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diff --git a/old/lfhb10.txt b/old/lfhb10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..70aebba --- /dev/null +++ b/old/lfhb10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8646 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Life and Habit, by Samuel Butler +(#13 in our series by Samuel Butler) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Life and Habit + +Author: Samuel Butler + +Release Date: July, 2004 [EBook #6138] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on November 18, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, LIFE AND HABIT *** + + + + +Transcribed from the 1910 Jonathan Cape edition by David Price, email +ccx074@coventry.ac.uk + + + + +LIFE AND HABIT + + + + +PREFACE + + + +Since Samuel Butler published "Life and Habit" thirty-three {1} years +have elapsed--years fruitful in change and discovery, during which +many of the mighty have been put down from their seat and many of the +humble have been exalted. I do not know that Butler can truthfully +be called humble, indeed, I think he had very few misgivings as to +his ultimate triumph, but he has certainly been exalted with a +rapidity that he himself can scarcely have foreseen. During his +lifetime he was a literary pariah, the victim of an organized +conspiracy of silence. He is now, I think it may be said without +exaggeration, universally accepted as one of the most remarkable +English writers of the latter part of the nineteenth century. I will +not weary my readers by quoting the numerous tributes paid by +distinguished contemporary writers to Butler's originality and force +of mind, but I cannot refrain from illustrating the changed attitude +of the scientific world to Butler and his theories by a reference to +"Darwin and Modern Science," the collection of essays published in +1909 by the University of Cambridge, in commemoration of the Darwin +centenary. In that work Professor Bateson, while referring +repeatedly to Butler's biological works, speaks of him as "the most +brilliant and by far the most interesting of Darwin's opponents, +whose works are at length emerging from oblivion." With the growth +of Butler's reputation "Life and Habit" has had much to do. It was +the first and is undoubtedly the most important of his writings on +evolution. From its loins, as it were, sprang his three later books, +"Evolution Old and New," "Unconscious Memory," and "Luck or Cunning", +which carried its arguments further afield. It will perhaps interest +Butler's readers if I here quote a passage from his note-books, +lately published in the "New Quarterly Review" (Vol. III. No. 9), in +which he summarizes his work in biology: + +"To me it seems that my contributions to the theory of evolution have +been mainly these + +"1. The identification of heredity and memory, and the corollaries +relating to sports, the reversion to remote ancestors, the phenomena +of old age, the causes of the sterility of hybrids, and the +principles underlying longevity--all of which follow as a matter of +course. This was 'Life and Habit' [1877]. + +"2. The re-introduction of teleology into organic life, which to me +seems hardly, if at all, less important than the 'Life and Habit' +theory. This was 'Evolution Old and New' [1879]. + +"3. An attempt to suggest an explanation of the physics of memory. +This was Unconscious Memory' [1880]. I was alarmed by the suggestion +and fathered it upon Professor Hering, who never, that I can see, +meant to say anything of the kind, but I forced my view upon him, as +it were, by taking hold of a sentence or two in his lecture, 'On +Memory as a Universal Function of Organised Matter,' and thus +connected memory with vibrations. + +"What I want to do now (1885) is to connect vibrations not only with +memory but with the physical constitution of that body in which the +memory resides, thus adopting Newland's law (sometimes called +Mendelejeff's law) that there is only one substance, and that the +characteristics of the vibrations going on within it at any given +time will determine whether it will appear to us as, we will say, +hydrogen, or sodium, or chicken doing this, or chicken doing the +other." [This is touched upon in the concluding chapter of "Luck or +Cunning?" 1887]. + +The present edition of "Life and Habit" is practically a re-issue of +that of 1878. I find that about the year 1890, although the original +edition was far from being exhausted, Butler began to make +corrections of the text of "Life and Habit," presumably with the +intention of publishing a revised edition. The copy of the book so +corrected is now in my possession. In the first five chapters there +are numerous emendations, very few of which, however, affect the +meaning to any appreciable extent, being mainly concerned with the +excision of redundancies and the simplification of style. I imagine +that by the time he had reached the end of the fifth chapter Butler +realised that the corrections he had made were not of sufficient +importance to warrant a new edition, and determined to let the book +stand as it was. I believe, therefore, that I am carrying out his +wishes in reprinting the present edition from the original plates. I +have found, however, among his papers three entirely new passages, +which he probably wrote during the period of correction and no doubt +intended to incorporate into the revised edition. Mr. Henry Festing +Jones has also given me a copy of a passage which Butler wrote and +gummed into Mr. Jones's copy of "Life and Habit." These four +passages I have printed as an appendix at the end of the present +volume. + +One more point deserves notice. Butler often refers in "Life and +Habit" to Darwin's "Variations of Animals and Plants under +Domestication." When he does so it is always under the name "Plants +and Animals." More often still he refers to Darwin's "Origin of +Species by means Natural Selection," terming it at one time "Origin +of Species" and at another "Natural Selection," sometimes, as on p. +278, using both names within a few lines of each other. Butler was +as a rule scrupulously careful about quotations, and I can offer no +explanation of this curious confusion of titles. + +R. A. STREATFEILD. +November, 1910. + + + +AUTHOR'S PREFACE + + + +The Italics in the passages quoted in this book are generally mine, +but I found it almost impossible to call the reader's attention to +this upon every occasion. I have done so once or twice, as thinking +it necessary in these cases that there should be no mistake; on the +whole, however, I thought it better to content myself with calling +attention in a preface to the fact that the author quoted is not, as +a general rule, responsible for the Italics. + +S. BUTLER. +November 13, 1877. + + + +CHAPTER I--ON CERTAIN ACQUIRED HABITS + + + +It will be our business in the following chapters to consider whether +the unconsciousness, or quasi-unconsciousness, with which we perform +certain acquired actions, would seem to throw any light upon +Embryology and inherited instincts, and otherwise to follow the train +of thought which the class of actions above-mentioned would suggest; +more especially in so far as they appear to bear upon the origin of +species and the continuation of life by successive generations, +whether in the animal or vegetable kingdoms. + +In the outset, however, I would wish most distinctly to disclaim for +these pages the smallest pretension to scientific value, originality, +or even to accuracy of more than a very rough and ready kind--for +unless a matter be true enough to stand a good deal of +misrepresentation, its truth is not of a very robust order, and the +blame will rather lie with its own delicacy if it be crushed, than +with the carelessness of the crusher. I have no wish to instruct, +and not much to be instructed; my aim is simply to entertain and +interest the numerous class of people who, like myself, know nothing +of science, but who enjoy speculating and reflecting (not too deeply) +upon the phenomena around them. I have therefore allowed myself a +loose rein, to run on with whatever came uppermost, without regard to +whether it was new or old; feeling sure that if true, it must be very +old or it never could have occurred to one so little versed in +science as myself; and knowing that it is sometimes pleasanter to +meet the old under slightly changed conditions, than to go through +the formalities and uncertainties of making new acquaintance. At the +same time, I should say that whatever I have knowingly taken from any +one else, I have always acknowledged. + +It is plain, therefore, that my book cannot be intended for the +perusal of scientific people; it is intended for the general public +only, with whom I believe myself to be in harmony, as knowing neither +much more nor much less than they do. + +Taking then, the art of playing the piano as an example of the kind +of action we are in search of, we observe that a practised player +will perform very difficult pieces apparently without effort, often, +indeed, while thinking and talking of something quite other than his +music; yet he will play accurately and, possibly, with much +expression. If he has been playing a fugue, say in four parts, he +will have kept each part well distinct, in such a manner as to prove +that his mind was not prevented, by its other occupations, from +consciously or unconsciously following four distinct trains of +musical thought at the same time, nor from making his fingers act in +exactly the required manner as regards each note of each part. + +It commonly happens that in the course of four or five minutes a +player may have struck four or five thousand notes. If we take into +consideration the rests, dotted notes, accidentals, variations of +time, &c., we shall find his attention must have been exercised on +many more occasions than when he was actually striking notes: so +that it may not be too much to say that the attention of a first-rate +player may have been exercised--to an infinitesimally small extent-- +but still truly exercised--on as many as ten thousand occasions +within the space of five minutes, for no note can be struck nor point +attended to without a certain amount of attention, no matter how +rapidly or unconsciously given. + +Moreover, each act of attention has been followed by an act of +volition, and each act of volition by a muscular action, which is +composed of many minor actions; some so small that we can no more +follow them than the player himself can perceive them; nevertheless, +it may have been perfectly plain that the player was not attending to +what he was doing, but was listening to conversation on some other +subject, not to say joining in it himself. If he has been playing +the violin, he may have done all the above, and may also have been +walking about. Herr Joachim would unquestionably be able to do all +that has here been described. + +So complete would the player's unconsciousness of the attention he is +giving, and the brain power he is exerting appear to be, that we +shall find it difficult to awaken his attention to any particular +part of his performance without putting him out. Indeed we cannot do +so. We shall observe that he finds it hardly less difficult to +compass a voluntary consciousness of what he has once learnt so +thoroughly that it has passed, so to speak, into the domain of +unconsciousness, than he found it to learn the note or passage in the +first instance. The effort after a second consciousness of detail +baffles him--compels him to turn to his music or play slowly. In +fact it seems as though he knew the piece too well to be able to know +that he knows it, and is only conscious of knowing those passages +which he does not know so thoroughly. + +At the end of his performance, his memory would appear to be no less +annihilated than was his consciousness of attention and volition. +For of the thousands of acts requiring the exercise of both the one +and the other, which he has done during the five minutes, we will +say, of his performance, he will remember hardly one when it is over. +If he calls to mind anything beyond the main fact that he has played +such and such a piece, it will probably be some passage which he has +found more difficult than the others, and with the like of which he +has not been so long familiar. All the rest he will forget as +completely as the breath which he has drawn while playing. + +He finds it difficult to remember even the difficulties he +experienced in learning to play. A few may have so impressed him +that they remain with him, but the greater part will have escaped him +as completely as the remembrance of what he ate, or how he put on his +clothes, this day ten years ago; nevertheless, it is plain he +remembers more than he remembers remembering, for he avoids mistakes +which he made at one time, and his performance proves that all the +notes are in his memory, though if called upon to play such and such +a bar at random from the middle of the piece, and neither more nor +less, he will probably say that he cannot remember it unless he +begins from the beginning of the phrase which leads to it. Very +commonly he will be obliged to begin from the beginning of the +movement itself, and be unable to start at any other point unless he +have the music before him; and if disturbed, as we have seen above, +he will have to start de novo from an accustomed starting-point. + +Yet nothing can be more obvious than that there must have been a time +when what is now so easy as to be done without conscious effort of +the brain was only done by means of brain work which was very keenly +perceived, even to fatigue and positive distress. Even now, if the +player is playing something the like of which he has not met before, +we observe he pauses and becomes immediately conscious of attention. + +We draw the inference, therefore, as regards pianoforte or violin +playing, that the more the familiarity or knowledge of the art, the +less is there consciousness of such knowledge; even so far as that +there should seem to be almost as much difficulty in awakening +consciousness which has become, so to speak, latent,--a consciousness +of that which is known too well to admit of recognised self-analysis +while the knowledge is being exercised--as in creating a +consciousness of that which is not yet well enough known to be +properly designated as known at all. On the other hand, we observe +that the less the familiarly or knowledge, the greater the +consciousness of whatever knowledge there is. + +Considering other like instances of the habitual exercise of +intelligence and volition, which, from long familiarity with the +method of procedure, escape the notice of the person exercising them, +we naturally think of writing. The formation of each letter requires +attention and volition, yet in a few minutes a practised writer will +form several hundred letters, and be able to think and talk of +something else all the time he is doing so. It will not probably +remember the formation of a single character in any page that he has +written; nor will he be able to give more than the substance of his +writing if asked to do so. He knows how to form each letter so well, +and he knows so well each word that he is about to write, that he has +ceased to be conscious of his knowledge or to notice his acts of +volition, each one of which is, nevertheless, followed by a +corresponding muscular action. Yet the uniformity of our +handwriting, and the manner in which we almost invariably adhere to +one method of forming the same character, would seem to suggest that +during the momentary formation of each letter our memories must +revert (with an intensity too rapid for our perception) to many if +not to all the occasions on which we have ever written the same +letter previously--the memory of these occasions dwelling in our +minds as what has been called a residuum--an unconsciously struck +balance or average of them all--a fused mass of individual +reminiscences of which no trace can be found in our consciousness, +and of which the only effect would seem to lie in the gradual changes +of handwriting which are perceptible in most people till they have +reached middle-age, and sometimes even later. So far are we from +consciously remembering any one of the occasions on which we have +written such and such a letter, that we are not even conscious of +exercising our memory at all, any more than we are in health +conscious of the action of our heart. But, if we are writing in some +unfamiliar way, as when printing our letters instead of writing them +in our usual running hand, our memory is so far awakened that we +become conscious of every character we form; sometimes it is even +perceptible as memory to ourselves, as when we try to remember how to +print some letter, for example a g, and cannot call to mind on which +side of the upper half of the letter we ought to put the link which +connects it with the lower, and are successful in remembering; but if +we become very conscious of remembering, it shows that we are on the +brink of only trying to remember,--that is to say, of not remembering +at all. + +As a general rule, we remember for a time the substance of what we +have written, for the subject is generally new to us; but if we are +writing what we have often written before, we lose consciousness of +this too, as fully as we do of the characters necessary to convey the +substance to another person, and we shall find ourselves writing on +as it were mechanically while thinking and talking of something else. +So a paid copyist, to whom the subject of what he is writing is of no +importance, does not even notice it. He deals only with familiar +words and familiar characters without caring to go behind them, and +thereupon writes on in a quasi-unconscious manner; but if he comes to +a word or to characters with which he is but little acquainted, he +becomes immediately awakened to the consciousness of either +remembering or trying to remember. His consciousness of his own +knowledge or memory would seem to belong to a period, so to speak, of +twilight between the thick darkness of ignorance and the brilliancy +of perfect knowledge; as colour which vanishes with extremes of light +or of shade. Perfect ignorance and perfect knowledge are alike +unselfconscious. + +The above holds good even more noticeably in respect of reading. How +many thousands of individual letters do our eyes run over every +morning in the "Times" newspaper, how few of them do we notice, or +remember having noticed? Yet there was a time when we had such +difficulty in reading even the simplest words, that we had to take +great pains to impress them upon our memory so as to know them when +we came to then again. Now, not even a single word of all we have +seen will remain with us, unless it is a new one, or an old one used +in an unfamiliar sense, in which case we notice, and may very likely +remember it. Our memory retains the substance only, the substance +only being unfamiliar. Nevertheless, although we do not perceive +more than the general result of our perception, there can be no doubt +of our having perceived every letter in every word that we have read +at all, for if we come upon a word misspelt our attention is at once +aroused; unless, indeed, we have actually corrected the misspelling, +as well as noticed it, unconsciously, through exceeding familiarity +with the way in which it ought to be spelt. Not only do we perceive +the letters we have seen without noticing that we have perceived +them, but we find it almost impossible to notice that we notice them +when we have once learnt to read fluently. To try to do so puts us +out, and prevents our being able to read. We may even go so far as +to say that if a man can attend to the individual characters, it is a +sign that he cannot yet read fluently. If we know how to read well, +we are as unconscious of the means and processes whereby we attain +the desired result as we are about the growth of our hair or the +circulation of our blood. So that here again it would seem that we +only know what we know still to some extent imperfectly, and that +what we know thoroughly escapes our conscious perception though none +the less actually perceived. Our perception in fact passes into a +latent stage, as also our memory and volition. + +Walking is another example of the rapid exercise of volition with but +little perception of each individual act of exercise. We notice any +obstacle in our path, but it is plain we do not notice that we +perceive much that we have nevertheless been perceiving; for if a man +goes down a lane by night he will stumble over many things which he +would have avoided by day, although he would not have noticed them. +Yet time was when walking was to each one of us a new and arduous +task--as arduous as we should now find it to wheel a wheelbarrow on a +tight-rope; whereas, at present, though we can think of our steps to +a certain extent without checking our power to walk, we certainly +cannot consider our muscular action in detail without having to come +to a dead stop. + +Talking--especially in one's mother tongue--may serve as a last +example. We find it impossible to follow the muscular action of the +mouth and tongue in framing every letter or syllable we utter. We +have probably spoken for years and years before we became aware that +the letter h is a labial sound, and until we have to utter a word +which is difficult from its unfamiliarity we speak "trippingly on the +tongue" with no attention except to the substance of what we wish to +say. Yet talking was not always the easy matter to us which it is at +present--as we perceive more readily when we are learning a new +language which it may take us months to master. Nevertheless, when +we have once mastered it we speak it without further consciousness of +knowledge or memory, as regards the more common words, and without +even noticing our consciousness. Here, as in the other instances +already given, as long as we did not know perfectly, we were +conscious of our acts of perception, volition, and reflection, but +when our knowledge has become perfect we no longer notice our +consciousness, nor our volition; nor can we awaken a second +artificial consciousness without some effort, and disturbance of the +process of which we are endeavouring to become conscious. We are no +longer, so to speak, under the law, but under grace. + +An ascending scale may be perceived in the above instances. + +In playing, we have an action acquired long after birth, difficult of +acquisition, and never thoroughly familiarised to the power of +absolutely unconscious performance, except in the case of those who +have either an exceptional genius for music, or who have devoted the +greater part of their time to practising. Except in the case of +these persons it is generally found easy to become more or less +conscious of any passage without disturbing the performance, and our +action remains so completely within our control that we can stop +playing at any moment we please. + +In writing, we have an action generally acquired earlier, done for +the most part with great unconsciousness of detail, fairly well +within our control to stop at any moment; though not so completely as +would be imagined by those who have not made the experiment of trying +to stop in the middle of a given character when writing at fit speed. +Also, we can notice our formation of any individual character without +our writing being materially hindered. + +Reading is usually acquired earlier still. We read with more +unconsciousness of attention than we write. We find it more +difficult to become conscious of any character without discomfiture, +and we cannot arrest ourselves in the middle of a word, for example, +and hardly before the end of a sentence; nevertheless it is on the +whole well within our control. + +Walking is so early an acquisition that we cannot remember having +acquired it. In running fast over average ground we find it very +difficult to become conscious of each individual step, and should +possibly find it more difficult still, if the inequalities and +roughness of uncultured land had not perhaps caused the development +of a power to create a second consciousness of our steps without +hindrance to our running or walking. Pursuit and flight, whether in +the chase or in war, must for many generations have played a much +more prominent part in the lives of our ancestors than they do in our +own. If the ground over which they had to travel had been generally +as free from obstruction as our modern cultivated lands, it is +possible that we might not find it as easy to notice our several +steps as we do at present. Even as it is, if while we are running we +would consider the action of our muscles, we come to a dead stop, and +should probably fall if we tried to observe too suddenly; for we must +stop to do this, and running, when we have once committed ourselves +to it beyond a certain point, is not controllable to a step or two +without loss of equilibrium. + +We learn to talk, much about the same time that we learn to walk, but +talking requires less muscular effort than walking, and makes +generally less demand upon our powers. A man may talk a long while +before he has done the equivalent of a five-mile walk; it is natural, +therefore, that we should have had more practice in talking than in +walking, and hence that we should find it harder to pay attention to +our words than to our steps. Certainly it is very hard to become +conscious of every syllable or indeed of every word we say; the +attempt to do so will often bring us to a check at once; nevertheless +we can generally stop talking if we wish to do so, unless the crying +of infants be considered as a kind of quasi-speech: this comes +earlier, and is often quite uncontrollable, or more truly perhaps is +done with such complete control over the muscles by the will, and +with such absolute certainty of his own purpose on the part of the +wilier, that there is no longer any more doubt, uncertainty, or +suspense, and hence no power of perceiving any of the processes +whereby the result is attained--as a wheel which may look fast fixed +because it is so fast revolving. {2} + +We may observe therefore in this ascending scale, imperfect as it is, +that the older the habit the longer the practice, the longer the +practice, the more knowledge--or, the less uncertainty; the less +uncertainty the less power of conscious self-analysis and control. + +It will occur to the reader that in all the instances given above, +different individuals attain the unconscious stage of perfect +knowledge with very different degrees of facility. Some have to +attain it with a great sum; others are free born. Some learn to +play, to read, write, and talk, with hardly an effort--some show such +an instinctive aptitude for arithmetic that, like Zerah Colburn, at +eight years old, they achieve results without instruction, which in +the case of most people would require a long education. The account +of Zerah Colburn, as quoted from Mr. Baily in Dr. Carpenter's "Mental +Physiology," may perhaps be given here. + +"He raised any number consisting of ONE figure progressively to the +tenth power, giving the results (by actual multiplication and not by +memory) FASTER THAN THEY COULD BE SET DOWN IN FIGURES by the person +appointed to record them. He raised the number 8 progressively to +the SIXTEENTH power, and in naming the last result, which consisted +of 15 figures, he was right in every one. Some numbers consisting of +TWO figures he raised as high as the eighth power, though he found a +difficulty in proceeding when the products became very large. + +"On being asked the SQUARE ROOT of 106,929, he answered 327 before +the original number could be written down. He was then required to +find the cube root of 268,336,125, and with equal facility and +promptness he replied 645. + +"He was asked how many minutes there are in 48 years, and before the +question could be taken down he replied 25,228,800, and immediately +afterwards he gave the correct number of seconds. + +"On being requested to give the factors which would produce the +number 247,483, he immediately named 941 and 263, which are the only +two numbers from the multiplication of which it would result. On +171,395 being proposed, he named 5 x 34,279, 7 x 24,485, 59 x 2905, +83 x 2065, 35 x 4897, 295 x 581, and 413 x 415. + +"He was then asked to give the factors of 36,083, but he immediately +replied that it had none, which was really the case, this being a +prime number. Other numbers being proposed to him indiscriminately, +he always succeeded in giving the correct factors except in the case +of prime numbers, which he generally discovered almost as soon as +they were proposed to him. The number 4,294,967,297, which is 2^32 + +1, having been given him, he discovered, as Euler had previously +done, that it was not the prime number which Fermat had supposed it +to be, but that it is the product of the factors 6,700,417 x 641. +The solution of this problem was only given after the lapse of some +weeks, but the method he took to obtain it clearly showed that he had +not derived his information from any extraneous source. + +"When he was asked to multiply together numbers both consisting of +more than these figures, he seemed to decompose one or both of them +into its factors, and to work with them separately. Thus, on being +asked to give the square of 4395, he multiplied 293 by itself, and +then twice multiplied the product by 15. And on being asked to tell +the square of 999,999 he obtained the correct result, +999,998,000,001, by twice multiplying the square of 37,037 by 27. He +then of his own accord multiplied that product by 49, and said that +the result (viz., 48,999,902,000,049) was equal to the square of +6,999,993. He afterwards multiplied this product by 49, and observed +that the result (viz., 2,400,995,198,002,401) was equal to the square +of 48,999,951. He was again asked to multiply the product by 25, and +in naming the result (viz., 60,024,879,950,060,025) he said it was +equal to the square of 244,999,755. + +"On being interrogated as to the manner in which he obtained these +results, the boy constantly said he did not know HOW the answers came +into his mind. In the act of multiplying two numbers together, and +in the raising of powers, it was evident (alike from the facts just +stated and from the motion of his lips) that SOME operation was going +forward in his mind; yet that operation could not (from the readiness +with which his answers were furnished) have been at all allied to the +usual modes of procedure, of which, indeed, he was entirely ignorant, +not being able to perform on paper a simple sum in multiplication or +division. But in the extraction of roots, and in the discovery of +the factors of large numbers, it did not appear that any operation +COULD take place, since he gave answers IMMEDIATELY, or in a very few +seconds, which, according to the ordinary methods, would have +required very difficult and laborious calculations, and prime numbers +cannot be recognised as such by any known rule." + +I should hope that many of the above figures are wrong. I have +verified them carefully with Dr. Carpenter's quotation, but further +than this I cannot and will not go. Also I am happy to find that in +the end the boy overcame the mathematics, and turned out a useful but +by no means particularly calculating member of society. + +The case, however, is typical of others in which persons have been +found able to do without apparent effort what in the great majority +of cases requires a long apprenticeship. It is needless to multiply +instances; the point that concerns us is, that knowledge under such +circumstances being very intense, and the ease with which the result +is produced extreme, it eludes the conscious apprehension of the +performer himself, who only becomes conscious when a difficulty +arises which taxes even his abnormal power. Such a case, therefore, +confirms rather than militates against our opinion that consciousness +of knowledge vanishes on the knowledge becoming perfect--the only +difference between those possessed of any such remarkable special +power and the general run of people being, that the first are born +with such an unusual aptitude for their particular specialty that +they are able to dispense with all or nearly all the preliminary +exercise of their faculty, while the latter must exercise it for a +considerable time before they can get it to work smoothly and easily; +but in either case when once the knowledge is intense it is +unconscious. + +Nor again would such an instance as that of Zerah Colburn warrant us +in believing that this white heat, as it were, of unconscious +knowledge can be attained by any one without his ever having been +originally cold. Young Colburn, for example, could not extract roots +when he was an embryo of three weeks' standing. It is true we can +seldom follow the process, but we know there must have been a time in +every case when even the desire for information or action had not +been kindled; the forgetfulness of effort on the part of those with +exceptional genius for a special subject is due to the smallness of +the effort necessary, so that it makes no impression upon the +individual himself, rather than to the absence of any effort at all. +{3} + +It would, therefore, appear as though perfect knowledge and perfect +ignorance were extremes which meet and become indistinguishable from +one another; so also perfect volition and perfect absence of +volition, perfect memory and utter forgetfulness; for we are +unconscious of knowing, willing, or remembering, either from not yet +having known or willed, or from knowing and willing so well and so +intensely as to be no longer conscious of either. Conscious +knowledge and volition are of attention; attention is of suspense; +suspense is of doubt; doubt is of uncertainty; uncertainty is of +ignorance; so that the mere fact of conscious knowing or willing +implies the presence of more or less novelty and doubt. + +It would also appear as a general principle on a superficial view of +the foregoing instances (and the reader may readily supply himself +with others which are perhaps more to the purpose), that unconscious +knowledge and unconscious volition are never acquired otherwise than +as the result of experience, familiarity, or habit; so that whenever +we observe a person able to do any complicated action unconsciously, +we may assume both that he must have done it very often before he +could acquire so great proficiency, and also that there must have +been a time when he did not know how to do it at all. + +We may assume that there was a time when he was yet so nearly on the +point of neither knowing nor willing perfectly, that he was quite +alive to whatever knowledge or volition he could exert; going further +back, we shall find him still more keenly alive to a less perfect +knowledge; earlier still, we find him well aware that he does not +know nor will correctly, but trying hard to do both the one and the +other; and so on, back and back, till both difficulty and +consciousness become little more than a sound of going in the brain, +a flitting to and fro of something barely recognisable as the desire +to will or know at all--much less as the desire to know or will +definitely this or that. Finally, they retreat beyond our ken into +the repose--the inorganic kingdom--of as yet unawakened interest. + +In either case,--the repose of perfect ignorance or of perfect +knowledge--disturbance is troublesome. When first starting on an +Atlantic steamer, our rest is hindered by the screw; after a short +time, it is hindered if the screw stops. A uniform impression is +practically no impression. One cannot either learn or unlearn +without pains or pain. + + + +CHAPTER II--CONSCIOUS AND UNCONSCIOUS KNOWERS--THE LAW AND GRACE + + + + +In this chapter we shall show that the law, which we have observed to +hold as to the vanishing tendency of knowledge upon becoming perfect, +holds good not only concerning acquired actions or habits of body, +but concerning opinions, modes of thought, and mental habits +generally, which are no more recognised as soon as firmly fixed, than +are the steps with which we go about our daily avocations. I am +aware that I may appear in the latter part of the chapter to have +wandered somewhat beyond the limits of my subject, but, on the whole, +decide upon leaving what I have written, inasmuch as it serves to +show how far-reaching is the principle on which I am insisting. +Having said so much, I shall during the remainder of the book keep +more closely to the point. + +Certain it is that we know best what we are least conscious of +knowing, or at any rate least able to prove, as, for example, our own +existence, or that there is a country England. If any one asks us +for proof on matters of this sort, we have none ready, and are justly +annoyed at being called to consider what we regard as settled +questions. Again, there is hardly anything which so much affects our +actions as the centre of the earth (unless, perhaps, it be that still +hotter and more unprofitable spot the centre of the universe), for we +are incessantly trying to get as near it as circumstances will allow, +or to avoid getting nearer than is for the time being convenient. +Walking, running, standing, sitting, lying, waking, or sleeping, from +birth till death it is a paramount object with us; even after death-- +if it be not fanciful to say so--it is one of the few things of which +what is left of us can still feel the influence; yet what can engross +less of our attention than this dark and distant spot so many +thousands of miles away? + +The air we breathe, so long as it is neither too hot nor cold, nor +rough, nor full of smoke--that is to say, so long as it is in that +state within which we are best acquainted--seldom enters into our +thoughts; yet there is hardly anything with which we are more +incessantly occupied night and day. + +Indeed, it is not too much to say that we have no really profound +knowledge upon any subject--no knowledge on the strength of which we +are ready to act at all moments unhesitatingly without either +preparation or after-thought--till we have left off feeling conscious +of the possession of such knowledge, and of the grounds on which it +rests. A lesson thoroughly learned must be like the air which feels +so light, though pressing so heavily against us, because every pore +of our skin is saturated, so to speak, with it on all sides equally. +This perfection of knowledge sometimes extends to positive disbelief +in the thing known, so that the most thorough knower shall believe +himself altogether ignorant. No thief, for example, is such an utter +thief--so GOOD a thief--as the kleptomaniac. Until he has become a +kleptomaniac, and can steal a horse as it were by a reflex action, he +is still but half a thief, with many unthievish notions still +clinging to him. Yet the kleptomaniac is probably unaware that he +can steal at all, much less that he can steal so well. He would be +shocked if he were to know the truth. So again, no man is a great +hypocrite until he has left off knowing that he is a hypocrite. The +great hypocrites of the world are almost invariably under the +impression that they are among the very few really honest people to +be found and, as we must all have observed, it is rare to find any +one strongly under this impression without ourselves having good +reason to differ from him. + +Our own existence is another case in point. When we have once become +articulately conscious of existing, it is an easy matter to begin +doubting whether we exist at all. As long as man was too +unreflecting a creature to articulate in words his consciousness of +his own existence, he knew very well that he existed, but he did not +know that he knew it. With introspection, and the perception +recognised, for better or worse, that he was a fact, came also the +perception that he had no solid ground for believing that he was a +fact at all. That nice, sensible, unintrospective people who were +too busy trying to exist pleasantly to trouble their heads as to +whether they existed or no--that this best part of mankind should +have gratefully caught at such a straw as "cogito ergo sum," is +intelligible enough. They felt the futility of the whole question, +and were thankful to one who seemed to clench the matter with a cant +catchword, especially with a catchword in a foreign language; but how +one, who was so far gone as to recognise that he could not prove his +own existence, should be able to comfort himself with such a begging +of the question, would seem unintelligible except upon the ground of +sheer exhaustion. + +At the risk of appearing to wander too far from the matter in hand, a +few further examples may perhaps be given of that irony of nature, by +which it comes about that we so often most know and are, what we +least think ourselves to know and be--and on the other hand hold most +strongly what we are least capable of demonstrating. + +Take the existence of a Personal God,--one of the most profoundly- +received and widely-spread ideas that have ever prevailed among +mankind. Has there ever been a DEMONSTRATION of the existence of +such a God as has satisfied any considerable section of thinkers for +long together? Hardly has what has been conceived to be a +demonstration made its appearance and received a certain acceptance +as though it were actual proof, when it has been impugned with +sufficient success to show that, however true the fact itself, the +demonstration is naught. I do not say that this is an argument +against the personality of God; the drift, indeed, of the present +reasoning would be towards an opposite conclusion, inasmuch as it +insists upon the fact that what is most true and best known is often +least susceptible of demonstration owing to the very perfectness with +which it is known; nevertheless, the fact remains that many men in +many ages and countries--the subtlest thinkers over the whole world +for some fifteen hundred years--have hunted for a demonstration of +God's personal existence; yet though so many have sought,--so many, +and so able, and for so long a time--none have found. There is no +demonstration which can be pointed to with any unanimity as settling +the matter beyond power of reasonable cavil. On the contrary, it may +be observed that from the attempt to prove the existence of a +personal God to the denial of that existence altogether, the path is +easy. As in the case of our own existence, it will be found that +they alone are perfect believers in a personal Deity and in the +Christian religion who have not yet begun to feel that either stands +in need of demonstration. We observe that most people, whether +Christians, or Jews, or Mohammedans, are unable to give their reasons +for the faith that is in them with any readiness or completeness; and +this is sure proof that they really hold it so utterly as to have no +further sense that it either can be demonstrated or ought to be so, +but feel towards it as towards the air which they breathe but do not +notice. On the other hand, a living prelate was reported in the +"Times" to have said in one of his latest charges: "My belief is +that a widely extended good practice must be founded upon Christian +doctrine." The fact of the Archbishop's recognising this as among +the number of his beliefs is conclusive evidence with those who have +devoted attention to the laws of thought, that his mind is not yet +clear as to whether or no there is any connection at all between +Christian doctrine and widely extended good practice. {4} + +Again, it has been often and very truly said that it is not the +conscious and self-styled sceptic, as Shelley for example, who is the +true unbeliever. Such a man as Shelley will, as indeed his life +abundantly proves, have more in common than not with the true +unselfconscious believer. Gallio again, whose indifference to +religious animosities has won him the cheapest immortality which, so +far as I can remember, was ever yet won, was probably if the truth +were known, a person of the sincerest piety. It is the unconscious +unbeliever who is the true infidel, however greatly he would be +surprised to know the truth. Mr. Spurgeon was reported as having +recently asked the Almighty to "change our rulers AS SOON AS +POSSIBLE." There lurks a more profound distrust of God's power in +these words