The combinations in
question are not of the nature of mere mechanical juxtapositions, as it
were. They do not even correspond to chemical combinations.
Consequently no valid inferences as regards the nature of the
combinations in question can be drawn by analogy from the nature
[variety?] of these combinations.
II. The general proposition, that when once a cause is removed its
effect vanishes, is not universally applicable. Take, for instance, the
following example:--If you once communicate a certain amount of momentum
to a ball, velocity of a particular degree in a particular direction is
the result. Now, the cause of this motion ceases to exist when the
instantaneous sudden impact or blow which conveyed the momentum is
completed; but according to Newton's first law of motion, the ball will
continue to move on for ever and ever, with undiminished velocity in the
same direction, unless the said motion is altered, diminished,
neutralized, or counteracted by extraneous causes. Thus, if the ball
stop, it will not be on account of the absence of the cause of its
motion, but in consequence of the existence of extraneous causes which
produce the said result.
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