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diff --git a/old/cantp10.txt b/old/cantp10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c4dec31 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/cantp10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1975 @@ +Project Gutenberg Etext of Canterbury Pieces, by Samuel Butler +#8 in our series by Samuel Butler + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.12.12.00*END* + + + + + +This etext was produced from the 1914 A. C. Fifield edition by David +Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk + + + + + +SAMUEL BUTLER'S CANTERBURY PIECES + +by Samuel Butler + + + + +Contents: + +Darwin on the Origin of Species + A Dialogue + Barrel-Organs + Letter: 21 Feb 1863 + Letter: 14 Mar 1863 + Letter: 18 Mar 1863 + Letter: 11 Apr 1863 + Letter: 22 June 1863 +Darwin Among the Machines +Lucubratio Ebria +A note on "The Tempest" +The English Cricketers + + +DARWIN ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES + + + +Prefatory Note + +As the following dialogue embodies the earliest fruits of Butler's +study of the works of Charles Darwin, with whose name his own was +destined in later years to be so closely connected, and thus +possesses an interest apart from its intrinsic merit, a few words as +to the circumstances in which it was published will not be out of +place. + +Butler arrived in New Zealand in October, 1859, and about the same +time Charles Darwin's ORIGIN OF SPECIES was published. Shortly +afterwards the book came into Butler's hands. He seems to have read +it carefully, and meditated upon it. The result of his meditations +took the shape of the following dialogue, which was published on 20 +December, 1862, in the PRESS which had been started in the town of +Christ Church in May, 1861. The dialogue did not by any means pass +unnoticed. On the 17th of January, 1863, a leading article (of +course unsigned) appeared in the PRESS, under the title "Barrel- +Organs," discussing Darwin's theories, and incidentally referring to +Butler's dialogue. A reply to this article, signed A .M., appeared +on the 21st of February, and the correspondence was continued until +the 22nd of June, 1863. The dialogue itself, which was unearthed +from the early files of the PRESS, mainly owing to the exertions of +Mr. Henry Festing Jones, was reprinted, together with the +correspondence that followed its publication, in the PRESS of June 8 +and 15, 1912. Soon after the original appearance of Butler's +dialogue a copy of it fell into the hands of Charles Darwin, possibly +sent to him by a friend in New Zealand. Darwin was sufficiently +struck by it to forward it to the editor of some magazine, which has +not been identified, with the following letter:- + + +Down, Bromley, Kent, S.E. +March 24 [1863]. + +(Private). + +Mr. Darwin takes the liberty to send by this post to the Editor a New +Zealand newspaper for the very improbable chance of the Editor having +some spare space to reprint a Dialogue on Species. This Dialogue, +written by some [sic] quite unknown to Mr. Darwin, is remarkable from +its spirit and from giving so clear and accurate a view of Mr. D. +[sic] theory. It is also remarkable from being published in a colony +exactly 12 years old, in which it might have [sic] thought only +material interests would have been regarded. + + +The autograph of this letter was purchased from Mr. Tregaskis by Mr. +Festing Jones, and subsequently presented by him to the Museum at +Christ Church. The letter cannot be dated with certainty, but since +Butler's dialogue was published in December, 1862, and it is at least +probable that the copy of the PRESS which contained it was sent to +Darwin shortly after it appeared, we may conclude with tolerable +certainty that the letter was written in March, 1863. Further light +is thrown on the controversy by a correspondence which took place +between Butler and Darwin in 1865, shortly after Butler's return to +England. During that year Butler had published a pamphlet entitled +THE EVIDENCE FOR THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST AS GIVEN BY THE +FOUR EVANGELISTS CRITICALLY EXAMINED, of which he afterwards +incorporated the substance into THE FAIR HAVEN. Butler sent a copy +of this pamphlet to Darwin, and in due course received the following +reply:- + + +Down, Bromley, Kent. +September 30 [1865]. + +My dear Sir,--I am much obliged to you for so kindly sending me your +Evidences, etc. We have read it with much interest. It seems to me +written with much force, vigour, and clearness; and the main argument +to me is quite new. I particularly agree with all you say in your +preface. + +I do not know whether you intend to return to New Zealand, and, if +you are inclined to write, I should much like to know what your +future plans are. + +My health has been so bad during the last five months that I have +been confined to my bedroom. Had it been otherwise I would have +asked you if you could have spared the time to have paid us a visit; +but this at present is impossible, and I fear will be so for some +time. + +With my best thanks for your present, + +I remain, +My dear Sir, +Yours very faithfully, +Charles Darwin. + + +To this letter Butler replied as follows:- + + +15 Clifford's Inn, E.C. +October 1st, 1865. + +Dear Sir,--I knew you were ill and I never meant to give you the +fatigue of writing to me. Please do not trouble yourself to do so +again. As you kindly ask my plans I may say that, though I very +probably may return to New Zealand in three or four years, I have no +intention of doing so before that time. My study is art, and +anything else I may indulge in is only by-play; it may cause you some +little wonder that at my age I should have started as an art student, +and I may perhaps be permitted to explain that this was always my +wish for years, that I had begun six years ago, as soon as ever I +found that I could not conscientiously take orders; my father so +strongly disapproved of the idea that I gave it up and went out to +New Zealand, stayed there for five years, worked like a common +servant, though on a run of my own, and sold out little more than a +year ago, thinking that prices were going to fall--which they have +since done. Being then rather at a loss what to do and my capital +being all locked up, I took the opportunity to return to my old plan, +and have been studying for the last ten years unremittingly. I hope +that in three or four years more I shall be able to go on very well +by myself, and then I may go back to New Zealand or no as +circumstances shall seem to render advisable. I must apologise for +so much detail, but hardly knew how to explain myself without it. + +I always delighted in your ORIGIN OF SPECIES as soon as I saw it out +in New Zealand--not as knowing anything whatsoever of natural +history, but it enters into so many deeply interesting questions, or +rather it suggests so many, that it thoroughly fascinated me. I +therefore feel all the greater pleasure that my pamphlet should +please you, however full of errors. + +The first dialogue on the ORIGIN which I wrote in the PRESS called +forth a contemptuous rejoinder from (I believe) the Bishop of +Wellington--(please do not mention the name, though I think that at +this distance of space and time I might mention it to yourself) I +answered it with the enclosed, which may amuse you. I assumed +another character because my dialogue was in my hearing very severely +criticised by two or three whose opinion I thought worth having, and +I deferred to their judgment in my next. I do not think I should do +so now. I fear you will be shocked at an appeal to the periodicals +mentioned in my letter, but they form a very staple article of bush +diet, and we used to get a good deal of superficial knowledge out of +them. I feared to go in too heavy on the side of the ORIGIN, because +I thought that, having said my say as well as I could, I had better +now take a less impassioned tone; but I was really exceedingly angry. + +Please do not trouble yourself to answer this, and believe me, + +Yours most sincerely, +S. Butler. + + +This elicited a second letter from Darwin:- + + +Down, Bromley, Kent. +October 6. + +My dear Sir,--I thank you sincerely for your kind and frank letter, +which has interested me greatly. What a singular and varied career +you have already run. Did you keep any journal or notes in New +Zealand? For it strikes me that with your rare powers of writing you +might make a very interesting work descriptive of a colonist's life +in New Zealand. + +I return your printed letter, which you might like to keep. It has +amused me, especially the part in which you criticise yourself. To +appreciate the letter fully I ought to have read the bishop's letter, +which seems to have been very rich. + +You tell me not to answer your note, but I could not resist the wish +to thank you for your letter. + +With every good wish, believe me, my dear Sir, + +Yours sincerely, +Ch. Darwin. + + +It is curious that in this correspondence Darwin makes no reference +to the fact that he had already had in his possession a copy of +Butler's dialogue and had endeavoured to induce the editor of an +English periodical to reprint it. It is possible that we have not +here the whole of the correspondence which passed between Darwin and +Butler at this period, and this theory is supported by the fact that +Butler seems to take for granted that Darwin knew all about the +appearance of the original dialogue on the ORIGIN OF SPECIES in the +PRESS. + +Enough, however, has been given to explain the correspondence which +the publication of the dialogue occasioned. I do not know what +authority Butler had for supposing that Charles John Abraham, Bishop +of Wellington, was the author of the article entitled "Barrel- +Organs," and the "Savoyard" of the subsequent controversy. However, +at that time Butler was deep in the counsels of the PRESS, and he may +have received private information on the subject. Butler's own +reappearance over the initials A. M. is sufficiently explained in his +letter to Darwin. + +It is worth observing that Butler appears in the dialogue and ensuing +correspondence in a character very different from that which he was +later to assume. Here we have him as an ardent supporter