than in almost any open denial of His existence. + +So it rather shocks us to find Mr. Darwin writing ("Plants and +Animals under Domestication," vol. ii., p. 275): "No doubt, in every +case there must have been some exciting cause." And again, six or +seven pages later: "No doubt, each slight variation must have its +efficient cause." The repetition within so short a space of this +expression of confidence in the impossibility of causeless effects +would suggest that Mr. Darwin's mind at the time of writing was, +unconsciously to himself, in a state of more or less uneasiness as to +whether effects could not occasionally come about of themselves, and +without cause of any sort,--that he may have been standing, in fact, +for a short time upon the brink of a denial of the indestructibility +of force and matter. + +In like manner, the most perfect humour and irony is generally quite +unconscious. Examples of both are frequently given by men whom the +world considers as deficient in humour; it is more probably true that +these persons are unconscious of their own delightful power through +the very mastery and perfection with which they hold it. There is a +play, for instance, of genuine fun in some of the more serious +scientific and theological journals which for some time past we have +looked for in vain in " --- ." + +The following extract, from a journal which I will not advertise, may +serve as an example: + +"Lycurgus, when they had abandoned to his revenge him who had put out +his eyes, took him home, and the punishment he inflicted upon him was +sedulous instructions to virtue." Yet this truly comic paper does +not probably know that it is comic, any more than the kleptomaniac +knows that he steals, or than John Milton knew he was a humorist when +he wrote a hymn upon the circumcision, and spent his honeymoon in +composing a treatise on divorce. No more again did Goethe know how +exquisitely humorous he was when he wrote, in his Wilhelm Meister, +that a beautiful tear glistened in Theresa's right eye, and then went +on to explain that it glistened in her right eye and not in her left, +because she had had a wart on her left which had been removed--and +successfully. Goethe probably wrote this without a chuckle; he +believed what a good many people who have never read Wilhelm Meister +believe still, namely, that it was a work full of pathos, of fine and +tender feeling; yet a less consummate humorist must have felt that +there was scarcely a paragraph in it from first to last the chief +merit of which did not lie in its absurdity. + +Another example may be taken from Bacon of the manner in which +sayings which drop from men unconsciously, give the key of their +inner thoughts to another person, though they themselves know not +that they have such thoughts at all; much less that these thoughts +are their only true convictions. In his Essay on Friendship the +great philosopher writes: "Reading good books on morality is a +little flat and dead." Innocent, not to say pathetic, as this +passage may sound it is pregnant with painful inferences concerning +Bacon's moral character. For if he knew that he found reading good +books of morality a little flat and dead, it follows he must have +tried to read them; nor is he saved by the fact that he found them a +little flat and dead; for though this does indeed show that he had +begun to be so familiar with a few first principles as to find it +more or less exhausting to have his attention directed to them +further--yet his words prove that they were not so incorporate with +him that he should feel the loathing for further discourse upon the +matter which honest people commonly feel now. It will be remembered +that he took bribes when he came to be Lord Chancellor. + +It is on the same principle that we find it so distasteful to hear +one praise another for earnestness. For such praise raises a +suspicion in our minds (pace the late Dr. Arnold and his following) +that the praiser's attention must have been arrested by sincerity, as +by something more or less unfamiliar to himself. So universally is +this recognised that the world has for some time been discarded +entirely by all reputable people. Truly, if there is one who cannot +find himself in the same room with the life and letters of an earnest +person without being made instantly unwell, the same is a just man +and perfect in all his ways. + +But enough has perhaps been said. As the fish in the sea, or the +bird in the air, so unreasoningly and inarticulately safe must a man +feel before he can be said to know. It is only those who are +ignorant and uncultivated who can know anything at all in a proper +sense of the words. Cultivation will breed in any man a certainty of +the uncertainty even of his most assured convictions. It is perhaps +fortunate for our comfort that we can none of us be cultivated upon +very many subjects, so that considerable scope for assurance will +still remain to us; but however this may be, we certainly observe it +as a fact that the greatest men are they who are most uncertain in +spite of certainty, and at the same time most certain in spite of +uncertainty, and who are thus best able to feel that there is nothing +in such complete harmony with itself as a flat contradiction in +terms. For nature hates that any principle should breed, so to +speak, hermaphroditically, but will give to each an help meet for it +which shall cross it and be the undoing of it; as in the case of +descent with modification, of which the essence would appear to be +that every offspring should resemble its parents, and yet, at the +same time, that no offspring should resemble its parents. But for +the slightly irritating stimulant of this perpetual crossing, we +should pass our lives unconsciously as though in slumber. + +Until we have got to understand that though black is not white, yet +it may be whiter than white itself (and any painter will readily +paint that which shall show obviously as black, yet it shall be +whiter than that which shall show no less obviously as white), we may +be good logicians, but we are still poor reasoners. Knowledge is in +an inchoate state as long as it is capable of logical treatment; it +must be transmuted into that sense or instinct which rises altogether +above the sphere in which words can have being at all, otherwise it +is not yet vital. For sense is to knowledge what conscience is to +reasoning about right and wrong; the reasoning must be so rapid as to +defy conscious reference to first principles, and even at times to be +apparently subversive of them altogether, or the action will halt. +It must, in fact, become automatic before we are safe with it. While +we are fumbling for the grounds of our conviction, our conviction is +prone to fall, as Peter for lack of faith sinking into the waves of +Galilee; so that the very power to prove at all is an a priori +argument against the truth--or at any rate the practical importance +to the vast majority of mankind--of all that is supported by +demonstration. For the power to prove implies a sense of the need of +proof, and things which the majority of mankind find practically +important are in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred above proof. The +need of proof becomes as obsolete in the case of assumed knowledge, +as the practice of fortifying towns in the middle of an old and long +settled country. Who builds defences for that which is impregnable +or little likely to be assailed? The answer is ready, that unless +the defences had been built in former times it would be impossible to +do without them now; but this does not touch the argument, which is +not that demonstration is unwise, but that as long as a demonstration +is still felt necessary, and therefore kept ready to hand, the +subject of such demonstration is not yet securely known. Qui +s'excuse, s'accuse; and unless a matter can hold its own without the +brag and self-assertion of continual demonstration, it is still more +or less of a parvenu, which we shall not lose much by neglecting till +it has less occasion to blow its own trumpet. The only alternative +is that it is an error in process of detection, for if evidence +concerning any opinion has long been denied superfluous, and ever +after this comes to be again felt necessary, we know that the opinion +is doomed. + +If there is any truth in the above, it should follow that our +conception of the words "science" and "scientific" should undergo +some modification. Not that we should speak slightingly of science, +but that we should recognise more than we do, that there are two +distinct classes of scientific people corresponding not inaptly with +the two main parties unto which the political world is divided. The +one class is deeply versed in those sciences which have already +become the common property of mankind; enjoying, enforcing, +perpetuating, and engraving still more deeply unto the mind of man +acquisitions already approved by common experience, but somewhat +careless about extension of empire, or at any rate disinclined, for +the most part, to active effort on their own part for the sake of +such extension--neither progressive, in fact, nor aggressive--but +quiet, peaceable people, who wish to live and let live, as their +fathers before them; while the other class is chiefly intent upon +pushing forward the boundaries of science, and is comparatively +indifferent to what is known already save in so far as necessary for +purposes of extension. These last are called pioneers of science, +and to them alone is the title "scientific" commonly accorded; but +pioneers, unimportant to an army as they are, are still not the army +itself; which can get on better without the pioneers than the +pioneers without the army. Surely the class which knows thoroughly +well what it knows, and which adjudicates upon the value of the +discoveries made by the pioneers--surely this class has as good a +right or better to be called scientific than the pioneers themselves. + +These two classes above described blend into one another with every +shade of gradation. Some are admirably proficient in the well-known +sciences--that is to say, they have good health, good looks, good +temper, common sense, and energy, and they hold all these good things +in such perfection as to lie altogether without introspection--to be +not under the law, but so utterly and entirely under grace that every +one who sees them likes them. But such may, and perhaps more +commonly will, have very little inclination to extend the boundaries +of human knowledge; their aim is in another direction altogether. Of +the pioneers, on the other hand, some are agreeable people, well +versed in the older sciences, though still more eminent as pioneers, +while others, whose services in this last capacity have been of +inestimable value, are noticeably ignorant of the sciences which have +already become current with the larger part of mankind--in other +words, they are ugly, rude, and disagreeable people, very +progressive, it may be, but very aggressive to boot. + +The main difference between these two classes lies in the fact that +the knowledge of the one, so far as it is new, is known consciously, +while that of the other is unconscious, consisting of sense and +instinct rather than of recognised knowledge. So long as a man has +these, and of the same kind as the more powerful body of his fellow- +countrymen, he is a true man of science, though he can hardly read or +write. As my great namesake said so well, "He knows what's what, and +that's as high as metaphysic wit can fly." As usual, these true and +thorough knowers do not know that they are scientific, and can seldom +give a reason for the faith that is in them. They believe themselves +to be ignorant, uncultured men, nor can even the professors whom they +sometimes outwit in their own professorial domain perceive that they +have been outwitted by men of superior scientific attainments to +their own. The following passage from Dr. Carpenter's "Mesmerism, +Spiritualism," &c., may serve as an illustration:- + +"It is well known that persons who are conversant with the geological +structure of a district are often able to indicate with considerable +certainty in what spot and at what depth water will be found; and men +OF LESS SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE, BUT OF CONSIDERABLE PRACTICAL +EXPERIENCE"--(so that in Dr. Carpenter's mind there seems to be some +sort of contrast or difference in kind between the knowledge which is +derived from observation of facts and scientific knowledge)-- +"frequently arrive at a true conclusion upon this point without being +able to assign reasons for their opinions. + +"Exactly the same may be said in regard to the mineral structure of a +mining district; the course of a metallic vein being often correctly +indicated by the shrewd guess of an OBSERVANT workman, when THE +SCIENTIFIC REASONING of the mining engineer altogether fails." + +Precisely. Here we have exactly the kind of thing we are in search +of: the man who has observed and observed till the facts are so +thoroughly in his head that through familiarity he has lost sight +both of them and of the processes whereby he deduced his conclusions +from them--is apparently not considered scientific, though he knows +how to solve the problem before him; the mining engineer, on the +other hand, who reasons scientifically--that is to say, with a +knowledge of his own knowledge--is found not to know, and to fail in +discovering the mineral. + +"It is an experience we are continually encountering in other walks +of life," continues Dr. Carpenter, "that particular persons are +guided--some apparently by an original and others by AN ACQUIRED +INTUITION--to conclusions for which they can give no adequate reason, +but which subsequent events prove to have been correct." And this, I +take it, implies what I have been above insisting on, namely, that on +becoming intense, knowledge seems also to become unaware of the +grounds on which it rests, or that it has or requires grounds at all, +or indeed even exists. The only issue between myself and Dr. +Carpenter would appear to be, that Dr. Carpenter, himself an +acknowledged leader in the scientific world, restricts the term +"scientific" to the people who know that they know, but are beaten by +those who are not so conscious of their own knowledge; while I say +that the term "scientific" should be applied (only that they would +not like it) to the nice sensible people who know what's what rather +than to the discovering class. + +And this is easily understood when we remember that the pioneer +cannot hope to acquire any of the new sciences in a single lifetime +so perfectly as to become unaware of his own knowledge. As a general +rule, we observe him to be still in a state of active consciousness +concerning whatever particular science he is extending, and as long +as he is in this state he cannot know utterly. It is, as I have +already so often insisted on, those who do not know that they know so +much who have the firmest grip of their knowledge: the best class, +for example, of our English youth, who live much in the open air, +and, as Lord Beaconsfield finely said, never read. These are the +people who know best those things which are best worth knowing--that +is to say, they are the most truly scientific. Unfortunately, the +apparatus necessary for this kind of science is so costly as to be +within the reach of few, involving, as it does, an experience in the +use of it for some preceding generations. Even those who are born +with the means within their reach must take no less pains, and +exercise no less self-control, before they can attain the perfect +unconscious use of them, than would go to the making of a James Watt +or a Stephenson; it is vain, therefore, to hope that this best kind +of science can ever be put within the reach of the many; nevertheless +it may be safely said that all the other and more generally +recognised kinds of science are valueless except in so far as they +tend to minister to this the highest kind. They have no raison +d'etre except so far as they tend to do away with the necessity for +work, and to diffuse good health, and that good sense which is above +self-consciousness. They are to be encouraged because they have +rendered the most fortunate kind of modern European possible, and +because they tend to make possible a still more fortunate kind than +any now existing. But the man who devotes himself to science cannot- +-with the rarest, if any, exceptions--belong to this most fortunate +class himself. He occupies a lower place, both scientifically and +morally, for it is not possible but that his drudgery should somewhat +soil him both in mind and health of body, or, if this be denied, +surely it must let him and hinder him in running the race for +unconsciousness. We do not feel that it increases the glory of a +king or great nobleman that he should excel in what is commonly +called science. Certainly he should not go further than Prince +Rupert's drops. Nor should he excel in music, art, literature, or +theology--all which things are more or less parts of science. He +should be above them all, save in so far as he can without effort +reap renown from the labours of others. It is a lache in him that he +should write music or books, or paint pictures at all; but if he must +do so, his work should be at best contemptible. Much as we must +condemn Marcus Aurelius, we condemn James I. ever more severely. + +It is a pity there should exist so general a confusion of thought +upon this subject, for it may be asserted without fear of +contradiction that there is hardly any form of immorality now rife +which produces more disastrous effects upon those who give themselves +up to it, and upon society in general, than the so-called science of +those who know that they know too well to be able to know truly. +With very clever people--the people who know that they know--it is +much as with the members of the early Corinthian Church, to whom St. +Paul wrote, that if they looked their numbers over, they would not +find many wise, nor powerful, nor well-born people among them. Dog- +fanciers tell us that performing dogs never carry their tails; such +dogs have eaten of the tree of knowledge, and are convinced of sin +accordingly--they know that they know things, in respect of which, +therefore, they are no longer under grace, but under the law, and +they have yet so much grace left as to be ashamed. So with the human +clever dog; he may speak with the tongues of men and angels, but so +long as he knows that he knows, his tail will droop. More especially +does this hold in the case of those who are born to wealth and of old +family. We must all feel that a rich young nobleman with a taste for +science and principles is rarely a pleasant object. We do not even +like the rich young man in the Bible who wanted to inherit eternal +life, unless, indeed, he merely wanted to know whether there was not +some way by which he could avoid dying, and even so he is hardly +worth considering. Principles are like logic, which never yet made a +good reasoner of a bad one, but might still be occasionally useful if +they did not invariably contradict each other whenever there is any +temptation to appeal to them. They are like fire, good servants but +bad masters. As many people or more have been wrecked on principle +as from want of principle. They are, as their name implies, of an +elementary character, suitable for beginners only, and he who has so +little mastered them as to have occasion to refer to them +consciously, is out of place in the society of well-educated people. +The truly scientific invariably hate him, and, for the most part, the +more profoundly in proportion to the unconsciousness with which they +do so. + +If the reader hesitates, let him go down into the streets and look in +the shop-windows at the photographs of eminent men, whether literary, +artistic, or scientific, and note the work which the consciousness of +knowledge has wrought on nine out of every ten of them; then let him +go to the masterpieces of Greek and Italian art, the truest preachers +of the truest gospel of grace; let him look at the Venus of Milo, the +Discobolus, the St. George of Donatello. If it had pleased these +people to wish to study, there was no lack of brains to do it with; +but imagine "what a deal of scorn" would "look beautiful" upon the +Venus of Milo's face if it were suggested to her that she should +learn to read. Which, think you, knows most, the Theseus, or any +modern professor taken at random? True, the advancement of learning +must have had a great share in the advancement of beauty, inasmuch as +beauty is but knowledge perfected and incarnate--but with the +pioneers it is sic vos non vobis; the grace is not for them, but for +those who come after. Science is like offences. It must needs come, +but woe unto that man through whom it comes; for there cannot be much +beauty where there is consciousness of knowledge, and while knowledge +is still new it must in the nature of things involve much +consciousness. + +It is not knowledge, then, that is incompatible with beauty; there +cannot be too much knowledge, but it must have passed through many +people who it is to be feared must be more or less disagreeable, +before beauty or grace will have anything to say to it; it must be so +incarnate in a man's whole being that he shall not be aware of it, or +it will fit him constrainedly as one under the law, and not as one +under grace. + +And grace is best, for where grace is, love is not distant. Grace! +the old Pagan ideal whose charm even unlovely Paul could not +understand, but, as the legend tells us, his soul fainted within him, +his heart misgave him, and, standing alone on the seashore at dusk, +he "troubled deaf heaven with his bootless cries," his thin voice +pleading for grace after the flesh. + +The waves came in one after another, the sea-gulls cried together +after their kind, the wind rustled among the dried canes upon the +sandbanks, and there came a voice from heaven saying, "Let My grace +be sufficient for thee." Whereon, failing of the thing itself, he +stole the word and strove to crush its meaning to the measure of his +own limitations. But the true grace, with her groves and high +places, and troups of young men and maidens crowned with flowers, and +singing of love and youth and wine--the true grace he drove out into +the wilderness--high up, it may be, into Piora, and into such-like +places. Happy they who harboured her in her ill report. + +It is common to hear men wonder what new faith will be adopted by +mankind if disbelief in the Christian religion should become general. +They seem to expect that some new theological or quasi-theological +system will arise, which, mutatis mutandis, shall be Christianity +over again. It is a frequent reproach against those who maintain +that the supernatural element of Christianity is without foundation, +that they bring forward no such system of their own. They pull down +but cannot build. We sometimes hear even those who have come to the +same conclusions as the destroyers say, that having nothing new to +set up, they will not attack the old. But how can people set up a +new superstition, knowing it to be a superstition? Without faith in +their own platform, a faith as intense as that manifested by the +early Christians, how can they preach? A new superstition will come, +but it is in the very essence of things that its apostles should have +no suspicion of its real nature; that they should no more recognise +the common element between the new and the old than the early +Christians recognised it between their faith and Paganism. If they +did, they would be paralysed. Others say that the new fabric may be +seen rising on every side, and that the coming religion is science. +Certainly its apostles preach it without misgiving, but it is not on +that account less possible that it may prove only to be the coming +superstition--like Christianity, true to its true votaries, and, like +Christianity, false to those who follow it introspectively. + +It may well be we shall find we have escaped from one set of +taskmasters to fall into the hands of others far more ruthless. The +tyranny of the Church is light in comparison with that which future +generations may have to undergo at the hands of the doctrinaires. +The Church did uphold a grace of some sort as the summum bonum, in +comparison with which all so-called earthly knowledge--knowledge, +that is to say, which had not passed through so many people as to +have become living and incarnate--was unimportant. Do what we may, +we are still drawn to the unspoken teaching of her less introspective +ages with a force which no falsehood could command. Her buildings, +her music, her architecture, touch us as none other on the whole can +do; when she speaks there are many of us who think that she denies +the deeper truths of her own profounder mind, and unfortunately her +tendency is now towards more rather than less introspection. The +more she gives way to this--the more she becomes conscious of +knowing--the less she will know. But still her ideal is in grace. + +The so-called man of science, on the other hand, seems now generally +inclined to make light of all knowledge, save of the pioneer +character. His ideal is in self-conscious knowledge. Let us have no +more Lo, here, with the professor; he very rarely knows what he says +he knows; no sooner has he misled the world for a sufficient time +with a great flourish of trumpets than he is toppled over by one more +plausible than himself. He is but medicine-man, augur, priest, in +its latest development; useful it may be, but requiring to be well +watched by those who value freedom. Wait till he has become more +powerful, and note the vagaries which his conceit of knowledge will +indulge in. The Church did not persecute while she was still weak. +Of course every system has had, and will have, its heroes, but, as we +all very well know, the heroism of the hero is but remotely due to +system; it is due not to arguments, nor reasoning, nor to any +consciously recognised perceptions, but to those deeper sciences +which lie far beyond the reach of self-analysis, and for the sturdy +of which there is but one schooling--to have had good forefathers for +many generations. + +Above all things, let no unwary reader do me the injustice of +believing in ME. In that I write at all I am among the dammed. If +he must believe in anything, let him believe in the music of Handel, +the painting of Giovanni Bellini, and in the thirteenth chapter of +St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians. + +But to return. Whenever we find people knowing that they know this +or that, we have the same story over and over again. They do not yet +know it perfectly. + +We come, therefore, to the conclusion that our knowledge and +reasoning thereupon, only become perfect, assured, unhesitating, when +they have become automatic, and are thus exercised without further +conscious effort of the mind, much in the same way as we cannot walk +nor read nor write perfectly till we can do so automatically. + + + +CHAPTER III--APPLICATION OF FOREGOING CHAPTERS TO CERTAIN HABITS +ACQUIRED AFTER BIRTH WHICH ARE COMMONLY CONSIDERED INSTINCTIVE. + + + +What is true of knowing is also true of willing. The more intensely +we will, the less is our will deliberate and capable of being +recognised as will at all. So that it is common to hear men declare +under certain circumstances that they had no will, but were forced +into their own action under stress of passion or temptation. But in +the more ordinary actions of life, we observe, as in walking or +breathing, that we do not will anything utterly and without remnant +of hesitation, till we have lost sight of the fact that we are +exercising our will. + +The question, therefore, is forced upon us, how far this principle +extends, and whether there may not be unheeded examples of its +operation which, if we consider them, will land us in rather +unexpected conclusions. If it be granted that consciousness of +knowledge and of volition vanishes when the knowledge and the +volition have become intense and perfect, may it not be possible that +many actions which we do without knowing how we do them, and without +any conscious exercise of the will--actions which we certainly could +not do if we tried to do them, nor refrain from doing if for any +reason we wished to do so--are done so easily and so unconsciously +owing to excess of knowledge or experience rather than deficiency, we +having done them too often, knowing how to do them too well, and +having too little hesitation as to the method of procedure, to be +capable of following our own action without the utter derangement of +such action altogether; or, in other cases, because we have so long +settled the question, that we have stowed away the whole apparatus +with which we work in corners of our system which we cannot now +conveniently reach? + +It may be interesting to see whether we can find any class or classes +of actions which would seem to link actions which for some time after +birth we could not do at all, and in which our proficiency has +reached the stage of unconscious performance obviously through +repeated effort and failure, and through this only, with actions +which we could do as soon as we were born, and concerning which it +would at first sight appear absurd to say that they can have been +acquired by any process in the least analogous to that which we +commonly call experience, inasmuch as the creature itself which does +them has only just begun to exist, and cannot, therefore, in the very +nature of things, have had experience. + +Can we see that actions, for the acquisition of which experience is +such an obvious necessity, that whenever we see the acquisition we +assume the experience, gradate away imperceptibly into actions which +would seem, according to all reasonable analogy, to presuppose +experience, of which, however, the time and place seem obscure, if +not impossible? + +Eating and drinking would appear to be such actions. The new-born +child cannot eat, and cannot drink, but he can swallow as soon as he +is born; and swallowing would appear (as we may remark in passing) to +have been an earlier faculty of animal life than that of eating with +teeth. The ease and unconsciousness with which we eat and drink is +clearly attributable to practice; but a very little practice seems to +go a long way--a suspiciously small amount of practice--as though +somewhere or at some other time there must have been more practice +than we can account for. We can very readily stop eating or +drinking, and can follow our own action without difficulty in either +process; but, as regards swallowing, which is the earlier habit, we +have less power of self-analysis and control: when we have once +committed ourselves beyond a certain point to swallowing, we must +finish doing so,--that is to say, our control over the operation +ceases. Also, a still smaller experience seems necessary for the +acquisition of the power to swallow than appeared necessary in the +case of eating; and if we get into a difficulty we choke, and are +more at a loss how to become introspective than we are about eating +and drinking. + +Why should a baby be able to swallow--which one would have said was +the more complicated process of the two--with so much less practice +than it takes him to learn to eat? How comes it that he exhibits in +the case of the more difficult operation all the phenomena which +ordinarily accompany a more complete mastery and longer practice? +Analogy would certainly seem to point in the direction of thinking +that the necessary experience cannot have been wanting, and that, +too, not in such a quibbling sort as when people talk about inherited +habit or the experience of the race, which, without explanation, is +to plain-speaking persons very much the same, in regard to the +individual, as no experience at all, but bona fide in the child's own +person. + +Breathing, again, is an action acquired after birth, generally with +some little hesitation and difficulty, but still acquired in a time +seldom longer, as I am informed, than ten minutes or a quarter of an +hour. For an ant which has to be acquired at all, there would seem +here, as in the case of eating, to be a disproportion between, on the +one hand, the intricacy of the process performed, and on the other, +the shortness of the time taken to acquire the practice, and the ease +and unconsciousness with which its exercise is continued from the +moment of acquisition. + +We observe that in later life much less difficult and intricate +operations than breathing acquire much longer practice before they +can be mastered to the extent of unconscious performance. We observe +also that the phenomena attendant on the learning by an infant to +breathe are extremely like those attendant upon the repetition of +some performance by one who has done it very often before, but who +requires just a little prompting to set him off, on getting which, +the whole familiar routine presents itself before him, and he repeats +his task by rote. Surely then we are justified in suspecting that +there must have been more bona fide personal recollection and +experience, with more effort and failure on the part of the infant +itself than meet the eye. + +It should be noticed, also, that our control over breathing is very +limited. We can hold our breath a little, or breathe a little faster +for a short time, but we cannot do this for long, and after having +gone without air for a certain time we must breath. + +Seeing and hearing require some practice before their free use is +mastered, but not very much. They are so far within our control that +we can see more by looking harder, and hear more by listening +attentively--but they are beyond our control in so far as that we +must see and hear the greater part of what presents itself to us as +near, and at the same time unfamiliar, unless we turn away or shut +our eyes, or stop our ears by a mechanical process; and when we do +this it is a sign that we have already involuntarily seen or heard +more than we wished. The familiar, whether sight or sound, very +commonly escapes us. + +Take again the processes of digestion, the action of the heart, and +the oxygenisation of the blood--processes of extreme intricacy, done +almost entirely unconsciously, and quite beyond the control of our +volition. + +Is it possible that our unconsciousness concerning our own +performance of all these processes arises from over-experience? + +Is there anything in digestion, or the oxygenisation of the blood, +different in kind to the rapid unconscious action of a man playing a +difficult piece of music on the piano? There may be in degree, but +as a man who sits down to play what he well knows, plays on, when +once started, almost, as we say, mechanically, so, having eaten his +dinner, he digests it as a matter of course, unless it has been in +some way unfamiliar to him, or he to it, owing to some derangement or +occurrence with which he is unfamiliar, and under which therefore he +is at a loss now to comport himself, as a player would be at a loss +how to play with gloves on, or with gout in his fingers, or if set to +play music upside down. + +Can we show that all the acquired actions of childhood and after- +life, which we now do unconsciously, or without conscious exercise of +the will, are familiar acts--acts which we have already done a very +great number of times? + +Can we also show that there are no acquired actions which we can +perform in this automatic manner, which were not at one time +difficult, requiring attention, and liable to repeated failure, our +volition failing to command obedience from the members which should +carry its purposes into execution? + +If so, analogy will point in the direction of thinking that other +acts which we do even more unconsciously may only escape our power of +self-examination and control because they are even more familiar-- +because we have done them oftener; and we may imagine that if there +were a microscope which could show us the minutest atoms of +consciousness and volition, we should find that even the apparently +most automatic actions were yet done in due course, upon a balance of +considerations, and under the deliberate exercise of the will. + +We should also incline to think that even such an action as the +oxygenisation of its blood by an infant of ten minutes' old, can only +be done so well and so unconsciously, after repeated failures on the +part of the infant itself. + +True, as has been already implied, we do not immediately see when the +baby could have made the necessary mistakes and acquired that +infinite practice without which it could never go through such +complex processes satisfactorily; we have therefore invented the +words "hereditary instinct," and consider them as accounting for the +phenomenon; but a very little reflection will show that though these +words may be a very good way of stating the difficulty, they do +little or nothing towards removing it. + +Why should hereditary instinct enable a creature to dispense with the +experience which we see to be necessary in all other cases before +difficult operations can be performed successfully? + +What is this talk that is made about the experience OF THE RACE, as +though the experience of one man could profit another who knows +nothing about him? If a man eats his dinner, it nourishes HIM and +not his neighbour; if he learns a different art, it is HE that can do +it and not his neighbour. Yet, practically, we see that the +vicarious experience, which seems so contrary to our common +observation, does nevertheless appear to hold good in the case of +creatures and their descendants. Is there, then, any way of bringing +these apparently conflicting phenomena under the operation of one +law? Is there any way of showing that this experience of the race, +of which so much is said without the least attempt to show in what +way it may or does become the experience of the individual, is in +sober seriousness the experience of one single being only, repeating +in a great many different ways certain performances with which he has +become exceedingly familiar? + +It would seem that we must either suppose the conditions of +experience to differ during the earlier stages of life from those +which we observe them to become during the heyday of any existence-- +and this would appear very gratuitous, tolerable only as a suggestion +because the beginnings of life are so obscure, that in such twilight +we may do pretty much whatever we please without danger of +confutation--or that we must suppose the continuity of life and +sameness between living beings, whether plants or animals, and their +descendants, to be far closer than we have hitherto believed; so that +the experience of one person is not enjoyed by his successor, so much +as that the successor is bona fide but a part of the life of his +progenitor, imbued with all his memories, profiting by all his +experiences--which are, in fact, his own--and only unconscious of the +extent of his own memories and experiences owing to their vastness +and already infinite repetitions. + +Certainly it presents itself to us at once as a singular coincidence +- + +I. That we are MOST CONSCIOUS OF, AND HAVE MOST CONTROL OVER, such +habits as speech, the upright position, the arts and sciences, which +are acquisitions peculiar to the human race, always acquired after +birth, and not common to ourselves and any ancestor who had not +become entirely human. + +II. That we are LESS CONSCIOUS OF, AND HAVE LESS CONTROL OVER, +eating and drinking, swallowing, breathing, seeing and hearing, which +were acquisitions of our prehuman ancestry, and for which we had +provided ourselves with all the necessary apparatus before we saw +light, but which are still, geologically speaking, recent, or +comparatively recent. + +III. That we are MOST UNCONSCIOUS OF, AND HAVE LEAST CONTROL OVER, +our digestion and circulation, which belonged even to our +invertebrate ancestry, and which are habits, geologically speaking, +of extreme antiquity. + +There is something too like method in this for it to be taken as the +result of mere chance--chance again being but another illustration of +Nature's love of a contradiction in terms; for everything is chance, +and nothing is chance. And you may take it that all is chance or +nothing chance, according as you please, but you must not have half +chance and half not chance. + +Does it not seem as though the older and more confirmed the habit, +the more unquestioning the act of volition, till, in the case of the +oldest habits, the practice of succeeding existences has so +formulated the procedure, that, on being once committed to such and +such a line beyond a certain point, the subsequent course is so clear +as to be open to no further doubt, to admit of no alternative, till +the very power of questioning is gone, and even the consciousness of +volition? And this too upon matters which, in earlier stages of a +man's existence, admitted of passionate argument and anxious +deliberation whether to resolve them thus or thus, with heroic hazard +and experiment, which on the losing side proved to be vice, and on +the winning virtue. For there was passionate argument once what +shape a man's teeth should be, nor can the colour of his hair be +considered as ever yet settled, or likely to be settled for a very +long time. + +It is one against legion when a creature tries to differ from his own +past selves. He must yield or die if he wants to differ widely, so +as to lack natural instincts, such as hunger or thirst, or not to +gratify them. It is more righteous in a man that he should "eat +strange food," and that his cheek should "so much as lank not," than +that he should starve if the strange food be at his command. His +past selves are living in him at this moment with the accumulated +life of centuries. "Do this, this, this, which we too have done, and +found our profit in it," cry the souls of his forefathers within him. +Faint are the far ones, coming and going as the sound of bells wafted +on to a high mountain; loud and clear are the near ones, urgent as an +alarm of fire. "Withhold," cry some. "Go on boldly," cry others. +"Me, me, me, revert hitherward, my descendant," shouts one as it were +from some high vantage-ground over the heads of the clamorous +multitude. "Nay, but me, me, me," echoes another; and our former +selves fight within us and wrangle for our possession. Have we not +here what is commonly called an INTERNAL TUMULT, when dead pleasures +and pains tug within us hither and thither? Then may the battle be +decided by what people are pleased to call our own experience. Our +own indeed! What is our own save by mere courtesy of speech? A +matter of fashion. Sanction sanctifieth and fashion fashioneth. And +so with death--the most inexorable of all conventions. + +However this may be, we may assume it as an axiom with regard to +actions acquired after birth, that we never do them automatically +save as the result of long practice, and after having thus acquired +perfect mastery over the action in question. + +But given the practice or experience, and the intricacy of the +process to be performed appears to matter very little. There is +hardly anything conceivable as being done by man, which a certain +amount of familiarity will not enable him to do, as it were +mechanically and without conscious effort. "The most complex and +difficult movements," writes Mr Darwin, "can in time be performed +without the least effort or consciousness." All the main business of +life is done thus unconsciously or semi-unconsciously. For what is +the main business of life? We work that we may eat and digest, +rather than eat and digest that we may work; this, at any rate, is +the normal state of things: the more important business then is that +which is carried on unconsciously. So again the action of the brain, +which goes on prior to our realising the idea in which it results, is +not perceived by the individual. So also all the deeper springs of +action and conviction. The residuum with which we fret and worry +ourselves is a mere matter of detail, as the higgling and haggling of +the market, which is not over the bulk of the price, but over the +last halfpenny. + +Shall we say, then, that a baby of a day old sucks (which involves +the whole principle of the pump, and hence a profound