Note 49 — Front matter

If we take spark as cause and explosion as effect there is obviously no proportionality between the cause and its effect. Thus M. Bergson speaks of the spark as 'a cause that acts by releasing'; and he adds that 'neither quality nor quantity of effect varies with quality or quantity of the cause: the effect is invariable'. Creative Evolution, p. 77. Compare what Spencer introduced into the Sixth edition of F. P. (pp. 172-3), concerning 'trigger action which does not produce the power but liberates it'. According to the treatment in the text there can be no 'proportionality' unless both ground and conditions are taken into account.