The causal concept analyzed in this way is not simple by any means. We do not have a simple event A causally connected with a simple event B, but the whole background of the system in which the events occur is included in the concept, and is a vital part of it. If the system, including its past history, were different, the nature of the relation between A and B might change entirely. The causality concept is therefore a relative one, in that it involves the whole system in which the events take place. In practice we now take an exceedingly pregnant step and seek to extend the concept, and rid ourselves as much as possible of its relativity. It is a matter of experience that there are often a great number of systems in which A is the cause of B. In many cases the causal relation persists through such a very wide range of systems that we lose sight entirely of the system, and come to assume that we have an _absolute_ causal connection between A and B. For instance, when I strike a bell, and hear the sound, the causal connection persists through such a great number of different kinds of system that I might think that here is an absolute causal connection. Such an absolute causal connection would mean that always under all circumstances, the striking of the bell is accompanied by a sound. But _all_ conditions means only _all_ those conditions covered by experiment. Thus in the case of the bell, all our experiments were made in the presence of the atmosphere. The causal connection between the striking of the bell and the sound should have been always recognized in principle as relative to the presence of the atmosphere. Indeed, later experiments in the absence of the atmosphere show that the atmosphere does play an essential part. Now as a matter of fact, the atmosphere is so comparatively easy to remove that we very readily include the atmosphere in the chain of causal connection. But if the atmosphere had been impossible to remove, like the old ether of space, our idea of the causal connections between the striking of the bell and its sound might have been quite different. In actual physical applications of the causality concept, the constant background which is maintained during all the variations by which the causal connection is established usually has to be inferred from the context. It is a matter of perhaps universal experience that the event A is accompanied by not only one event, which is the effect of A by definition, but A entails a whole causal train of events. It seems to be a generalization from experience that the causally connected train of events started by A is a never ending train, provided the system is large enough. This is perhaps not necessary in the general case, but if the event A involves imparting external energy to the system, or the action of external force (momentum change), there can be no question.