Corresponding to this property of the causality concept, the causal sequence may be terminated either formally, by postulate, or naturally, by the intrinsic physical nature of the elements of the sequence. Thus if we say that light gets from point to point because it is propagated by a medium of unalterable properties, which fills all space, which is always present and can never be eliminated physically, we have by the postulated properties of the medium brought the possibility of further inquiry to a close, because to take the next step and ask the cause of the properties of the ether, demands that we be able to perform experiments with the ether altered or absent. Such an ending of the sequence is evidently pure formalism, without physical significance. But other considerations may give physical significance. Thus if there are other sorts of experiment that can be explained by assuming a universal medium of the same properties, the concept proves not only to be useful, but to have a certain degree of physical significance. An example of an inevitable termination of the causal sequence is afforded by the possibility, already mentioned, that the value of the gravitational constant may be determined by the total quantity of matter in the universe. Without further qualification, this is an entirely sterile statement, but if it can be shown that there is a simple numerical connection, the matter takes on interest, and we may seek further for a correlation between the numerical relation and other things. This analysis of the causality concept does not pretend to be complete and leaves many interesting questions untouched. Perhaps one of the most interesting of these questions is whether we can separate into cause and effect two phenomena which _always_ accompany each other, and whether therefore the classification of phenomena into causally connected groups is an exhaustive classification. But the discussion is broad enough for our purpose here; the most important points of view to acquire are that the causality concept is relative to the whole background of the system which contains the causally connected events, and that we must assume the possibility of an unlimited number of identical experiments, so that the causality concept applies only to sub-groups of events separated out from the aggregate of all events. THE CONCEPT OF IDENTITY