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52 THE FOTJEFOLD ROOT. [CHAP. IV.
how the most heterogeneous natural forces successively
come into play in them. By this explanation the difference
between transitory phenomena and permanent forms of
and as, moreover, a
operation, becomes exceedingly clear ;
whole section ( 26) is devoted to the question, it will be
sufficient here to give a brief sketch of it. The rule, by
which a force of Nature manifests itself in the chain of
causes and effects consequently the link which connects it
with them is the law of Nature. But the confusion
between forces of Nature and causes is as frequent as it
is detrimental to clearness of thought. It seems indeed
as though no one had accurately defined the difference
between these conceptions before me, however great may
have been the urgency for such a distinction. Not only
are forces of Nature turned into causes by such expres
sions as, Electricity, Gravity, &c., are the cause of so-and-
so, but they are even often turned into effects by those wlio
&c., which
search for a cause for Electricity, Gravity, <fec.
is absurd. Diminishing the number of the forces of Nature,
however, by reducing one to another, as for instance
Magnetism is in our days reduced to Electricity,
is a
totally different thing. Every true, consequently really
primary force of Nature and every fundamental chemical
property belongs to these forces is essentially a qualitas
occulta, i.e. it does not admit of physical, but only of
metaphysical explanation : in other words, of an explana
tion which transcends the world of phenomena. No one has
carried this confusion, or rather identification, of causes
with forces of Nature further than Maine de Biran in his
"Nouvelles considerations des rapports du physique au
moral," for it is essential to his philosophy. It is besides
remarkable, that when he speaks of causes, he rarely uses
the word cause alone, but almost always speaks of cause
ou force, just as we have seen Spinoza above (8) write ratio
sive causa no less than eight times in the same page. Both