practical +knowledge of the laws of pneumatics and hydrostatics), digests, +oxygenises its blood (millions of years before Sir Humphry Davy +discovered oxygen), sees and hears--all most difficult and +complicated operations, involving a knowledge of the facts concerning +optics and acoustics, compared with which the discoveries of Newton +sink into utter insignificance? Shall we say that a baby can do all +these things at once, doing them so well and so regularly, without +being even able to direct its attention to them, and without mistake, +and at the same time not know how to do them, and never have done +them before? + +Such an assertion would be a contradiction to the whole experience of +mankind. Surely the onus probandi must rest with him who makes it. + +A man may make a lucky hit now and again by what is called a fluke, +but even this must be only a little in advance of his other +performances of the same kind. He may multiply seven by eight by a +fluke after a little study of the multiplication table, but he will +not be able to extract the cube root of 4913 by a fluke, without long +training in arithmetic, any more than an agricultural labourer would +be able to operate successfully for cataract. If, then, a grown man +cannot perform so simple an operation as that we will say, for +cataract, unless he have been long trained in other similar +operations, and until he has done what comes to the same thing many +times over, with what show of reason can we maintain that one who is +so far less capable than a grown man, can perform such vastly more +difficult operations, without knowing how to do them, and without +ever having done them before? There is no sign of "fluke" about the +circulation of a baby's blood. There may perhaps be some little +hesitation about its earliest breathing, but this, as a general rule, +soon passes over, both breathing and circulation, within an hour +after birth, being as regular and easy as at any time during life. +Is it reasonable, then, to say that the baby does these things +without knowing how to do them, and without ever having done them +before, and continues to do them by a series of lifelong flukes? + +It would be well if those who feel inclined to hazard such an +assertion would find some other instances of intricate processes gone +through by people who know nothing about them, and never had any +practice therein. What IS to know how to do a thing? Surely to do +it. What is proof that we know how to do a thing? Surely the fact +that we can do it. A man shows that he knows how to throw the +boomerang by throwing the boomerang. No amount of talking or writing +can get over this; ipso facto, that a baby breathes and makes its +blood circulate, it knows how to do so and the fact that it does not +know its own knowledge is only proof of the perfection of that +knowledge, and of the vast number of past occasions on which it must +have been exercised already. As we have said already, it is less +obvious when the baby could have gained its experience, so as to be +able so readily to remember exactly what to do; but it is more easy +to suppose that the necessary occasions cannot have been wanting, +than that the power which we observe should have been obtained +without practice and memory. + +If we saw any self-consciousness on the baby's part about its +breathing or circulation, we might suspect that it had had less +experience, or profited less by its experience, than its neighbours-- +exactly in the same manner as we suspect a deficiency of any quality +which we see a man inclined to parade. We all become introspective +when we find that we do not know our business, and whenever we are +introspective we may generally suspect that we are on the verge of +unproficiency. Unfortunately, in the case of sickly children, we +observe that they sometimes do become conscious of their breathing +and circulation, just as in later life we become conscious that we +have a liver or a digestion. In that case there is always something +wrong. The baby that becomes aware of its breathing does not know +how to breathe, and will suffer for his ignorance and incapacity, +exactly in the same way as he will suffer in later life for ignorance +and incapacity in any other respect in which his peers are commonly +knowing and capable. In the case of inability to breath, the +punishment is corporal, breathing being a matter of fashion, so old +and long settled that nature can admit of no departure from the +established custom, and the procedure in case of failure is as much +formulated as the fashion itself in the case of the circulation, the +whole performance has become one so utterly of rote, that the mere +discovery that we could do it at all was considered one of the +highest flights of human genius. + +It has been said a day will come when the Polar ice shall have +accumulated, till it forms vast continents many thousands of feet +above the level of the sea, all of solid ice. The weight of this +mass will, it is believed, cause the world to topple over on its +axis, so that the earth will be upset as an ant-heap overturned by a +ploughshare. In that day time icebergs will come crunching against +our proudest cities, razing them from off the face of the earth as +though they were made of rotten blotting-paper. There is no respect +now of Handel nor of Shakespeare; the works of Rembrandt and Bellini +fossilise at the bottom of the sea. Grace, beauty, and wit, all that +is precious in music, literature, and art--all gone. In the morning +there was Europe. In the evening there are no more populous cities +nor busy hum of men, but a sea of jagged ice, a lurid sunset, and the +doom of many ages. Then shall a scared remnant escape in places, and +settle upon the changed continent when the waters have subsided--a +simple people, busy hunting shellfish on the drying ocean beds, and +with little time for introspection yet they can read and write and +sum, for by that time these accomplishments will have become +universal, and will be acquired as easily as we now learn to talk; +but they do so as a matter of course, and without self-consciousness. +Also they make the simpler kinds of machinery too easily to be able +to follow their own operations--the manner of their own +apprenticeship being to them as a buried city. May we not imagine +that, after the lapse of another ten thousand years or so, some one +of them may again become cursed with lust of introspection, and a +second Harvey may astonish the world by discovering that it can read +and write, and that steam-engines do not grow, but are made? It may +be safely prophesied that he will die a martyr, and be honoured in +the fourth generation. + + + +CHAPTER IV--APPLICATION OF THE FOREGOING PRINCIPLES TO ACTIONS AND +HABITS ACQUIRED BEFORE BIRTH + + + +But if we once admit the principle that consciousness and volition +have a tendency to vanish as soon as practice has rendered any habit +exceedingly familiar, so that the mere presence of an elaborate but +unconscious performance shall carry with it a presumption of infinite +practice, we shall find it impossible to draw the line at those +actions which we see acquired after birth, no matter at how early a +period. The whole history and development of the embryo in all its +stages forces itself on our consideration. Birth has been made too +much of. It is a salient feature in the history of the individual, +but not more salient than a hundred others, and far less so than the +commencement of his existence as a single cell uniting in itself +elements derived from both parents, or perhaps than any point in his +whole existence as an embryo. For many years after we are born we +are still very incomplete. We cease to oxygenise our blood +vicariously as soon as we are born, but we still derive our +sustenance from our mothers. Birth is but the beginning of doubt, +the first hankering after scepticism, the dreaming of a dawn of +trouble, the end of certainty and of settled convictions. Not but +what before birth there have been unsettled convictions (more's the +pity) with not a few, and after birth we have still so made up our +minds upon many points as to have no further need of reflection +concerning them; nevertheless, in the main, birth is the end of that +time when we really knew our business, and the beginning of the days +wherein we know not what we would do, or do. It is therefore the +beginning of consciousness, and infancy is as the dosing of one who +turns in his bed on waking, and takes another short sleep before he +rises. When we were yet unborn, our thoughts kept the roadway +decently enough; then were we blessed; we thought as every man +thinks, and held the same opinions as our fathers and mothers had +done upon nearly every subject. Life was not an art--and a very +difficult art--much too difficult to be acquired in a lifetime; it +was a science of which we were consummate masters. + +In this sense, then, birth may indeed be looked upon as the most +salient feature in a man's life; but this is not at all the sense in +which it is commonly so regarded. It is commonly considered as the +point at which we begin to live. More truly it is the point at which +we leave off knowing how to live. + +A chicken, for example, is never so full of consciousness, activity, +reasoning faculty, and volition, as when it is an embryo in the +eggshell, making bones, and flesh, and feathers, and eyes, and claws, +with nothing but a little warmth and white of egg to make them from. +This is indeed to make bricks with but a small modicum of straw. +There is no man in the whole world who knows consciously and +articulately as much as a half-hatched hen's egg knows unconsciously. +Surely the egg in its own way must know quite as much as the chicken +does. We say of the chicken that it knows how to run about as soon +as it is hatched. So it does; but had it no knowledge before it was +hatched? What made it lay the foundations of those limbs which +should enable it to run about? What made it grow a horny tip to its +bill before it was hatched, so that it might peck all round the +larger end of the eggshell and make a hole for itself to get out at? +Having once got outside the eggshell, the chicken throws away this +horny tip; but is it reasonable to suppose that it would have grown +it at all unless it had known that it would want something with which +to break the eggshell? And again, is it in the least agreeable to +our experience that such elaborate machinery should be made without +endeavour, failure, perseverance, intelligent contrivance, +experience, and practice? + +In the presence of such considerations, it seems impossible to +refrain from thinking that there must be a closer continuity of +identity, life, and memory, between successive generations than we +generally imagine. To shear the thread of life, and hence of memory, +between one generation and its successor, is so to speak, a brutal +measure, an act of intellectual butchery, and like all such strong +high-handed measures, a sign of weakness in him who is capable of it +till all other remedies have been exhausted. It is mere horse +science, akin to the theories of the convulsionists in the geological +kingdom, and of the believers in the supernatural origin of the +species of plants and animals. Yet it is to be feared that we have +not a few among us who would feel shocked rather at the attempt +towards a milder treatment of the facts before them, than at a +continuance of the present crass tyranny with which we try to crush +them inside our preconceived opinions. It is quite common to hear +men of education maintain that not even when it was on the point of +being hatched, had the chicken sense enough to know that it wanted to +get outside the eggshell. It did indeed peck all round the end of +the shell, which, if it wanted to get out, would certainly be the +easiest way of effecting its purpose; but it did not, they say, peck +because it was aware of this, but "promiscuously." Curious, such a +uniformity of promiscuous action among so many eggs for so many +generations. If we see a man knock a hole in a wall on finding that +he cannot get out of a place by any other means, and if we see him +knock this hole in a very workmanlike way, with an implement with +which he has been at great pains to make for a long the past, but +which he throws away as soon as he has no longer use for it, thus +showing that he had made it expressly for the purpose of escape, do +we say that this person made the implement and broke the wall of his +prison promiscuously? No jury would acquit a burglar on these +grounds. Then why, without much more evidence to the contrary than +we have, or can hope to have, should we not suppose that with +chickens, as with men, signs of contrivance are indeed signs of +contrivance, however quick, subtle, and untraceable, the contrivance +may be? Again, I have heard people argue that though the chicken, +when nearly hatched, had such a glimmering of sense that it pecked +the shell because it wanted to get out, yet that it is not +conceivable that, so long before it was hatched, it should have had +the sense to grow the horny tip to its bill for use when wanted. +This, at any rate, they say, it must have grown, as the persons +previously referred to would maintain, promiscuously. + +Now no one indeed supposes that the chicken does what it does, with +the same self-consciousness with which a tailor makes a suit of +clothes. Not any one who has thought upon the subject is likely to +do it so great an injustice. The probability is that it knows what +it is about to an extent greater than any tailor ever did or will, +for, to say the least of it, many thousands of years to come. It +works with such absolute certainty and so vast an experience, that it +is utterly incapable of following the operations of its own mind--as +accountants have been known to add up long columns of pounds, +shillings, and pence, running the three fingers of one hand, a finger +for each column, up the page, and putting the result down correctly +at the bottom, apparently without an effort. In the case of the +accountant, we say that the processes which his mind goes through are +so rapid and subtle as to elude his own power of observation as well +as ours. We do not deny that his mind goes though processes of some +kind; we very readily admit that it must do so, and say that these +processes are so rapid and subtle, owing, as a general rule, to long +experience in addition. Why then should we find it so difficult to +conceive that this principle, which we observe to play so large a +part in mental physiology, wherever we can observe mental physiology +at all, may have a share also in the performance of intricate +operations otherwise inexplicable, though the creature performing +them is not man, or man only in embryo? + +Again, after the chicken is hatched, it grows more feathers and bones +and blood, but we still say that it knows nothing about all this. +What then do we say it DOES know? One is almost ashamed to confess +that we only credit it with knowing what it appears to know by +processes which we find it exceedingly easy to follow, or perhaps +rather, which we find it absolutely impossible to avoid following, as +recognising too great a family likeness between them, and those which +are most easily followed in our own minds, to be able to sit down in +comfort under a denial of the resemblance. Thus, for example, if we +see a chicken running away from a fox, we do admit that the chicken +knows the fox would kill it if it caught it. + +On the other hand, if we allow that the half-hatched chicken grew the +horny tip to be ready for use, with an intensity of unconscious +contrivance which can be only attributed to experience, we are driven +to admit that from the first moment the men began to sit upon it--and +earlier too than this--the egg was always full of consciousness and +volition, and that during its embryological condition the unhatched +chicken is doing exactly what it continues doing from the moment it +is hatched till it dies; that is to say, attempting to better itself, +doing (as Aristotle says all creatures do all things upon all +occasions) what it considers most for its advantage under the +existing circumstances. What it may think most advantageous will +depend, while it is in the eggshell, upon exactly the same causes as +will influence its opinions in later life--to wit, upon its habits, +its past circumstances and ways of thinking; for there is nothing, as +Shakespeare tells us, good or ill, but thinking makes it so. + +The egg thinks feathers much more to its advantage than hair or fur, +and much more easily made. If it could speak, it would probably tell +us that we could make them ourselves very easily after a few lessons, +if we took the trouble to try, but that hair was another matter, +which it really could not see how any protoplasm could be got to +make. Indeed, during the more intense and active part of our +existence, in the earliest stages, that is to say, of our +embryological life, we could probably have turned our protoplasm into +feathers instead of hair if we had cared about doing so. If the +chicken can make feathers, there seems no sufficient reason for +thinking that we cannot do so, beyond the fact that we prefer hair, +and have preferred it for so many ages that we have lost the art +along with the desire of making feathers, if indeed any of our +ancestors ever possessed it. The stuff with which we make hair is +practically the same as that with which chickens make feathers. It +is nothing but protoplasm, and protoplasm is like certain prophecies, +out of which anything can be made by the creature which wants to make +it. Everything depends upon whether a creature knows its own mind +sufficiently well, and has enough faith in its own powers of +achievement. When these two requisites are wanting, the strongest +giant cannot lift a two-ounce weight; when they are given, a bullock +can take an eyelash out of its eye with its hind-foot, or a minute +jelly speck can build itself a house out of various materials which +it will select according to its purpose with the nicest care, though +it have neither brain to think with, nor eyes to see with, nor hands +nor feet to work with, nor is it anything but a minute speck of +jelly--faith and protoplasm only. + +That this is indeed so, the following passage from Dr. Carpenter's +"Mental Physiology" may serve to show:- + +"The simplest type of an animal consists of a minute mass of +'protoplasm,' or living jelly, which is not yet DIFFERENTIATED into +'organs;' every part having the same endowments, and taking an equal +share in every action which the creature performs. One of these +'jelly specks,' the amoeba, moves itself about by changing the form +of its body, extemporising a foot (or pseudopodium), first in one +direction, and then in another; and then, when it has met with a +nutritive particle, extemporises a stomach for its reception, by +wrapping its soft body around it. Another, instead of going about in +search of food, remains in one place, but projects its protoplasmic +substance into long pseudopodia, which entrap and draw in very minute +particles, or absorb nutrient material from the liquid through which +they extend themselves, and are continually becoming fused (as it +were) into the central body, which is itself continually giving off +new pseudopodia. Now we can scarcely conceive that a creature of +such simplicity should possess any distinct CONSCIOUSNESS of its +needs" (why not?), "or that its actions should be directed by any +INTENTION of its own; and yet the writer has lately found results of +the most singular elaborateness to be wrought out by the +instrumentality of these minute jelly specks, which build up tests or +casings of the most regular geometrical symmetry of form, and of the +most artificial construction." + +On this Dr. Carpenter remarks:- "Suppose a human mason to be put down +by the side of a pile of stones of various shapes and sizes, and to +be told to build a dome of these, smooth on both surfaces, without +using more than the least possible quantity of a very tenacious, but +very costly, cement, in holding the stones together. If he +accomplished this well, he would receive credit for great +intelligence and skill. Yet this is exactly what these little 'jelly +specks' do on a most minute scale; the 'tests' they construct, when +highly magnified, bearing comparison with the most skilful masonry of +man. From THE SAME SANDY BOTTOM one species picks up the COARSER +quartz grains, cements them together with PHOSPHATE OF IRON secreted +from its own substance" (should not this rather be, "which it has +contrived in some way or other to manufacture"?) and thus constructs +a flask-shaped 'test,' having a short neck and a large single +orifice. Another picks up the FINEST grains, and puts them together, +with the same cement, into perfectly spherical 'tests' of the most +extraordinary finish, perforated with numerous small pores disposed +at pretty regular intervals. Another selects the MINUTEST sand +grains and the terminal portions of sponge spicules, and works them +up together--apparently with no cement at all, by the mere laying of +the spicules--into perfect white spheres, like homoeopathic globules, +each having a single-fissured orifice. And another, which makes a +straight, many-chambered 'test,' that resembles in form the chambered +shell of an orthoceratite--the conical mouth of each chamber +projecting into the cavity of the next--while forming the walls of +its chambers of ordinary sand grains rather loosely held together, +shapes the conical mouth of the successive chambers by firmly +cementing together grains of ferruginous quartz, which it must have +picked out from the general mass." + +"To give these actions," continues Dr. Carpenter, "the vague +designation of 'instinctive' does not in the least help us to account +for them, since what we want is to discover the MECHANISM by which +they are worked out; and it is most difficult to conceive how so +artificial a selection can be made by a creature so simple" (Mental +Physiology, 4th ed. pp. 41-43) + +This is what protoplasm can do when it has the talisman of faith--of +faith which worketh all wonders, either in the heavens above, or in +the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth. Truly if a man +have faith, even as a grain of mustard seed, though he may not be +able to remove mountains, he will at any rate be able to do what is +no less difficult--make a mustard plant. + +Yet this is but a barren kind of comfort, for we have not, and in the +nature of things cannot have, sufficient faith in the unfamiliar, +inasmuch as the very essence of faith involves the notion of +familiarity, which can grow but slowly, from experience to +confidence, and can make no sudden leap at any time. Such faith +cannot be founded upon reason,--that is to say, upon a recognised +perception on the part of the person holding it that he is holding +it, and of the reasons for his doing so--or it will shift as other +reasons come to disturb it. A house built upon reason is a house +built upon the sand. It must be built upon the current cant and +practice of one's peers, for this is the rock which, though not +immovable, is still most hard to move. + +But however this may be, we observe broadly that the intensity of the +will to make this or that, and of the confidence that one can make +it, depends upon the length of time during which the maker's +forefathers have wanted the same thing before it; the older the +custom the more inveterate the habit, and, with the exception, +perhaps, that the reproductive system is generally the crowning act +of development--an exception which I will hereafter explain--the +earlier its manifestation, until, for some reason or another, we +relinquish it and take to another, which we must, as a general rule, +again adhere to for a vast number of generations, before it will +permanently supplant the older habit. In our own case, the habit of +breathing like a fish through gills may serve as an example. We have +now left off this habit, yet we did it formerly for so many +generations that we still do it a little; it still crosses our +embryological existence like a faint memory or dream, for not easily +is an inveterate habit broken. On the other hand--again speaking +broadly--the more recent the habit the later the fashion of its +organ, as with the teeth, speech, and the higher intellectual powers, +which are too new for development before we are actually born. + +But to return for a short time to Dr. Carpenter. Dr. Carpenter +evidently feels, what must indeed be felt by every candid mind, that +there is no sufficient reason for supposing that these little specks +of jelly, without brain or eyes, or stomach, or hands, or feet, but +the very lowest known form of animal life, are not imbued with a +consciousness of their needs, and the reasoning faculties which shall +enable them to gratify those needs in a manner, all things +considered, equalling the highest flights of the ingenuity of the +highest animal--man. This is no exaggeration. It is true, that in +an earlier part of the passage, Dr. Carpenter has said that we can +scarcely conceive so simple a creature to "possess any distinct +CONSCIOUSNESS of its needs, or that its actions should be directed by +any intention of its own;" but, on the other hand, a little lower +down he says, that if a workman did what comes to the same thing as +what the amoeba does, he "would receive credit for great intelligence +and skill." Now if an amoeba can do that, for which a workman would +receive credit as for a highly skilful and intelligent performance, +the amoeba should receive no less credit than the workman; he should +also be no less credited with skill and intelligence, which words +unquestionably involve a distinct consciousness of needs and an +action directed by an intention of its own. So that Dr. Carpenter +seems rather to blow hot and cold with one breath. Nevertheless +there can be no doubt to which side the minds of the great majority +of mankind will incline upon the evidence before them; they will say +that the creature is highly reasonable and intelligent, though they +would readily admit that long practice and familiarity may have +exhausted its powers of attention to all the stages of its own +performance, just as a practised workman in building a wall certainly +does not consciously follow all the processes which he goes through. + +As an example, however, of the extreme dislike which philosophers of +a certain school have for making the admissions which seem somewhat +grudgingly conceded by Dr. Carpenter, we may take the paragraph which +immediately follows the ones which we have just quoted. Dr. +Carpenter there writes:- + +"The writer has often amused himself and others, when by the seaside, +with getting a terebella (a marine worm that cases its body in a +sandy tube) out of its house, and then, putting it into a saucer of +water with a supply of sand and comminuted shell, watching its +appropriation of these materials in constructing a new tube. The +extended tentacles soon spread themselves over the bottom of the +saucer and lay hold of whatever comes in their way, 'all being fish +that comes to their net,' and in half an hour or thereabouts the new +house is finished, though on a very rude and artificial type. Now +here the organisation is far higher; the instrumentality obviously +serves the needs of the animal and suffices for them; and we +characterise the action, on account of its uniformity and apparent +UNintelligence, as instinctive." + +No comment will, one would think, be necessary to make the reader +feel that the difference between the terebella and the amoeba is one +of degree rather than kind, and that if the action of the second is +as conscious and reasonable as that, we will say, of a bird making +her nest, the action of the first should be so also. It is only a +question of being a little less skilful, or more so, but skill and +intelligence would seem present in both cases. Moreover, it is more +clever of the terebella to have made itself the limbs with which it +can work, than of the amoeba to be able to work without the limbs; +and perhaps it is more sensible also to want a less elaborate +dwelling, provided it is sufficient for practical purposes. But +whether the terebella be less intelligent than the amoeba or not, it +does quite enough to establish its claim to intelligence of a higher +order; and one does not see ground for the satisfaction which Dr. +Carpenter appears to find at having, as it were, taken the taste of +the amoeba's performance out of our mouth, by setting us about the +less elaborate performance of the terebella, which he thinks we can +call unintelligent and instinctive. + +I may be mistaken in the impression I have derived from the +paragraphs I have quoted. I commonly say they give me the impression +that I have tried to convey to the reader, i.e., that the writer's +assent to anything like intelligence, or consciousness of needs, an +animal low down in the scale of life, is grudging, and that he is +more comfortable when he has got hold of onto to which he can point +and say that mere, at any rate, is an unintelligent and merely +instinctive creature. I have only called attention to the passage as +an example of the intellectual bias of a large number of exceedingly +able and thoughtful persons, among whom, so far as I am able to form +an opinion at all, few have greater claims to our respectful +attention than Dr. Carpenter himself. + +For the embryo of a chicken, then, we damn exactly the same kind of +reasoning power and contrivance which we damn for the amoeba, or for +our own intelligent performances in later life. We do not claim for +it much, if any, perception of its own forethought, for we know very +well that it is among the most prominent features of intellectual +activity that, after a number of repetitions, it ceases to be +perceived, and that it does not, in ordinary cases, cease to be +perceived till after a very great number of repetitions. The fact +that the embryo chicken makes itself always as nearly as may be in +the same way, would lead us to suppose that it would be unconscious +of much of its own action, PROVIDED IT WERE ALWAYS THE SAME CHICKEN +WHICH MADE ITSELF OVER AND OVER AGAIN. So far we can see, it always +IS unconscious of the greater part of its own wonderful performance. +Surely then we have a presumption that IT IS THE SAME CHICKEN WHICH +MAKES ITSELF OVER AND OVER AGAIN; for such unconsciousness is not +won, so far as our experience goes, by any other means than by +frequent repetition of the same act on the part of one and the same +individual. How this can be we shall perceive in subsequent +chapters. In the meantime, we may say that all knowledge and +volition would seem to be merely parts of the knowledge and volition +of the primordial cell (whatever this may be), which slumbers but +never dies--which has grown, and multiplied, and differentiated +itself into the compound life of the womb, and which never becomes +conscious of knowing what it has once learnt effectually, till it is +for some reason on the point of, or in danger of, forgetting it. + +The action, therefore, of an embryo making its way up in the world +from a simple cell to a baby, developing for itself eyes, ears, +hands, and feet while yet unborn, proves to be exactly of one and the +same kind as that of a man of fifty who goes into the City and tells +his broker to buy him so many Great Northern A shares--that is to +say, an effort of the will exercised in due course on a balance of +considerations as to the immediate expediency, and guided by past +experience; while children who do not reach birth are but prenatal +spendthrifts, ne'er-do-weels, inconsiderate innovators, the +unfortunate in business, either through their own fault or that of +others, or through inevitable mischances, beings who are culled out +before birth instead of after; so that even the lowest idiot, the +most contemptible in health or beauty, may yet reflect with pride +that they were BORN. Certainly we observe that those who have had +good fortune (mother and sole cause of virtue, and sole virtue in +itself), and have profited by their experience, and known their +business best before birth, so that they made themselves both to be +and to look well, do commonly on an average prove to know it best in +after-life: they grow their clothes best who have grown their limbs +best. It is rare that those who have not remembered how to finish +their own bodies fairly well should finish anything well in later +life. But how small is the addition to their unconscious attainments +which even the Titans of human intellect have consciously +accomplished, in comparison with the problems solved by the meanest +baby living, nay, even by one whose birth is untimely! In other +words, how vast is that back knowledge over which we have gone fast +asleep, through the prosiness of perpetual repetition; and how little +in comparison, is that whose novelty keeps it still within the scope +of our conscious perception! What is the discovery of the laws of +gravitation as compared with the knowledge which sleeps in every +hen's egg upon a kitchen shelf? + +It is all a matter of habit and fashion. Thus we see kings and +councillors of the earth admired for facing death before what they +are pleased to call dishonour. If, on being required to go without +anything they have been accustomed to, or to change their habits, or +do what is unusual in the case of other kings under like +circumstances, then, if they but fold their cloak decently around +them, and die upon the spot of shame at having had it even required +of them to do thus or thus, then are they kings indeed, of old race, +that know their business from generation to generation. Or if, we +will say, a prince, on having his dinner brought to him ill-cooked, +were to feel the indignity so keenly as that he should turn his face +to the wall, and breathe out his wounded soul in one sigh, do we not +admire him as a "REAL prince," who knows the business of princes so +well that he can conceive of nothing foreign to it in connection with +himself, the bare effort to realise a state of things other than what +princes have been accustomed to being immediately fatal to him? Yet +is there no less than this in the demise of every half-hatched hen's +egg, shaken rudely by a schoolboy, or neglected by a truant mother; +for surely the prince would not die if he knew how to do otherwise, +and the hen's egg only dies of being required to do something to +which it is not accustomed. + +But the further consideration of this and other like reflections +would too long detain us. Suffice it that we have established the +position that all living creatures which show any signs of +intelligence, must certainly each one have already gone through the +embryonic stages an infinite number of times, or they could no more +have achieved the intricate process of self-development +unconsciously, than they could play the piano unconsciously without +any previous knowledge of the instrument. It remains, therefore, to +show the when and where of their having done so, and this leads us +naturally to the subject of the following chapter--Personal Identity. + + + +CHAPTER V--PERSONAL IDENTITY + + + +"Strange difficulties have been raised by some," says Bishop Butler, +"concerning personal identity, or the sameness of living agents as +implied in the notion of our existing now and hereafter, or indeed in +any two consecutive moments." But in truth it is not easy to see the +strangeness of the difficulty, if the words either "personal" or +"identity" are used in any strictness. + +Personality is one of those ideas with which we are so familiar that +we have lost sight of the foundations upon which it rests. We regard +our personality as a simple definite whole; as a plain, palpable, +individual thing, which can be seen going about the streets or +sitting indoors at home, which lasts us our lifetime, and about the +confines of which no doubt can exist in the minds of reasonable +people. But in truth this "we," which looks so simple and definite, +is a nebulous and indefinable aggregation of many component parts +which war not a little among themselves, our perception of our +existence at all being perhaps due to this very clash of warfare, as +our sense of sound and light is due to the jarring of vibrations. +Moreover, as the component parts of our identity change from moment +to moment, our personality becomes a thing dependent upon the +present, which has no logical existence, but lives only upon the +sufferance of times past and future, slipping out of our hands into +the domain of one or other of these two claimants the moment we try +to apprehend it. And not only is our personality as fleeting as the +present moment, but the parts which compose it blend some of them so +imperceptibly into, and are so inextricably linked on to, outside +things which clearly form no part of our personality, that when we +try to bring ourselves to book, and determine wherein we consist, or +to draw a line as to where we begin or end, we find ourselves +completely baffled. There is nothing but fusion and confusion. + +Putting theology on one side, and dealing only with the common daily +experience of mankind, our body is certainly part of our personality. +With the destruction of our bodies, our personality, as far as we can +follow it, comes to a full stop; and with every modification of them +it is correspondingly modified. But what are the limits of our +bodies? They are composed of parts, some of them so unessential as +to be hardly included in personality at all, and to be separable from +ourselves without perceptible effect, as the hair, nails, and daily +waste of tissue. Again, other parts are very important, as our +hands, feet, arms, legs, &c., but still are no essential parts of our +"self" or "soul," which continues to exist in spite of their +amputation. Other parts, as the brain, heart, and blood, are so +essential that they cannot be dispensed with, yet it is impossible to +say that personality consists in any one of them. + +Each one of these component members of our personality is continually +dying and being born again, supported in this process by the food we +eat, the water we drink, and the air we breathe; which three things +link us on, and fetter us down, to the organic and inorganic world +about us. For our meat and drink, though no part of our personality +before we eat and drink, cannot, after we have done so, be separated +entirely from us without the destruction of our personality +altogether, so far as we can follow it; and who shall say at what +precise moment our food has or has not become part of ourselves? A +famished man eats food; after a short time his whole personality is +so palpably affected that we know the food to have entered into him +and taken, as it were, possession of him; but who can say at what +precise moment it did so? Thus we find that we are rooted into +outside things and melt away into them, nor can any man say he +consists absolutely in this or that, nor define himself so certainly +as to include neither more nor less than himself; many undoubted +parts of his personality being more separable from it, and changing +it less when so separated, both to his own senses and those of other +people, than other parts which are strictly speaking no parts at all. + +A man's clothes, for example, as they lie on a chair at night are no +part of him, but when he wears them they would appear to be so, as +being a kind of food which warms him and hatches him, and the loss of +which may kill him of cold. If this be denied, and a man's clothes +be considered as no part of his self, nevertheless they, with his +money, and it may perhaps be added his religious opinions, stamp a +man's individuality as strongly as any natural feature could stamp +it. Change in style of dress, gain or loss of money, make a man feel +and appear more changed than having his chin shaved or his nails cut. +In fact, as soon as we leave common parlance on one side, and try for +a scientific definition of personality, we find that there is none +possible, any more than there can be a demonstration of the fact that +we exist at all--a demonstration for which, as for that of a personal +God, many have hunted but none have found. The only solid foundation +is, as in the case of the earth's crust, pretty near the surface of +things; the deeper we try to go, the damper and darker and altogether +more uncongenial we find it. There is no knowing into what quagmire +of superstition we may not find ourselves drawn, if we once cut +ourselves adrift from those superficial aspects of things, in which +alone our nature permits us to be comforted. + +Common parlance, however, settles the difficulty readily enough (as +indeed it settles most others if they show signs of awkwardness) by +the simple process of ignoring it: we decline, and very properly, to +go into the question of where personality begins and ends, but assume +it to be known by every one, and throw the onus of not knowing it +upon the over-curious, who had better think as their neighbours do, +right or wrong, or there is no knowing into what villainy they may +not presently fall. + +Assuming, then, that every one knows what is meant by the word +"person" (and such superstitious bases as this are the foundations +upon which all action, whether of man, beast, or plant, is +constructed and rendered possible; for even the corn in the fields +grows upon a superstitious basis as to its own existence, and only +turns the earth and moisture into wheat through the conceit of its +own ability to do so, without which faith it were powerless; and the +lichen only grows upon the granite rock by first saying to itself, "I +think I can do it;" so that it would not be able to grow unless it +thought it could grow, and would not think it could grow unless it +found itself able to grow, and thus spends its life arguing in a most +vicious circle, basing its action upon a hypothesis, which hypothesis +is in turn based upon its action)--assuming that we know what is +meant by the word "person," we say that we are one and the same from +the moment of our birth to the moment of our death, so that whatever +is done by or happens to any one between birth and death, is said to +happen to or be done by one individual. This in practice is found to +be sufficient for the law courts and the purposes of daily life, +which, being full of hurry and the pressure of business, can only +tolerate compromise, or conventional rendering of intricate +phenomena. When facts of extreme complexity have to be daily and +hourly dealt with by people whose time is money, they must be +simplified, and treated much as a painter treats them, drawing them +in squarely, seizing the more important features, and neglecting all +that does not assert itself as too essential to be passed over--hence +the slang and cant words of every profession, and indeed all +language; for language at best is but a kind of "patter," the only +way, it is true, in many cases, of expressing our ideas to one +another, but still a very bad way, and not for one moment comparable +to the unspoken speech which we may sometimes have recourse to. The +metaphors and facons de parler to which even in the plainest speech +we are perpetually recurring (as, for example, in this last two +lines, "plain," "perpetually," and "recurring," are all words based +on metaphor, and hence more or less liable to mislead) often deceive +us, as though there were nothing more than what we see and say, and +as though words, instead of being, as they are, the creatures of our +convenience, had some claim to be the actual ideas themselves +concerning which we are conversing. + +This is so well expressed in a letter I have recently received from a +friend, now in New Zealand, and certainly not intended by him for +publication, that I shall venture to quote the passage, but should +say that I do so without his knowledge or permission which I should +not be able to receive before this book must be completed. + +"Words, words, words," he writes, "are the stumbling-blocks in the +way of truth. Until you think of things as they are, and not of the +words that misrepresent them, you cannot think rightly. Words +produce the appearance of hard and fast lines where there are none. +Words divide; thus we call this a man, that an ape, that