of Charles +Darwin, and adopting a contemptuous tone with regard to the claims of +Erasmus Darwin to have sown the seed which was afterwards raised to +maturity by his grandson. It would be interesting to know if it was +this correspondence that first turned Butler's attention seriously to +the works of the older evolutionists and ultimately led to the +production of EVOLUTION, OLD AND NEW, in which the indebtedness of +Charles Darwin to Erasmus Darwin, Buffon and Lamarck is demonstrated +with such compelling force. + + + +DARWIN ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES: A Dialogue +[From the Press, 20 December, 1862.] + + + +F. So you have finished Darwin? Well, how did you like him? + +C. You cannot expect me to like him. He is so hard and logical, and +he treats his subject with such an intensity of dry reasoning without +giving himself the loose rein for a single moment from one end of the +book to the other, that I must confess I have found it a great effort +to read him through. + +F. But I fancy that, if you are to be candid, you will admit that +the fault lies rather with yourself than with the book. Your +knowledge of natural history is so superficial that you are +constantly baffled by terms of which you do not understand the +meaning, and in which you consequently lose all interest. I admit, +however, that the book is hard and laborious reading; and, moreover, +that the writer appears to have predetermined from the commencement +to reject all ornament, and simply to argue from beginning to end, +from point to point, till he conceived that he had made his case +sufficiently clear. + +C. I agree with you, and I do not like his book partly on that very +account. He seems to have no eye but for the single point at which +he is aiming. + +F. But is not that a great virtue in a writer? + +C. A great virtue, but a cold and hard one. + +F. In my opinion it is a grave and wise one. Moreover, I conceive +that the judicial calmness which so strongly characterises the whole +book, the absence of all passion, the air of extreme and anxious +caution which pervades it throughout, are rather the result of +training and artificially acquired self-restraint than symptoms of a +cold and unimpassioned nature; at any rate, whether the lawyer-like +faculty of swearing both sides of a question and attaching the full +value to both is acquired or natural in Darwin's case, you will admit +that such a habit of mind is essential for any really valuable and +scientific investigation. + +C. I admit it. Science is all head--she has no heart at all. + +F. You are right. But a man of science may be a man of other things +besides science, and though he may have, and ought to have no heart +during a scientific investigation, yet when he has once come to a +conclusion he may be hearty enough in support of it, and in his other +capacities may be of as warm a temperament as even you can desire. + +C. I tell you I do not like the book. + +F. May I catechise you a little upon it? + +C. To your heart's content. + +F. Firstly, then, I will ask you what is the one great impression +that you have derived from reading it; or, rather, what do you think +to be the main impression that Darwin wanted you to derive? + +C. Why, I should say some such thing as the following--that men are +descended from monkeys, and monkeys from something else, and so on +back to dogs and horses and hedge-sparrows and pigeons and cinipedes +(what is a cinipede?) and cheesemites, and then through the plants +down to duckweed. + +F. You express the prevalent idea concerning the book, which as you +express it appears nonsensical enough. + +C. How, then, should you express it yourself? + +F. Hand me the book and I will read it to you through from beginning +to end, for to express it more briefly than Darwin himself has done +is almost impossible. + +C. That is nonsense; as you asked me what impression I derived from +the book, so now I ask you, and I charge you to answer me. + +F. Well, I assent to the justice of your demand, but I shall comply +with it by requiring your assent to a few principal statements +deducible from the work. + +C. So be it. + +F. You will grant then, firstly, that all plants and animals +increase very rapidly, and that unless they were in some manner +checked, the world would soon be overstocked. Take cats, for +instance; see with what rapidity they breed on the different runs in +this province where there is little or nothing to check them; or even +take the more slowly breeding sheep, and see how soon 500 ewes become +5000 sheep under favourable circumstances. Suppose this sort of +thing to go on for a hundred million years or so, and where would be +the standing room for all the different plants and animals that would +be now existing, did they not materially check each other's increase, +or were they not liable in some way to be checked by other causes? +Remember the quail; how plentiful they were until the cats came with +the settlers from Europe. Why were they so abundant? Simply because +they had plenty to eat, and could get sufficient shelter from the +hawks to multiply freely. The cats came, and tussocks stood the poor +little creatures in but poor stead. The cats increased and +multiplied because they had plenty of food and no natural enemy to +check them. Let them wait a year or two, till they have materially +reduced the larks also, as they have long since reduced the quail, +and let them have to depend solely upon occasional dead lambs and +sheep, and they will find a certain rather formidable natural enemy +called Famine rise slowly but inexorably against them and slaughter +them wholesale. The first proposition then to which I demand your +assent is that all plants and animals tend to increase in a high +geometrical ratio; that they all endeavour to get that which is +necessary for their own welfare; that, as unfortunately there are +conflicting interests in Nature, collisions constantly occur between +different animals and plants, whereby the rate of increase of each +species is very materially checked. Do you admit this? + +C. Of course; it is obvious. + +F. You admit then that there is in Nature a perpetual warfare of +plant, of bird, of beast, of fish, of reptile; that each is striving +selfishly for its own advantage, and will get what it wants if it +can. + +C. If what? + +F. If it can. How comes it then that sometimes it cannot? Simply +because all are not of equal strength, and the weaker must go to the +wall. + +C. You seem to gloat over your devilish statement. + +F. Gloat or no gloat, is it true or no? I am not one of those + + +"Who would unnaturally better Nature +By making out that that which is, is not." + + +If the law of Nature is "struggle," it is better to look the matter +in the face and adapt yourself to the conditions of your existence. +Nature will not bow to you, neither will you mend matters by patting +her on the back and telling her that she is not so black as she is +painted. My dear fellow, my dear sentimental friend, do you eat +roast beef or roast mutton? + +C. Drop that chaff and go back to the matter in hand. + +F. To continue then with the cats. Famine comes and tests them, so +to speak; the weaker, the less active, the less cunning, and the less +enduring cats get killed off, and only the strongest and smartest +cats survive; there will be no favouritism shown to animals in a +state of Nature; they will be weighed in the balance, and the weight +of a hair will sometimes decide whether they shall be found wanting +or no. This being the case, the cats having been thus naturally +culled and the stronger having been preserved, there will be a +gradual tendency to improve manifested among the cats, even as among +our own mobs of sheep careful culling tends to improve the flock. + +C. This, too, is obvious. + +F. Extend this to all animals and plants, and the same thing will +hold good concerning them all. I shall now change the ground and +demand assent to another statement. You know that though the +offspring of all plants and animals is in the main like the parent, +yet that in almost every instance slight deviations occur, and that +sometimes there is even considerable divergence from the parent type. +It must also be admitted that these slight variations are often, or +at least sometimes, capable of being perpetuated by inheritance. +Indeed, it is only in consequence of this fact that our sheep and +cattle have been capable of so much improvement. + +C. I admit this. + +F. Then the whole matter lies in a nutshell. Suppose that hundreds +of millions of years ago there existed upon this earth a single +primordial form of the very lowest life, or suppose that three or +four such primordial forms existed. Change of climate, of food, of +any of the circumstances which surrounded any member of this first +and lowest class of life would tend to alter it in some slight +manner, and the alteration would have a tendency to perpetuate itself +by inheritance. Many failures would doubtless occur, but with the +lapse of time slight deviations would undoubtedly become permanent +and inheritable, those alone being perpetuated which were beneficial +to individuals in whom they appeared. Repeat the process with each +deviation and we shall again obtain divergences (in the course of +ages) differing more strongly from the ancestral form, and again +those that enable their possessor to struggle for existence most +efficiently will be preserved. Repeat this process for millions and +millions of years, and, as it is impossible to assign any limit to +variability, it would seem as though the present diversities of +species must certainly have come about sooner or later, and that +other divergences will continue to come about to the end of time. +The great agent in this development of life has been competition. +This has culled species after species, and secured that those alone +should survive which were best fitted for the conditions by which +they found themselves surrounded. Endeavour to take a bird's-eye +view of the whole matter. See battle after battle, first in one part +of the world, then in another, sometimes raging more fiercely and +sometimes less; even as in human affairs war has always existed in +some part of the world from the earliest