Samuel Taylor Coleridge Quote

It is the essence of a scientific definition to be causative, not by introduction of imaginary somewhats, natural or supernatural, under the name of causes, but by announcing the law of action in the particular case, in subordination to the common law of which all the phenomena are modifications or results.

Hints Towards the Formation of a More Comprehensive Theory of Life, The Nature of Life (p. 25), John Churchill. 1847