a monkey, +while they are all only differentiations of the same thing. To think +of a thing they must be got rid of: they are the clothes that +thoughts wear--only the clothes. I say this over and over again, for +there is nothing of more importance. Other men's words will stop you +at the beginning of an investigation. A man may play with words all +his life, arranging them and rearranging them like dominoes. If I +could THINK to you without words you would understand me better." + +If such remarks as the above hold good at all, they do so with the +words "personal identity." The least reflection will show that +personal identity in any sort of strictness is an impossibility. The +expression is one of the many ways in which we are obliged to scamp +our thoughts through pressure of other business which pays us better. +For surely all reasonable people will feel that an infant an hour +before birth, when in the eye of the law he has no existence, and +could not be called a peer for another sixty minutes, though his +father were a peer, and already dead,--surely such an embryo is more +personally identical with the baby into which he develops within an +hour's time than the born baby is so with itself (if the expression +may be pardoned), one, twenty, or it may be eighty years after birth. +There is more sameness of matter; there are fewer differences of any +kind perceptible by a third person; there is more sense of continuity +on the part of the person himself; and far more of all that goes to +make up our sense of sameness of personality between an embryo an +hour before birth and the child on being born, than there is between +the child just born and the man of twenty. Yet there is no +hesitation about admitting sameness of personality between these two +last. + +On the other hand, if that hazy contradiction in terms, "personal +identity," be once allowed to retreat behind the threshold of the +womb, it has eluded us once for all. What is true of one hour before +birth is true of two, and so on till we get back to the impregnate +ovum, which may fairly claim to have been personally identical with +the man of eighty into which it ultimately developed, in spite of the +fact that there is no particle of same matter nor sense of continuity +between them, nor recognised community of instinct, nor indeed of +anything which goes to the making up of that which we call identity. + +There is far more of all these things common to the impregnate ovum +and the ovum immediately before impregnation, or again between the +impregnate ovum, and both the ovum before impregnation and the +spermatozoon which impregnated it. Nor, if we admit personal +identity between the ovum and the octogenarian, is there any +sufficient reason why we should not admit it between the impregnate +ovum and the two factors of which it is composed, which two factors +are but offshoots from two distinct personalities, of which they are +as much part as the apple is of the apple-tree; so that an impregnate +ovum cannot without a violation of first principles be debarred from +claiming personal identity with both its parents, and hence, by an +easy chain of reasoning, WITH EACH OF THE IMPREGNATE OVA FROM WHICH +ITS PARENTS WERE DEVELOPED. + +So that each ovum when impregnate should be considered not as +descended from its ancestors, but as being a continuation of the +personality of every ovum in the chain of its ancestry, which every +ovum IT ACTUALLY IS quite as truly as the octogenarian IS the same +identity with the ovum from which he has been developed. + +This process cannot stop short of the primordial cell, which again +will probably turn out to be but a brief resting-place. We therefore +prove each one of us to BE ACTUALLY the primordial cell which never +died nor dies, but has differentiated itself into the life of the +world, all living beings whatever, being one with it, and members one +of another. + +To look at the matter for a moment in another light, it will be +admitted that if the primordial cell had been killed before leaving +issue, all its possible descendants would have been killed at one and +the same time. It is hard to see how this single fact does not +establish at the point, as it were, of a logical bayonet, an +identity, between any creature and all others that are descended from +it. + +In Bishop Butler's first dissertation on personality, we find +expressed very much the same opinions as would follow from the above +considerations, though they are mentioned by the Bishop only to be +condemned, namely, "that personality is not a permanent but a +transient thing; that it lives and dies, begins and ends continually; +that no man can any more remain one and the same person two moments +together, than two successive moments can be one and the same +moment;" in which case, he continues, our present self would not be +"in reality the same with the self of yesterday, but another like +self or person coming up in its room and mistaken for it, to which +another self will succeed to-morrow." This view the Bishop proceeds +to reduce to absurdity by saying, "It must be a fallacy upon +ourselves to charge our present selves with anything we did, or to +imagine our present selves interested in anything which befell us +yesterday; or that our present self will be interested in what will +befall us to-morrow. This, I say, must follow, for if the self or +person of to-day and that of to-morrow are not the same, but only +like persons, the person of to-day is really no more interested in +what will befall the person of to-morrow than in what will befall any +other person. It may be thought, perhaps, that this is not a just +representation of the opinion we are speaking of, because those who +maintain it allow that a person is the same as far back as his +remembrance reaches. And indeed they do use the words IDENTITY and +SAME PERSON. Nor will language permit these words to be laid aside, +since, if they were, there must be I know not what ridiculous +periphrasis substituted in the room of them. But they cannot +consistently with themselves mean that the person is really the same. +For it is self-evident that the personality cannot be really the +same, if, as they expressly assert, that in which it consists is not +the same. And as consistently with themselves they cannot, so I +think it appears they do not mean that the person is really the same, +but only that he is so in a fictitious sense; in such a sense only as +they assert--for this they do assert--that any number of persons +whatever may be the same person. The bare unfolding of this notion, +and laying it thus naked and open, seems the best confutation of it." + +This fencing, for it does not deserve the name of serious +disputation, is rendered possible by the laxness with which the words +"identical" and "identity" are commonly used. Bishop Butler would +not seriously deny that personality undergoes great changes between +infancy and old age, and hence that it must undergo some change from +moment to moment. So universally is this recognised, that it is +common to hear it said of such and such a man that he is not at all +the person he was, or of such and such another that he is twice the +man he used to be--expressions than which none nearer the truth can +well be found. On the other hand, those whom Bishop Butler is +intending to confute would be the first to admit that, though there +are many changes between infancy and old age, yet they come about in +any one individual under such circumstances as we are all agreed in +considering as the factors of personal identity rather than as +hindrances thereto--that is to say, there has been no death on the +part of the individual between any two phases of his existence, and +any one phase has had a permanent though perhaps imperceptible effect +upon all succeeding ones. So that no one ever seriously argued in +the manner supposed by Bishop Butler, unless with modifications and +saving clauses, to which it does not suit his purpose to call +attention. + +Identical strictly means "one and the same;" and if it were tied down +to its strictest usage, it would indeed follow very logically, as we +have said already, that no such thing as personal identity is +possible, but that the case actually is as Bishop Butler has supposed +his opponents without qualification to maintain it. In common use, +however, the word "identical" is taken to mean anything so like +another that no vital or essential differences can be perceived +between them; as in the case of two specimens of the same kind of +plant, when we say they are identical in spite of considerable +individual differences. So with two impressions of a print from the +same plate; so with the plate itself, which is somewhat modified with +every impression taken from it. In like manner "identity" is not +held to its strict meaning--absolute sameness--but is predicated +rightly of a past and present which are now very widely asunder, +provided they have been continuously connected by links so small as +not to give too sudden a sense of change at any one point; as, for +instance, in the case of the Thames at Oxford and Windsor or again at +Greenwich, we say the same river flows by all three places, by which +we mean that much of the water at Greenwich has come down from Oxford +and Windsor in a continuous stream. How sudden a change at any one +point, or how great a difference between the two extremes is +sufficient to bar identity, is one of the most uncertain things +imaginable, and seems to be decided on different grounds in different +cases, sometimes very intelligibly, and again at others arbitrarily +and capriciously. + +Personal identity is barred at one end, in the common opinion, by +birth, and at the other by death. Before birth, a child cannot +complain either by himself or another, in such way as to set the law +in motion; after death he is in like manner powerless to make himself +felt by society, except in so far as he can do so by acts done before +the breath has left his body. At any point between birth and death +he is liable, either by himself or another, to affect his fellow- +creatures; hence, no two other epochs can be found of equal +convenience for social purposes, and therefore they have been seized +by society as settling the whole question of when personal identity +begins and ends--society being rightly concerned with its own +practical convenience, rather than with the abstract truth concerning +its individual members. No one who is capable of reflection will +deny that the limitation of personality is certainly arbitrary to a +degree as regards birth, nor yet that it is very possibly arbitrary +as regards death; and as for intermediate points, no doubt it would +be more strictly accurate to say, "you are the now phase of the +person I met last night," or "you are the being which has been +evolved from the being I met last night," than "you are the person I +met last night." But life is too short for the pen-phrases which +would crowd upon us from every quarter, if we did not set our face +against all that is under the surface of things, unless, that is to +say, the going beneath the surface is, for some special chance of +profit, excusable or capable of extenuation. + + + +CHAPTER VI--PERSONAL IDENTITY--(Continued) + + + +How arbitrary current notions concerning identity really are, may +perhaps be perceived by reflecting upon some of the many different +phases of reproduction. + +Direct reproduction in which a creation reproduces another, the +facsimile, or nearly so, of itself may perhaps occur among the lowest +forms of animal life; but it is certainly not the rule among beings +of a higher order. + +A hen lays an egg, which egg becomes a chicken, which chicken, in the +course of time, becomes a hen. + +A moth lays an egg, which egg becomes a caterpillar, which +caterpillar, after going through several stages, becomes a chrysalis, +which chrysalis becomes a moth. + +A medusa begets a ciliated larva, the larva begets a polyp, the polyp +begets a strobila, and the strobila begets a medusa again; the cycle +of reproduction being completed in the fourth generation. + +A frog lays an egg, which egg becomes a tadpole; the tadpole, after +more or fewer intermediate stages, becomes a frog. + +The mammals lay eggs, which they hatch inside their own bodies, +instead of outside them; but the difference is one of degree and not +of kind. In all these cases how difficult is it to say where +identity begins or ends, or again where death begins or ends, or +where reproduction begins or ends. + +How small and unimportant is the difference between the changes which +a caterpillar undergoes before becoming a moth, and those of a +strobila before becoming a medusa. Yet in the one case we say the +caterpillar does not die, but is changed (though, if the various +changes in its existence be produced metagenetically, as is the case +with many insects, it would appear to make a clean sweep of every +organ of its existence, and start de novo, growing a head where its +feet were, and so on--at least twice between its lives as caterpillar +and butterfly); in this case, however, we say the caterpillar does +not die, but is changed; being, nevertheless, one personality with +the moth, into which it is developed. But in the case of the +strobila we say that it is not changed, but dies, and is no part of +the personality of the medusa. + +We say the egg becomes the caterpillar, not by the death of the egg +and birth of the caterpillar, but by the ordinary process of +nutrition and waste--waste and repair--waste and repair continually. +In like manner we say the caterpillar becomes the chrysalis, and the +chrysalis the moth, not through the death of either one or the other, +but by the development of the same creature, and the ordinary +processes of waste and repair. But the medusa after three or four +cycles becomes the medusa again, not, we say, by these same processes +of nutrition and waste, but by a series of generations, each one +involving an actual birth and an actual death. Why this difference? +Surely only because the changes in the offspring of the medusa are +marked by the leaving a little more husk behind them, and that husk +less shrivelled, than is left on the occasion of each change between +the caterpillar and the butterfly. A little more residuum, which +residuum, it may be, can move about; and though shrivelling from hour +to hour, may yet leave a little more offspring before it is reduced +to powder; or again, perhaps, because in the one case, though the +actors are changed, they are changed behind the scenes, and come on +in parts and dresses, more nearly resembling those of the original +actors, than in the other. + +When the caterpillar emerges from the egg, almost all that was inside +the egg has become caterpillar; the shell is nearly empty, and cannot +move; therefore we do not count it, and call the caterpillar a +continuation of the egg's existence, and personally identical with +the egg. So with the chrysalis and the moth; but after the moth has +laid her eggs she can still move her wings about, and she looks +nearly as large as she did before she laid them; besides, she may yet +lay a few more, therefore we do not consider the moth's life as +continued in the life of her eggs, but rather in their husk, which we +still call the moth, and which we say dies in a day or two, and there +is an end of it. Moreover, if we hold the moth's life to be +continued in that of her eggs, we shall be forced to admit her to be +personally identical with each single egg, and, hence, each egg to be +identical with every other egg, as far as the past, and community of +memories, are concerned; and it is not easy at first to break the +spell which words have cast around us, and to feel that one person +may become many persons, and that many different persons may be +practically one and the same person, as far as their past experience +is concerned; and again, that two or more persons may unite and +become one person, with the memories and experiences of both, though +this has been actually the case with every one of us. + +Our present way of looking at these matters is perfectly right and +reasonable, so long as we bear in mind that it is a facon de parler, +a sort of hieroglyphic which shall stand for the course of nature, +but nothing more. Repair (as is now universally admitted by +physiologists) is only a phase of reproduction, or rather +reproduction and repair are only phases of the same power; and again, +death and the ordinary daily waste of tissue, are phases of the same +thing. As for identity it is determined in any true sense of the +word, not by death alone, but by a combination of death and failure +of issue, whether of mind or body. + +To repeat. Wherever there is a separate centre of thought and +action, we see that it is connected with its successive stages of +being, by a series of infinitely small changes from moment to moment, +with, perhaps, at times more startling and rapid changes, but, +nevertheless, with no such sudden, complete, and unrepaired break up +of the preceding condition, as we shall agree in calling death. The +branching out from it at different times of new centres of thought +and action, has commonly as little appreciable effect upon the +parent-stock as the fall of an apple full of ripe seeds has upon an +apple-tree; and though the life of the parent, from the date of the +branching off of such personalities, is more truly continued in these +than in the residuum of its own life, we should find ourselves +involved in a good deal of trouble if we were commonly to take this +view of the matter. The residuum has generally the upper hand. He +has more money, and can eat up his new life more easily than his new +life, him. A moral residuum will therefore prefer to see the +remainder of his life in his own person, than in that of his +descendants, and will act accordingly. Hence we, in common with most +other living beings, ignore the offspring as forming part of the +personality of the parent, except in so far as that we make the +father liable for its support and for its extravagances (than which +no greater proof need be wished that the law is at heart a +philosopher, and perceives the completeness of the personal identity +between father and son) for twenty-one years from birth. In other +respects we are accustomed, probably rather from considerations of +practical convenience than as the result of pure reason, to ignore +the identity between parent and offspring as completely as we ignore +personality before birth. With these exceptions, however, the common +opinion concerning personal identity is reasonable enough, and is +found to consist neither in consciousness of such identity, nor yet +in the power of recollecting its various phases (for it is plain that +identity survives the distinction or suspension of both these), but +in the fact that the various stages appear to the majority of people +to have been in some way or other linked together. + +For a very little reflection will show that identity, as commonly +predicated of living agents, does not consist in identity of matter, +of which there is no same particle in the infant, we will say, and +the octogenarian into whom he has developed. Nor, again, does it +depend upon sameness of form or fashion; for personality is felt to +survive frequent and radical modification of structure, as in the +case of caterpillars and other insects. Mr. Darwin, quoting from +Professor Owen, tells us (Plants and Animals under Domestication, +vol. ii. p. 362, ed. 1875), that in the case of what is called +metagenetic development, "the new parts are not moulded upon the +inner surfaces of the old ones. The plastic force has changed its +mode of operation. THE OUTER CASE, AND ALL THAT GAVE FORM AND +CHARACTER TO THE PRECEDENT INDIVIDUAL, PERISH, AND ARE CAST OFF; THEY +ARE NOT CHANGED into the corresponding parts of the same individual. +These are due to a new and distinct developmental process." +Assuredly, there is more birth and death in the world than is dreamt +of by the greater part of us; but it is so masked, and on the whole, +so little to our purpose, that we fail to see it. Yet radical and +sweeping as the changes of organism above described must be, we do +not feel them to be more a bar to personal identity than the +considerable changes which take place in the structure of our own +bodies between youth and old age. + +Perhaps the most striking illustration of this is to be found in the +case of some Echinoderms, concerning which Mr. Darwin tells us, that +"the animal in the second stage of development is formed almost like +a bud within the animal of the first stage, the latter being then +cast off like an old vestment, yet sometimes maintaining for a short +period an independent vitality" ("Plants and Animals under +Domestication," vol. ii. p. 362, ed. 1875). + +Nor yet does personality depend upon any consciousness or sense of +such personality on the part of the creature itself--it is not likely +that the moth remembers having been a caterpillar, more than we +ourselves remember having been children of a day old. It depends +simply upon the fact that the various phases of existence have been +linked together, by links which we agree in considering sufficient to +cause identity, and that they have flowed the one out of the other in +what we see as a continuous, though it may be at times, a troubled +stream. This is the very essence of personality, but it involves the +probable unity of all animal and vegetable life, as being, in +reality, nothing but one single creature, of which the component +members are but, as it were, blood corpuscles or individual cells; +life being a sort of leaven, which, if once introduced into the +world, will leaven it altogether; or of fire, which will consume all +it can burn; or of air or water, which will turn most things into +themselves. Indeed, no difficulty would probably be felt about +admitting the continued existence of personal identity between +parents and their offspring through all time (there being no SUDDEN +break at any time between the existence of any maternal parent and +that of its offspring), were it not that after a certain time the +changes in outward appearance between descendants and ancestors +become very great, the two seeming to stand so far apart, that it +seems absurd in any way to say that they are one and the same being; +much in the same way as after a time--though exactly when no one can +say--the Thames becomes the sea. Moreover, the separation of the +identity is practically of far greater importance to it than its +continuance. We want to be ourselves; we do not want any one else to +claim part and parcel of our identity. This community of identities +is not found to answer in everyday life. When then our love of +independence is backed up by the fact that continuity of life between +parents and offspring is a matter which depends on things which are a +good deal hidden, and that thus birth gives us an opportunity of +pretending that there has been a sudden leap into a separate life; +when also we have regard to the utter ignorance of embryology, which +prevailed till quite recently, it is not surprising that our ordinary +language should be found to have regard to what is important and +obvious, rather than to what is not quite obvious, and is quite +unimportant. + +Personality is the creature of time and space, changing, as time +changes, imperceptibly; we are therefore driven to deal with it as +with all continuous and blending things; as with time, for example, +itself, which we divide into days, and seasons, and times, and years, +into divisions that are often arbitrary, but coincide, on the whole, +as nearly as we can make them do so, with the more marked changes +which we can observe. We lay hold, in fact, of anything we can +catch; the most important feature in any existence as regards +ourselves being that which we can best lay hold of rather than that +which is most essential to the existence itself. We can lay hold of +the continued personality of the egg and the moth into which the egg +develops, but it is less easy to catch sight of the continued +personality between the moth and the eggs which she lays; yet the one +continuation of personality is just as true and free from quibble as +the other. A moth becomes each egg that she lays, and that she does +so, she will in good time show by doing, now that she has got a fresh +start, as near as may be what she did when first she was an egg, and +then a moth, before; and this I take it, so far as I can gather from +looking at life and things generally, she would not be able to do if +she had not travelled the same road often enough already, to be able +to know it in her sleep and blindfold, that is to say, to remember it +without any conscious act of memory. + +So also a grain of wheat is linked with an ear, containing, we will +say, a dozen grains, by a series of changes so subtle that we cannot +say at what moment the original grain became the blade, nor when each +ear of the head became possessed of an individual centre of action. +To say that each grain of the head is personally identical with the +original grain would perhaps be an abuse of terms; but it can be no +abuse to say that each grain is a continuation of the personality of +the original grain, and if so, of every grain in the chain of its own +ancestry; and that, as being such a continuation, it must be stored +with the memories and experiences of its past existences, to be +recollected under the circumstances most favourable to recollection, +i.e., when under similar conditions to those when the impression was +last made and last remembered. Truly, then, in each case the new egg +and the new grain IS the egg, and the grain from which its parent +sprang, as completely as the full-grown ox is the calf from which it +has grown. + +Again, in the case of some weeping trees, whose boughs spring up into +fresh trees when they have reached the ground, who shall say at what +time they cease to be members of the parent tree? In the case of +cuttings from plants it is easy to elude the difficulty by making a +parade of the sharp and sudden act of separation from the parent +stock, but this is only a piece of mental sleight of hand; the +cutting remains as much part of its parent plant as though it had +never been severed from it; it goes on profiting by the experience +which it had before it was cut off, as much as though it had never +been cut off at all. This will be more readily seen in the case of +worms which have been cut in half. Let a worm be cut in half, and +the two halves will become fresh worms; which of them is the original +worm? Surely both. Perhaps no simpler case than this could readily +be found of the manner in which personality eludes us, the moment we +try to investigate its real nature. There are few ideas which on +first consideration appear so simple, and none which becomes more +utterly incapable of limitation or definition as soon as it is +examined closely. + +Finally, Mr. Darwin ("Plants and Animals under Domestication," vol. +ii. p. 38, ed. 1875), writes - + +"Even with plants multiplied by bulbs, layers, &c., which may IN ONE +SENSE be said to form part of the same individual," &c., &c.; and +again, p. 58, "The same rule holds good with plants when propagated +by bulbs, offsets, &c., which IN ONE SENSE still form parts of the +same individual," &c. In each of these passages it is plain that the +difficulty of separating the personality of the offspring from that +of the parent plant is present to his mind. Yet, p. 351 of the same +volume as above, he tells us that asexual generation "is effected in +many ways--by the formation of buds of various kinds, and by +fissiparous generation, that is, by spontaneous or artificial +division." The multiplication of plants by bulbs and layers clearly +comes under this head, nor will any essential difference be felt +between one kind of asexual generation and another; if, then, the +offspring formed by bulbs and layers is in one sense part of the +original plant, so also, it would appear, is all offspring developed +by asexual generation in its manifold phrases. + +If we now turn to p. 357, we find the conclusion arrived at, as it +would appear, on the most satisfactory evidence, that "sexual and +asexual reproduction are not seen to differ essentially; and . . . . +that asexual reproduction, the power of regrowth, and development are +all parts of one and the same great law." Does it not then follow, +quite reasonably and necessarily, that all offspring, however +generated, is IN ONE SENSE part of the individuality of its parent or +parents. The question, therefore, turns upon "in what sense" this +may be said to be the case? To which I would venture to reply, "In +the same sense as the parent plant (which is but the representative +of the outside matter which it has assimilated during growth, and of +its own powers of development) is the same individual that it was +when it was itself an offset, or a cow the same individual that it +was when it was a calf--but no otherwise." + +Not much difficulty will be felt about supposing the offset of a +plant, to be imbued with the memory of the past history of the plant +of which it is an offset. It is part of the plant itself; and will +know whatever the plant knows. Why, then, should there be more +difficulty in supposing the offspring of the highest mammals, to +remember in a profound but unselfconscious way, the anterior history +of the creatures of which they too have been part and parcel? + +Personal identity, then, is much like species itself. It is now, +thanks to Mr. Darwin, generally held that species blend or have +blended into one another; so that any possibility of arrangement and +apparent subdivision into definite groups, is due to the suppression +by death both of individuals and whole genera, which, had they been +now existing, would have linked all living beings by a series of +gradations so subtle that little classification could have been +attempted. How it is that the one great personality of life as a +whole, should have split itself up into so many centres of thought +and action, each one of which is wholly, or at any rate nearly, +unconscious of its connection with the other members, instead of +having grown up into a huge polyp, or as it were coral reef or +compound animal over the whole world, which should be conscious but +of its own one single existence; how it is that the daily waste of +this creature should be carried on by the conscious death of its +individual members, instead of by the unconscious waste of tissue +which goes on in the bodies of each individual (if indeed the tissue +which we waste daily in our own bodies is so unconscious of its birth +and death as we suppose); how, again, that the daily repair of this +huge creature life should have become decentralised, and be carried +on by conscious reproduction on the part of its component items, +instead of by the unconscious nutrition of the whole from a single +centre, as the nutrition of our own bodies would appear (though +perhaps falsely) to be carried on; these are matters upon which I +dare not speculate here, but on which some reflections may follow in +subsequent chapters. + + + +CHAPTER VII--OUR SUBORDINATE PERSONALITIES + + + +We have seen that we can apprehend neither the beginning nor the end +of our personality, which comes up out of infinity as an island out +of the sea, so gently, that none can say when it is first visible on +our mental horizon, and fades away in the case of those who leave +offspring, so imperceptibly that none can say when it is out of +sight. But, like the island, whether we can see it or no, it is +always there. Not only are we infinite as regards time, but we are +so also as regards extension, being so linked on to the external +world that we cannot say where we either begin or end. If those who +so frequently declare that man is a finite creature would point out +his boundaries, it might lead to a better understanding. + +Nevertheless, we are in the habit of considering that our +personality, or soul, no matter where it begins or ends, and no +matter what it comprises, is nevertheless a single thing, +uncompounded of other souls. Yet there is nothing more certain than +that this is not at all the case, but that every individual person is +a compound creature, being made up of an infinite number of distinct +centres of sensation and will, each one of which is personal, and has +a soul and individual existence, a reproductive system, intelligence, +and memory of its own, with probably its hopes and fears, its times +of scarcity and repletion, and a strong conviction that it is itself +the centre of the universe. + +True, no one is aware of more than one individuality in his own +person at one time. We are, indeed, often greatly influenced by +other people, so much so, that we act on many occasions in accordance +with their will rather than our own, making our actions answer to +their sensations, and register the conclusions of their cerebral +action and not our own; for the time being, we become so completely +part of them, that we are ready to do things most distasteful and +dangerous to us, if they think it for their advantage that we should +do so. Thus we sometimes see people become mere processes of their +wives or nearest relations. Yet there is a something which blinds +us, so that we cannot see how completely we are possessed by the +souls which influence us upon these occasions. We still think we are +ourselves, and ourselves only, and are as certain as we can be of any +fact, that we are single sentient beings, uncompounded of other +sentient beings, and that our action is determined by the sole +operation of a single will. + +But in reality, over and above this possession of our souls by others +of our own species, the will of the lower animals often enters into +our bodies and possesses them, making us do as they will, and not as +we will; as, for example, when people try to drive pigs, or are run +away with by a restive horse, or are attacked by a savage animal +which masters them. It is absurd to say that a person is a single +"ego" when he is in the clutches of a lion. Even when we are alone, +and uninfluenced by other people except in so far as we remember +their wishes, we yet generally conform to the usages which the +current feeling of our peers has taught us to respect; their will +having so mastered our original nature, that, do what we may, we can +never again separate ourselves and dwell in the isolation of our own +single personality. And even though we succeeded in this, and made a +clean sweep of every mental influence which had ever been brought to +bear upon us, and though at the same time we were alone in some +desert where there was neither beast nor bird to attract our +attention or in any way influence our action, yet we could not escape +the parasites which abound within us; whose action, as every medical +man well knows, is often such as to drive men to the commission of +grave crimes, or to throw them into convulsions, make lunatics of +them, kill them--when but for the existence and course of conduct +pursued by these parasites they would have done no wrong to any man. + +These parasites--are they part of us or no? Some are plainly not so +in any strict sense of the word, yet their action may, in cases which +it is unnecessary to detail, affect us so powerfully that we are +irresistibly impelled to act in such or such a manner; and yet we are +as wholly unconscious of any impulse outside of our own "ego" as +though they were part of ourselves; others again are essential to our +very existence, as the corpuscles of the blood, which the best +authorities concur in supposing to be composed of an infinite number +of living souls, on whose welfare the healthy condition of our blood, +and hence of our whole bodies, depends. We breathe that they may +breathe, not that we may do so; we only care about oxygen in so far +as the infinitely small beings which course up and down in our veins +care about it: the whole arrangement and mechanism of our lungs may +be our doing, but is for their convenience, and they only serve us +because it suits their purpose to do so, as long as we serve them. +Who shall draw the line between the parasites which are part of us, +and the parasites which are not part of us? Or again, between the +influence of those parasites which are within us, but are yet not US, +and the external influence of other sentient beings and our fellow- +men? There is no line possible. Everything melts away into +everything else; there are no hard edges; it is only from a little +distance that we see the effect as of individual features and +existences. When we go close up, there is nothing but a blur and +confused mass of apparently meaningless touches, as in a picture by +Turner. + +The following passage from Mr. Darwin's provisional theory of +Pangenesis, will sufficiently show that the above is no strange and +paradoxical view put forward wantonly, but that it follows as a +matter of course from the conclusions arrived at by those who are +acknowledged leaders in the scientific world. Mr. Darwin writes +thus:- + +"THE FUNCTIONAL INDEPENDENCE OF THE ELEMENTS OR UNITS OF THE BODY.-- +Physiologists agree that the whole organism consists of a multitude +of elemental parts, which are to a great extent independent of one +another. Each organ, says Claude Bernard, has its proper life, its +autonomy; it can develop and reproduce itself independently of the +adjoining tissues. A great German authority, Virchow, asserts still +more emphatically that each system consists of 'an enormous mass of +minute centres of action. . . . Every element has its own special +action, and even though it derive its stimulus to activity from other +parts, yet alone effects the actual performance of duties. . . . +Every single epithelial and muscular fibre-cell leads a sort of +parasitical existence in relation to the rest of the body. . . . +Every single bone corpuscle really possesses conditions of nutrition +peculiar to itself.' Each element, as Sir J. Paget remarks, lives +its appointed time, and then dies, and is replaced after being cast +off and absorbed. I presume that no physiologist doubts that, for +instance, each bone corpuscle of the finger differs from the +corresponding corpuscle of the corresponding joint of the toe," &c., +&c. ("Plants and Animals under Domestication," vol ii. pp. 364, 365, +ed. 1875). + +In a work on heredity by M. Ribot, I find him saying, "Some recent +authors attribute a memory" (and if so, surely every attribute of +complete individuality) "to every organic element of the body;" among +them Dr. Maudsley, who is quoted by M. Ribot, as saying, "The +permanent effects of a particular virus, such as that of the variola, +in the constitution, shows that the organic element remembers for the +remainder of its life certain modifications it has received. The +manner in which a cicatrix in a child's finger grows with the growth +of the body, proves, as has been shown by Paget, that the organic +element of the part does not forget the impression it has received. +What has been said about the different nervous centres of the body +demonstrates the existence of a memory in the nerve cells diffused +through the heart and intestines; in those of the spinal cord, in the +cells of the motor ganglia, and in the cells of the cortical +substance of the cerebal hemispheres." + +Now, if words have any meaning at all, it must follow from the +passages quoted above, that each cell in the human body is a person +with an intelligent soul, of a low class, perhaps, but still +differing from our own more complex soul in degree, and not in kind; +and, like ourselves, being born, living, and dying. So that each +single creature, whether man or beast, proves to be as a ray of white +light, which, though single, is compounded of the red, blue, and +yellow rays. It would appear, then, as though "we," "our souls," or +"selves," or "personalities," or by whatever name we may prefer to be +called, are but the CONSENSUS and full flowing stream of countless +sensations and impulses on the part of our tributary souls or +"selves," who probably know no more that we exist, and that they +exist as part of us, than a microscopic water-flea knows the results +of spectrum analysis, or than an agricultural labourer knows the +working of the British constitution: and of whom we know no more, +until some misconduct on our part, or some confusion of ideas on +theirs, has driven them into insurrection, than we do of the habits +and feelings of some class widely separated from our own. + +These component souls are of many and very different natures, living +in territories which are to them vast continents, and rivers, and +seas, but which are yet only the bodies of our other component souls; +coral reefs and sponge-beds within us; the animal itself being a kind +of mean proportional between its house and its soul, and none being +able to say where house ends and animal begins, more than they can +say where animal ends and soul begins. For our bones within us are +but inside walls and buttresses, that is to say, houses constructed +of lime and stone, as it were, by coral insects; and our houses +without us are but outside bones, a kind of exterior skeleton or +shell, so that we perish of cold if permanently and suddenly deprived +of the coverings which warm us and cherish us, as the wing of a hen +cherishes her chickens. If we consider the shells of many living +creatures, we shall find it hard to say whether they are rather +houses, or part of the animal itself, being, as they are, inseparable +from the animal, without the destruction of its personality. + +Is it possible, then, to avoid imagining that if we have within us so +many tributary souls, so utterly different from the soul which they +unite to form, that they neither can perceive us, nor we them, though +it is in us that they live and move and have their being, and though +we are what we are, solely as the result of their co-operation--is it +possible to avoid imagining that we may be ourselves atoms, +undesignedly combining to form some vaster being, though we are +utterly incapable of perceiving that any such being exists, or of +realising the scheme or scope of our own combination? And this, too, +not a spiritual being, which, without matter, or what we think matter +of some sort, is as complete nonsense to us as though men bade us +love and lean upon an intelligent vacuum, but a being with what is +virtually flesh and blood and bones; with organs, senses, dimensions, +in some way analogous to our own, into some other part of which +being, at the time of our great change we must infallibly re-enter, +starting clean anew, with bygones bygones, and no more ache for ever +from either age or antecedents. Truly, sufficient for the life is +the evil thereof. Any speculations of ours concerning the nature of +such a being, must be as futile and little valuable as those of a +blood corpuscle might be expected to be concerning the nature of man; +but if I were myself a blood corpuscle, I should be amused at making +the discovery that I was not only enjoying life in my own sphere, but +was bona fide part of an animal which would not die with myself, and +in which I might thus think of myself as continuing to live to all +eternity, or to what, as far as my power of thought would carry me, +must seem practically eternal. But, after all, the amusement would +be of a rather dreary nature. + +On the other hand, if I were the being of whom such an introspective +blood corpuscle was a component item, I should conceive he served me +better by attending to my blood and making himself a successful +corpuscle, than by speculating about my nature. He would serve me +best by serving himself best, without being over curious. I should +expect that my blood might suffer if his brain were to become too +active. If, therefore, I could discover the vein in which he was, I +should let him out to begin life anew in some other and, qua me, more +profitable capacity. + +With the units of our bodies it is as with the stars of heaven: +there is neither speech nor language, but their voices are heard +among them. Our will is the fiat of their collective wisdom, as +sanctioned in their parliament, the brain; it is they who make us do +whatever we do--it is they who should be rewarded if they have done +well, or hanged if they have committed murder. When the balance of +power is well preserved among them, when they respect each other's +rights and work harmoniously together, then we thrive and are well; +if we are ill, it is because they are quarrelling with themselves, or +are gone on strike for this or that addition to their environment, +and our doctor must pacify or chastise them as best he may. They are +we and we are they; and when we die it is but a redistribution of the +balance of power among them or a change of dynasty, the result, it +may be, of heroic struggle, with more epics and love romances than we +could read from now to the Millennium, if they were so written down +that we could comprehend them. + +It is plain, then, that the more we examine the question of +personality the more it baffles us, the only safeguard against utter +confusion and idleness of thought being to fall back upon the +superficial and common sense view, and refuse to tolerate discussions +which seem to hold out little prospect of commercial value, and which +would compel us, if logically followed, to be at the inconvenience of +altering our opinions upon matters which we have come to consider as +settled. + +And we observe that this is what is practically done by some of our +ablest philosophers, who seem unwilling, if one may say so without +presumption, to accept the conclusions to which their own experiments +and observations would seem to point. + +Dr. Carpenter, for example, quotes the well-known experiments upon +headless frogs. If we cut off a frog's head and pinch any part of +its skin, the animal at once begins to move away with the same +regularity as though the brain had not been removed. Flourens took +guinea-pigs, deprived them of the cerebral lobes, and then irritated +their skin; the animals immediately walked, leaped, and trotted +about, but when the irritation was discontinued they ceased to move. +Headless birds, under excitation, can still perform with their wings +the rhythmic movements of flying. But here are some facts more +curious still, and more difficult of explanation. If we take a frog +or a strong and healthy triton, and subject it to various +experiments; if we touch, pinch, or burn it with acetic acid, and if +then, after decapitating the animal, we subject it to the same +experiments, it will be seen that the reactions are exactly the same; +it will strive to be free of the pain, and to shake off the acetic +acid that is burning it; it will bring its foot up to the part of its +body that is irritated, and this movement of the member will follow +the irritation wherever it may be produced. + +The above is mainly taken from M. Ribot's work on heredity rather +than Dr. Carpenter's, because M. Ribot tells us that the head of the +frog was actually cut off, a fact which does not appear so plainly in +Dr. Carpenter's allusion to the same experiments. But Dr. Carpenter +tells us that AFTER THE BRAIN OF A FROG HAS BEEN REMOVED--which would +seem to be much the same thing as though its head were cut off--"if +acetic acid be applied over the upper and under part of the thigh, +the foot of the same side will wipe it away; BUT IF THAT FOOT BE CUT +OFF, AFTER SOME INEFFECTUAL EFFORTS AND A SHORT PERIOD OF INACTION," +during which it is hard not to surmise that the headless body is +considering what it had better do under the circumstances, "THE SAME +MOVEMENT WILL BE MADE BY THE FOOT OF THE OPPOSITE SIDE," which, to +ordinary people, would convey the impression that the headless body +was capable of feeling the impressions it had received, and of +reasoning upon them by a psychological act; and this of course +involves the possession of a soul of some sort. + +Here is a frog whose right thigh you burn with acetic acid. Very +naturally it tries to get at the place with its right foot to remove +the acid. You then cut off the frog's head, and put more acetic acid +on the some place: the headless frog, or rather the body of the late +frog, does just what the frog did before its head was cut off--it +tries to get at the place with its right foot. You now cut off its +right foot: the headless body deliberates, and after a while tries +to do with its left foot what it can no longer do with its right. +Plain matter-of-fact people will draw their own inference. They will +not be seduced from the superficial view of the matter. They will +say that the headless body can still, to some extent, feel, think, +and act, and if so, that it must have a living soul. + +Dr. Carpenter writes as follows:- "Now the performance of these, as +well as of many other movements, that show a most remarkable +adaptation to a purpose, might be supposed to indicate that +sensations are called up by the IMPRESSIONS, and that the animal can +not only FEEL, but can voluntarily direct its movements so as to get +rid of the irritation which annoys it. But such an inference would +be inconsistent with other facts. In the first place, the motions +performed under such circumstances are never spontaneous, but are +always excited by a stimulus of some kind." + +Here we pause to ask ourselves whether any action of any creature +under any circumstances is ever excited without "stimulus of some +kind," and unless we can answer this question in the affirmative, it +is not easy to see how Dr. Carpenter's objection is valid. + +"Thus," he continues, "a decapitated frog" (here then we have it that +the frog's head was actually cut off) "after the first violent +convulsive moments occasioned by the operation have passed away, +remains at rest until it is touched; and then the leg, or its whole +body may be thrown into sudden action, which suddenly subsides +again." (How does this quiescence when it no longer feels anything +show that the "leg or whole body" had not perceived something which +made it feel when it was not quiescent?)