2 
CAUSE. 
nature incurable ; for, where we cannot, relieye, we 
ihall be at leti.lt prevented from doing harm, and alfo 
enabled to make judicious prognoftics. Difeafes ftiould 
he diftinguilhed by their caufes, and not their effects ; for 
this method, in many inftances, Boerhaave and Van Swie- 
ten are truly admirable. It is owned that men of experi¬ 
ence may be led from the effects of a difeafe to the know¬ 
ledge of itscaufe in fome cafes; but then the curative in¬ 
dications can only be properly taken from the knowledge 
of the true caufe. 
Molt difeafes have four- caufes, viz. the prcdifpofng, 
primary, antecedent, and conjunct. The three halt are called 
morbific caufes. The predifpofing caufe, alfo called caufa 
proegumina , is that which renders the body more tit to re-, 
eeive a morbid imprefiion, when a primary caufe is ap¬ 
plied; or difpofes the body to fuller in one or other mode 
more readily than in any different ones. This kind of caufe 
is a fault in the original confutation., or elfe it is induced 
in time by fome accident. Of itfelf it neither conftitmes 
nor produces a diforder; but, when certain morbid caufes 
occur, it favours their effects ; e. g. a long neck and Hat 
break difpofe to a confumption ; a lhort neck to an apo¬ 
plexy; fiendernef's to a pain in the lide; rigid fibres to in¬ 
flammation and fever; lax fibres to a cachexy and dropfyj. 
&c. Some difeafes pave the way for others, as an all lima 
for a dropfy; colic for thepalfy ; fmall-pox and mealies 
for an inflammation in the eyes and a confumption, &c. 
And a part once injured, is more fubjeft to be affeCted in 
the fame way again. The primary caufe- ,, called alfo the 
active, ejficient, or remote, excites the predifpofing caufe to 
action, or thefe caufes applied to the body that is predif- 
pofed thereto, excite difeafes; and are generally an error 
in one or more of" the non-naturals; as wounds, contu- 
fions, compreffions, morbid effluvia, &c. The antecedent 
caufic, called alfo the mediate, is ufually in the excreta and 
retenta. In mod complaints, the non-naturals firfl difor¬ 
der fome of the evacuations, this is the primary caufe of 
the difeafe; then thefe evacuations affedt the blood and 
juices, which is thefecond caufe; the blood and juices thus 
affeCted,will not fail todifturb the aCtion of the parts,which 
is the lalt and immediate caufe,of difeafe, and in which con- 
lilts the nature of ail dileafes. The immediate, called alfo 
the proximate, continent, hidden, and internal, are thofe which, 
taken all together, immediately contt-itute and continue the 
prefent difeafe; the removal of which caufes is the cure ; 
as the air in an emphyfema, and the blood in an aneurifm. 
A knowledge of the proximate caufe enables 11s to judge 
of the nature of the complaint and its remedies, which 
may be learnt from, firft, a fore-knowledge of the nature 
and powers of the remote caufes; fecondly, from collating 
the different fymptoms of the difeafe together, and, by 
ftriCf reafoning, to reduce them to one Ample caufe; 
thirdly, front the pernicious or falutary effeffls of the reme¬ 
dies applied during the difeafe; fourthly, .by a careful in- 
ipection of dead bodies. In this laft, likewife, much fkill 
in the appearances met with in dead bodies is required, 
left the effeCts of the caufes fltould be miltaken for the 
caufes themfelves. The proximate caufe is often difficult 
to be difeovered, fomethr.es irnpoffible ; and. general 
caufes are very numerous, hence the difficulty to fix on the 
particular one. However,the immediate caufe, wherever 
it can, ought to be difco.vered, becaufe upon that, depends 
the inode of cure which fhould be adopted, and from 
whence we have, every right to expeCt fuccefs in all cunt-, 
ble cafes. Upon the whole, if we can find out the nature 
of the predifpofing, the primary,and the proximate, caufe, 
we (hall be furnithed with every material on which to 
found a rational praCtice, whether our endeavours are di¬ 
rected to prevent, palliate, or cure, difeafe. SeeMEDiciNE. 
