A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century A.D. v2.c35.95

v2.c35.95

Now introduce the complication of the plurality of causes :—Fire, for example, is the effect of several assemblages, *e.g.*, (1) blowing on heated grass, (2) focussing rays through a lens on a combustible like paper or straw, (3) friction with the fire drill, etc. Here each assemblage is regarded as a sum of causes. But in this case there is no Vyápti between the effect ‘fire’ and any particular assemblage of causal conditions, say, of the lens or the fire drill. For the presence of fire does not indicate the presence of the lens or the fire drill assemblage, nor does the absence of either of the latter in particular, indicate the absence of fire.