--"Again we find that such +movements may be performed not only when the brain has been removed, +the spinal cord remaining entire, but also when the spinal cord has +been itself cut across, so as to be divided into two or more +portions, each of them completely isolated from each other, and from +other parts of the nervous centres. Thus, if the head of a frog be +cut off, and its spinal cord be divided in the middle of the back, so +that its fore legs remain connected with the upper part, and its hind +legs with the lower, each pair of members may be excited to movements +by stimulants applied to itself; but the two pairs will not exhibit +any consentaneous motions, as they will do when the spinal cord is +undivided." + +This may be put perhaps more plainly thus. If you take a frog and +cut it into three pieces--say, the head for one piece, the fore legs +and shoulder for another, and the hind legs for a third--and then +irritate any one of these pieces, you will find it move much as it +would have moved under like irritation if the animal had remained +undivided, but you will no longer find any concert between the +movements of the three pieces; that is to say, if you irritate the +head, the other two pieces will remain quiet, and if you irritate the +hind legs, you will excite no action in the fore legs or head. + +Dr. Carpenter continues: "Or if the spinal cord be cut across +without the removal of the brain, the lower limbs may be EXCITED to +movement by an appropriate stimulant, though the animal has clearly +no power over them, whilst the upper part remains under its control +as completely as before." + +Why are the head and shoulders "the animal" more than the hind legs +under these circumstances? Neither half can exist long without the +other; the two parts, therefore, being equally important to each +other, we have surely as good a right to claim the title of "the +animal" for the hind legs, and to maintain that they have no power +over the head and shoulders, as any one else has to claim the +animalship for these last. What we say is, that the animal has +ceased to exist as a frog on being cut in half, and that the two +halves are no longer, either of them, the frog, but are simply pieces +of still living organism, each of which has a soul of its own, being +capable of sensation, and of intelligent psychological action as the +consequence of sensations, though the one part has probably a much +higher and more intelligent soul than the other, and neither part has +a soul for a moment comparable in power and durability to that of the +original frog. + +"Now it is scarcely conceivable," continues Dr Carpenter, "that in +this last case sensations should be felt and volition exercised +through the instrumentality of that portion of the spinal cord which +remains connected with the nerves of the posterior extremities, but +which is cut off from the brain. For if it were so, there must be +two distinct centres of sensation and will in the same animal, the +attributes of the brain not being affected; and by dividing the +spinal cord into two or more segments we might thus create in the +body of one animal two or more such independent centres in addition +to that which holds its proper place in the head." + +In the face of the facts before us, it does not seen far-fetched to +suppose that there ARE two, or indeed an infinite number of centres +of sensation and will in an animal, the attributes of whose brain are +not affected but that these centres, while the brain is intact, +habitually act in connection with and in subordination to that +central authority; as in the ordinary state of the fish trade, fish +is caught, we will say, at Yarmouth, sent up to London, and then sent +down to Yarmouth again to be eaten, instead of being eaten at +Yarmouth when caught. But from the phenomena exhibited by three +pieces of an animal, it is impossible to argue that the causes of the +phenomena were present in the quondam animal itself; the memory of an +infinite series of generations having so habituated the local centres +of sensation and will, to act in concert with the central government, +that as long as they can get at that government, they are absolutely +incapable of acting independently. When thrown on their own +resources, they are so demoralised by ages of dependence on the +brain, that they die after a few efforts at self-assertion, from +sheer unfamiliarity with the position, and inability to recognise +themselves when disjointed rudely from their habitual associations. + +In conclusion, Dr. Carpenter says, "To say that two or more distinct +centres of sensation and will are present in such a case, would +really be the same as saying that we have the power of constituting +two or more distinct egos in one body, WHICH IS MANIFESTLY ABSURD." +One sees the absurdity of maintaining that we can make one frog into +two frogs by cutting a frog into two pieces, but there is no +absurdity in believing that the two pieces have minor centres of +sensation and intelligence within themselves, which, when the animal +is entire, act in much concert with the brain, and with each other, +that it is not easy to detect their originally autonomous character, +but which, when deprived of their power of acting in concert, are +thrown back upon earlier habit, now too long forgotten to be capable +of permanent resumption. + +Illustrations are apt to mislead, nevertheless they may perhaps be +sometimes tolerated. Suppose, for example, that London to the +extent, say, of a circle with a six-mile radius from Charing Cross, +were utterly annihilated in the space of five minutes during the +Session of Parliament. Suppose, also, that two entirely impassable +barriers, say of five miles in width, half a mile high, and red hot, +were thrown across England; one from Gloucester to Harwich, and +another from Liverpool to Hull, and at the same time the sea were to +become a mass of molten lava, so no water communication should be +possible; the political, mercantile, social, and intellectual life of +the country would be convulsed in a manner which it is hardly +possible to realise. Hundreds of thousands would die through the +dislocation of existing arrangements. Nevertheless, each of the +three parts into which England was divided would show signs of +provincial life for which it would find certain imperfect organisms +ready to hand. Bristol, Birmingham, Liverpool, and Manchester, +accustomed though they are to act in subordination to London, would +probably take up the reins of government in their several sections; +they would make their town councils into local governments, appoint +judges from the ablest of their magistrates, organise relief +committees, and endeavour as well as they could to remove any acetic +acid that might be now poured on Wiltshire, Warwickshire, or +Northumberland, but no concert between the three divisions of the +country would be any longer possible. Should we be justified, under +these circumstances, in calling any of the three parts of England, +England? Or, again, when we observed the provincial action to be as +nearly like that of the original undivided nation as circumstances +would allow, should we be justified in saying that the action, such +as it was, was not political? And, lastly, should we for a moment +think that an admission that the provincial action was of a bona fide +political character would involve the supposition that England, +undivided, had more than one "ego" as England, no matter how many +subordinate "egos" might go to the making of it, each one of which +proved, on emergency, to be capable of a feeble autonomy? + +M. Ribot would seem to take a juster view of the phenomenon when he +says (p. 222 of the English translation) - + +"We can hardly say that here the movements are co-ordinated like +those of a machine; the acts of the animal are adapted to a special +end; we find in them the characters of intelligence and will, a +knowledge and choice of means, since they are as variable as the +cause which provokes them. + +"If these, then, and similar acts, were such that both the +impressions which produced them and the acts themselves were +perceived by the animal, would they not be called psychological? Is +there not in them all that constitutes an intelligent act--adaptation +of means to ends; not a general and vague adaptation, but a +determinate adaptation to a determinate end? In the reflex action we +find all that constitutes in some sort the very groundwork of an +intelligent act--that is to say, the same series of stages, in the +same order, with the same relations between them. We have thus, in +the reflex act, all that constitutes the psychological act except +consciousness. The reflex act, which is physiological, differs in +nothing from the psychological act, save only in this--that it is +without consciousness." + +The only remark which suggests itself upon this, is that we have no +right to say that the part of the animal which moves does not also +perceive its own act of motion, as much as it has perceived the +impression which has caused it to move. It is plain "the animal" +cannot do so, for the animal cannot be said to be any longer in +existence. Half a frog is not a frog; nevertheless, if the hind legs +are capable, as M. Ribot appears to admit, of "perceiving the +impression" which produces their action, and if in that action there +is (and there would certainly appear to be so) "all that constitutes +an intelligent act, . . . a determinate adaptation to a determinate +end," one fails to see on what ground they should be supposed to be +incapable of perceiving their own action, in which case the action of +the hind legs becomes distinctly psychological. + +Secondly, M. Ribot appears to forget that it is the tendency of all +psychological action to become unconscious on being frequently +repeated, and that no line can be drawn between psychological acts +and those reflex acts which he calls physiological. All we can say +is, that there are acts which we do without knowing that we do them; +but the analogy of many habits which we have been able to watch in +their passage from laborious consciousness to perfect +unconsciousness, would suggest that all action is really +psychological, only that the soul's action becomes invisible to +ourselves after it has been repeated sufficiently often--that there +is, in fact, a law as simple as in the case of optics or gravitation, +whereby conscious perception of any action shall vary inversely as +the square, say, of its being repeated. + +It is easy to understand the advantage to the individual of this +power of doing things rightly without thinking about them; for were +there no such power, the attention would be incapable of following +the multitude of matters which would be continually arresting it; +those animals which had developed a power of working automatically, +and without a recurrence to first principles when they had once +mastered any particular process, would, in the common course of +events, stand a better chance of continuing their species, and thus +of transmitting their new power to their descendants. + +M. Ribot declines to pursue the subject further, and has only +cursorily alluded to it. He writes, however, that, on the "obscure +problem" of the difference between reflex and psychological actions, +some say, "when there can be no consciousness, because the brain is +wanting, there is, in spite of appearances, only mechanism," whilst +others maintain, that "when there is selection, reflection, psychical +action, there must also be consciousness in spite of appearances." A +little later (p. 223), he says, "It is quite possible that if a +headless animal could live a sufficient length of time" (that is to +say, if THE HIND LEGS OF AN ANIMAL could live a sufficient length of +time without the brain), "there would be found in it" (THEM) "a +consciousness like that of the lower species, which would consist +merely in the faculty of apprehending the external world." (Why +merely? It is more than apprehending the outside world to be able to +try to do a thing with one's left foot, when one finds that one +cannot do it with one's right.) "It would not be correct to say that +the amphioxus, the only one among fishes and vertebrata which has a +spinal cord without a brain, has no consciousness because it has no +brain; and if it be admitted that the little ganglia of the +invertebrata can form a consciousness, the same may hold good for the +spinal cord." + +We conclude, therefore, that it is within the common scope and +meaning of the words "personal identity," not only that one creature +can become many as the moth becomes manifold in her eggs, but that +each individual may be manifold in the sense of being compounded of a +vast number of subordinate individualities which have their separate +lives within him, with their hopes, and fears, and intrigues, being +born and dying within us, many generations, of them during our single +lifetime. + +"An organic being," writes Mr. Darwin, "is a microcosm, a little +universe, formed of a host of self-propagating organisms, +inconceivably minute, and numerous as the stars in heaven." + +As these myriads of smaller organisms are parts and processes of us, +so are we but parts and processes of life at large. + + + +CHAPTER VIII--APPLICATION OF THE FOREGOING CHAPTERS--THE ASSIMILATION +OF OUTSIDE MATTER + + + +Let us now return to the position which we left at the end of the +fourth chapter. We had then concluded that the self-development of +each new life in succeeding generations--the various stages through +which it passes (as it would appear, at first sight, without rhyme or +reason)--the manner in which it prepares structures of the most +surpassing intricacy and delicacy, for which it has no use at the +time when it prepares them--and the many elaborate instincts which it +exhibits immediately on, and indeed before, birth--all point in the +direction of habit and memory, as the only causes which could produce +them. + +Why should the embryo of any animal go through so many stages-- +embryological allusions to forefathers of a widely different type? +And why, again, should the germs of the same kind of creature always +go through the same stages? If the germ of any animal now living is, +in its simplest state, but part of the personal identity of one of +the original germs of all life whatsoever, and hence, if any now +living organism must be considered without quibble as being itself +millions of years old, and as imbued with an intense though +unconscious memory of all that it has done sufficiently often to have +made a permanent impression; if this be so, we can answer the above +questions perfectly well. The creature goes through so many +intermediate stages between its earliest state as life at all, and +its latest development, for the simplest of all reasons, namely, +because this is the road by which it has always hitherto travelled to +its present differentiation; this is the road it knows, and into +every turn and up or down of which, it has been guided by the force +of circumstances and the balance of considerations. These, acting in +such a manner for such and such a time, caused it to travel in such +and such fashion, which fashion having been once sufficiently +established, becomes a matter of trick or routine to which the +creature is still a slave, and in which it confirms itself by +repetition in each succeeding generation. + +Thus I suppose, as almost every one else, so far as I can gather, +supposes, that we are descended from ancestors of widely different +characters to our own. If we could see some of our forefathers a +million years back, we should find them unlike anything we could call +man; if we were to go back fifty million years, we should find them, +it may be, fishes pure and simple, breathing through gills, and +unable to exist for many minutes in air. + +It is admitted on all hands that there is more or less analogy +between the embryological development of the individual, and the +various phases or conditions of life through which his forefathers +have passed. I suppose, then, that the fish of fifty million years +back and the man of to-day are one single living being, in the same +sense, or very nearly so, as the octogenarian is one single living +being with the infant from which he has grown; and that the fish has +lived himself into manhood, not as we live out our little life, +living, and living, and living till we die, but living by pulsations, +so to speak; living so far, and after a certain time going into a new +body, and throwing off the old; making his body much as we make +anything that we want, and have often made already, that is to say, +as nearly as may be in the same way as he made it last time; also +that he is as unable as we ourselves are, to make what he wants +without going through the usual processes with which he is familiar, +even though there may be other better ways of doing the same thing, +which might not be far to seek, if the creature thought them better, +and had not got so accustomed to such and such a method, that he +would only be baffled and put out by any attempt to teach him +otherwise. + +And this oneness of personality between ourselves and our supposed +fishlike ancestors of many millions of years ago, must hold also +between each individual one of us and the single pair of fishes from +which we are each (on the present momentary hypothesis) descended; +and it must also hold between such pair of fishes and all their +descendants besides man, it may be some of them birds, and others +fishes; all these descendants, whether human or otherwise, being but +the way in which the creature (which was a pair of fishes when we +first took it in hand though it was a hundred thousand other things +as well, and had been all manner of other things before any part of +it became fishlike) continues to exist--its manner, in fact, of +growing. As the manner in which the human body grows is by the +continued birth and death, in our single lifetime, of many +generations of cells which we know nothing about, but say that we +have had only one hand or foot all our lives, when we have really had +many, one after another; so this huge compound creature, LIFE, +probably thinks itself but one single animal whose component cells, +as it may imagine, grow, and it may be waste and repair, but do not +die. + +It may be that the cells of which we are built up, and which we have +already seen must be considered as separate persons, each one of them +with a life and memory of its own--it may be that these cells reckon +time in a manner inconceivable by us, so that no word can convey any +idea of it whatever. What may to them appear a long and painful +process may to us be so instantaneous as to escape us altogether, we +wanting some microscope to show us the details of time. If, in like +manner, we were to allow our imagination to conceive the existence of +a being as much in need of a microscope for our time and affairs as +we for those of our own component cells, the years would be to such a +being but as the winkings or the twinklings of an eye. Would he +think, then, that all the ants and flies of one wink were different +from those of the next? or would he not rather believe that they were +always the same flies, and, again, always the same men and women, if +he could see them at all, and if the whole human race did not appear +to him as a sort of spreading and lichen-like growth over the earth, +not differentiated at all into individuals? With the help of a +microscope and the intelligent exercise of his reason, he would in +time conceive the truth. He would put Covent Garden Market on the +field of his microscope, and would perhaps write a great deal of +nonsense about the unerring "instinct" which taught each costermonger +to recognise his own basket or his own donkey-cart; and this, mutatis +mutandis, is what we are getting to do as regards our own bodies. +What I wish is, to make the same sort of step in an upward direction +which has already been taken in a downward one, and to show reason +for thinking that we are only component atoms of a single compound +creature, LIFE, which has probably a distinct conception of its own +personality though none whatever of ours, more than we of our own +units. I wish also to show reason for thinking that this creature, +LIFE, has only come to be what it is, by the same sort of process as +that by which any human art or manufacture is developed, i.e., +through constantly doing the same thing over and over again, +beginning from something which is barely recognisable as faith, or as +the desire to know, or do, or live at all, and as to the origin of +which we are in utter darkness,--and growing till it is first +conscious of effort, then conscious of power, then powerful with but +little consciousness, and finally, so powerful and so charged with +memory as to be absolutely without all self-consciousness whatever, +except as regards its latest phases in each of its many +differentiations, or when placed in such new circumstances as compel +it to choose between death and a reconsideration of its position. + +No conjecture can be hazarded as to how the smallest particle of +matter became so imbued with faith that it must be considered as the +beginning of LIFE, or as to what such faith is, except that it is the +very essence of all things, and that it has no foundation. + +In this way, then, I conceive we can fairly transfer the experience +of the race to the individual, without any other meaning to our words +than what they would naturally suggest; that is to say, that there is +in every impregnate ovum a bona fide memory, which carries it back +not only to the time when it was last an impregnate ovum, but to that +earlier date when it was the very beginning of life at all, which +same creature it still is, whether as man or ovum, and hence imbued, +so far as time and circumstance allow, with all its memories. Surely +this is no strained hypothesis; for the mere fact that the germ, from +the earliest moment that we are able to detect it, appears to be so +perfectly familiar with its business, acts with so little hesitation +and so little introspection or reference to principles, this alone +should incline us to suspect that it must be armed with that which, +so far as we observe in daily life, can alone ensure such a result-- +to wit, long practice, and the memory of many similar performances. + +The difficulty is, that we are conscious of no such memory in our own +persons, and beyond the one great proof of memory given by the actual +repetition of the performance--and of some of the latest deviations +from the ordinary performance (and this proof ought in itself, one +would have thought, to outweigh any save the directest evidence to +the contrary) we can detect no symptom of any such mental operation +as recollection on the part of the embryo. On the other hand, we +have seen that we know most intensely those things that we are least +conscious of knowing; we will most intensely what we are least +conscious of willing; we feel continually without knowing that we +feel, and our attention is hourly arrested without our attention +being arrested by the arresting of our attention. Memory is no less +capable of unconscious exercise, and on becoming intense through +frequent repetition, vanishes no less completely as a conscious +action of the mind than knowledge and volition. We must all be aware +of instances in which it is plain we must have remembered, without +being in the smallest degree conscious of remembering. Is it then +absurd to suppose that our past existences have been repeated on such +a vast number of occasions that the germ, linked on to all preceding +germs, and, by once having become part of their identity, imbued with +all their memories, remembers too intensely to be conscious of +remembering, and works on with the same kind of unconsciousness with +which we play, or walk, or read, until something unfamiliar happens +to us? and is it not singularly in accordance with this view that +consciousness should begin with that part of the creature's +performance with which it is least familiar, as having repeated it +least often--that is to say, in our own case, with the commencement +of our human life--at birth, or thereabouts? + +It is certainly noteworthy that the embryo is never at a loss, unless +something happens to it which has not usually happened to its +forefathers, and which in the nature of things it cannot remember. + +When events are happening to it which have ordinarily happened to its +forefathers, and which it would therefore remember, if it was +possessed of the kind of memory which we are here attributing to it, +IT ACTS PRECISELY AS IT WOULD ACT IF IT WERE POSSESSED OF SUCH +MEMORY. + +When, on the other hand, events are happening to it which, if it has +the kind of memory we are attributing to it, would baffle that +memory, or which have rarely or never been included in the category +of its recollections, IT ACTS PRECISELY AS A CREATURE ACTS WHEN ITS +RECOLLECTION IS DISTURBED, OR WHEN IT IS REQUIRED TO DO SOMETHING +WHICH IT HAS NEVER DONE BEFORE. + +We cannot remember having been in the embryonic stage, but we do not +on that account deny that we ever were in such a stage at all. On a +little reflection it will appear no more reasonable to maintain that, +when we were in the embryonic stage, we did not remember our past +existences, than to say that we never were embryos at all. We cannot +remember what we did or did not recollect in that state; we cannot +now remember having grown the eyes which we undoubtedly did grow, +much less can we remember whether or not we then remembered having +grown them before; but it is probable that our memory was then, in +respect of our previous existences as embryos, as much more intense +than it is now in respect of our childhood, as our power of acquiring +a new language was greater when we were one or two years old, than +when we were twenty. And why should this power of acquiring +languages be greater at two years than at twenty, but that for many +generations we have learnt to speak at about this age, and hence look +to learn to do so again on reaching it, just as we looked to making +eyes, when the time came at which we were accustomed to make them. + +If we once had the memory of having been infants (which we had from +day to day during infancy), and have lost it, we may well have had +other and more intense memories which we have lost no less +completely. Indeed, there is nothing more extraordinary in the +supposition that the impregnate ovum has an intense sense of its +continuity with, and therefore of its identity with, the two +impregnate ova from which it has sprung, than in the fact that we +have no sense of our continuity with ourselves as infants. If then, +there is no a priori objection to this view, and if the impregnate +ovum acts in such a manner as to carry the strongest conviction that +it must have already on many occasions done what it is doing now, and +that it has a vivid though unconscious recollection of what all, and +more especially its nearer, ancestral ova did under similar +circumstances, there would seem to be little doubt what conclusion we +ought to come to. + +A hen's egg, for example, as soon as the hen begins to sit, sets to +work immediately to do as nearly as may be what the two eggs from +which its father and mother were hatched did when hens began to sit +upon them. The inference would seem almost irresistible,--that the +second egg remembers the course pursued by the eggs from which it has +sprung, and of whose present identity it is unquestionably a part- +phase; it also seems irresistibly forced upon us to believe that the +intensity of this memory is the secret of its easy action. + +It has, I believe, been often remarked, that a hen is only an egg's +way of making another egg. Every creature must be allowed to "run" +its own development in its own way; the egg's way may seem a very +roundabout manner of doing things; but it IS its way, and it is one +of which man, upon the whole, has no great reason to complain. Why +the fowl should be considered more alive than the egg, and why it +should be said that the hen lays the egg, and not that the egg lays +the hen, these are questions which lie beyond the power of +philosophic explanation, but are perhaps most answerable by +considering the conceit of man, and his habit, persisted in during +many ages, of ignoring all that does not remind him of himself, or +hurt him, or profit him; also by considering the use of language, +which, if it is to serve at all, can only do so by ignoring a vast +number of facts which gradually drop out of mind from being out of +sight. But, perhaps, after all, the real reason is, that the egg +does not cackle when it has laid the hen, and that it works towards +the hen with gradual and noiseless steps, which we can watch if we be +so minded; whereas, we can less easily watch the steps which lead +from the hen to the egg, but hear a noise, and see an egg where there +was no egg. Therefore, we say, the development of the fowl from the +egg bears no sort of resemblance to that of the egg from the fowl, +whereas, in truth, a hen, or any other living creature, is only the +primordial cell's way of going back upon itself. + +But to return. We see an egg, A, which evidently knows its own +meaning perfectly well, and we know that a twelvemonth ago there were +two other such eggs, B and C, which have now disappeared, but from +which we know A to have been so continuously developed as to be part +of the present form of their identity. A's meaning is seen to be +precisely the same as B and C's meaning; A's personal appearance is, +to all intents and purposes, B and C's personal appearance; it would +seem, then, unreasonable to deny that A is only B and C come back, +with such modification as they may have incurred since their +disappearance; and that, in spite of any such modification, they +remember in A perfectly well what they did as B and C. + +We have considered the question of personal identity so as to see +whether, without abuse of terms, we can claim it as existing between +any two generations of living agents (and if between two, then +between any number up to infinity), and we found that we were not +only at liberty to claim this, but that we are compelled irresistibly +to do so, unless, that is to say, we would think very differently +concerning personal identity than we do at present. We found it +impossible to hold the ordinary common sense opinions concerning +personal identity, without admitting that we are personally identical +with all our forefathers, who have successfully assimilated outside +matter to themselves, and by assimilation imbued it with all their +own memories; we being nothing else than this outside matter so +assimilated and imbued with such memories. This, at least, will, I +believe, balance the account correctly. + +A few remarks upon the assimilation of outside matter by living +organisms may perhaps be hazarded here. + +As long as any living organism can maintain itself in a position to +which it has been accustomed, more or less nearly, both in its own +life and in those of its forefathers, nothing can harm it. As long +as the organism is familiar with the position, and remembers its +antecedents, nothing can assimilate it. It must be first dislodged +from the position with which it is familiar, as being able to +remember it, before mischief can happen to it. Nothing can +assimilate living organism. + +On the other hand, the moment living organism loses sight of its own +position and antecedents, it is liable to immediate assimilation, and +to be thus familiarised with the position and antecedents of some +other creature. If any living organism be kept for but a very short +time in a position wholly different from what it has been accustomed +to in its own life, and in the lives of its forefathers, it commonly +loses its memories completely, once and for ever; but it must +immediately acquire new ones, for nothing can know nothing; +everything must remember either its own antecedents, or some one +else's. And as nothing can know nothing, so nothing can believe in +nothing. + +A grain of corn, for example, has never been accustomed to find +itself in a hen's stomach--neither it nor its forefathers. For a +grain so placed leaves no offspring, and hence cannot transmit its +experience. The first minute or so after being eaten, it may think +it has just been sown, and begin to prepare for sprouting, but in a +few seconds, it discovers the environment to be unfamiliar; it +therefore gets frightened, loses its head, is carried into the +gizzard, and comminuted among the gizzard stones. The hen succeeded +in putting it into a position with which it was unfamiliar; from this +it was an easy stage to assimilating it entirely. Once assimilated, +the grain ceases to remember any more as a grain, but becomes +initiated into all that happens to, and has happened to, fowls for +countless ages. Then it will attack all other grains whenever it +sees them; there is no such persecutor of grain, as another grain +when it has once fairly identified itself with a hen. + +We may remark in passing, that if anything be once familiarised with +anything, it is content. The only things we really care for in life +are familiar things; let us have the means of doing what we have been +accustomed to do, of dressing as we have been accustomed to dress, of +eating as we have been accustomed to eat, and let us have no less +liberty than we are accustomed to have, and last, but not least, let +us not be disturbed in thinking as we have been accustomed to think, +and the vast majority of mankind will be very fairly contented--all +plants and animals will certainly be so. This would seem to suggest +a possible doctrine of a future state; concerning which we may +reflect that though, after we die, we cease to be familiar with +ourselves, we shall nevertheless become immediately familiar with +many other histories compared with which our present life must then +seem intolerably uninteresting. + +This is the reason why a very heavy and sudden shock to the nervous +system does not pain, but kills outright at once; while one with +which the system can, at any rate, try to familiarise itself is +exceedingly painful. We cannot bear unfamiliarity. The part that is +treated in a manner with which it is not familiar cries immediately +to the brain--its central government--for help, and makes itself +generally as troublesome as it can, till it is in some way comforted. +Indeed, the law against cruelty to animals is but an example of the +hatred we feel on seeing even dumb creatures put into positions with +which they are not familiar. We hate this so much for ourselves, +that we will not tolerate it for other creatures if we can possibly +avoid it. So again, it is said, that when Andromeda and Perseus had +travelled but a little way from the rock where Andromeda had so long +been chained, she began upbraiding him with the loss of her dragon, +who, on the whole, she said, had been very good to her. The only +things we really hate are unfamiliar things, and though nature would +not be nature if she did not cross our love of the familiar with a +love also of the unfamiliar, yet there can be no doubt which of the +two principles is master. + +Let us return, however, to the grain of corn. If the grain had had +presence of mind to avoid being carried into the gizzard stones, as +many seeds do which are carried for hundreds of miles in birds' +stomachs, and if it had persuaded itself that the novelty of the +position was not greater than it could very well manage to put up +with--if, in fact, it had not known when it was beaten--it might have +stuck in the hen's stomach and begun to grow; in this case it would +have assimilated a good part of the hen before many days were over; +for hens are not familiar with grains that grow in their stomachs, +and unless the one in question was as strongminded for a hen, as the +grain that could avoid being assimilated would be for a grain, the +hen would soon cease to take an interest in her antecedents. It is +to be doubted, however, whether a grain has ever been grown which has +had strength of mind enough to avoid being set off its balance on +finding itself inside a hen's gizzard. For living organism is the +creature of habit and routine, and the inside of a gizzard is not in +the grain's programme. + +Suppose, then, that the grain, instead of being carried into the +gizzard, had stuck in the hen's throat and choked her. It would now +find itself in a position very like what it had often been in before. +That is to say, it would be in a damp, dark, quiet place, not too far +from light, and with decaying matter around it. It would therefore +know perfectly well what to do, and would begin to grow until +disturbed, and again put into a position with which it might, very +possibly, be unfamiliar. + +The great question between vast masses of living organism is simply +this: "Am I to put you into a position with which your forefathers +have been unfamiliar, or are you to put me into one about which my +own have been in like manner ignorant?" Man is only the dominant +animal on the earth, because he can, as a general rule, settle this +question in his own favour. + +The only manner in which an organism, which has once forgotten its +antecedents, can ever recover its memory, is by being assimilated by +a creature of its own kind; one, moreover, which knows its business, +or is not in such a false position as to be compelled to be aware of +being so. It was, doubtless, owing to the recognition of this fact, +that some Eastern nations, as we are told by Herodotus, were in the +habit of eating their deceased parents--for matter which has once +been assimilated by any identity or personality, becomes for all +practical purposes part of the assimilating personality. + +The bearing of the above will become obvious when we return, as we +will now do, to the question of personal identity. The only +difficulty would seem to lie in our unfamiliarity with the real +meanings which we attach to words in daily use. Hence, while +recognising continuity without sudden break as the underlying +principle of identity, we forget that this involves personal identity +between all the beings who are in one chain of descent, the numbers +of such beings, whether in succession, or contemporaneous, going for +nothing at all. Thus we take two eggs, one male and one female, and +hatch them; after some months the pair of fowls so hatched, having +succeeded in putting a vast quantity of grain and worms into false +positions, become full-grown, breed, and