Note 185 — THE CATHOLIC WORLD. VOL. XVIII., No. 107.—FEBRUARY, 1874.[181]
Reading edition
Parents, however, communicate a portion of their substance to their offspring. The reason is that parents are not only the efficient, but also the material, cause of their offspring. As material causes, they supply the matter of which the fœtus will be formed; but, as efficient causes, they only put the conditions required by nature for the organization of this matter. The position of such conditions is an accidental action as well as the subsequent organization. Therefore, parents, as efficient causes, produce nothing but accidental acts. The matter of which the fœtus is formed is, of course, all pre-existing.