known periods, and probably +always will exist. While a species is conquering in one part of the +world it is being subdued in another, and while its conquerors are +indulging in their triumph down comes the fiat for their being culled +and drafted out, some to life and some to death, and so forth ad +infinitum. + +C. It is very horrid. + +F. No more horrid than that you should eat roast mutton or boiled +beef. + +C. But it is utterly subversive of Christianity; for if this theory +is true the fall of man is entirely fabulous; and if the fall, then +the redemption, these two being inseparably bound together. + +F. My dear friend, there I am not bound to follow you. I believe in +Christianity, and I believe in Darwin. The two appear +irreconcilable. My answer to those who accuse me of inconsistency +is, that both being undoubtedly true, the one must be reconcilable +with the other, and that the impossibility of reconciling them must +be only apparent and temporary, not real. The reconciliation will +never be effected by planing a little off the one and a little off +the other and then gluing them together with glue. People will not +stand this sort of dealing, and the rejection of the one truth or of +the other is sure to follow upon any such attempt being persisted in. +The true course is to use the freest candour in the acknowledgment of +the difficulty; to estimate precisely its real value, and obtain a +correct knowledge of its precise form. Then and then only is there a +chance of any satisfactory result being obtained. For unless the +exact nature of the difficulty be known first, who can attempt to +remove it? Let me re-state the matter once again. All animals and +plants in a state of Nature are undergoing constant competition for +the necessaries of life. Those that can hold their ground hold it; +those that cannot hold it are destroyed. But as it also happens that +slight changes of food, of habit, of climate, of circumjacent +accident, and so forth, produce a slight tendency to vary in the +offspring of any plant or animal, it follows that among these slight +variations some may be favourable to the individual in whom they +appear, and may place him in a better position than his fellows as +regards the enemies with whom his interests come into collision. In +this case he will have a better chance of surviving than his fellows; +he will thus stand also a better chance of continuing the species, +and in his offspring his own slight divergence from the parent type +will be apt to appear. However slight the divergence, if it be +beneficial to the individual it is likely to preserve the individual +and to reappear in his offspring, and this process may be repeated ad +infinitum. Once grant these two things, and the rest is a mere +matter of time and degree. That the immense differences between the +camel and the pig should have come about in six thousand years is not +believable; but in six hundred million years it is not incredible, +more especially when we consider that by the assistance of geology a +very perfect chain has been formed between the two. Let this +instance suffice. Once grant the principles, once grant that +competition is a great power in Nature, and that changes of +circumstances and habits produce a tendency to variation in the +offspring (no matter how slight such variation may be), and unless +you can define the possible limit of such variation during an +infinite series of generations, unless you can show that there is a +limit, and that Darwin's theory over-steps it, you have no right to +reject his conclusions. As for the objections to the theory, Darwin +has treated them with admirable candour, and our time is too brief to +enter into them here. My recommendation to you is that you should +read the book again. + +C. Thank you, but for my own part I confess to caring very little +whether my millionth ancestor was a gorilla or no; and as Darwin's +book does not please me, I shall not trouble myself further about the +matter. + + + +BARREL-ORGANS: [From the Press, 17 January, 1863.] + + + +Dugald Stewart in his Dissertation on the Progress of Metaphysics +says: "On reflecting on the repeated reproduction of ancient +paradoxes by modern authors one is almost tempted to suppose that +human invention is limited, like a barrel-organ, to a specific number +of tunes." + +It would be a very amusing and instructive task for a man of reading +and reflection to note down the instances he meets with of these old +tunes coming up again and again in regular succession with hardly any +change of note, and with all the old hitches and involuntary squeaks +that the barrel-organ had played in days gone by. It is most amusing +to see the old quotations repeated year after year and volume after +volume, till at last some more careful enquirer turns to the passage +referred to and finds that they have all been taken in and have +followed the lead of the first daring inventor of the mis-statement. +Hallam has had the courage, in the supplement to his History of the +Middle Ages, p. 398, to acknowledge an error of this sort that he has +been led into. + +But the particular instance of barrel-organism that is present to our +minds just now is the Darwinian theory of the development of species +by natural selection, of which we hear so much. This is nothing new, +but a rechauffee of the old story that his namesake, Dr. Darwin, +served up in the end of the last century to Priestley and his +admirers, and Lord Monboddo had cooked in the beginning of the same +century. We have all heard of his theory that man was developed +directly from the monkey, and that we all lost our tails by sitting +too much upon that appendage. + +We learn from that same great and cautious writer Hallam in his +History of Literature that there are traces of this theory and of +other popular theories of the present day in the works of Giordano +Bruno, the Neapolitan who was burnt at Rome by the Inquisition in +1600. It is curious to read the titles of his works and to think of +Dugald Stewart's remark about barrel-organs. For instance he wrote +on "The Plurality of Worlds," and on the universal "Monad," a name +familiar enough to the readers of Vestiges of Creation. He was a +Pantheist, and, as Hallam says, borrowed all his theories from the +eclectic philosophers, from Plotinus and the Neo-Platonists, and +ultimately they were no doubt of Oriental origin. This is just what +has been shown again and again to be the history of German Pantheism; +it is a mere barrel-organ repetition of the Brahman metaphysics found +in Hindu cosmogonies. Bruno's theory regarding development of +species was in Hallam's words: "There is nothing so small or so +unimportant but that a portion of spirit dwells in it; and this +spiritual substance requires a proper subject to become a plant or an +animal"; and Hallam in a note on this passage observes how the modern +theories of equivocal generation correspond with Bruno's. + +No doubt Hallam is right in saying that they are all of Oriental +origin. Pythagoras borrowed from thence his kindred theory of the +metempsychosis, or transmigration of souls. But he was more +consistent than modern philosophers; he recognised a downward +development as well as an upward, and made morality and immorality +the crisis and turning-point of change--a bold lion developed into a +brave warrior, a drunken sot developed into a wallowing pig, and +Darwin's slave-making ants, p. 219, would have been formerly +Virginian cotton and tobacco growers. + +Perhaps Prometheus was the first Darwin of antiquity, for he is said +to have begun his creation from below, and after passing from the +invertebrate to the sub-vertebrate, from thence to the backbone, from +the backbone to the mammalia, and from the mammalia to the manco- +cerebral, he compounded man of each and all:- + + +Fertur Prometheus addere principi +Limo coactus particulam undique +Desectam et insani leonis +Vim stomacho apposuisse nostro. + + +One word more about barrel-organs. We have heard on the undoubted +authority of ear and eyewitnesses, that in a neighbouring province +there is a church where the psalms are sung to a barrel-organ, but +unfortunately the psalm tunes come in the middle of the set, and the +jigs and waltzes have to be played through before the psalm can +start. Just so is it with Darwinism and all similar theories. All +his fantasias, as we saw in a late article, are made to come round at +last to religious questions, with which really and truly they have +nothing to do, but were it not for their supposed effect upon +religion, no one would waste his time in reading about the +possibility of Polar bears swimming about and catching flies so long +that they at last get the fins they wish for. + + + +DARWIN ON SPECIES: [From the Press, 21 February, 1863.] + + + +To the Editor of the Press. + +Sir--In two of your numbers you have already taken notice of Darwin's +theory of the origin of species; I would venture to trespass upon +your space in order to criticise briefly both your notices. + +The first is evidently the composition of a warm adherent of the +theory in question; the writer overlooks all the real difficulties in +the way of accepting it, and, caught by the obvious truth of much +that Darwin says, has rushed to the conclusion that all is equally +true. He writes with the tone of a partisan, of one deficient in +scientific caution, and from the frequent repetition of the same +ideas manifest in his dialogue one would be led to suspect that he +was but little versed in habits of literary composition and +philosophical argument. Yet he may fairly claim the merit of having +written in earnest. He has treated a serious subject seriously +according to his lights; and though his lights are not brilliant +ones, yet he has apparently done his best to show the theory on which +he is writing in its most favourable aspect. He is rash, evidently +well satisfied with himself, very possibly mistaken, and just one of +those persons who (without intending it) are more apt to mislead than +to lead the few people that put their trust in them. A few will +always follow them, for a strong faith is always more or less +impressive upon persons who are too weak to have any definite and +original faith of their own. The second writer, however, assumes a +very different tone. His arguments to all practical intents and +purposes run as follows:- + +Old fallacies are constantly recurring. Therefore Darwin's theory is +a fallacy. + +They come again and again, like tunes in a barrel-organ. Therefore +Darwin's theory is a fallacy. + +Hallam made a mistake, and in his History of the Middle Ages, p. 398, +he corrects himself. Therefore Darwin's theory is wrong. + +Dr. Darwin in the last century said the same thing as his son or +grandson says now--will the writer of the article refer to anything +bearing on natural selection and the struggle for existence in Dr. +Darwin's work?