produce a dozen new eggs. + +Two live fowls and a dozen eggs are the present phase of the +personality of the two original eggs. They are also part of the +present phase of the personality of all the worms and grain which the +fowls have assimilated from their leaving the eggshell; but the +personalities of these last do not count; they have lost their grain +and worm memories, and are instinct with the memorises of the whole +ancestry of the creature which has assimilated them. + +We cannot, perhaps, strictly say that the two fowls and the dozen new +eggs actually ARE the two original eggs; these two eggs are no longer +in existence, and we see the two birds themselves which were hatched +from them. A bird cannot be called an egg without an abuse of terms. +Nevertheless, it is doubtful how far we should not say this, for it +is only with a mental reserve--and with no greater mental reserve-- +that we predicate absolute identity concerning any living being for +two consecutive moments; and it is certainly as free from quibble to +say to two fowls and a dozen eggs, "you are the two eggs I had on my +kitchen shelf twelve months ago," as to say to a man, "you are the +child whom I remember thirty years ago in your mother's arms." In +either case we mean, "you have been continually putting other +organisms into a false position, and then assimilating them, ever +since I last saw you, while nothing has yet occurred to put YOU into +such a false position as to have made you lose the memory of your +antecedents." + +It would seem perfectly fair, therefore, to say to any egg of the +twelve, or to the two fowls and the whole twelve eggs together, "you +were a couple of eggs twelve months ago; twelve months before that +you were four eggs;" and so on, ad infinitum, the number neither of +the ancestors nor of the descendants counting for anything, and +continuity being the sole thing looked to. From daily observation we +are familiar with the fact that identity does both unite with other +identities, so that a single new identity is the result, and does +also split itself up into several identities, so that the one becomes +many. This is plain from the manner in which the male and female +sexual elements unite to form a single ovum, which we observe to be +instinct with the memories of both the individuals from which it has +been derived; and there is the additional consideration, that each of +the elements whose fusion goes to make up the impregnate ovum, is +held by some to be itself composed of a fused mass of germs, which +stand very much in the same relation to the spermatozoon and ovum, as +the living cellular units of which we are composed do to ourselves-- +that is to say, are living independent organisms, which probably have +no conception of the existence of the spermatozoon nor of the ovum, +more than the spermatozoon or ovum have of theirs. + +This, at least, is what I gather from Mr. Darwin's provisional theory +of Pangenesis; and, again, from one of the concluding sentences in +his "Effects of Cross and Self Fertilisation," where, asking the +question why two sexes have been developed, he replies that the +answer seems to lie "in the great good which is derived from the +fusion of two somewhat differentiated individuals. With the +exception," he continues, "or the lowest organisms this is possible +only by means of the sexual elements--THESE CONSISTING OF CELLS +SEPARATED FROM THE BODY" (i.e., separated from the bodies of each +parent) "CONTAINING THE GERMS OF EVERY PART" (i.e., consisting of the +seeds or germs from which each individual cell of the coming organism +will be developed--these seeds or germs having been shed by each +individual cell of the parent forms), "AND CAPABLE OF BEING FUSED +COMPLETELY TOGETHER" (i.e., so at least I gather, capable of being +fused completely, in the same way as the cells of our own bodies are +fused, and thus, of forming a single living personality in the case +of both the male and female element; which elements are themselves +capable of a second fusion so as to form the impregnate ovum). This +single impregnate ovum, then, is a single identity that has taken the +place of and come up in the room of two distinct personalities, each +of whose characteristics it, to a certain extent, partakes, and which +consist, each one of them, of the fused germs of a vast mass of other +personalities. + +As regards the dispersion of one identity into many, this also is a +matter of daily observation in the case of all female creatures that +are with egg or young; the identity of the young with the female +parent is in many respects so complete, as to need no enforcing, in +spite of the entrance into the offspring of all the elements derived +from the male parent, and of the gradual separation of the two +identities, which becomes more and more complete, till in time it is +hard to conceive that they can ever have been united. + +Numbers, therefore, go for nothing; and, as far as identity or +continued personality goes, it is as fair to say to the two fowls, +above referred to, "you were four fowls twelve months ago," as it is +to say to a dozen eggs, "you were two eggs twelve months ago." But +here a difficulty meets us; for if we say, "you were two eggs twelve +months ago," it follows that we mean, "you are now those two eggs;" +just as when we say to a person, "you were such and such a boy twenty +years ago," we mean, "you are now that boy, or all that represents +him;" it would seem, then, that in like manner we should say to the +two fowls, "you ARE the four fowls who between them laid the two eggs +from which you sprung." But it may be that all these four fowls are +still to be seen running about; we should be therefore saying, "you +two fowls are really not yourselves only, but you are also the other +four fowls into the bargain;" and this might be philosophically true, +and might, perhaps, be considered so, but for the convenience of the +law courts. + +The difficulty would seem to arise from the fact that the eggs must +disappear before fowls can be hatched from them, whereas, the hens so +hatched may outlive the development of other hens, from the eggs +which they in due course have laid. The original eggs being out of +sight are out of mind, and it is without an effort that we acquiesce +in the assertion,--that the dozen new eggs actually are the two +original ones. But the original four fowls being still in sight, +cannot be ignored, we only, therefore, see the new ones as growths +from the original ones. + +The strict rendering of the facts should be, "you are part of the +present phase of the identity of such and such a past identity," +i.e., either of the two eggs or the four fowls, as the case may be; +this will put the eggs and the fowls, as it were, into the same box, +and will meet both the philosophical and legal requirement of the +case, only it is a little long. + +So far then, as regards actual identity of personality; which, we +find, will allow us to say, that eggs are part of the present phase +of a certain past identity, whether of other eggs, or of fowls, or +chickens, and in like, manner that chickens are part of the present +phase of certain other chickens, or eggs, or fowls; in fact, that +anything is part of the present phase of any past identity in the +line of its ancestry. But as regards the actual memory of such +identity (unconscious memory, but still clearly memory), we observe +that the egg, as long as it is an egg, appears to have a very +distinct recollection of having been an egg before, and the fowl of +having been a fowl before, but that neither egg nor fowl appear to +have any recollection of any other stage of their past existences, +than the one corresponding to that in which they are themselves at +the moment existing. + +So we, at six or seven years old, have no recollection of ever having +been infants, much less of having been embryos; but the manner in +which we shed our teeth and make new ones, and the way in which we +grow generally, making ourselves for the most part exceedingly like +what we made ourselves, in the person of some one of our nearer +ancestors, and not unfrequently repeating the very blunders which we +made upon that occasion when we come to a corresponding age, proves +most incontestably that we remember our past existences, though too +utterly to be capable of introspection in the matter. So, when we +grow wisdom teeth, at the age it may be of one or two and twenty, it +is plain we remember our past existences at that age, however +completely we may have forgotten the earlier stages of our present +existence. It may be said that it is the jaw which remembers, and +not we, but it seems hard to deny the jaw a right of citizenship in +our personality; and in the case of a growing boy, every part of him +seems to remember equally well, and if every part of him combined +does not make HIM, there would seem but little use in continuing the +argument further. + +In like manner, a caterpillar appears not to remember having been an +egg, either in its present or any past existence. It has no concern +with eggs as soon as it is hatched, but it clearly remembers not only +having been a caterpillar before, but also having turned itself into +a chrysalis before; for when the time comes for it to do this, it is +at no loss, as it would certainly be if the position was unfamiliar, +but it immediately begins doing what it did when last it was in a +like case, repeating the process as nearly as the environment will +allow, taking every step in the same order as last time, and doing +its work with that ease and perfection which we observe to belong to +the force of habit, and to be utterly incompatible with any other +supposition than that of long long practice. + +Once having become a chrysalis, its memory of its caterpillarhood +appears to leave it for good and all, not to return until it again +assumes the shape of a caterpillar by process of descent. Its memory +now overleaps all past modifications, and reverts to the time when it +was last what it is now, and though it is probable that both +caterpillar and chrysalis, on any given day of their existence in +either of these forms, have some sort of dim power of recollecting +what happened to them yesterday, or the day before; yet it is plain +their main memory goes back to the corresponding day of their last +existence in their present form, the chrysalis remembering what +happened to it on such a day far more practically, though less +consciously, than what happened to it yesterday; and naturally, for +yesterday is but once, and its past existences have been legion. +Hence, it prepares its wings in due time, doing each day what it did +on the corresponding day of its last chrysalishood and at length +becoming a moth; whereon its circumstances are so changed that it +loses all sense of its identity as a chrysalis (as completely as we, +for precisely the same reason, lose all sense of our identity with +ourselves as infants), and remembers nothing but its past existences +as a moth. + +We observe this to hold throughout the animal and vegetable kingdoms. +In any one phase of the existence of the lower animals, we observe +that they remember the corresponding stage, and a little on either +side of it, of all their past existences for a very great length of +time. In their present existence they remember a little behind the +present moment (remembering more and more the higher they advance in +the scale of life), and being able to foresee about as much as they +could foresee in their past existences, sometimes more and sometimes +less. As with memory, so with prescience. The higher they advance +in the scale of life the more prescient they are. It must, of +course, be remembered, and will later on be more fully dwelt upon, +that no offspring can remember anything which happens to its parents +after it and its parents have parted company; and this is why there +is, perhaps, more irregularity as regards our wisdom-teeth than about +anything else that we grow; inasmuch as it must not uncommonly have +happened in a long series of generations, that the offspring has been +born before the parents have grown their wisdom-teeth, and thus there +will be faults in the memory. + +Is there, then, anything in memory, as we observe it in ourselves and +others, under circumstances in which we shall agree in calling it +memory pure and simple without ambiguity of terms--is there anything +in memory which bars us from supposing it capable of overleaping a +long time of abeyance, and thus of enabling each impregnate ovum, or +each grain, to remember what it did when last in a like condition, +and to go on remembering the corresponding period of its prior +developments throughout the whole period of its present growth, +though such memory has entirely failed as regards the interim between +any two corresponding periods, and is not consciously recognised by +the individual as being exercised at all? + + + +CHAPTER IX--ON THE ABEYANCE OF MEMORY + + + +Let us assume, for the moment, that the action of each impregnate +germ is due to memory, which, as it were, pulsates anew in each +succeeding generation, so that immediately on impregnation, the +germ's memory reverts to the last occasion on which it was in a like +condition, and recognising the position, is at no loss what to do. +It is plain that in all cases where there are two parents, that is to +say, in the greater number of cases, whether in the vegetable or +animal kingdoms, there must be two such last occasions, each of which +will have an equal claim upon the attention of the new germ. Its +memory would therefore revert to both, and though it would probably +adhere more closely to the course which it took either as its father +or its mother, and thus come out eventually male or female, yet it +would be not a little influenced by the less potent memory. + +And not only this, but each of the germs to which the memory of the +new germ reverts, is itself imbued with the memories of its own +parent germs, and these again with the memories of preceding +generations, and so on ad infinitum; so that, ex hypothesi, the germ +must become instinct with all these memories, epitomised as after +long time, and unperceived though they may well be, not to say +obliterated in part or entirely so far as many features are +concerned, by more recent impressions. In this case, we must +conceive of the impregnate germ as of a creature which has to repeat +a performance already repeated before on countless different +occasions, but with no more variation on the more recent ones than is +inevitable in the repetition of any performance by an intelligent +being. + +Now if we take the most parallel case to this which we can find, and +consider what we should ourselves do under such circumstances, that +is to say, if we consider what course is actually taken by beings who +are influenced by what we all call memory, when they repeat an +already often-repeated performance, and if we find a very strong +analogy between the course so taken by ourselves, and that which from +whatever cause we observe to be taken by a living germ, we shall +surely be much inclined to think that there must be a similarity in +the causes of action in each case; and hence, to conclude, that the +action of the germ is due to memory. + +It will, therefore, be necessary to consider the general tendency of +our minds in regard to impressions made upon us, and the memory of +such impressions. + +Deep impressions upon the memory are made in two ways, differing +rather in degree than kind, but with two somewhat widely different +results. They are made:- + +I. By unfamiliar objects, or combinations, which come at +comparatively long intervals, and produce their effect, as it were, +by one hard blow. The effect of these will vary with the +unfamiliarity of the impressions themselves, and the manner in which +they seem likely to lead to a further development of the unfamiliar, +i.e., with the question, whether they seem likely to compel us to +change our habits, either for better or worse. + +Thus, if an object or incident be very unfamiliar, as, we will say, a +whale or an iceberg to one travelling to America for the first time, +it will make a deep impression, though but little affecting our +interests; but if we struck against the iceberg and were shipwrecked, +or nearly so, it would produce a much deeper impression, we should +think much more about icebergs, and remember much more about them, +than if we had merely seen one. So, also, if we were able to catch +the whale and sell its oil, we should have a deep impression made +upon us. In either case we see that the amount of unfamiliarity, +either present or prospective, is the main determinant of the depth +of the impression. + +As with consciousness and volition, so with sudden unfamiliarity. It +impresses us more and more deeply the more unfamiliar it is, until it +reaches such a point of impressiveness as to make no further +impression at all; on which we then and there die. For death only +kills through unfamiliarity--that is to say, because the new +position, whatever it is, is so wide a cross as compared with the old +one, that we cannot fuse the two so as to understand the combination; +hence we lose all recognition of, and faith in, ourselves and our +surroundings. + +But however much we imagine we remember concerning the details of any +remarkable impression which has been made us by a single blow, we do +not remember as much or nearly as much as we think we do. The +subordinate details soon drop out of mind. Those who think they +remember even such a momentous matter as the battle of Waterloo +recall now probably but half-a-dozen episodes, a gleam here, and a +gleam there, so that what they call remembering the battle of +Waterloo, is, in fact, little more than a kind of dreaming--so soon +vanishes the memory of any unrepeated occurrence. + +As for smaller impressions, there is very little of what happens to +us in each week that will be in our memories a week hence; a man of +eighty remembers few of the unrepeated incidents of his life beyond +those of the last fortnight, a little here, and a little there, +forming a matter of perhaps six weeks or two months in all, if +everything that he can call to mind were acted over again with no +greater fulness than he can remember it. As for incidents that have +been often repeated, his mind strikes a balance of its past +reminiscences, remembering the two or three last performances, and a +general method of procedure, but nothing more. + +If, then, the recollection of all that is not very novel, or very +often repeated, so soon fades from our own minds, during what we +consider as our single lifetime, what wonder that the details of our +daily experience should find no place in that brief epitome of them +which is all we can give in so small a volume as offspring? + +If we cannot ourselves remember the hundred-thousandth part of what +happened to us during our own childhood, how can we expect our +offspring to remember more than what, through frequent repetition, +they can now remember as a residuum, or general impression. On the +other hand, whatever we remember in consequence of but a single +impression, we remember consciously. We can at will recall details, +and are perfectly well aware, when we do so, that we are +recollecting. A man who has never seen death looks for the first +time upon the dead face of some near relative or friend. He gazes +for a few short minutes, but the impression thus made does not soon +pass out of his mind. He remembers the room, the hour of the day or +night, and if by day, what sort of a day. He remembers in what part +of the room, and how disposed the body of the deceased was lying. +Twenty years afterwards he can, at will, recall all these matters to +his mind, and picture to himself the scene as he originally witnessed +it. + +The reason is plain; the impression was very unfamiliar, and affected +the beholder, both as regards the loss of one who was dear to him, +and as reminding him with more than common force that he will one day +die himself. Moreover the impression was a simple one, not involving +much subordinate detail; we have in this case, therefore, an example +of the most lasting kind of impression that can be made by a single +unrepeated event. But if we examine ourselves closely, we shall find +that after a lapse of years we do not remember as much as we think we +do, even in such a case as this; and that beyond the incidents above +mentioned, and the expression upon the face of the dead person, we +remember little of what we can so consciously and vividly recall. + +II. Deep impressions are also made by the repetition, more or less +often, of a feeble impression which, if unrepeated, would have soon +passed out of our minds. We observe, therefore, that we remember +best what we have done least often--any unfamiliar deviation, that is +to say, from our ordinary method of procedure--and what we have done +most often, with which, therefore, we are most familiar; our memory +being mainly affected by the force of novelty and the force of +routine--the most unfamiliar, and the most familiar, incidents or +objects. + +But we remember impressions which have been made upon us by force of +routine, in a very different way to that in which we remember a +single deep impression. As regards this second class, which +comprises far the most numerous and important of the impressions with +which our memory is stored, it is often only by the fact of our +performance itself that we are able to recognise or show to others +that we remember at all. We often do not remember how, or when, or +where we acquired our knowledge. All we remember is, that we did +learn, and that at one time and another we have done this or that +very often. + +As regards this second class of impressions we may observe:- + +1. That as a general rule we remember only the individual features +of the last few repetitions of the act--if, indeed, we remember this +much. The influence of preceding ones is to be found only in the +general average of the procedure, which is modified by them, but +unconsciously to ourselves. Take, for example, some celebrated +singer, or pianoforte player, who has sung the same air, or performed +the same sonata several hundreds or, it may be, thousands of times: +of the details of individual performances, he can probably call to +mind none but those of the last few days, yet there can be no +question that his present performance is affected by, and modified +by, all his previous ones; the care he has bestowed on these being +the secret of his present proficiency. + +In each performance (the performer being supposed in the same state +of mental and bodily health), the tendency will be to repeat the +immediately preceding performances more nearly than remoter ones. It +is the common tendency of living beings to go on doing what they have +been doing most recently. The last habit is the strongest. Hence, +if he took great pains last time, he will play better now, and will +take a like degree of pains, and play better still next time, and so +go on improving while life and vigour last. If, on the other hand, +he took less pains last time, he will play worse now, and be inclined +to take little pains next time, and so gradually deteriorate. This, +at least, is the common everyday experience of mankind. + +So with painters, actors, and professional men of every description; +after a little while the memory of many past performances strikes a +sort of fused balance in the mind, which results in a general method +of procedure with but little conscious memory of even the latest +performances, and with none whatever of by far the greater number of +the remoter ones. + +Still, it is noteworthy, that the memory of some even of these will +occasionally assert itself, so far as we can see, arbitrarily, the +reason why this or that occasion should still haunt us, when others +like them are forgotten, depending on some cause too subtle for our +powers of observation. + +Even with such a simple matter as our daily dressing and undressing, +we may remember some few details of our yesterday's toilet, but we +retain nothing but a general and fused recollection of the many +thousand earlier occasions on which we have dressed, or gone to bed. +Men invariably put the same leg first into their trousers--this is +the survival of memory in a residuum; but they cannot, till they +actually put on a pair of trousers, remember which leg they DO put in +first; this is the rapid fading away of any small individual +impression. + +The seasons may serve as another illustration; we have a general +recollection of the kind of weather which is seasonable for any month +in a year; what flowers are due about what time, and whether the +spring is on the whole backward or early; but we cannot remember the +weather on any particular day a year ago, unless some unusual +incident has impressed it upon our memory. We can remember, as a +general rule, what kind of season it was, upon the whole, a year ago, +or perhaps, even two years; but more than this, we rarely remember, +except in such cases as the winter of 1854-1855, or the summer of +1868; the rest is all merged. + +We observe, then, that as regards small and often repeated +impressions, our tendency is to remember best, and in most detail, +what we have been doing most recently, and what in general has +occurred most recently, but that the earlier impressions though +forgotten individually, are nevertheless, not wholly lost. + +2. When we have done anything very often, and have got into the +habit of doing it, we generally take the various steps in the same +order; in many cases this seems to be a sine qua non for our +repetition of the action at all. Thus, there is probably no living +man who could repeat the words of "God save the Queen" backwards, +without much hesitation and many mistakes; so the musician and the +singer must perform their pieces in the order of the notes as +written, or at any rate as they ordinarily perform them; they cannot +transpose bars or read them backwards, without being put out, nor +would the audience recognise the impressions they have been +accustomed to, unless these impressions are made in the accustomed +order. + +3. If, when we have once got well into the habit of doing anything +in a certain way, some one shows us some other way of doing it, or +some way which would in part modify our procedure, or if in our +endeavours to improve, we have hit upon some new idea which seems +likely to help us, and thus we vary our course, on the next occasion +we remember this idea by reason of its novelty, but if we try to +repeat it, we often find the residuum of our old memories pulling us +so strongly into our old groove, that we have the greatest difficulty +in repeating our performance in the new manner; there is a clashing +of memories, a conflict, which if the idea is very new, and involves, +so to speak, too sudden a cross--too wide a departure from our +ordinary course--will sometimes render the performance monstrous, or +baffle us altogether, the new memory failing to fuse harmoniously +with the old. If the idea is not too widely different from our older +ones, we can cross them with it, but with more or less difficulty, as +a general rule in proportion to the amount of variation. The whole +process of understanding a thing consists in this, and, so far as I +can see at present, in this only. + +Sometimes we repeat the new performance for a few times, in a way +which shows that the fusion of memories is still in force; and then +insensibly revert to the old, in which case the memory of the new +soon fades away, leaving a residuum too feeble to contend against +that of our many earlier memories of the same kind. If, however, the +new way is obviously to our advantage, we make an effort to retain +it, and gradually getting into the habit of using it, come to +remember it by force of routine, as we originally remembered it by +force of novelty. Even as regards our own discoveries, we do not +always succeed in remembering our most improved and most striking +performances, so as to be able to repeat them at will immediately: +in any such performance we may have gone some way beyond our ordinary +powers, owing to some unconscious action of the mind. The supreme +effort has exhausted us, and we must rest on our oars a little, +before we make further progress; or we may even fall back a little, +before we make another leap in advance. + +In this respect, almost every conceivable degree of variation is +observable, according to differences of character and circumstances. +Sometimes the new impression has to be made upon us many times from +without, before the earlier strain of action is eliminated; in this +case, there will long remain a tendency to revert to the earlier +habit. Sometimes, after the impression has been once made, we repeat +our old way two or three times, and then revert to the new, which +gradually ousts the old; sometimes, on the other hand, a single +impression, though involving considerable departure from our routine, +makes its mark so deeply that we adopt the new at once, though not +without difficulty, and repeat it in our next performance, and +henceforward in all others; but those who vary their performance thus +readily will show a tendency to vary subsequent performances +according as they receive fresh ideas from others, or reason them out +independently. They are men of genius. + +This holds good concerning all actions which we do habitually, +whether they involve laborious acquirement or not. Thus, if we have +varied our usual dinner in some way that leaves a favourable +impression upon our minds, so that our dinner may, in the language of +the horticulturist, be said to have "sported," our tendency will be +to revert to this particular dinner either next day, or as soon as +circumstances will allow, but it is possible that several hundred +dinners may elapse before we can do so successfully, or before our +memory reverts to this particular dinner. + +4. As regards our habitual actions, however unconsciously we +remember them, we, nevertheless, remember them with far greater +intensity than many individual impressions or actions, it may be of +much greater moment, that have happened to us more recently. Thus, +many a man who has familiarised himself, for example, with the odes +of Horace, so as to have had them at his fingers' ends as the result +of many repetitions, will be able years hence to repeat a given ode, +though unable to remember any circumstance in connection with his +having learnt it, and no less unable to remember when he repeated it +last. A host of individual circumstances, many of them not +unimportant, will have dropped out of his mind, along with a mass of +literature read but once or twice, and not impressed upon the memory +by several repetitions; but he returns to the well-known ode with so +little effort, that he would not know that he was remembering unless +his reason told him so. The ode seems more like something born with +him. + +We observe, also, that people who have become imbecile, or whose +memory is much impaired, yet frequently retain their power of +recalling impression which have been long ago repeatedly made upon +them. + +In such cases, people are sometimes seen to forget what happened last +week, yesterday, or an hour ago, without even the smallest power of +recovering their recollection; but the oft repeated earlier +impression remains, though there may be no memory whatever of how it +came to be impressed so deeply. The phenomena of memory, therefore, +are exactly like those of consciousness and volition, in so far as +that the consciousness of recollection vanishes, when the power of +recollection has become intense. When we are aware that we are +recollecting, and are trying, perhaps hard, to recollect, it is a +sign that we do not recollect utterly. When we remember utterly and +intensely, there is no conscious effort of recollection; our +recollection can only be recognised by ourselves and others, through +our performance itself, which testifies to the existence of a memory, +that we could not otherwise follow or detect. + +5. When circumstances have led us to change our habits of life--as +when the university has succeeded school, or professional life the +university--we get into many fresh ways, and leave many old ones. +But on revisiting the old scene, unless the lapse of time has been +inordinately great, we experience a desire to revert to old habits. +We say that old associations crowd upon us. Let a Trinity man, after +thirty years absence from Cambridge, pace for five minutes in the +cloister of Neville's Court, and listen to the echo of his footfall, +as it licks up against the end of the cloister, or let an old Johnian +stand wherever he likes in the third Court of St. John's, in either +case he will find the thirty years drop out of his life, as if they +were half-an-hour; his life will have rolled back upon itself, to the +date when he was an undergraduate, and his instinct will be to do +almost mechanically, whatever it would have come most natural to him +to do, when he was last there at the same season of the year, and the +same hour of the day; and it is plain this is due to similarity of +environment, for if the place he revisits be much changed, there will +be little or no association. + +So those who are accustomed at intervals to cross the Atlantic, get +into certain habits on board ship, different to their usual ones. It +may be that at home they never play whist; on board ship they do +nothing else all the evening. At home they never touch spirits; on +the voyage they regularly take a glass of something before they go to +bed. They do not smoke at home; here they are smoking all day. Once +the voyage is at an end, they return without an effort to their usual +habits, and do not feel any wish for cards, spirits, or tobacco. +They do not remember yesterday, when they did want all these things; +at least, not with such force as to be influenced by it in their +desires and actions; their true memory--the memory which makes them +want, and do, reverts to the last occasion on which they were in +circumstances like their present; they therefore want now what they +wanted then, and nothing more; but when the time comes for them to go +on shipboard again, no sooner do they smell the smell of the ship, +than their real memory reverts to the times when they were last at +sea, and striking a balance of their recollections, they smoke, play +cards, and drink whisky and water. + +We observe it then as a matter of the commonest daily occurrence +within our own experience, that memory does fade completely away, and +recur with the recurrence of surroundings like those which made any +particular impression in the first instance. We observe that there +is hardly any limit to the completeness and the length of time during +which our memory may remain in abeyance. A smell may remind an old +man of eighty of some incident of his childhood, forgotten for nearly +as many years as he has lived. In other words, we observe that when +an impression has been repeatedly made in a certain sequence on any +living organism--that impression not having been prejudicial to the +creature itself--the organism will have a tendency, on reassuming the +shape and conditions in which it was when the impression was last +made, to remember the impression, and therefore to do again now what +it did then; all intermediate memories dropping clean out of mind, so +far as they have any effect upon action. + +6. Finally, we should note the suddenness and apparent caprice with +which memory will assert itself at odd times; we have been saying or +doing this or that, when suddenly a memory of something which +happened to us, perhaps in infancy, comes into our head; nor can we +in the least connect this recollection with the subject of which we +have just been thinking, though doubtless there has been a +connection, too rapid and subtle for our apprehension. + +The foregoing phenomena of memory, so far as we can judge, would +appear to be present themselves throughout the animal and vegetable +kingdoms. This will be readily admitted as regards animals; as +regards plants it may be inferred from the fact that they generally +go on doing what they have been doing most lately, though accustomed +to make certain changes at certain points in their existence. When +the time comes for these changes, they appear to know it, and either +bud forth into leaf or shed their leaves, as the case may be. If we +keep a bulb in a paper bag it seems to remember having been a bulb +before, until the time comes for it to put forth roots and grow. +Then, if we supply it with earth and moisture, it seems to know where +it is, and to go on doing now whatever it did when it was last +planted; but if we keep it in the bag too long, it knows that it +ought, according to its last experience, to be treated differently, +and shows plain symptoms of uneasiness; it is distracted by the bag, +which makes it remember its bulbhood, and also by the want of earth +and water, without which associations its memory of its previous +growth cannot be duly kindled. Its roots, therefore, which are most +accustomed to earth and water, do not grow; but its leaves, which do +not require contact with these things to jog their memory, make a +more decided effort at development--a fact which would seem to go +strongly in favour of the functional independence of the parts of all +but the very simplest living organisms, if, indeed, more evidence +were wanted in support of this. + + + +CHAPTER X--WHAT WE SHOULD EXPECT TO FIND IF DIFFERENTIATIONS OF +STRUCTURE AND INSTINCT ARE MAINLY DUE TO MEMORY + + + +To repeat briefly;--we remember best our last few performances of any +given kind, and our present performance is most likely to resemble +one or other of these; we only remember our earlier performances by +way of residuum; nevertheless, at times, some older feature is liable +to reappear. + +We take our steps in the same order on each successive occasion, and +are for the most part incapable of changing that order. + +The introduction of slightly new elements into our manner is attended +with benefit; the new can be fused with the old, and the monotony of +our action is relieved. But if the new element is too foreign, we +cannot fuse the old and new--nature seeming equally to hate too wide +a deviation from our ordinary practice, and no deviation at all. Or, +in plain English--if any one gives us a new idea which is not too far +ahead of us, such an idea is often of great service to us, and may +give new life to our work--in fact, we soon go back, unless we more +or less frequently come into contact with new ideas, and are capable +of understanding and making use of them; if; on the other hand, they +are too new, and too little led up to, so that we find them too +strange and hard to be able to understand them and adopt them, then +they put us out, with every degree of completeness--from simply +causing us to fail in this or that particular part, to rendering us +incapable of even trying to do our work at all, from pure despair of +succeeding. + +It requires many repetitions to fix an impression firmly; but when it +is fixed, we cease to have much recollection of the manner in which +it came to be so, or of any single and particular recurrence. + +Our memory is mainly called into action by force of association and +similarity in the surroundings. We want to go on doing what we did +when we were last as we are now, and we forget what we did in the +meantime. + +These rules, however, are liable to many exceptions; as for example, +that a single and apparently not very extraordinary occurrence may +sometimes produce a lasting impression, and be liable to return with +sudden force at some distant time, and then to go on returning to us +at intervals. Some incidents, in fact, we know not how nor why, +dwell with us much longer than others which were apparently quite as +noteworthy or perhaps more so. + +Now I submit that if the above observations are just, and if, also, +the offspring, after having become a new and separate personality, +yet retains so much of the old identity of which it was once +indisputably part, that it remembers what it did when it was part of +that identity as soon as it finds itself in circumstances which are +calculated to refresh its memory owing to their similarity to certain +antecedent ones, then we should expect to find:- + +I. That offspring should, as a general rule, resemble its own most +immediate progenitors; that is to say, that it should remember best +what it has been doing most recently. The memory being a fusion of +its recollections of what it did, both when it was its father and +also when it was its mother, the offspring should have a very common +tendency to resemble both parents, the one in some respects, and the +other in others; but it might also hardly less commonly show a more +marked recollection of the one history than of the other, thus more +distinctly resembling one parent than the other. And this is what we +observe to be the case. Not only so far as that the offspring is +almost invariably either male or female, and generally resembles +rather the one parent than the other, but also that in spite of such +preponderance of one set of recollections, the sexual characters and +instincts of the OPPOSITE sex appear, whether in male or female, +though undeveloped and incapable of development except by abnormal +treatment, such as has occasionally caused milk to be developed in +the mammary glands of males; or by mutilation, or failure of sexual +instinct through age, upon which, male characteristics frequently +appear in the females of any species. + +Brothers and sisters, each giving their own version of the same +story, though in different words, should resemble each other more +closely than more distant relations. This too we see. + +But it should frequently happen that offspring should resemble its +penultimate rather than its latest phase, and should thus be more +like a grand-parent than a parent; for we observe that we very often +repeat a performance in a manner resembling that of some earlier, but +still recent, repetition; rather than on the precise lines of our +very last performance. First-cousins may in this case resemble each +other more closely than brothers and sisters. + +More especially, we should not expect very successful men to be +fathers of particularly gifted children; for the best men are, as it +were, the happy thoughts and successes of the race--nature's +"flukes," so to speak, in her onward progress. No creature can +repeat at will, and immediately, its highest flight. It needs +repose. The generations are the essays of any given race towards the +highest ideal which it is as yet able to see ahead of itself, and +this, in the nature of things, cannot be very far; so that we should +expect to see success followed by more or less failure, and failure +by success--a very successful creature being a GREAT "fluke." And +this is what we find. + +In its earlier stages the embryo should be simply conscious of a +general method of procedure on the part of its forefathers, and +should, by reason of long practice, compress tedious and complicated +histories into a very narrow compass, remembering no single +performance in particular. For we observe this in nature, both as +regards the sleight-of-hand which practice gives to those who are +thoroughly familiar with their business, and also as regards the +fusion of remoter memories into a general residuum. + +II. We should expect to find that the offspring, whether in its +embryonic condition, or in any stage of development till it has +reached maturity, should adopt nearly the same order in going through +all its various stages. There should be such slight variations as +are inseparable from the repetition of any performance by a living +being (as contrasted with a machine), but no more. And this is what +actually happens. A man may cut his wisdom-teeth a little later than +he gets his beard and whiskers, or a little earlier; but on the +whole, he adheres to his usual order, and is completely set off his +balance, and upset in his performance, if that order be interfered +with suddenly. It is, however, likely that gradual modifications of +order have been made and then adhered to. + +After any animal has reached the period at which it ordinarily begins +to continue its race, we should expect that it should