BOOK I PART I
near or remote, according to the number of con-
necting causes interposed betwixt the persons.
Of the three relations above-mentioned this
of causation is the most extensive. Two objects
may be considered as placed in this relation, as
well when one is the cause of any of the actions
or motions of the other, as when the former is
the cause of the existence of the latter. For as
that action or motion is nothing but the object
itself, considered in a certain light, and as the
object continues the same in all its different sit-
uations, it is easy to imagine how such an influ-
ence of objects upon one another may connect
them in the imagination.
We may carry this farther, and remark, not
only that two objects are connected by the re-
lation of cause and effect, when the one pro-
duces a motion or any action in the other, but