--and a foolish nobleman said something foolish about +monkey's tails. Therefore Darwin's theory is wrong. + +Giordano Bruno was burnt in the year 1600 A.D.; he was a Pantheist; +therefore Darwin's theory is wrong. + +And finally, as a clinching argument, in one of the neighbouring +settlements there is a barrel-organ which plays its psalm tunes in +the middle of its jigs and waltzes. After this all lingering doubts +concerning the falsehood of Darwin's theory must be at an end, and +any person of ordinary common sense must admit that the theory of +development by natural selection is unwarranted by experience and +reason. + +The articles conclude with an implied statement that Darwin supposes +the Polar bear to swim about catching flies for so long a period that +at last it gets the fins it wishes for. + +Now, however sceptical I may yet feel about the truth of all Darwin's +theory, I cannot sit quietly by and see him misrepresented in such a +scandalously slovenly manner. What Darwin does say is that sometimes +diversified and changed habits may be observed in individuals of the +same species; that is that there are eccentric animals just as there +are eccentric men. He adduces a few instances and winds up by saying +that "in North America the black bear was seen by Hearne swimming for +hours with widely open mouth, thus catching--almost like a whale-- +insects in the water." This and nothing more. (See pp. 201 and +202.) + +Because Darwin says that a bear of rather eccentric habits happened +to be seen by Hearne swimming for hours and catching insects almost +like a whale, your writer (with a carelessness hardly to be +reprehended in sufficiently strong terms) asserts by implication that +Darwin supposes the whale to be developed from the bear by the latter +having had a strong desire to possess fins. This is disgraceful. + +I can hardly be mistaken in supposing that I have quoted the passage +your writer alludes to. Should I be in error, I trust he will give +the reference to the place in which Darwin is guilty of the nonsense +that is fathered upon him in your article. + +It must be remembered that there have been few great inventions in +physics or discoveries in science which have not been foreshadowed to +a certain extent by speculators who were indeed mistaken, but were +yet more or less on the right scent. Day is heralded by dawn, Apollo +by Aurora, and thus it often happens that a real discovery may wear +to the careless observer much the same appearance as an exploded +fallacy, whereas in fact it is widely different. As much caution is +due in the rejection of a theory as in the acceptation of it. The +first of your writers is too hasty in accepting, the second in +refusing even a candid examination. + +Now, when the Saturday Review, the Cornhill Magazine, Once a Week, +and Macmillan's Magazine, not to mention other periodicals, have +either actually and completely as in the case of the first two, +provisionally as in the last mentioned, given their adherence to the +theory in question, it may be taken for granted that the arguments in +its favour are sufficiently specious to have attracted the attention +and approbation of a considerable number of well-educated men in +England. Three months ago the theory of development by natural +selection was openly supported by Professor Huxley before the British +Association at Cambridge. I am not adducing Professor Huxley's +advocacy as a proof that Darwin is right (indeed, Owen opposed him +tooth and nail), but as a proof that there is sufficient to be said +on Darwin's side to demand more respectful attention than your last +writer has thought it worth while to give it. A theory which the +British Association is discussing with great care in England is not +to be set down by off-hand nicknames in Canterbury. + +To those, however, who do feel an interest in the question, I would +venture to give a word or two of advice. I would strongly deprecate +forming a hurried opinion for or against the theory. Naturalists in +Europe are canvassing the matter with the utmost diligence, and a few +years must show whether they will accept the theory or no. It is +plausible; that can be decided by no one. Whether it is true or no +can be decided only among naturalists themselves. We are outsiders, +and most of us must be content to sit on the stairs till the great +men come forth and give us the benefit of their opinion. + +I am, Sir, +Your obedient servant, +A. M. + + + +DARWIN ON SPECIES: [From the Press, March 14th, 1863.] + + + +To the Editor of the Press. + +Sir--A correspondent signing himself "A. M." in the issue of February +21st says: --"Will the writer (of an article on barrel-organs) refer +to anything bearing upon natural selection and the struggle for +existence in Dr. Darwin's work?" This is one of the trade forms by +which writers imply that there is no such passage, and yet leave a +loophole if they are proved wrong. I will, however, furnish him with +a passage from the notes of Darwin's Botanic Garden:- + +"I am acquainted with a philosopher who, contemplating this subject, +thinks it not impossible that the first insects were anthers or +stigmas of flowers, which had by some means loosed themselves from +their parent plant; and that many insects have gradually in long +process of time been formed from these, some acquiring wings, others +fins, and others claws, from their ceaseless efforts to procure their +food or to secure themselves from injury. The anthers or stigmas are +therefore separate beings." + +This passage contains the germ of Mr. Charles Darwin's theory of the +origin of species by natural selection:- + +"Analogy would lead me to the belief that all animals and plants have +descended from one prototype." + +Here are a few specimens, his illustrations of the theory:- + +"There seems to me no great difficulty in believing that natural +selection has actually converted a swim-bladder into a lung or organ +used exclusively for respiration." "A swim-bladder has apparently +been converted into an air-breathing lung." "We must be cautious in +concluding that a bat could not have been formed by natural selection +from an animal which at first could only glide through the air." "I +can see no insuperable difficulty in further believing it possible +that the membrane-connected fingers and forearm of the galeopithecus +might be greatly lengthened by natural selection, and this, as far as +the organs of flight are concerned, would convert it into a bat." +"The framework of bones being the same in the hand of a man, wing of +a bat, fin of a porpoise, and leg of a horse, the same number of +vertebrae forming the neck of the giraffe and of the elephant, and +innumerable other such facts, at once explain themselves on the +theory of descent with slow and slight successive modifications." + +I do not mean to go through your correspondent's letter, otherwise "I +could hardly reprehend in sufficiently strong terms" (and all that +sort of thing) the perversion of what I said about Giordano Bruno. +But "ex uno disce omnes"--I am, etc., + +"THE SAVOYARD." + + + +DARWIN ON SPECIES: [From the Press, 18 March, 1863.] + + + +To the Editor of the Press. + +Sir--The "Savoyard" of last Saturday has shown that he has perused +Darwin's Botanic Garden with greater attention than myself. I am +obliged to him for his correction of my carelessness, and have not +the smallest desire to make use of any loopholes to avoid being +"proved wrong." Let, then, the "Savoyard's" assertion that Dr. +Darwin had to a certain extent forestalled Mr. C. Darwin stand, and +let my implied denial that in the older Darwin's works passages +bearing on natural selection, or the struggle for existence, could be +found, go for nought, or rather let it be set down against me. + +What follows? Has the "Savoyard" (supposing him to be the author of +the article on barrel-organs) adduced one particle of real argument +the more to show that the real Darwin's theory is wrong? + +The elder Darwin writes in a note that "he is acquainted with a +philosopher who thinks it not impossible that the first insects were +the anthers or stigmas of flowers, which by some means, etc. etc." +This is mere speculation, not a definite theory, and though the +passage above as quoted by the" Savoyard" certainly does contain the +germ of Darwin's theory, what is it more than the crudest and most +unshapen germ? And in what conceivable way does this discovery of +the egg invalidate the excellence of the chicken? + +Was there ever a great theory yet which was not more or less +developed from previous speculations which were all to a certain +extent wrong, and all ridiculed, perhaps not undeservedly, at the +time of their appearance? There is a wide difference between a +speculation and a theory. A speculation involves the notion of a man +climbing into a lofty position, and descrying a somewhat remote +object which he cannot fully make out. A theory implies that the +theorist has looked long and steadfastly till he is clear in his own +mind concerning the nature of the thing which he is beholding. I +submit that the "Savoyard" has unfairly made use of the failure of +certain speculations in order to show that a distinct theory is +untenable. + +Let it be granted that Darwin's theory has been foreshadowed by +numerous previous writers. Grant the "Savoyard" his Giordano Bruno, +and give full weight to the barrel-organ in a neighbouring +settlement, I would still ask, has the theory of natural development +of species ever been placed in anything approaching its present clear +and connected form before the appearance of Mr. Darwin's