(Greek aitía, aítion, Latin causa, French cause, German Ursache;
from the Latin both the Italian term cosa and the French chose,
meaning "thing", are derived). Cause, as the correlative of
effect, is understood as being that which in any way gives
existence to, or contributes towards the existence of, any
thing; which produces a result; to which the origin of any thing
is to be ascribed. The term cause is also employed in several
other suppositions, philosophical, scientific, legal, etc., to
which reference will be made in the course of the present
article. The description just given is that of cause taken in
the philosophical sense, as well as in its ordinary
signification in popular language, for, strictly speaking,
cause, being a transcendental, cannot receive a logical
definition. It is that also commonly advanced as a preliminary
to the investigation of the nature of causality, in the schools.
Although the ideas of cause and of causality are quite obviously
among the most familiar that we possess, since