show little +further power of development, or, at any rate, that few great changes +of structure or fresh features should appear; for we cannot suppose +offspring to remember anything that happens to the parent +subsequently to the parent's ceasing to contain the offspring within +itself; from the average age, therefore, of reproduction, offspring +would cease to have any further experience on which to fall back, and +would thus continue to make the best use of what it already knew, +till memory failing either in one part or another, the organism would +begin to decay. + +To this cause must be referred the phenomena of old age, which +interesting subject I am unable to pursue within the limits of this +volume. + +Those creatures who are longest in reaching maturity might be +expected also to be the longest lived; I am not certain, however, how +far what is called alternate generation militates against this view, +but I do not think it does so seriously. + +Lateness of marriage, provided the constitution of the individuals +marrying is in no respect impaired, should also tend to longevity. + +I believe that all the above will be found sufficiently well +supported by facts. If so, when we feel that we are getting old we +should try and give our cells such treatment as they will find it +most easy to understand, through their experience of their own +individual life, which, however, can only guide them inferentially, +and to a very small extent; and throughout life we should remember +the important bearing which memory has upon health, and both +occasionally cross the memories of our component cells with slightly +new experiences, and be careful not to put them either suddenly or +for long together into conditions which they will not be able to +understand. Nothing is so likely to make our cells forget +themselves, as neglect of one or other of these considerations. They +will either fail to recognise themselves completely, in which case we +shall die; or they will go on strike, more or less seriously as the +case may be, or perhaps, rather, they will try and remember their +usual course, and fail; they will therefore try some other, and will +probably make a mess of it, as people generally do when they try to +do things which they do not understand, unless indeed they have very +exceptional capacity. + +It also follows that when we are ill, our cells being in such or such +a state of mind, and inclined to hold a corresponding opinion with +more or less unreasoning violence, should not be puzzled more than +they are puzzled already, by being contradicted too suddenly; for +they will not be in a frame of mind which can understand the position +of an open opponent: they should therefore either be let alone, if +possible, without notice other than dignified silence, till their +spleen is over, and till they have remembered themselves; or they +should be reasoned with as by one who agrees with them, and who is +anxious to see things as far as possible from their own point of +view. And this is how experience teaches that we must deal with +monomaniacs, whom we simply infuriate by contradiction, but whose +delusion we can sometimes persuade to hang itself if we but give it +sufficient rope. All which has its bearing upon politics, too, at +much sacrifice, it may be, of political principles, but a politician +who cannot see principles where principle-mongers fail to see them, +is a dangerous person. + +I may say, in passing, that the reason why a small wound heals, and +leaves no scar, while a larger one leaves a mark which is more or +less permanent, may be looked for in the fact that when the wound is +only small, the damaged cells are snubbed, so to speak, by the vast +majority of the unhurt cells in their own neighbourhood. When the +wound is more serious they can stick to it, and bear each other out +that they were hurt. + +III. We should expect to find a predominance of sexual over asexual +generation, in the arrangements of nature for continuing her various +species, inasmuch as two heads are better than one, and a locus +poenitentiae is thus given to the embryo--an opportunity of +correcting the experience of one parent by that of the other. And +this is what the more intelligent embryos may be supposed to do; for +there would seem little reason to doubt that there are clever embryos +and stupid embryos, with better or worse memories, as the case may +be, of how they dealt with their protoplasm before, and better or +worse able to see how they can do better now; and that embryos differ +as widely in intellectual and moral capacity, and in a general sense +of the fitness of things, and of what will look well into the +bargain, as those larger embryos--to wit, children--do. Indeed it +would seem probable that all our mental powers must go through a +quasi-embryological condition, much as the power of keeping, and +wisely spending, money must do so, and that all the qualities of +human thought and character are to be found in the embryo. + +Those who have observed at what an early age differences of intellect +and temper show themselves in the young, for example, of cats and +dogs, will find it difficult to doubt that from the very moment of +impregnation, and onward, there has been a corresponding difference +in the embryo--and that of six unborn puppies, one, we will say, has +been throughout the whole process of development more sensible and +better looking--a nicer embryo, in fact--than the others. + +IV. We should expect to find that all species, whether of plants or +animals, are occasionally benefited by a cross; but we should also +expect that a cross should have a tendency to introduce a disturbing +element, if it be too wide, inasmuch as the offspring would be pulled +hither and thither by two conflicting memories or advices, much as +though a number of people speaking at once were without previous +warning to advise an unhappy performer to vary his ordinary +performance--one set of people telling him he has always hitherto +done thus, and the other saying no less loudly that he did it thus;-- +and he were suddenly to become convinced that they each spoke the +truth. In such a case he will either completely break down, if the +advice be too conflicting, or if it be less conflicting, he may yet +be so exhausted by the one supreme effort of fusing these experiences +that he will never be able to perform again; or if the conflict of +experience be not great enough to produce such a permanent effect as +this, it will yet, if it be at all serious, probably damage his +performances on their next several occasions, through his inability +to fuse the experiences into a harmonious whole, or, in other words, +to understand the ideas which are prescribed to him; for to fuse is +only to understand. + +And this is absolutely what we find in fact. Mr. Darwin writes +concerning hybrids and first crosses:- "The male element may reach +the female element, but be incapable of causing an embryo to be +developed, as seems to have been the case with some of Thuret's +experiments on Fuci. No explanation can be given of these facts any +more than why certain trees cannot be grafted on others." + +I submit that what I have written above supplies a very fair prima +facie explanation. + +Mr. Darwin continues:- + +"Lastly, an embryo may be developed, and then perish at an early +period. This latter alternative has not been sufficiently attended +to; but I believe, from observations communicated to me by Mr. +Hewitt, who has had great experience in hybridising pheasants and +fowls, that the early death of the embryo is a very frequent cause of +sterility in first crosses. Mr. Salter has recently given the +results of an examination of about five hundred eggs produced from +various crosses between three species of Gallus and their hybrids; +the majority of these eggs had been fertilised; and in the majority +of the fertilised eggs, the embryos had either been partially +developed, and had then perished, or had become nearly mature, but +the young chickens had been unable to break through the shell. Of +the chickens which were born more than four-fifths died within the +first few days, or at latest weeks, 'without any obvious cause, +apparently from mere inability to live,' so that from the five +hundred eggs only twelve chickens were reared" ("Origin of Species," +249, ed. 1876). + +No wonder the poor creatures died, distracted as they were by the +internal tumult of conflicting memories. But they must have suffered +greatly; and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals may +perhaps think it worth while to keep an eye even on the embryos of +hybrids and first crosses. Five hundred creatures puzzled to death +is not a pleasant subject for contemplation. Ten or a dozen should, +I think, be sufficient for the future. + +As regards plants, we read:- + +"Hybridised embryos probably often perish in like manner . . . of +which fact Max Wichura has given some striking cases with hybrid +willows . . . It may be here worth noticing, that in some cases of +parthenogenesis, the embryos within the eggs of silk moths, which +have not been fertilised, pass through their early stages of +development, and then perish like the embryos produced by a cross +between distinct species" (Ibid). + +This last fact would at first sight seem to make against me, but we +must consider that the presence of a double memory, provided it be +not too conflicting, would be a part of the experience of the silk +moth's egg, which might be then as fatally puzzled by the monotony of +a single memory as it would be by two memories which were not +sufficiently like each other. So that failure here must be referred +to the utter absence of that little internal stimulant of slightly +conflicting memory which the creature has always hitherto +experienced, and without which it fails to recognise itself. In +either case, then, whether with hybrids or in cases of +parthenogenesis, the early death of the embryo is due to inability to +recollect, owing to a fault in the chain of associated ideas. All +the facts here given are an excellent illustration of the principle, +elsewhere insisted upon by Mr. Darwin, that ANY great and sudden +change of surroundings has a tendency to induce sterility; on which +head he writes ("Plants and Animals under Domestication," vol. ii. p. +143, ed. 1875):- + +"It would appear that any change in the habits of life, whatever +their habits may be, if great enough, tends to affect in an +inexplicable manner the powers of reproduction." + +And again on the next page:- + +"Finally, we must conclude, limited though the conclusion is, that +changed conditions of life have an especial power of acting +injuriously on the reproductive system. The whole case is quite +peculiar, for these organs, though not diseased, are thus rendered +incapable of performing their proper functions, or perform them +imperfectly." + +One is inclined to doubt whether the blame may not rest with the +inability on the part of the creature reproduced to recognise the new +surroundings, and hence with its failing to know itself. And this +seems to be in some measure supported--but not in such a manner as I +can hold to be quite satisfactory--by the continuation of the passage +in the "Origin of Species," from which I have just been quoting--for +Mr. Darwin goes on to say:- + +"Hybrids, however, are differently circumstanced before and after +birth. When born, and living in a country where their parents live, +they are generally placed under suitable conditions of life. But a +hybrid partakes of only half of the nature and condition of its +mother; it may therefore before birth, as long as it is nourished +within its mother's womb, or within the egg or seed produced by its +mother, be exposed to conditions in some degree unsuitable, and +consequently be liable to perish at an early period . . . " After +which, however, the conclusion arrived at is, that, "after all, the +cause more probably lies in some imperfection in the original act of +impregnation, causing the embryo to be imperfectly developed rather +than in the conditions to which it is subsequently exposed." A +conclusion which I am not prepared to accept. + +Returning to my second alternative, that is to say, to the case of +hybrids which are born well developed and healthy, but nevertheless +perfectly sterile, it is less obvious why, having succeeded in +understanding the conflicting memories of their parents, they should +fail to produce offspring; but I do not think the reader will feel +surprised that this should be the case. The following anecdote, true +or false, may not be out of place here:- + +"Plutarch tells us of a magpie, belonging to a barber at Rome, which +could imitate to a nicety almost every word it heard. Some trumpets +happened one day to be sounded before the shop, and for a day or two +afterwards the magpie was quite mute, and seemed pensive and +melancholy. All who knew it were greatly surprised at its silence; +and it was supposed that the sound of the trumpets had so stunned it +as to deprive it at once of both voice and hearing. It soon +appeared, however, that this was far from being the case; for, says +Plutarch, the bird had been all the time occupied in profound +meditation, studying how to imitate the sound of the trumpets; and +when at last master of it, the magpie, to the astonishment of all its +friends, suddenly broke its long silence by a perfect imitation of +the flourish of trumpets it had heard, observing with the greatest +exactness all the repetitions, stops, and changes. THE ACQUISITION +OF THIS LESSON HAD, HOWEVER, EXHAUSTED THE WHOLE OF THE MAGPIE'S +STOCK OF INTELLECT, FOR IT MADE IT FORGET EVERYTHING IT HAD LEARNED +BEFORE" ("Percy Anecdotes," Instinct, p. 166). + +Or, perhaps, more seriously, the memory of every impregnate ovum from +which every ancestor of a mule, for example, has sprung, has reverted +to a very long period of time during which its forefathers have been +creatures like that which it is itself now going to become: thus, +the impregnate ovum from which the mule's father was developed +remembered nothing but horse memories; but it felt its faith in these +supported by the recollection of a VAST NUMBER of previous +generations, in which it was, to all intents and purposes, what it +now is. In like manner, the impregnate ovum from which the mule's +mother was developed would be backed by the assurance that it had +done what it is going to do now a hundred thousand times already. +All would thus be plain sailing. A horse and a donkey would result. +These two are brought together; an impregnate ovum is produced which +finds an unusual conflict of memory between the two lines of its +ancestors, nevertheless, being accustomed to SOME conflict, it +manages to get over the difficulty, AS ON EITHER SIDE IT FINDS ITSELF +BACKED BY A VERY LONG SERIES OF SUFFICIENTLY STEADY MEMORY. A mule +results--a creature so distinctly different from either horse or +donkey, that reproduction is baffled, owing to the creature's having +nothing but its own knowledge of itself to fall back upon, behind +which there comes an immediate dislocation, or fault of memory, which +is sufficient to bar identity, and hence reproduction, by rendering +too severe an appeal to reason necessary--for no creature can +reproduce itself on the shallow foundation which reason can alone +give. Ordinarily, therefore, the hybrid, or the spermatozoon or +ovum, which it may throw off (as the case may be), finds one single +experience too small to give it the necessary faith, on the strength +of which even to try to reproduce itself. In other cases the hybrid +itself has failed to be developed; in others the hybrid, or first +cross, is almost fertile; in others it is fertile, but produces +depraved issue. The result will vary with the capacities of the +creatures crossed, and the amount of conflict between their several +experiences. + +The above view would remove all difficulties out of the way of +evolution, in so far as the sterility of hybrids is concerned. For +it would thus appear that this sterility has nothing to do with any +supposed immutable or fixed limits of species, but results simply +from the same principle which prevents old friends, no matter how +intimate in youth, from returning to their old intimacy after a lapse +of years, during which they have been subjected to widely different +influences, inasmuch as they will each have contracted new habits, +and have got into new ways, which they do not like now to alter. + +We should expect that our domesticated plants and animals should vary +most, inasmuch as these have been subjected to changed conditions +which would disturb the memory, and, breaking the chain of +recollection, through failure of some one or other of the associated +ideas, would thus directly and most markedly affect the reproductive +system. Every reader of Mr. Darwin will know that this is what +actually happens, and also that when once a plant or animal begins to +vary, it will probably vary a good deal further; which, again, is +what we should expect--the disturbance of the memory introducing a +fresh factor of disturbance, which has to be dealt with by the +offspring as it best may. Mr. Darwin writes: "All our domesticated +productions, with the rarest exceptions, vary far more than natural +species" ("Plants and Animals," &c., vol ii. p. 241, ed. 1875). + +On my third supposition, i.e., when the difference between parents +has not been great enough to baffle reproduction on the part of the +first cross, but when the histories of the father and mother have +been, nevertheless, widely different--as in the case of Europeans and +Indians--we should expect to have a race of offspring who should seem +to be quite clear only about those points, on which their progenitors +on both sides were in accord before the manifold divergencies in +their experiences commenced; that is to say, the offspring should +show a tendency to revert to an early savage condition. + +That this indeed occurs may be seen from Mr. Darwin's "Plants and +Animals under Domestication" (vol ii. p. 21, ed. 1875), where we find +that travellers in all parts of the world have frequently remarked +"ON THE DEGRADED STATE AND SAVAGE CONDITION OF CROSSED RACES OF MAN." +A few lines lower down Mr. Darwin tells us that he was himself +"struck with the fact that, in South America, men of complicated +descent between Negroes, Indians, and Spaniards seldom had, whatever +the cause might be, a good expression." "Livingstone" (continues Mr. +Darwin) "remarks, 'It is unaccountable why half-castes are so much +more cruel than the Portuguese, but such is undoubtedly the case.' +An inhabitant remarked to Livingstone, 'God made white men, and God +made black men, but the devil made half-castes.'" A little further +on Mr. Darwin says that we may "perhaps infer that the degraded state +of so many half-castes IS IN PART DUE TO REVERSION TO A PRIMITIVE AND +SAVAGE CONDITION, INDUCED BY THE ACT OF CROSSING, even if mainly due +to the unfavourable moral conditions under which they are generally +reared." Why the crossing should produce this particular tendency +would seem to be intelligible enough, if the fashion and instincts of +offspring are, in any case, nothing but the memories of its past +existences; but it would hardly seem to be so upon any of the +theories now generally accepted; as, indeed, is very readily admitted +by Mr. Darwin himself, who even, as regards purely-bred animals and +plants, remarks that "we are quite unable to assign any proximate +cause" for their tendency to at times reassume long lost characters. + +If the reader will follow for himself the remaining phenomena of +reversion, he will, I believe, find them all explicable on the theory +that they are due to memory of past experiences fused, and modified-- +at times specifically and definitely--by changed conditions. There +is, however, one apparently very important phenomenon which I do not +at this moment see how to connect with memory, namely, the tendency +on the part of offspring to revert to an earlier impregnation. Mr. +Darwin's "Provisional Theory of Pangenesis" seemed to afford a +satisfactory explanation of this; but the connection with memory was +not immediately apparent. I think it likely, however, that this +difficulty will vanish on further consideration, so I will not do +more than call attention to it here. + +The instincts of certain neuter insects hardly bear upon reversion, +but will be dealt with at some length in Chapter XII. + +V. We should expect to find, as was insisted on in the preceding +section in reference to the sterility of hybrids, that it required +many, or at any rate several, generations of changed habits before a +sufficiently deep impression could be made upon the living being (who +must be regarded always as one person in his whole line of ascent or +descent) for it to be unconsciously remembered by him, when making +himself anew in any succeeding generation, and thus to make him +modify his method of procedure during his next embryological +development. Nevertheless, we should expect to find that sometimes a +very deep single impression made upon a living organism, should be +remembered by it, even when it is next in an embryonic condition. + +That this is so, we find from Mr. Darwin, who writes ("Plants and +Animals under Domestication," vol. ii. p. 57, ed. 1875)--"There is +ample evidence that the effect of mutilations and of accidents, +especially, or perhaps exclusively, when followed by disease" (which +would certainly intensify the impression made), "are occasionally +inherited. There can be no doubt that the evil effects of the long +continued exposure of the parent to injurious conditions are +sometimes transmitted to the offspring." As regards impressions of a +less striking character, it is so universally admitted that they are +not observed to be repeated in what is called the offspring, until +they have been confirmed in what is called the parent, for several +generations, but that after several generations, more or fewer as the +case may be, they often are transmitted--that it seems unnecessary to +say more upon the matter. Perhaps, however, the following passage +from Mr. Darwin may be admitted as conclusive:- + +"That they" (acquired actions) "are inherited, we see with horses in +certain transmitted paces, such as cantering and ambling, which are +not natural to them--in the pointing of young pointers, and the +setting of young setters--in the peculiar manner of flight of certain +breeds of the pigeon, &c. We have analogous cases with mankind in +the inheritance of tricks or unusual gestures." . . . ("Expression of +the Emotions," p. 29). + +In another place Mr. Darwin writes:- + +"How again can we explain THE INHERITED EFFECTS of the use or disuse +of particular organs? The domesticated duck flies less and walks +more than the wild duck, and its limb bones have become diminished +and increased in a corresponding manner in comparison with those of +the wild duck. A horse is trained to certain paces, and the colt +inherits similar consensual movements. The domesticated rabbit +becomes tame from close confinement; the dog intelligent from +associating with man; the retriever is taught to fetch and carry; and +these mental endowments and bodily powers are all inherited" ("Plants +and Animals," &c., vol. ii. p. 367, ed. 1875). + +"Nothing," he continues, "in the whole circuit of physiology is more +wonderful. How can the use or disuse of a particular limb, or of the +brain, affect a small aggregate of reproductive cells, seated in a +distant part of the body in such a manner that the being developed +from these cells inherits the character of one or both parents? Even +an imperfect answer to this question would be satisfactory" ("Plants +and Animals," &c. vol. ii. p. 367, ed. 1875). + +With such an imperfect answer will I attempt to satisfy the reader, +as to say that there appears to be that kind of continuity of +existence and sameness of personality, between parents and offspring, +which would lead us to expect that the impressions made upon the +parent should be epitomised in the offspring, when they have been or +have become important enough, through repetition in the history of +several so-called existences to have earned a place in that smaller +edition, which is issued from generation to generation; or, in other +words, when they have been made so deeply, either at one blow or +through many, that the offspring can remember them. In practice we +observe this to be the case--so that the answer lies in the assertion +that offspring and parent, being in one sense but the same +individual, there is no great wonder that, in one sense, the first +should remember what had happened to the latter; and that too, much +in the same way as the individual remembers the events in the earlier +history of what he calls his own lifetime, but condensed, and pruned +of detail, and remembered as by one who has had a host of other +matters to attend to in the interim. + +It is thus easy to understand why such a rite as circumcision, though +practised during many ages, should have produced little, if any, +modification tending to make circumcision unnecessary. On the view +here supported such modification would be more surprising than not, +for unless the impression made upon the parent was of a grave +character--and probably unless also aggravated by subsequent +confusion of memories in the cells surrounding the part originally +impressed--the parent himself would not be sufficiently impressed to +prevent him from reproducing himself, as he had already done upon an +infinite number of past occasions. The child, therefore, in the womb +would do what the father in the womb had done before him, nor should +any trace of memory concerning circumcision be expected till the +eighth day after birth, when, but for the fact that the impression in +this case is forgotten almost as soon as made, some slight +presentiment of coming discomfort might, after a large number of +generations, perhaps be looked for as a general rule. It would not, +however, be surprising, that the effect of circumcision should be +occasionally inherited, and it would appear as though this was +sometimes actually the case. + +The question should turn upon whether the disuse of an organ has +arisen:- + +1. From an internal desire on the part of the creature disusing it, +to be quit of an organ which it finds troublesome. + +2. From changed conditions and habits which render the organ no +longer necessary, or which lead the creature to lay greater stress on +certain other organs or modifications. + +3. From the wish of others outside itself; the effect produced in +this case being perhaps neither very good nor very bad for the +individual, and resulting in no grave impression upon the organism as +a whole. + +4. From a single deep impression on a parent, affecting both himself +as a whole, and gravely confusing the memories of the cells to be +reproduced, or his memories in respect of those cells--according as +one adopts Pangenesis and supposes a memory to "run" each gemmule, or +as one supposes one memory to "run" the whole impregnate ovum--a +compromise between these two views being nevertheless perhaps +possible, inasmuch as the combined memories of all the cells may +possibly BE the memory which "runs" the impregnate ovum, just as we +ARE ourselves the combination of all our cells, each one of which is +both autonomous, and also takes its share in the central government. +But within the limits of this volume it is absolutely impossible for +me to go into this question. + +In the first case--under which some instances which belong more +strictly to the fourth would sometimes, but rarely, come--the organ +should soon go, and sooner or later leave no rudiment, though still +perhaps to be found crossing the life of the embryo, and then +disappearing. + +In the second it should go more slowly, and leave, it may be, a +rudimentary structure. + +In the third it should show little or no sign of natural decrease for +a very long time. + +In the fourth there may be absolute and total sterility, or sterility +in regard to the particular organ, or a scar which shall show that +the memory of the wound and of each step in the process of healing +has been remembered; or there may be simply such disturbance in the +reproduced organ as shall show a confused recollection of injury. +There may be infinite gradations between the first and last of these +possibilities. + +I think that the facts, as given by Mr. Darwin ("Plants and Animals," +&c., vol i. pp. 466-472, ed. 1875), will bear out the above to the +satisfaction of the reader. I can, however, only quote the following +passage:- + +" . . . Brown Sequard has bred during thirty years many thousand +guinea-pigs, . . . nor has he ever seen a guinea-pig born without +toes which was not the offspring of parents WHICH HAD GNAWED OFF +THEIR OWN TOES, owing to the sciatic nerve having been divided. Of +this fact thirteen instances were carefully recorded, and a greater +number were seen; yet Brown Sequard speaks of such cases as among the +rarer forms of inheritance. It is a still more interesting fact-- +'that the sciatic nerve in the congenitally toeless animal has +inherited the power of passing through ALL THE DIFFERENT MORBID +STATES which have occurred in one of its parents FROM THE TIME OF +DIVISION till after its reunion with the peripheric end. It is not +therefore the power of simply performing an action which is +inherited, but the power of performing a whole series of actions in a +certain order.'" + +I feel inclined to say it is not merely the original wound that is +remembered, but the whole process of cure which is now accordingly +repeated. Brown Sequard concludes, as Mr. Darwin tells us, "that +what is transmitted is the morbid state of the nervous system," due +to the operation performed on the parents. + +A little lower down Mr. Darwin writes that Professor Rolleston has +given him two cases--"namely, of two men, one of whom had his knee, +and the other his cheek, severely cut, and both had children born +with exactly the same spot marked or scarred." + +VI. When, however, an impression has once reached transmission +point--whether it be of the nature of a sudden striking thought, +which makes its mark deeply then and there, or whether it be the +result of smaller impressions repeated until the nail, so to speak, +has been driven home--we should expect that it should be remembered +by the offspring as something which he has done all his life, and +which he has therefore no longer any occasion to learn; he will act, +therefore, as people say, INSTINCTIVELY. No matter how complex and +difficult the process, if the parents have done it sufficiently often +(that is to say, for a sufficient number of generations), the +offspring will remember the fact when association wakens the memory; +it will need no instruction, and--unless when it has been taught to +look for it during many generations--will expect none. This may be +seen in the case of the humming-bird sphinx moth, which, as Mr. +Darwin writes, "shortly after its emergence from the cocoon, as shown +by the bloom on its unruffled scales, may be seen poised stationary +in the air with its long hair-like proboscis uncurled, and inserted +into the minute orifices of flowers; AND NO ONE I BELIEVE HAS EVER +SEEN this moth learning to perform its difficult task, which requires +such unerring aim" ("Expression of the Emotions," p. 30). + +And, indeed, when we consider that after a time the most complex and +difficult actions come to be performed by man without the least +effort or consciousness--that offspring cannot be considered as +anything but a continuation of the parent life, whose past habits and +experiences it epitomises when they have been sufficiently often +repeated to produce a lasting impression--that consciousness of +memory vanishes on the memory's becoming intense, as completely as +the consciousness of complex and difficult movements vanishes as soon +as they have been sufficiently practised--and finally, that the real +presence of memory is testified rather by performance of the repeated +action on recurrence of like surroundings, than by consciousness of +recollecting on the part of the individual--so that not only should +there be no reasonable bar to our attributing the whole range of the +more complex instinctive actions, from first to last, to memory pure +and simple, no matter how marvellous they may be, but rather that +there is so much to compel us to do so, that we find it difficult to +conceive how any other view can have been ever taken--when, I say, we +consider all these facts, we should rather feel surprise that the +hawk and sparrow still teach their offspring to fly, than that the +humming-bird sphinx moth should need no teacher. + +The phenomena, then, which we observe are exactly those which we +should expect to find. + +VII. We should also expect that the memory of animals, as regards +their earlier existences, was solely stimulated by association. For +we find, from Prof. Bain, that "actions, sensations, and states of +feeling occurring together, or in close succession, tend to grow +together or cohere in such a way that when any one of them is +afterwards presented to the mind, the others are apt to be brought up +in idea" ("The Senses and the Intellect," 2d ed. 1864, p. 332). And +Prof. Huxley says ("Elementary Lessons in Physiology," 5th ed. 1872, +p. 306), "It may be laid down as a rule that if any two mental states +be called up together, or in succession, with due frequency and +vividness, the subsequent production of the one of them will suffice +to call up the other, AND THAT WHETHER WE DESIRE IT OR NOT." I would +go one step further, and would say not only whether we desire it or +not, but WHETHER WE ARE AWARE THAT THE IDEA HAS EVER BEFORE BEEN +CALLED UP IN OUR MINDS OR NOT. I should say that I have quoted both +the above passages from Mr. Darwin's "Expression of the Emotions" (p. +30, ed. 1872). + +We should, therefore, expect that when the offspring found itself in +the presence of objects which had called up such and such ideas for a +sufficient number of generations, that is to say, "with due frequency +and vividness"--it being of the same age as its parents were, and +generally in like case as when the ideas were called up in the minds +of the parents--the same ideas should also be called up in the minds +of the offspring "WHETHER THEY DESIRE IT OR NOT;" and, I would say +also, "whether they recognise the ideas as having ever before been +present to them or not." + +I think we might also expect that no other force, save that of +association, should have power to kindle, so to speak, into the flame +of action the atomic spark of memory, which we can alone suppose to +be transmitted from one generation to another. + +That both plants and animals do as we should expect of them in this +respect is plain, not only from the performance of the most intricate +and difficult actions--difficult both physically and intellectually-- +at an age, and under circumstances which preclude all possibility of +what we call instruction, but from the fact that deviations from the +parental instinct, or rather the recurrence of a memory, unless in +connection with the accustomed train of associations, is of +comparatively rare occurrence; the result, commonly, of some one of +the many memories about which we know no more than we do of the +memory which enables a cat to find her way home after a hundred-mile +journey by train, and shut up in a hamper, or, perhaps even more +commonly, of abnormal treatment. + +VIII. If, then, memory depends on association, we should expect two +corresponding phenomena in the case of plants and animals--namely, +that they should show a tendency to resume feral habits on being +turned wild after several generations of domestication, and also that +peculiarities should tend to show themselves at a corresponding age +in the offspring and in the parents. As regards the tendency to +resume feral habits, Mr. Darwin, though apparently of opinion that +the tendency to do this has been much exaggerated, yet does not doubt +that such a tendency exists, as shown by well authenticated +instances. He writes: "It has been repeatedly asserted in the most +positive manner by various authors that feral animals and plants +invariably return to their primitive specific type." + +This shows, at any rate, that there is a considerable opinion to this +effect among observers generally. + +He continues: "It is curious on what little evidence this belief +rests. Many of our domesticated animals could not subsist in a wild +state,"--so that there is no knowing whether they would or would not +revert. "In several cases we do not know the aboriginal parent +species, and cannot tell whether or not there has been any close +degree of reversion." So that here, too, there is at any rate no +evidence AGAINST the tendency; the conclusion, however, is that, +notwithstanding the deficiency of positive evidence to warrant the +general belief as to the force of the tendency, yet "the simple fact +of animals and plants becoming feral does cause some tendency to +revert to the primitive state," and he tells us that "when variously- +coloured tame rabbits are turned out in Europe, they generally re- +acquire the colouring of the wild animal;" there can be no doubt," he +says, "that this really does occur," though he seems inclined to +account for it by the fact that oddly-coloured and conspicuous +animals would suffer much from beasts of prey and from being easily +shot. "The best known case of reversion:" he continues, "and that on +which the widely-spread belief in its universality apparently rests, +is that of pigs. These animals have run wild in the West Indies, +South America, and the Falkland Islands, and have everywhere re- +acquired the dark colour, the thick bristles, and great tusks of the +wild boar; and the young have re-acquired longitudinal stripes." And +on page 22 of "Plants and Animals under Domestication" (vol. ii. ed. +1875) we find that "the re-appearance of coloured, longitudinal +stripes on young feral pigs cannot be attributed to the direct action +of external conditions. In this case, and in many others, we can +only say that any change in the habits of life apparently favours a +tendency, inherent or latent, in the species to return to the +primitive state." On which one cannot but remark that though any +change may favour such tendency, yet the return to original habits +and surroundings appears to do so in a way so marked as not to be +readily referable to any other cause than that of association and +memory--the creature, in fact, having got into its old groove, +remembers it, and takes to all its old ways. + +As regards the tendency to inherit changes (whether embryonic, or +during post-natal development as ordinarily observed in any species), +or peculiarities of habit or form which do not partake of the nature +of disease, it must be sufficient to refer the reader to Mr. Darwin's +remarks upon this subject ("Plants and Animals Under Domestication," +vol. ii. pp. 51-57, ed. 1875). The existence of the tendency is not +likely to be denied. The instances given by Mr. Darwin are strictly +to the point as regards all ordinary developmental and metamorphic +changes, and even as regards transmitted acquired actions, and tricks +acquired before the time when the offspring has issued from the body +of the parent, or on an average of many generations does so; but it +cannot for a moment be supposed that the offspring knows by +inheritance anything about what happens to the parent subsequently to +the offspring's being born. Hence the appearance of diseases in the +offspring, at comparatively late periods in life, but at the same age +as, or earlier, than in the parents, must be regarded as due to the +fact that in each case the machine having been made after the same +pattern (which IS due to memory), is liable to have the same weak +points, and to break down after a similar amount of wear and tear; +but after less wear and tear in the case of the offspring than in +that of the parent, because a diseased organism is commonly a +deteriorating organism, and if repeated at all closely, and without +repentance and amendment of life, will be repeated for the worse. If +we do not improve, we grow worse. This, at least, is what we observe +daily. + +Nor again can we believe, as some have fancifully imagined, that the +remembrance of any occurrence of which the effect has been entirely, +or almost entirely mental, should be remembered by offspring with any +definiteness. The intellect of the offspring might be affected, for +better or worse, by the general nature of the intellectual employment +of the parent; or a great shock to a parent might destroy or weaken +the intellect of the offspring; but unless a deep impression were +made upon the cells of the body, and deepened by subsequent disease, +we could not expect it to be remembered with any definiteness, or +precision. We may talk as we will about mental pain, and mental +scars, but after all, the impressions they leave are incomparably +less durable than those made by an organic lesion. It is probable, +therefore, that the feeling which so many have described, as though +they remembered this or that in some past existence, is purely +imaginary, and due rather to unconscious recognition of the fact that +we certainly have lived before, than to any actual occurrence +corresponding to the supposed recollection. + +And lastly, we should look to find in the action of memory, as +between one generation and another, a reflection of the many +anomalies and exceptions to ordinary rules which we observe in +memory, so far as we can watch its action in what we call our own +single lives, and the single lives of others. We should expect that +reversion should be frequently capricious--that is to say, give us +more trouble to account for than we are either able or willing to +take. And assuredly we find it so in fact. Mr. Darwin--from whom it +is impossible to quote too much or too fully, inasmuch as no one else +can furnish such a store of facts, so well arranged, and so above all +suspicion of either carelessness or want of candour--so that, however +we may differ from him, it is he himself who shows us how to do so, +and whose pupils we all are--Mr. Darwin writes: "In every living +being we may rest assured that a host of long-lost characters lie +ready to be evolved under proper conditions" (does not one almost +long to substitute the word "memories" for the word "characters?") +"How can we make intelligible, and connect with other facts, this +wonderful and common capacity of reversion--this power of calling +back to life long-lost characters?" ("Plants and Animals," &c., vol. +ii. p. 369, ed. 1875). Surely the answer may be hazarded, that we +shall be able to do so when we can make intelligible the power of +calling back to life long-lost memories. But I grant that this +answer holds out no immediate prospect of a clear understanding. + +One word more. Abundant facts are to be found which point +inevitably, as will appear more plainly in the following chapter, in +the direction of thinking that offspring inherits the memories of its +parents; but I know of no single fact which suggests that parents are +in the smallest degree affected (other than sympathetically) by the +memories of their offspring AFTER THAT OFFSPRING HAS BEEN BORN. +Whether the unborn offspring affects the memory of the mother in some +particulars, and whether we have here the explanation of occasional +reversion to a previous impregnation, is a matter on which I should +hardly like to express an opinion now. Nor, again, can I find a +single fact which seems to indicate any memory of the parental life +on the part of offspring later than the average date of the +offspring's quitting the body of the parent. + + + +CHAPTER XI--INSTINCT AS INHERITED MEMORY + + + +I have already alluded to M. Ribot's work on "Heredity," from which I +will now take the following passages. + +M. Ribot writes:- + +"Instinct is innate, i.e., ANTERIOR TO ALL INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCE." +This I deny on grounds already abundantly apparent; but let it pass. +"Whereas intelligence is developed slowly by accumulated experience, +instinct is perfect from the first" ("Heredity," p. 14). + +Obviously the memory of a habit or experience will not commonly be +transmitted to offspring