book? Has +it ever received the full attention of the scientific world as a duly +organised theory, one presented in a tangible shape and demanding +investigation, as the conclusion arrived at by a man of known +scientific attainments after years of patient toil? The upshot of +the barrel-organs article was to answer this question in the +affirmative and to pooh-pooh all further discussion. + +It would be mere presumption on my part either to attack or defend +Darwin, but my indignation was roused at seeing him misrepresented +and treated disdainfully. I would wish, too, that the "Savoyard" +would have condescended to notice that little matter of the bear. I +have searched my copy of Darwin again and again to find anything +relating to the subject except what I have quoted in my previous +letter. + +I am, Sir, your obedient servant, +A. M. + + + +DARWIN ON SPECIES: [From the Press, April 11th, 1863.] + + + +To the Editor of the Press. + +Sir--Your correspondent "A. M." is pertinacious on the subject of the +bear being changed into a whale, which I said Darwin contemplated as +not impossible. I did not take the trouble in any former letter to +answer him on that point, as his language was so intemperate. He has +modified his tone in his last letter, and really seems open to the +conviction that he may be the "careless" writer after all; and so on +reflection I have determined to give him the opportunity of doing me +justice. + +In his letter of February 21 he says: "I cannot sit by and see +Darwin misrepresented in such a scandalously slovenly manner. What +Darwin does say is 'that SOMETIMES diversified and changed habits may +be observed in individuals of the same species; that is, that there +are certain eccentric animals as there are certain eccentric men. He +adduces a few instances, and winds up by saying that in North America +the black bear was seen by Hearne swimming for hours with widely open +mouth, thus catching, ALMOST LIKE A WHALE, insects in the water.' +THIS, AND NOTHING MORE, pp. 201, 202." + +Then follows a passage about my carelessness, which (he says) is +hardly to be reprehended in sufficiently strong terms, and he ends +with saying: "This is disgraceful." + +Now you may well suppose that I was a little puzzled at the seeming +audacity of a writer who should adopt this style, when the words +which follow his quotation from Darwin are (in the edition from which +I quoted) as follows: "Even in so extreme a case as this, if the +supply of insects were constant, and if better adapted competitors +did not already exist in the country, I can see no difficulty in a +race of bears being rendered by natural selection more and more +aquatic in their structure and habits, with larger and larger mouths, +till a creature was produced as monstrous as a whale." + +Now this passage was a remarkable instance of the idea that I was +illustrating in the article on "Barrel-organs," because Buffon in his +Histoire Naturelle had conceived a theory of degeneracy (the exact +converse of Darwin's theory of ascension) by which the bear might +pass into a seal, and that into a whale. Trusting now to the +fairness of "A. M." I leave to him to say whether he has quoted from +the same edition as I have, and whether the additional words I have +quoted are in his edition, and if so whether he has not been guilty +of a great injustice to me; and if they are not in his edition, +whether he has not been guilty of great haste and "carelessness" in +taking for granted that I have acted in so "disgraceful" a manner. + +I am, Sir, etc., +"The Savoyard," or player +on Barrel-organs. + +(The paragraph in question has been the occasion of much discussion. +The only edition in our hands is the third, seventh thousand, which +contains the paragraph as quoted by "A. M." We have heard that it is +different in earlier editions, but have not been able to find one. +The difference between "A. M." and "The Savoyard" is clearly one of +different editions. Darwin appears to have been ashamed of the +inconsequent inference suggested, and to have withdrawn it.--Ed. the +Press.) + + + +DARWIN ON SPECIES: [From the Press, 22nd June, 1863.] + + + +To the Editor of the Press. + +Sir--I extract the following from an article in the Saturday Review +of January 10, 1863, on the vertebrated animals of the Zoological +Gardens. + +"As regards the ducks, for example, inter-breeding goes on to a very +great extent among nearly all the genera, which are well represented +in the collection. We think it unfortunate that the details of these +crosses have not hitherto been made public. The Zoological Society +has existed about thirty-five years, and we imagine that evidence +must have been accumulated almost enough to make or mar that part of +Mr. Darwin's well-known argument which rests on what is known of the +phenomena of hybridism. The present list reveals only one fact +bearing on the subject, but that is a noteworthy one, for it +completely overthrows the commonly accepted theory that the mixed +offspring of different species are infertile inter se. At page 15 +(of the list of vertebrated animals living in the gardens of the +Zoological Society of London, Longman and Co., 1862) we find +enumerated three examples of hybrids between two perfectly distinct +species, and even, according to modern classification, between two +distinct genera of ducks, for three or four generations. There can +be little doubt that a series of researches in this branch of +experimental physiology, which might be carried on at no great loss, +would place zoologists in a far better position with regard to a +subject which is one of the most interesting if not one of the most +important in natural history." + +I fear that both you and your readers will be dead sick of Darwin, +but the above is worthy of notice. My compliments to the "Savoyard." + +Your obedient servant, +May 17th. A. M. + + + +DARWIN AMONG THE MACHINES + + + +"Darwin Among the Machines" originally appeared in the Christ Church +PRESS, 13 June, 1863. It was reprinted by Mr. Festing Jones in his +edition of THE NOTE-BOOKS OF SAMUEL BUTLER (Fifield, London, 1912, +Kennerley, New York), with a prefatory note pointing out its +connection with the genesis of EREWHON, to which readers desirous of +further information may be referred. + + +[To the Editor of the Press, Christchurch, New Zealand, 13 June, +1863.] + +Sir--There are few things of which the present generation is more +justly proud than of the wonderful improvements which are daily +taking place in all sorts of mechanical appliances. And indeed it is +matter for great congratulation on many grounds. It is unnecessary +to mention these here, for they are sufficiently obvious; our present +business lies with considerations which may somewhat tend to humble +our pride and to make us think seriously of the future prospects of +the human race. If we revert to the earliest primordial types of +mechanical life, to the lever, the wedge, the inclined plane, the +screw and the pulley, or (for analogy would lead us one step further) +to that one primordial type from which all the mechanical kingdom has +been developed, we mean to the lever itself, and if we then examine +the machinery of the Great Eastern, we find ourselves almost +awestruck at the vast development of the mechanical world, at the +gigantic strides with which it has advanced in comparison with the +slow progress of the animal and vegetable kingdom. We shall find it +impossible to refrain from asking ourselves what the end of this +mighty movement is to be. In what direction is it tending? What +will be its upshot? To give a few imperfect hints towards a solution +of these questions is the object of the present letter. + +We have used the words "mechanical life," "the mechanical kingdom," +"the mechanical world" and so forth, and we have done so advisedly, +for as the vegetable kingdom was slowly developed from the mineral, +and as in like manner the animal supervened upon the vegetable, so +now in these last few ages an entirely new kingdom has sprung up, of +which we as yet have only seen what will one day be considered the +antediluvian prototypes of the race. + +We regret deeply that our knowledge both of natural history and of +machinery is too small to enable us to undertake the gigantic task of +classifying machines into the genera and sub-genera, species, +varieties and sub-varieties, and so forth, of tracing the connecting +links between machines of widely different characters, of pointing +out how subservience to the use of man has played that part among +machines which natural selection has performed in the animal and +vegetable kingdoms, of pointing out rudimentary organs {1} which +exist in some few machines, feebly developed and perfectly useless, +yet serving to mark descent from some ancestral type which has either +perished or been modified into some new phase of mechanical +existence. We can only point out this field for investigation; it +must be followed by others whose education and talents have been of a +much higher order than any which we can lay claim to. + +Some few hints we have determined to venture upon, though we do so +with the profoundest diffidence. Firstly, we would remark that as +some of the lowest of the vertebrata attained a far greater size than +has descended to their more highly organised living representatives, +so a diminution in the size of machines has often attended their +development and progress. Take the watch for instance. Examine the +beautiful structure of the little animal, watch the intelligent play +of the minute members which compose it; yet this little creature is +but a development of the cumbrous clocks of the thirteenth century-- +it is no deterioration from them. The day may come when clocks, +which certainly at the present day are not diminishing in bulk, may +be entirely superseded by the universal use of watches, in which case +clocks will become extinct like the earlier saurians, while the watch +(whose tendency has for some years been rather to decrease in size +than the contrary) will remain the only existing type of an extinct +race. + +The views of machinery which we are thus feebly indicating will +suggest the solution of one of the greatest and most mysterious +questions of the day. We