CAUSES and EFFECTS, as appertaining to judicial 
proceedings, the law hath refpedt to the caufe or begin¬ 
ning of a thing, as the principal part on which all other 
things are founded; and herein the next, and not the re¬ 
mote, caufe, is moftly looked upon, except it be incoviaous 
and criminal things; and therefore that which is not good 
at firft will not be fo afterwards; for Inch as is the caufe-, 
fuch is the effeiff. Plowd. 208. If an infant or femme- 
covert.make a will, and publ.lh. it, and after die of full 
age, or lole, the w ill is of no force, by reafon of the origi¬ 
nal caufe of infancy and coverture. Finch. 12. Where 
the caufe ceafeth, tlire effeit or thing will ceafe. Co. Lit. it,. 
To CAUSE, v. a. To effect as an agent; to produce_ 
Never was man whofe apprehenfions are fober, and by a. 
p.cniive infpection advifed, but hath found, by an irrelilt- 
ible neceflity, one everlafting being, all for ever caufing, and 
all for ev.er fuftaining. Raleigh. 
We derive our ideas of caufe and effedt from our obfer- 
vation ot the viciffitudes of things, while we perceive fome 
qualities or.fubfiances begin to exilt, and that they receive 
their exiftence from the application and operation of other 
beings. That which produces, we call the caufe ; andi 
that which is produced, the effedf.. Ariflotle, and the.. 
I'choolmen after him, diftinguifhed four kinds of caufes : 
the etffcient, the material, the formal, and the final. This - 
was only a diftindtion of the various meanings of an ambi¬ 
guous word : for the efficient, the matter, tl.e form, and the 
er.d, have nothing common in their nature by winch they 
may be accounted fpecies of the fame genus; but the 
Greekword, which we tranfiate caufe, had thefe four dif¬ 
ferent meanings in Ariftotls’s days; and we have fince 
added other meanings. 
With regard to the phenomena of nature, the important 
end of knowing their caufes, befides gratifying ourcuri- 
ofity, is, that we may know when to expedt them, or how 
to bring them about. This is often of real importance in 
life; and this purpofe is ferved, by knowing what, in tlie 
courfe of nature, goes before them, and is connected wit li¬ 
the m : this, therefore) is called the caufe of fuch a pheno¬ 
menon. If a magnet be brought near to a mariner’s cbm- 
pafs, the needle, which was before at reft, immediately 
begins to move, and bends its courfe towards the magnet, 
or perhaps the contrary way. If an unlearned failor is 
afked the caufe of this motion of the needle, he is at no 
lofs for an anfwer. He fays it is the magnet ; and the 
proof is clear; for, remove tire magnet, and the effect 
ceafes; bring it near, and the effect is again produced. 
It is, therefore, evident to fenfe,-that the magnet is the 
caufe-of thiseffedf. A Cartefian philosopher enters more 
deeply into the caufe of this phenomenon. He obferves, 
that the magnet does not touch the needle, and therefore- 
can give it no impulfe. He pities the ignorance of the 
failor. The effect is produced, fays he, by magnetic efflu¬ 
via, or fubtile matter, which puffes from the magnet to tlie^ 
needle, and forces it from its place. He can even ftiew, 
by a figure, where thefe magnetic effluvia iffue from the 
magnet, what round they take, and what way they return 
home again. Thus he thinks he-comprehends perfectly , 
how, and by what caufe, the motion ot the needle is pro¬ 
duced. A Newtonian plnlofopher, however, inquires 
what proof can be offered of the exiftence of magnetic ef¬ 
fluvia, and can find none,- He therefore holds it as a fic¬ 
tion, an hypothefis; and he has learned that hypothefes 
ought to have no place in the philofophy of nature. He 
confeffes his ignorance of the real caufe of this motion, 
and thinks that his buiinefs as a plnlofopher is only to find 
from experiment the laws by which it is regulated in all¬ 
cafes. Thefe three perfons differ much in their fentunents 
with regard to the real caufe of this phenomenon; and the 
man who knows 1110ft is-lie w ho is- fenfible that lie knows- 
lead of the matter. Yet all the three f peak the tame lan¬ 
guage, and acknowledge that the caufe of this motion is 
the attractive or repulfrve power of the magnet. 
The grandeft’difcovei y ever made in natural philofophy 
was that of the law of gravitation and defledbon, winch 
opens fo rational a view of our planetary fyflem ; yet thefe- 
difeover no real cattle, but only the law or rule according 
to which the unknown caufes operate. Natural philofo--. 
pliers, therefore, who think accurately, have a precite 
meaning to the terms they ufe in the icience; and, when 
they pretend to fhevv the caufe of any phenomenon off 
nature, 
