is divided by clay bands, and 

 that beds of limestone become insinuated in the superincumbent shale beds. But 

 the total thickness of the coal does not diminish. The fossil flora formed in the 

 shales near the coal is peculiarly interesting including, as it does 



Calamites — 2 species. Lepidodendron brittsii. Lx. Sigillaria. Neuropteris 

 2 or 3 species, probably N. loschii, N. hirsuta, N. rarinerois, JV. angustifolia, 

 Sphenopteris , tridaciylies, alethopteris, serlii. Fecopteris squamosa. Annularia 

 longifolia. Stigmaria, etc. 



In the sandstones above, good specimens can also sometimes be obtained of 

 ferns, Lepidodendron, Calamites and Sigillaria. From the railroad we can see 

 three noted mounds about seven miles northwest from Thayer. The highest is 

 about 125 feet above the adjacent plain and ridge on which Thayer is situated, 

 and is capped Dy broken layers of limestone. Other mounds can also be seen in 

 the distance. 



Pleasant Hill, Mo., May, 1882. 



PHILOSOPHY. 



THE CAUSES AND CONDITIONS OF KNOWLEDGE. 



BY R. J. m'cARTY. 



There is a difference between the cause of a thing and the conditions which 

 make it possible. Thus time and space are two of the conditions which make 

 existence possible, yet they do not cause it. Therefore, when we have treated of 

 a subject with reference to its causes, up to a point beyond which the human 

 mind is incapable of proceeding, we may still inquire into its conditions. 



The object of this paper is to treat of knowledge in this manner, viz : 



To define the limits within which it may be treated as the effect of some 

 cause. 



To treat of the conditions of its possibility — conditions without which there 

 could be no such thing as knowledge and which obtaining make all knowledge 

 possible — and to show that neither the causes so far as traceable nor the condi- 

 tions as developed indicate that any of our knowledge is innate. 



Truth is possibility. Fact is possibility realized. Idea is a modification of 

 mind produced in any manner whatever. Object is anything capable of produc- 

 ing idea. The act of consciousness is the culmination of mental effort. 



Knowledge cannot be defined, for to do so would require a state of mind 

 superior to that produced by its acquisition. 



The utmost effort to discover the causes of knowledge must conclude that i^ 

 results from an inexplicable operation of the mind called the act of consciousness. 