refer to the question: What sort of +creature man's next successor in the supremacy of the earth is likely +to be. We have often heard this debated; but it appears to us that +we are ourselves creating our own successors; we are daily adding to +the beauty and delicacy of their physical organisation; we are daily +giving them greater power and supplying by all sorts of ingenious +contrivances that self-regulating, self-acting power which will be to +them what intellect has been to the human race. In the course of +ages we shall find ourselves the inferior race. Inferior in power, +inferior in that moral quality of self-control, we shall look up to +them as the acme of all that the best and wisest man can ever dare to +aim at. No evil passions, no jealousy, no avarice, no impure desires +will disturb the serene might of those glorious creatures. Sin, +shame, and sorrow will have no place among them. Their minds will be +in a state of perpetual calm, the contentment of a spirit that knows +no wants, is disturbed by no regrets. Ambition will never torture +them. Ingratitude will never cause them the uneasiness of a moment. +The guilty conscience, the hope deferred, the pains of exile, the +insolence of office, and the spurns that patient merit of the +unworthy takes--these will be entirely unknown to them. If they want +"feeding" (by the use of which very word we betray our recognition of +them as living organism) they will be attended by patient slaves +whose business and interest it will be to see that they shall want +for nothing. If they are out of order they will be promptly attended +to by physicians who are thoroughly acquainted with their +constitutions; if they die, for even these glorious animals will not +be exempt from that necessary and universal consummation, they will +immediately enter into a new phase of existence, for what machine +dies entirely in every part at one and the same instant? + +We take it that when the state of things shall have arrived which we +have been above attempting to describe, man will have become to the +machine what the horse and the dog are to man. He will continue to +exist, nay even to improve, and will be probably better off in his +state of domestication under the beneficent rule of the machines than +he is in his present wild state. We treat our horses, dogs, cattle, +and sheep, on the whole, with great kindness; we give them whatever +experience teaches us to be best for them, and there can be no doubt +that our use of meat has added to the happiness of the lower animals +far more than it has detracted from it; in like manner it is +reasonable to suppose that the machines will treat us kindly, for +their existence is as dependent upon ours as ours is upon the lower +animals. They cannot kill us and eat us as we do sheep; they will +not only require our services in the parturition of their young +(which branch of their economy will remain always in our hands), but +also in feeding them, in setting them right when they are sick, and +burying their dead or working up their corpses into new machines. It +is obvious that if all the animals in Great Britain save man alone +were to die, and if at the same time all intercourse with foreign +countries were by some sudden catastrophe to be rendered perfectly +impossible, it is obvious that under such circumstances the loss of +human life would be something fearful to contemplate--in like manner +were mankind to cease, the machines would be as badly off or even +worse. The fact is that our interests are inseparable from theirs, +and theirs from ours. Each race is dependent upon the other for +innumerable benefits, and, until the reproductive organs of the +machines have been developed in a manner which we are hardly yet able +to conceive, they are entirely dependent upon man for even the +continuance of their species. It is true that these organs may be +ultimately developed, inasmuch as man's interest lies in that +direction; there is nothing which our infatuated race would desire +more than to see a fertile union between two steam engines; it is +true that machinery is even at this present time employed in +begetting machinery, in becoming the parent of machines often after +its own kind, but the days of flirtation, courtship, and matrimony +appear to be very remote, and indeed can hardly be realised by our +feeble and imperfect imagination. + +Day by day, however, the machines are gaining ground upon us; day by +day we are becoming more subservient to them; more men are daily +bound down as slaves to tend them, more men are daily devoting the +energies of their whole lives to the development of mechanical life. +The upshot is simply a question of time, but that the time will come +when the machines will hold the real supremacy over the world and its +inhabitants is what no person of a truly philosophic mind can for a +moment question. + +Our opinion is that war to the death should be instantly proclaimed +against them. Every machine of every sort should be destroyed by the +well-wisher of his species. Let there be no exceptions made, no +quarter shown; let us at once go back to the primeval condition of +the race. If it be urged that this is impossible under the present +condition of human affairs, this at once proves that the mischief is +already done, that our servitude has commenced in good earnest, that +we have raised a race of beings whom it is beyond our power to +destroy, and that we are not only enslaved but are absolutely +acquiescent in our bondage. + +For the present we shall leave this subject, which we present gratis +to the members of the Philosophical Society. Should they consent to +avail themselves of the vast field which we have pointed out, we +shall endeavour to labour in it ourselves at some future and +indefinite period. + +I am, Sir, etc., +CELLARIUS + + + +LUCUBRATIO EBRIA + + + +"Lucubratio Ebria," like "Darwin Among the Machines," has already +appeared in THE NOTE-BOOKS OF SAMUEL BUTLER with a prefatory note by +Mr. Festing Jones, explaining its connection with EREWHON and LIFE +AND HABIT. I need therefore only repeat that it was written by +Butler after his return to England and sent to New Zealand, where it +was published in the PRESS on July 29, 1865. + + +There is a period in the evening, or more generally towards the still +small hours of the morning, in which we so far unbend as to take a +single glass of hot whisky and water. We will neither defend the +practice nor excuse it. We state it as a fact which must be borne in +mind by the readers of this article; for we know not how, whether it +be the inspiration of the drink or the relief from the harassing work +with which the day has been occupied or from whatever other cause, +yet we are certainly liable about this time to such a prophetic +influence as we seldom else experience. We are rapt in a dream such +as we ourselves know to be a dream, and which, like other dreams, we +can hardly embody in a distinct utterance. We know that what we see +is but a sort of intellectual Siamese twins, of which one is +substance and the other shadow, but we cannot set either free without +killing both. We are unable to rudely tear away the veil of phantasy +in which the truth is shrouded, so we present the reader with a +draped figure, and his own judgment must discriminate between the +clothes and the body. A truth's prosperity is like a jest's, it lies +in the ear of him that hears it. Some may see our lucubration as we +saw it, and others may see nothing but a drunken dream or the +nightmare of a distempered imagination. To ourselves it is the +speaking with unknown tongues to the early Corinthians; we cannot +fully understand our own speech, and we fear lest there be not a +sufficient number of interpreters present to make our utterance +edify. But there! (Go on straight to the body of the article.) + +The limbs of the lower animals have never been modified by any act of +deliberation and forethought on their own part. Recent researches +have thrown absolutely no light upon the origin of life--upon the +initial force which introduced a sense of identity and a deliberate +faculty into the world; but they do certainly appear to show very +clearly that each species of the animal and vegetable kingdom has +been moulded into its present shape by chances and changes of many +millions of years, by chances and changes over which the creature +modified had no control whatever, and concerning whose aim it was +alike unconscious and indifferent, by forces which seem insensate to +the pain which they inflict, but by whose inexorably beneficent +cruelty the brave and strong keep coming to the fore, while the weak +and bad drop behind and perish. There was a moral government of this +world before man came near it--a moral government suited to the +capacities of the governed, and which unperceived by them has laid +fast the foundations of courage, endurance, and cunning. It laid +them so fast that they became more and more hereditary. Horace says +well fortes creantur fortibus et bonis, good men beget good children; +the rule held even in the geological period; good ichthyosauri begot +good ichthyosauri, and would to our discomfort have gone on doing so +to the present time had not better creatures been begetting better +things than ichthyosauri, or famine or fire or convulsion put an end +to them. Good apes begot good apes, and at last when human +intelligence stole like a late spring upon the mimicry of our semi- +simious ancestry, the creature learnt how he could of his own +forethought add extra-corporaneous limbs to the members of his own +body, and become not only a vertebrate mammal, but a vertebrate +machinate mammal into the bargain. + +It was a wise monkey that first learned to carry a stick, and a +useful monkey that mimicked him. For the race of man has learned to +walk uprightly much as a child learns the same thing. At first he +crawls on all fours, then he clambers, laying hold of whatever he +can; and lastly he stands upright alone and walks, but for a long +time with an unsteady step. So when the human race was in its +gorilla-hood it generally carried a stick; from carrying a stick for +many million years it became accustomed and modified to an upright +position. The stick wherewith it had learned to walk would now serve +to beat its younger brothers, and then it found out its service as a +lever. Man would thus learn that the limbs of his body were not the +only limbs that he could command. His body was already the most +versatile in existence, but he could render it more versatile still. +With the improvement in his body his mind improved also. He learnt +to perceive the moral government under which he held the feudal +tenure of his life--perceiving it he symbolised it, and to this day +our poets and prophets still strive to symbolise it more and more +completely. + +The mind grew because the body grew; more things were perceived, more +things were handled, and being handled became familiar. But this +came about chiefly because there was a hand to handle with; without +the hand there would be no handling, and no method of holding and +examining is comparable to the human hand. The tail of an opossum is +a prehensile thing, but it is too far from his eyes; the elephant's +trunk is better, and it is probably to their trunks that the +elephants owe their sagacity. It is here that the bee, in spite of +her wings, has failed. She has a high civilisation, but it is one +whose equilibrium appears to have been already attained; the +appearance is a false one, for the bee changes, though more slowly +than man can watch her; but the reason of the very gradual nature of +the change is chiefly because the physical organisation of the insect +changes, but slowly also. She is poorly off for hands, and has never +fairly grasped the notion of tacking on other limbs to the limbs of +her own body, and so being short lived to boot she remains from +century to century to human eyes in statu quo. Her body never +becomes machinate, whereas this new phase of organism which has been +introduced with man into the mundane economy, has made him a very +quicksand for the foundation of an unchanging civilisation; certain +fundamental principles will always remain, but every century the +change in man's physical status, as compared with the elements around +him, is greater and greater. He is a shifting basis on which no +equilibrium of habit and civilisation can be established. Were it +not for this constant change in our physical powers, which our +mechanical limbs have brought about, man would have long since +apparently attained his limit of possibility; he would be a creature +of as much fixity as the ants and bees; he would still have advanced, +but no faster than other animals advance. + +If there were a race of men without any mechanical appliances we +should see this clearly. There are none, nor have there been, so far +as we can tell, for millions and millions of years. The lowest +Australian savage carries weapons for the fight or the chase, and has +his cooking and drinking utensils at home; a race without these +things would be completely ferae naturae and not men at all. We are +unable to point to any example of a race absolutely devoid of extra- +corporaneous limbs, but we can see among the Chinese that with the +failure to invent new limbs a civilisation becomes as much fixed as +that of the ants; and among savage tribes we observe that few +implements involve a state of things scarcely human at all. Such +tribes only advance pari passu with the creatures upon which they +feed. + +It is a mistake, then, to take the view adopted by a previous +correspondent of this paper, to consider the machines as identities, +to animalise them and to anticipate their final triumph over mankind. +They are to be regarded as the mode of development by which human +organism is most especially advancing, and every fresh invention is +to be considered as an additional member of the resources of the +human body. Herein lies the fundamental difference between man and +his inferiors. As regard his flesh and blood, his senses, appetites, +and affections, the difference is one of degree rather than of kind, +but in the deliberate invention of such unity of limbs as is +exemplified by the railway train--that seven-leagued foot which five +hundred may own at once--he stands quite alone. + +In confirmation of the views concerning mechanism which we have been +advocating above, it must be remembered that men are not merely the +children of their parents, but they are begotten of the institutions +of the state of the mechanical sciences under which they are born and +bred. These things have made us what we are. We are children of the +plough, the spade, and the ship; we are children of the extended +liberty and knowledge which the printing press has diffused. Our +ancestors added these things to their previously existing members; +the new limbs were preserved by natural selection and incorporated +into human society; they descended with modifications, and hence +proceeds the difference between our ancestors and ourselves. By the +institutions and state of science under which a man is born it is +determined whether he shall have the limbs of an Australian savage or +those of a nineteenth-century Englishman. The former is supplemented +with little save a rug and a javelin; the latter varies his physique +with the changes of the season, with age and with advancing or +decreasing wealth. If it is wet he is furnished with an organ which +is called an umbrella and which seems designed for the purpose of +protecting either his clothes or his lungs from the injurious effects +of rain. His watch is of more importance to him than a good deal of +his hair, at any rate than of his whiskers; besides this he carries a +knife and generally a pencil case. His memory goes in a pocket-book. +He grows more complex as he becomes older and he will then be seen +with a pair of spectacles, perhaps also with false teeth and a wig; +but, if he be a really well-developed specimen of the race, he will +be furnished with a large box upon wheels, two horses, and a +coachman. + +Let the reader ponder over these last remarks and he will see that +the principal varieties and sub-varieties of the human race are not +now to be looked for among the negroes, the Circassians, the Malays, +or the American aborigines, but among the rich and the poor. The +difference in physical organisation between these two species of man +is far greater than that between the so-called types of humanity. +The rich man can go from here to England whenever he feels inclined, +the legs of the other are by an invisible fatality prevented from +carrying him beyond certain narrow limits. Neither rich nor poor as +yet see the philosophy of the thing, or admit that he who can tack a +portion of one of the P. and O. boats on to his identity is a much +more highly organised being than one who cannot. Yet the fact is +patent enough, if we once think it over, from the mere consideration +of the respect with which we so often treat those who are richer than +ourselves. We observe men for the most part (admitting, however, +some few abnormal exceptions) to be deeply impressed by the superior +organisation of those who have money. It is wrong to attribute this +respect to any unworthy motive, for the feeling is strictly +legitimate and springs from some of the very highest impulses of our +nature. It is the same sort of affectionate reverence which a dog +feels for man, and is not infrequently manifested in a similar +manner. + +We admit that these last sentences are open to question, and we +should hardly like to commit ourselves irrecoverably to the +sentiments they express; but we will say this much for certain, +namely, that the rich man is the true hundred-handed Gyges of the +poets. He alone possesses the full complement of limbs who stands at +the summit of opulence, and we may assert with strictly scientific +accuracy that the Rothschilds are the most astonishing organisms that +the world has ever yet seen. For to the nerves or tissues, or +whatever it be that answers to the helm of a rich man's desires, +there is a whole army of limbs seen and unseen attachable; he may be +reckoned by his horse-power, by the number of foot-pounds which he +has money enough to set in motion. Who, then, will deny that a man +whose will represents the motive power of a thousand horses is a +being very different from the one who is equivalent but to the power +of a single one? + +Henceforward, then, instead of saying that a man is hard up, let us +say that his organisation is at a low ebb, or, if we wish him well, +let us hope that he will grow plenty of limbs. It must be remembered +that we are dealing with physical organisations only. We do not say +that the thousand-horse man is better than a one-horse man, we only +say that he is more highly organised and should be recognised as +being so by the scientific leaders of the period. A man's will, +truth, endurance, are part of him also, and may, as in the case of +the late Mr. Cobden, have in themselves a power equivalent to all the +horse-power which they can influence; but were we to go into this +part of the question we should never have done, and we are compelled +reluctantly to leave our dream in its present fragmentary condition. + + +A NOTE ON "THE TEMPEST" +Act III, Scene I + + + +The following brief essay was contributed by Butler to a small +miscellany entitled LITERARY FOUNDLINGS: VERSE AND PROSE, COLLECTED +IN CANTERBURY, N.Z., which was published at Christ Church on the +occasion of a bazaar held there in March, 1864, in aid of the funds +of the Christ Church Orphan Asylum, and offered for sale during the +progress of the bazaar. The miscellany consisted entirely of the +productions of Canterbury writers, and among the contributors were +Dean Jacobs, Canon Cottrell, and James Edward FitzGerald, the founder +of the PRESS. + +When Prince Ferdinand was wrecked on the island Miranda was fifteen +years old. We can hardly suppose that she had ever seen Ariel, and +Caliban was a detestable object whom her father took good care to +keep as much out of her way as possible. Caliban was like the man +cook on a back-country run. "'Tis a villain, sir," says Miranda. "I +do not love to look on." "But as 'tis," returns Prospero, "we cannot +miss him; he does make our fire, fetch in our wood, and serve in +offices that profit us." Hands were scarce, and Prospero was obliged +to put up with Caliban in spite of the many drawbacks with which his +services were attended; in fact, no one on the island could have +liked him, for Ariel owed him a grudge on the score of the cruelty +with which he had been treated by Sycorax, and we have already heard +what Miranda and Prospero had to say about him. He may therefore +pass for nobody. Prospero was an old man, or at any rate in all +probability some forty years of age; therefore it is no wonder that +when Miranda saw Prince Ferdinand she should have fallen violently in +love with him. "Nothing ill," according to her view, "could dwell in +such a temple--if the ill Spirit have so fair an house, good things +will strive to dwell with 't." A very natural sentiment for a girl +in Miranda's circumstances, but nevertheless one which betrayed a +charming inexperience of the ways of the world and of the real value +of good looks. What surprises us, however, is this, namely the +remarkable celerity with which Miranda in a few hours became so +thoroughly wide awake to the exigencies of the occasion in +consequence of her love for the Prince. Prospero has set Ferdinand +to hump firewood out of the bush, and to pile it up for the use of +the cave. Ferdinand is for the present a sort of cadet, a youth of +good family, without cash and unaccustomed to manual labour; his +unlucky stars have landed him on the island, and now it seems that he +"must remove some thousands of these logs and pile them up, upon a +sore injunction." Poor fellow! Miranda's heart bleeds for him. Her +"affections were most humble"; she had been content to take Ferdinand +on speculation. On first seeing him she had exclaimed, "I have no +ambition to see a goodlier man"; and it makes her blood boil to see +this divine creature compelled to such an ignominious and painful +labour. What is the family consumption of firewood to her? Let +Caliban do it; let Prospero do it; or make Ariel do it; let her do it +herself; or let the lightning come down and "burn up those logs you +are enjoined to pile";--the logs themselves, while burning, would +weep for having wearied him. Come what would, it was a shame to make +Ferdinand work so hard, so she winds up thus: "My father is hard at +study; pray now rest yourself--HE'S SAFE FOR THESE THREE HOURS." +Safe--if she had only said that "papa was safe," the sentence would +have been purely modern, and have suited Thackeray as well as +Shakspeare. See how quickly she has learnt to regard her father as +one to be watched and probably kept in a good humour for the sake of +Ferdinand. We suppose that the secret of the modern character of +this particular passage lies simply in the fact that young people +make love pretty much in the same way now that they did three hundred +years ago; and possibly, with the exception that "the governor" may +be substituted for the words "my father" by the young ladies of three +hundred years hence, the passage will sound as fresh and modern then +as it does now. Let the Prosperos of that age take a lesson, and +either not allow the Ferdinands to pile up firewood, or so to arrange +their studies as not to be "safe" for any three consecutive hours. +It is true that Prospero's objection to the match was only feigned, +but Miranda thought otherwise, and for all purposes of argument we +are justified in supposing that he was in earnest. + + + +THE ENGLISH CRICKETERS + + + +The following lines were written by Butler in February, 1864, and +appeared in the PRESS. They refer to a visit paid to New Zealand by +a team of English cricketers, and have kindly been copied and sent to +me by Miss Colborne-Veel, whose father was editor of the PRESS at the +time that Butler was writing for it. Miss Colborne-Veel has further +permitted to me to make use of the following explanatory note: "The +coming of the All England team was naturally a glorious event in a +province only fourteen years old. The Mayor and Councillors had 'a +car of state'--otherwise a brake--'with postilions in the English +style.' Cobb and Co. supplied a six-horse coach for the English +eleven, the yellow paint upon which suggested the 'glittering chariot +of pure gold.' So they drove in triumph from the station and through +the town. Tinley for England and Tennant for Canterbury were the +heroes of the match. At the Wednesday dinner referred to they +exchanged compliments and cricket balls across the table. This early +esteem for cricket may be explained by a remark made by the All +England captain, that 'on no cricket ground in any colony had he met +so many public school men, especially men from old Rugby, as at +Canterbury.'" + + [To the Editor, the Press, February 15th, 1864.] + +Sir--The following lines, which profess to have been written by a +friend of mine at three o'clock in the morning after the dinner of +Wednesday last, have been presented to myself with a request that I +should forward them to you. I would suggest to the writer of them +the following quotation from "Love's Labour's Lost." + +I am, Sir, +Your obedient servant, +S.B. + +"You find not the apostrophes, and so miss the accent; let me +supervise the canzonet. Here are only numbers ratified; but for the +elegancy, facility, and golden cadence of poesy, caret . . . Imitari +is nothing. So doth the hound his master, the ape his keeper, the +tired horse his rider." + +Love's Labour's Lost, Act IV, S. 2. + +HORATIO . . . + +. . . The whole town rose +Eyes out to meet them; in a car of state +The Mayor and all the Councillors rode down +To give them greeting, while the blue-eyed team +Drawn in Cobb's glittering chariot of pure gold +Careered it from the station.--But the Mayor - +Thou shouldst have seen the blandness of the man, +And watched the effulgent and unspeakable smiles +With which he beamed upon them. +His beard, by nature tawny, was suffused +With just so much of a most reverend grizzle +That youth and age should kiss in't. I assure you +He was a Southern Palmerston, so old +In understanding, yet jocund and jaunty +As though his twentieth summer were as yet +But in the very June o' the year, and winter +Was never to be dreamt of. Those who heard +His words stood ravished. It was all as one +As though Minerva, hid in Mercury's jaws, +Had counselled some divinest utterance +Of honeyed wisdom. So profound, so true, +So meet for the occasion, and so--short. +The king sat studying rhetoric as he spoke, +While the lord Abbot heaved half-envious sighs +And hung suspended on his accents. + CLAUD. But will it pay, Horatio? + HOR. Let Shylock see to that, but yet I trust +He's no great loser. + CLAUD. Which side went in first? + HOR. We did, +And scored a paltry thirty runs in all. +The lissom Lockyer gambolled round the stumps +With many a crafty curvet: you had thought +An Indian rubber monkey were endued +With wicket-keeping instincts; teazing Tinley +Issued his treacherous notices to quit, +Ruthlessly truthful to his fame, and who +Shall speak of Jackson? Oh! 'twas sad indeed +To watch the downcast faces of our men +Returning from the wickets; one by one, +Like patients at the gratis consultation +Of some skilled leech, they took their turn at physic. +And each came sadly homeward with a face +Awry through inward anguish; they were pale +As ghosts of some dead but deep mourned love, +Grim with a great despair, but forced to smile. + CLAUD. Poor souls! Th' unkindest heart had bled for them. +But what came after? + HOR. Fortune turned her wheel, +And Grace, disgraced for the nonce, was bowled +First ball, and all the welkin roared applause! +As for the rest, they scored a goodly score +And showed some splendid cricket, but their deeds +Were not colossal, and our own brave Tennant +Proved himself all as good a man as they. +* * * * * +Through them we greet our Mother. In their coming, +We shake our dear old England by the hand +And watch space dwindling, while the shrinking world +Collapses into nothing. Mark me well, +Matter as swift as swiftest thought shall fly, +And space itself be nowhere. Future Tinleys +Shall bowl from London to our Christ Church Tennants, +And all the runs for all the stumps be made +In flying baskets which shall come and go +And do the circuit round about the globe +Within ten seconds. Do not check me with +The roundness of the intervening world, +The winds, the mountain ranges, and the seas - +These hinder nothing; for the leathern sphere, +Like to a planetary satellite, +Shall wheel its faithful orb and strike the bails +Clean from the centre of the middle stump. +* * * * * +Mirrors shall hang suspended in the air, +Fixed by a chain between two chosen stars, +And every eye shall be a telescope +To read the passing shadows from the world. +Such games shall be hereafter, but as yet +We lay foundations only. + CLAUD. Thou must be drunk, Horatio. + HOR. So I am. + + + +Footnotes: + +{1} We were asked by a learned brother philosopher who saw this +article in MS. what we meant by alluding to rudimentary organs in +machines. Could we, he asked, give any example of such organs? We +pointed to the little protuberance at the bottom of the bowl of our +tobacco pipe. This organ was originally designed for the same +purpose as the rim at the bottom of a tea-cup, which is but another +form of the same function. Its purpose was to keep the heat of the +pipe from marking the table on which it rested. Originally, as we +have seen in very early tobacco pipes, this protuberance was of a +very different shape to what it is now. It was broad at the bottom +and flat, so that while the pipe was being smoked the bowl might rest +upon the table. Use and disuse have here come into play and served +to reduce the function to its present rudimentary condition. That +these rudimentary organs are rarer in machinery than in animal life +is owing to the more prompt action of the human selection as compared +with the slower but even surer operation of natural selection. Man +may make mistakes; in the long run nature never does so. We have +only given an imperfect example, but the intelligent reader will +supply himself with illustrations. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Etext of Canterbury Pieces, by Samuel Butler + diff --git a/old/cantp10.zip b/old/cantp10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8a30a98 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/cantp10.zip |