in that perfection which is called +"instinct," till the habit or experience has been repeated in several +generations with more or less uniformity; for otherwise the +impression made will not be strong enough to endure through the busy +and difficult task of reproduction. This of course involves that the +habit shall have attained, as it were equilibrium with the creature's +sense of its own needs, so that it shall have long seemed the best +course possible, leaving upon the whole and under ordinary +circumstances little further to be desired, and hence that it should +have been little varied during many generations. We should expect +that it would be transmitted in a more or less partial, varying, +imperfect, and intelligent condition before equilibrium had been +attained; it would, however, continually tend towards equilibrium, +for reasons which will appear more fully later on. + +When this stage has been reached, as regards any habit, the creature +will cease trying to improve; on which the repetition of the habit +will become stable, and hence become capable of more unerring +transmission--but at the same time improvement will cease; the habit +will become fixed, and be perhaps transmitted at an earlier and +earlier age, till it has reached that date of manifestation which +shall be found most agreeable to the other habits of the creature. +It will also be manifested, as a matter of course, without further +consciousness or reflection, for people cannot be always opening up +settled questions; if they thought a matter over yesterday they +cannot think it all over again to-day, but will adopt for better or +worse the conclusion then reached; and this, too, even in spite +sometimes of considerable misgiving, that if they were to think still +further they could find a still better course. It is not, therefore, +to be expected that "instinct" should show signs of that hesitating +and tentative action which results from knowledge that is still so +imperfect as to be actively self-conscious; nor yet that it should +grow or vary, unless under such changed conditions as shall baffle +memory, and present the alternative of either invention--that is to +say, variation--or death. But every instinct must have poised +through the laboriously intelligent stages through which human +civilisations AND MECHANICAL INVENTIONS are now passing; and he who +would study the origin of an instinct with its development, partial +transmission, further growth, further transmission, approach to more +unreflecting stability, and finally, its perfection as an unerring +and unerringly transmitted instinct, must look to laws, customs, AND +MACHINERY as his best instructors. Customs and machines are +instincts AND ORGANS now in process of development; they will +assuredly one day reach the unconscious state of equilibrium which we +observe in the structures and instincts of bees and ants, and an +approach to which may be found among some savage nations. We may +reflect, however, not without pleasure, that this condition--the true +millennium--is still distant. Nevertheless the ants and bees seem +happy; perhaps more happy than when so many social questions were in +as hot discussion among them, as other, and not dissimilar ones, will +one day be amongst ourselves. + +And this, as will be apparent, opens up the whole question of the +stability of species, which we cannot follow further here, than to +say, that according to the balance of testimony, many plants and +animals do appear to have reached a phase of being from which they +are hard to move--that is to say, they will die sooner than be at the +pains of altering their habits--true martyrs to their convictions. +Such races refuse to see changes in their surroundings as long as +they can, but when compelled to recognise them, they throw up the +game because they cannot and will not, or will not and cannot, +invent. And this is perfectly intelligible, for a race is nothing +but a long-lived individual, and like any individual, or tribe of men +whom we have yet observed, will have its special capacities and its +special limitations, though, as in the case of the individual, so +also with the race, it is exceedingly hard to say what those +limitations are, and why, having been able to go so far, it should go +no further. Every man and every race is capable of education up to a +certain point, but not to the extent of being made from a sow's ear +into a silk purse. The proximate cause of the limitation seems to +lie in the absence of the wish to go further; the presence or absence +of the wish will depend upon the nature and surroundings of the +individual, which is simply a way of saying that one can get no +further, but that as the song (with a slight alteration) says:- + + +"Some breeds do, and some breeds don't, +Some breeds will, but this breed won't, +I tried very often to see if it would, +But it said it really couldn't, and I don't think it could." + + +It may perhaps be maintained, that with time and patience, one might +train a rather stupid plough-boy to understand the differential +calculus. This might be done with the help of an inward desire on +the part of the boy to learn, but never otherwise. If the boy wants +to learn or to improve generally, he will do so in spite of every +hindrance, till in time he becomes a very different being from what +he was originally. If he does not want to learn, he will not do so +for any wish of another person. If he feels that he has the power he +will wish; or if he wishes, he will begin to think he has the power, +and try to fulfil his wishes; one cannot say which comes first, for +the power and the desire go always hand in hand, or nearly so, and +the whole business is nothing but a most vicious circle from first to +last. But it is plain that there is more to be said on behalf of +such circles than we have been in the habit of thinking. Do what we +will, we must each one of us argue in a circle of our own, from +which, so long as we live at all, we can by no possibility escape. I +am not sure whether the frank acceptation and recognition of this +fact is not the best corrective for dogmatism that we are likely to +find. + +We can understand that a pigeon might in the course of ages grow to +be a peacock if there was a persistent desire on the part of the +pigeon through all these ages to do so. We know very well that this +has not probably occurred in nature, inasmuch as no pigeon is at all +likely to wish to be very different from what it is now. The idea of +being anything very different from what it now is, would be too wide +a cross with the pigeon's other ideas for it to entertain it +seriously. If the pigeon had never seen a peacock, it would not be +able to conceive the idea, so as to be able to make towards it; if, +on the other hand, it had seen one, it would not probably either want +to become one, or think that it would be any use wanting seriously, +even though it were to feel a passing fancy to be so gorgeously +arrayed; it would therefore lack that faith without which no action, +and with which, every action, is possible. + +That creatures have conceived the idea of making themselves like +other creatures or objects which it was to their advantage or +pleasure to resemble, will be believed by any one who turns to Mr. +Mivart's "Genesis of Species," where he will find (chapter ii.) an +account of some very showy South American butterflies, which give out +such a strong odour that nothing will eat them, and which are hence +mimicked both in appearance and flight by a very different kind of +butterfly; and, again, we see that certain birds, without any +particular desire of gain, no sooner hear any sound than they begin +to mimick it, merely for the pleasure of mimicking; so we all enjoy +to mimick, or to hear good mimicry, so also monkeys imitate the +actions which they observe, from pure force of sympathy. To mimick, +or to wish to mimick, is doubtless often one of the first steps +towards varying in any given direction. Not less, in all +probability, than a full twenty per cent. of all the courage and good +nature now existing in the world, derives its origin, at no very +distant date, from a desire to appear courageous and good-natured. +And this suggests a work whose title should be "On the Fine Arts as +bearing on the Reproductive System," of which the title must suffice +here. + +Against faith, then, and desire, all the "natural selection" in the +world will not stop an amoeba from becoming an elephant, if a +reasonable time be granted; without the faith and the desire, neither +"natural selection" nor artificial breeding will be able to do much +in the way of modifying any structure. When we have once thoroughly +grasped the conception that we are all one creature, and that each +one of us is many millions of years old, so that all the pigeons in +the one line of an infinite number of generations are still one +pigeon only--then we can understand that a bird, as different from a +peacock as a pigeon is now, could yet have wandered on and on, first +this way and then that, doing what it liked, and thought that it +could do, till it found itself at length a peacock; but we cannot +believe either that a bird like a pigeon should be able to apprehend +any ideal so different from itself as a peacock, and make towards it, +or that man, having wished to breed a bird anything like a peacock +from a bird anything like a pigeon, would be able to succeed in +accumulating accidental peacock-like variations till he had made the +bird he was in search of, no matter in what number of generations; +much less can we believe that the accumulation of small fortuitous +variations by "natural selection" could succeed better. We can no +more believe the above, than we can believe that a wish outside a +plough-boy could turn him into a senior wrangler. The boy would +prove to be too many for his teacher, and so would the pigeon for its +breeder. + +I do not forget that artificial breeding has modified the original +type of the horse and the dog, till it has at length produced the +dray-horse and the greyhound; but in each case man has had to get use +and disuse--that is to say, the desires of the animal itself--to help +him. + +We are led, then, to the conclusion that all races have what for +practical purposes may be considered as their limits, though there is +no saying what those limits are, nor indeed why, in theory, there +should be any limits at all, but only that there are limits in +practice. Races which vary considerably must be considered as +clever, but it may be speculative, people who commonly have a genius +in some special direction, as perhaps for mimicry, perhaps for +beauty, perhaps for music, perhaps for the higher mathematics, but +seldom in more than one or two directions; while "inflexible +organisations," like that of the goose, may be considered as +belonging to people with one idea, and the greater tendency of plants +and animals to vary under domestication may be reasonably compared +with the effects of culture and education: that is to say, may be +referred to increased range and variety of experience or perceptions, +which will either cause sterility, if they be too unfamiliar, so as +to be incapable of fusion with preceding ideas, and hence to bring +memory to a sudden fault, or will open the door for all manner of +further variation--the new ideas having suggested new trains of +thought, which a clever example of a clever race will be only too +eager to pursue. + +Let us now return to M. Ribot. He writes (p. 14):- "The duckling +hatched by the hen makes straight for water." In what conceivable +way can we account for this, except on the supposition that the +duckling knows perfectly well what it can, and what it cannot do with +water, owing to its recollection of what it did when it was still one +individuality with its parents, and hence, when it was a duckling +before? + +"The squirrel, before it knows anything of winter, lays up a store of +nuts. A bird when hatched in a cage will, when given its freedom, +build for itself a nest like that of its parents, out of the same +materials, and of the same shape." + +If this is not due to memory, even an imperfect explanation of what +else it can be due to, "would be satisfactory." + +"Intelligence gropes about, tries this way and that, misses its +object, commits mistakes, and corrects them." + +Yes. Because intelligence is of consciousness, and consciousness is +of attention, and attention is of uncertainty, and uncertainty is of +ignorance or want of consciousness. Intelligence is not yet +thoroughly up to its business. + +"Instinct advances with a mechanical certainty." + +Why mechanical? Should not "with apparent certainty" suffice? + +"Hence comes its unconscious character." + +But for the word "mechanical" this is true, and is what we have been +all along insisting on. + +"It knows nothing either of ends, or of the means of attaining them; +it implies no comparison, judgment, or choice." + +This is assumption. What is certain is that instinct does not betray +signs of self-consciousness as to its own knowledge. It has +dismissed reference to first principles, and is no longer under the +law, but under the grace of a settled conviction. + +"All seems directed by thought." + +Yes; because all HAS BEEN in earlier existences directed by thought. + +"Without ever arriving at thought." + +Because it has GOT PAST THOUGHT, and though "directed by thought" +originally, is now travelling in exactly the opposite direction. It +is not likely to reach thought again, till people get to know worse +and worse how to do things, the oftener they practise them. + +"And if this phenomenon appear strange, it must be observed that +analogous states occur in ourselves. ALL THAT WE DO FROM HABIT-- +WALKING, WRITING, OR PRACTISING A MECHANICAL ACT, FOR INSTANCE--ALL +THESE AND MANY OTHER VERY COMPLEX ACTS ARE PERFORMED WITHOUT +CONSCIOUSNESS. + +"Instinct appears stationary. It does not, like intelligence, seem +to grow and decay, to gain and to lose. It does not improve." + +Naturally. For improvement can only as a general rule be looked for +along the line of latest development, that is to say, in matters +concerning which the creature is being still consciously exercised. +Older questions are settled, and the solution must be accepted as +final, for the question of living at all would be reduced to an +absurdity, if everything decided upon one day was to be undecided +again the next; as with painting or music, so with life and politics, +let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind, for decision with +wrong will be commonly a better policy than indecision--I had almost +added with right; and a firm purpose with risk will be better than an +infirm one with temporary exemption from disaster. Every race has +made its great blunders, to which it has nevertheless adhered, +inasmuch as the corresponding modification of other structures and +instincts was found preferable to the revolution which would be +caused by a radical change of structure, with consequent havoc among +a legion of vested interests. Rudimentary organs are, as has been +often said, the survivals of these interests--the signs of their +peaceful and gradual extinction as living faiths; they are also +instances of the difficulty of breaking through any cant or trick +which we have long practised, and which is not sufficiently +troublesome to make it a serious object with us to cure ourselves of +the habit. + +"If it does not remain perfectly invariable, at least it only varies +within very narrow limits; and though this question has been warmly +debated in our day, and is yet unsettled, we may yet say that in +instinct immutability is the law, variation the exception." + +This is quite as it should be. Genius will occasionally rise a +little above convention, but with an old convention immutability will +be the rule. + +"Such," continues M. Ribot, "are the admitted characters of +instinct." + +Yes; but are they not also the admitted characters of actions that +are due to memory? + +At the bottom of p. 15, M. Ribot quotes the following from Mr. +Darwin:- + +"We have reason to believe that aboriginal habits are long retained +under domestication. Thus with the common ass, we see signs of its +original desert-life in its strong dislike to cross the smallest +stream of water, and in its pleasure in rolling in the dust. The +same strong dislike to cross a stream is common to the camel which +has been domesticated from a very early period. Young pigs, though +so tame, sometimes squat when frightened, and then try to conceal +themselves, even in an open and bare place. Young turkeys, and +occasionally even young fowls, when the hen gives the danger-cry, run +away and try to hide themselves, like young partridges or pheasants, +in order that their mother may take flight, of which she has lost the +power. The musk duck in its native country often perches and roosts +on trees, and our domesticated musk ducks, though sluggish birds, are +fond of perching on the tops of barns, walls, &c. . . . We know that +the dog, however well and regularly fed, often buries like the fox +any superfluous food; we see him turning round and round on a carpet +as if to trample down grass to form a bed. . . . In the delight with +which lambs and kids crowd together and frisk upon the smallest +hillock we see a vestige of their former alpine habits." + +What does this delightful passage go to show, if not that the young +in all these cases must still have a latent memory of their past +existences, which is called into an active condition as soon as the +associated ideas present themselves? + +Returning to M. Ribot's own observations, we find he tells us that it +usually requires three or four generations to fix the results of +training, and to prevent a return to the instincts of the wild state. +I think, however, it would not be presumptuous to suppose that if an +animal after only three or four generations of training be restored +to its original conditions of life, it will forget its intermediate +training and return to its old ways, almost as readily as a London +street Arab would forget the beneficial effects of a weeks training +in a reformatory school, if he were then turned loose again on the +streets. So if we hatch wild ducks' eggs under a tame duck, the +ducklings "will have scarce left the egg-shell when they obey the +instincts of their race and take their flight." So the colts from +wild horses, and mongrel young between wild and domesticated horses, +betray traces of their earlier memories. + +On this M. Ribot says: "Originally man had considerable trouble in +taming the animals which are now domesticated; and his work would +have been in vain had not heredity" (memory) "come to his aid. It +may be said that after man has modified a wild animal to his will, +there goes on in its progeny a silent conflict between two +heredities" (memories), "the one tending to fix the acquired +modifications and the other to preserve the primitive instincts. The +latter often get the mastery, and only after several generations is +training sure of victory. But we may see that in either case +heredity" (memory) "always asserts its rights." + +How marvellously is the above passage elucidated and made to fit in +with the results of our recognised experience, by the simple +substitution of the word "memory" for "heredity." + +"Among the higher animals"--to continue quoting--"which are possessed +not only of instinct, but also of intelligence, nothing is more +common than to see mental dispositions, which have evidently been +acquired, so fixed by heredity, that they are confounded with +instinct, so spontaneous and automatic do they become. Young +pointers have been known to point the first time they were taken out, +sometimes even better than dogs that had been for a long time in +training. The habit of saving life is hereditary in breeds that have +been brought up to it, as is also the shepherd dog's habit of moving +around the flock and guarding it." + +As soon as we have grasped the notion, that instinct is only the +epitome of past experience, revised, corrected, made perfect, and +learnt by rote, we no longer find any desire to separate "instinct" +from "mental dispositions, which have evidently been acquired and +fixed by heredity," for the simple reason that they are one and the +same thing. + +A few more examples are all that my limits will allow--they abound on +every side, and the difficulty lies only in selecting--M. Ribot being +to hand, I will venture to lay him under still further contributions. + +On page 19 we find:- "Knight has shown experimentally the truth of +the proverb, 'a good hound is bred so,' he took every care that when +the pups were first taken into the field, they should receive no +guidance from older dogs; yet the very first day, one of the pups +stood trembling with anxiety, having his eyes fixed and all his +muscles strained AT THE PARTRIDGES WHICH THEIR PARENTS HAD BEEN +TRAINED TO POINT. A spaniel belonging to a breed which had been +trained to woodcock-shooting, knew perfectly well from the first how +to act like an old dog, avoiding places where the ground was frozen, +and where it was, therefore, useless to seek the game, as there was +no scent. Finally, a young polecat terrier was thrown into a state +of great excitement the first time he ever saw one of these animals, +while a spaniel remained perfectly calm. + +"In South America, according to Roulin, dogs belonging to a breed +that has long been trained to the dangerous chase of the peccary, +when taken for the first time into the woods, know the tactics to +adopt quite as well as the old dogs, and that without any +instruction. Dogs of other races, and unacquainted with the tactics, +are killed at once, no matter how strong they may be. The American +greyhound, instead of leaping at the stag, attacks him by the belly, +and throws him over, as his ancestors had been trained to do in +hunting the Indians. + +"Thus, then, heredity transmits modification no less than natural +instincts." + +Should not this rather be--"thus, then, we see that not only older +and remoter habits, but habits which have been practised for a +comparatively small number of generations, may be so deeply impressed +on the individual that they may dwell in his memory, surviving the +so-called change of personality which he undergoes in each successive +generation"? + +"There is, however, an important difference to be noted: the +heredity of instincts admits of no exceptions, while in that of +modifications there are many." + +It may be well doubted how far the heredity of instincts admits of no +exceptions; on the contrary, it would seem probable that in many +races geniuses have from time to time arisen who remembered not only +their past experiences, as far as action and habit went, but have +been able to rise in some degree above habit where they felt that +improvement was possible, and who carried such improvement into +further practice, by slightly modifying their structure in the +desired direction on the next occasion that they had a chance of +dealing with protoplasm at all. It is by these rare instances of +intellectual genius (and I would add of moral genius, if many of the +instincts and structures of plants and animals did not show that they +had got into a region as far above morals--other than enlightened +self-interest--as they are above articulate consciousness of their +own aims in many other respects)--it is by these instances of either +rare good luck or rare genius that many species have been, in all +probability, originated or modified. Nevertheless inappreciable +modification of instinct is, and ought to be, the rule. + +As to M. Ribot's assertion, that to the heredity of modifications +there are many exceptions, I readily agree with it, and can only say +that it is exactly what I should expect; the lesson long since learnt +by rote, and repeated in an infinite number of generations, would be +repeated unintelligently, and with little or no difference, save from +a rare accidental slip, the effect of which would be the culling out +of the bungler who was guilty of it, or from the still rarer +appearance of an individual of real genius; while the newer lesson +would be repeated both with more hesitation and uncertainty, and with +more intelligence; and this is well conveyed in M. Ribot's next +sentence, for he says--"It is only when variations have been firmly +rooted; when having become organic, they constitute a second nature, +which supplants the first; when, like instinct, they have assumed a +mechanical character, that they can be transmitted." + +How nearly M. Ribot comes to the opinion which I myself venture to +propound will appear from the following further quotation. After +dealing with somnambulism, and saying, that if somnambulism were +permanent and innate, it would be impossible to distinguish it from +instinct, he continues:- + +"Hence it is less difficult than is generally supposed, to conceive +how intelligence may become instinct; we might even say that, leaving +out of consideration the character of innateness, to which we will +return, we have seen the metamorphosis take place. THERE CAN THEN BE +NO GROUND FOR MAKING INSTINCT A FACULTY APART, sui generis, a +phenomenon so mysterious, so strange, that usually no other +explanation of it is offered but that of attributing it to the direct +act of the Deity. This whole mistake is the result of a defective +psychology which makes no account of the unconscious activity of the +soul." + +We are tempted to add--"and which also makes no account of the bona +fide character of the continued personality of successive +generations." + +"But we are so accustomed," he continues, "to contrast the characters +of instinct with those of intelligence--to say that instinct is +innate, invariable, automatic, while intelligence is something +acquired, variable, spontaneous--that it looks at first paradoxical +to assert that instinct and intelligence are identical. + +"It is said that instinct is innate. But if, on the one hand, we +bear in mind that many instincts are acquired, and that, according to +a theory hereafter to be explained" (which theory, I frankly confess, +I never was able to get hold of), "ALL INSTINCTS ARE ONLY HEREDITARY +HABITS" (italics mine); "if, on the other hand, we observe that +intelligence is in some sense held to be innate by all modern schools +of philosophy, which agree to reject the theory of the tabula rasa" +(if there is no tabula rasa, there is continued psychological +personality, or words have lost their meaning), "and to accept either +latent ideas, or a priori forms of thought" (surely only a +periphrasis for continued personality and memory) "or pre-ordination +of the nervous system and of the organism; IT WILL BE SEEN THAT THIS +CHARACTER OF INNATENESS DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN ABSOLUTE DISTINCTION +BETWEEN INSTINCT AND INTELLIGENCE. + +"It is true that intelligence is variable, but so also is instinct, +as we have seen. In winter, the Rhine beaver plasters his wall to +windward; once he was a builder, now a burrower; once he lived in +society, now he is solitary. Intelligence itself can scarcely be +more variable . . . instinct may be modified, lost, reawakened. + +"Although intelligence is, as a rule, conscious, it may also become +unconscious and automatic, without losing its identity. Neither is +instinct always so blind, so mechanical, as is supposed, for at times +it is at fault. The wasp that has faultily trimmed a leaf of its +paper begins again. The bee only gives the hexagonal form to its +cell after many attempts and alterations. It is difficult to believe +that the loftier instincts" (and surely, then, the more recent +instincts) "of the higher animals are not accompanied BY AT LEAST A +CONFUSED CONSCIOUSNESS. There is, therefore, no absolute distinction +between instinct and intelligence; there is not a single +characteristic which, seriously considered, remains the exclusive +property of either. The contrast established between instinctive +acts and intellectual acts is, nevertheless, perfectly true, but only +when we compare the extremes. AS INSTINCT RISES IT APPROACHES +INTELLIGENCE--AS INTELLIGENCE DESCENDS IT APPROACHES INSTINCT." + +M. Ribot and myself (if I may venture to say so) are continually on +the verge of coming to an understanding, when, at the very moment +that we seem most likely to do so, we fly, as it were, to opposite +poles. Surely the passage last quoted should be, "As instinct +falls," i.e., becomes less and less certain of its ground, "it +approaches intelligence; as intelligence rises," i.e., becomes more +and more convinced of the truth and expediency of its convictions-- +"it approaches instinct." + +Enough has been said to show that the opinions which I am advancing +are not new, but I have looked in vain for the conclusions which, it +appears to me, M. Ribot should draw from his facts; throughout his +interesting book I find the facts which it would seem should have +guided him to the conclusions, and sometimes almost the conclusions +themselves, but he never seems quite to have reached them, nor has he +arranged his facts so that others are likely to deduce them, unless +they had already arrived at them by another road. I cannot, however, +sufficiently express my obligations to M. Ribot. + +I cannot refrain from bringing forward a few more instances of what I +think must be considered by every reader as hereditary memory. +Sydney Smith writes:- + +"Sir James Hall hatched some chickens in an oven. Within a few +minutes after the shell was broken, a spider was turned loose before +this very youthful brood; the destroyer of flies had hardly proceeded +more than a few inches, before he was descried by one of these oven- +born chickens, and, at one peck of his bill, immediately devoured. +This certainly was not imitation. A female goat very near delivery +died; Galen cut out the young kid, and placed before it a bundle of +hay, a bunch of fruit, and a pan of milk; the young kid smelt to them +all very attentively, and then began to lap the milk. This was not +imitation. And what is commonly and rightly called instinct, cannot +be explained away, under the notion of its being imitation" (Lecture +xvii. on Moral Philosophy). + +It cannot, indeed, be explained away under the notion of its being +imitation, but I think it may well be so under that of its being +memory. + +Again, a little further on in the same lecture, as that above quoted +from, we find:- + +"Ants and beavers lay up magazines. Where do they get their +knowledge that it will not be so easy to collect food in rainy +weather, as it is in summer? Men and women know these things, +because their grandpapas and grandmammas have told them so. Ants +hatched from the egg artificially, or birds hatched in this manner, +have all this knowledge by intuition, without the smallest +communication with any of their relations. Now observe what the +solitary wasp does; she digs several holes in the sand, in each of +which she deposits an egg, though she certainly knows not (?) that an +animal is deposited in that egg, and still less that this animal must +be nourished with other animals. She collects a few green flies, +rolls them up neatly in several parcels (like Bologna sausages), and +stuffs one parcel into each hole where an egg is deposited. When the +wasp worm is hatched, it finds a store of provision ready made; and +what is most curious, the quantity allotted to each is exactly +sufficient to support it, till it attains the period of wasphood, and +can provide for itself. This instinct of the parent wasp is the more +remarkable as it does not feed upon flesh itself. Here the little +creature has never seen its parent; for by the time it is born, the +parent is always eaten by sparrows; and yet, without the slightest +education, or previous experience, it does everything that the parent +did before it. Now the objectors to the doctrine of instinct may say +what they please, but young tailors have no intuitive method of +making pantaloons; a new-born mercer cannot measure diaper; nature +teaches a cook's daughter nothing about sippets. All these things +require with us seven years' apprenticeship; but insects are like +Moliere's persons of quality--they know everything (as Moliere says), +without having learnt anything. 'Les gens de qualite savent tout, +sans avoir rien appris.'" + +How completely all difficulty vanishes from the facts so pleasantly +told in this passage when we bear in mind the true nature of personal +identity, the ordinary working of memory, and the vanishing tendency +of consciousness concerning what we know exceedingly well. + +My last instance I take from M. Ribot, who writes:- "Gratiolet, in +his Anatomie Comparee du Systeme Nerveux, states that an old piece of +wolf's skin, with the hair all worn away, when set before a little +dog, threw the animal into convulsions of fear by the slight scent +attaching to it. The dog had never seen a wolf, and we can only +explain this alarm by the hereditary transmission of certain +sentiments, coupled with a certain perception of the sense of smell" +("Heredity," p. 43). + +I should prefer to say "we can only explain the alarm by supposing +that the smell of the wolf's skin"--the sense of smell being, as we +all know, more powerful to recall the ideas that have been associated +with it than any other sense--"brought up the ideas with which it had +been associated in the dog's mind during many previous existences"-- +he on smelling the wolf's skin remembering all about wolves perfectly +well. + + + +CHAPTER XII--INSTINCTS OF NEUTER INSECTS + + + +In this chapter I will consider, as briefly as possible, the +strongest argument that I have been able to discover against the +supposition that instinct is chiefly due to habit. I have said "the +strongest argument;" I should have said, the only argument that +struck me as offering on the face of it serious difficulties. + +Turning, then, to Mr. Darwin's chapter on instinct ("Natural +Selection," ed. 1876, p. 205), we find substantially much the same +views as those taken at a later date by M. Ribot, and referred to in +the preceding chapter. Mr. Darwin writes:- + +"An action, which we ourselves require experience to enable us to +perform, when performed by an animal, more especially a very young +one, without experience, and when performed by many animals in the +same way without their knowing for what purpose it is performed, is +usually said to be instinctive." + +The above should strictly be, "without their being conscious of their +own knowledge concerning the purpose for which they act as they do;" +and though some may say that the two phrases come to the same thing, +I think there is an important difference, as what I propose +distinguishes ignorance from over-familiarity, both which states are +alike unself-conscious, though with widely different results. + +"But I could show," continues Mr. Darwin, "that none of these +characters are universal. A little dose of judgement or reason, as +Pierre Huber expresses it, often comes into play even with animals +low in the scale of nature. + +"Frederick Cuvier and several of the older metaphysicians have +compared instinct with habit." + +I would go further and would say, that instinct, in the great +majority of cases, is habit pure and simple, contracted originally by +some one or more individuals; practised, probably, in a consciously +intelligent manner during many successive lives, until the habit has +acquired the highest perfection which the circumstances admitted; +and, finally, so deeply impressed upon the memory as to survive that +effacement of minor impressions which generally takes place in every +fresh life-wave or generation. + +I would say, that unless the identity of offspring with their parents +be so far admitted that the children be allowed to remember the +deeper impressions engraved on the minds of those who begot them, it +is little less than trilling to talk, as so many writers do, about +inherited habit, or the experience of the race, or, indeed, +accumulated variations of instincts. + +When an instinct is not habit, as resulting from memory pure and +simple, it is habit modified by some treatment, generally in the +youth or embryonic stages of the individual, which disturbs his +memory, and drives him on to some unusual course, inasmuch as he +cannot recognise and remember his usual one by reason of the change +now made in it. Habits and instincts, again, may be modified by any +important change in the condition of the parents, which will then +both affect the parent's sense of his own identity, and also create +more or less fault, or dislocation of memory, in the offspring +immediately behind the memory of his last life. Change of food may +at times be sufficient to create a specific modification--that is to +say, to affect all the individuals whose food is so changed, in one +and the same way--whether as regards structure or habit. Thus we see +that certain changes in food (and domicile), from those with which +its ancestors have been familiar, will disturb the memory of a queen +bee's egg, and set it at such disadvantage as to make it make itself +into a neuter bee; but yet we find that the larva thus partly aborted +may have its memories restored to it, if not already too much +disturbed, and may thus return to its condition as a queen bee, if it +only again be restored to the food and domicile, which its past +memories can alone remember. + +So we see that opium, tobacco, alcohol, hasheesh, and tea produce +certain effects upon our own structure and instincts. But though +capable of modification, and of specific modification, which may in +time become inherited, and hence resolve itself into a true instinct +or settled question, yet I maintain that the main bulk of the +instinct (whether as affecting structure or habits of life) will be +derived from memory pure and simple; the individual growing up in the +shape he does, and liking to do this or that when he is grown up, +simply from recollection of what he did last time, and of what on the +whole suited him. + +For it must be remembered that a drug which should destroy some one +part at an early embryonic stage, and thus prevent it from +development, would prevent the creature from recognising the +surroundings which affected that part when he was last alive and +unmutilated, as being the same as his present surroundings. He would +be puzzled, for he would be viewing the position from a different +standpoint. If any important item in a number of associated ideas +disappears, the plot fails; and a great internal change is an +exceedingly important item. Life and things to a creature so treated +at an early embryonic stage would not be life and things as he last +remembered them; hence he would not be able to do the same now as he +did then; that is to say, he would vary both in structure and +instinct; but if the creature were tolerably uniform to start with, +and were treated in a tolerably uniform way, we might expect the +effect produced to be much the same in all ordinary cases. + +We see, also, that any important change in treatment and +surroundings, if not sufficient to kill, would and does tend to +produce not only variability but sterility, as part of the same story +and for the same reason--namely, default of memory; this default will +be of every degree of intensity, from total failure, to a slight +disturbance of memory as affecting some one particular organ only; +that is to say, from total sterility, to a slight variation in an +unimportant part. So that even THE SLIGHTEST CONCEIVABLE VARIATIONS +SHOULD BE REFERRED TO CHANGED CONDITIONS, EXTERNAL OR INTERNAL, AND +TO THEIR DISTURBING EFFECTS UPON THE MEMORY; and sterility, without +any apparent disease of the reproductive system, may be referred not +so much to special delicacy or susceptibility of the organs of +reproduction as to inability on the part of the creature to know +where it is, and to recognise itself as the same creature which it +has been accustomed to reproduce. + +Mr. Darwin thinks that the comparison of habit with instinct gives +"an accurate notion of the frame of mind under which an instinctive +action is performed, but not," he thinks, "of its origin." + +"How unconsciously," Mr. Darwin continues, "many habitual actions are +performed, indeed not rarely in direct opposition to our conscious +will! Yet they may be modified by the will or by reason. Habits +easily become associated with other habits, with certain periods of +time and states of body. When once acquired, they often remain +constant throughout life. Several other points of resemblance +between instincts and habits could be pointed out. As in repeating a +well-known song, so in instincts, one action follows another by a +sort of rhythm. If a person be interrupted in a song or in repeating +anything by rote, he is generally forced to go back to recover the +habitual train of thought; so P. Huber found it was with a +caterpillar, which makes a very complicated hammock. For if he took +a caterpillar which had completed its hammock up to, say, the sixth +stage of construction, and put it into a hammock completed up only to +the third stage, the caterpillar simply re-performed the fourth, +fifth, and sixth stages of construction. If, however, a caterpillar +were taken out of a hammock made up, for instance, to the third +stage, and were put into one finished up to the sixth stage, so that +much of its work was already done for it, far from deriving any +benefit from this, it was much embarrassed, and in order to complete +its hammock, seemed forced to start from the third stage, where it +had left off, and thus tried to complete the already finished work." + +I see I must have unconsciously taken my first chapter from this +passage, but it is immaterial. I owe Mr. Darwin much more than this. +I owe it to him that I believe in evolution at all. I owe him for +almost all the facts which have led me to differ from him, and which +I feel absolutely safe in taking for granted, if he has advanced +them. Nevertheless, I believe that the conclusion arrived at in the +passage which I will next quote is a mistaken one, and that not a +little only, but fundamentally. I shall therefore venture to dispute +it. + +The passage runs:- + +"If we suppose any habitual action to become inherited--and it can be +shown that this does sometimes happen--then the resemblance between +what originally was a habit and an instinct becomes so close as not +to be distinguished. . . . BUT IT WOULD BE A SERIOUS ERROR TO SUPPOSE +THAT THE GREATER NUMBER OF INSTINCTS HAVE BEEN ACQUIRED BY HABIT IN +ONE GENERATION, AND THEN TRANSMITTED BY INHERITANCE TO SUCCEEDING +GENERATIONS. IT CAN BE CLEARLY SHOWN THAT THE MOST WONDERFUL +INSTINCTS WITH WHICH WE ARE ACQUAINTED--NAMELY, THOSE OF THE HIVE-BEE +AND OF MANY ANTS, COULD NOT POSSIBLY HAVE BEEN ACQUIRED BY HABIT." +("Origin of Species," p. 206, ed. 1876.) The italics in this passage +are mine. + +No difficulty is opposed to my view (as I call it, for the sake of +brevity) by such an instinct as that of ants to milk aphids. Such +instincts may be supposed to have been acquired in much the same way +as the instinct of a farmer to keep a cow. Accidental discovery of +the fact that the excretion was good, with "a little dose of +judgement or reason" from time to time appearing in an exceptionally +clever ant, and by him communicated to his fellows, till the habit +was so confirmed as to be capable of transmission in full unself- +consciousness (if indeed the instinct be unself-conscious in this +case), would, I think, explain this as readily as the slow and +gradual accumulations of instincts which had never passed through the +intelligent and self-conscious stage, but had always prompted action +without any idea of a why or a wherefore on the part of the creature +itself. + +For it must be remembered, as I am afraid I have already perhaps too +often said, that even when we have got a slight variation of +instinct, due to some cause which we know nothing about, but which I +will not even for a moment call "spontaneous"--a word that should be +cut out of every dictionary, or in some way branded as perhaps the +most misleading in the language--we cannot see how it comes to be +repeated in successive generations, so as to be capable of being +acted upon by "natural selection" and accumulated, unless it be also +capable of being remembered by the offspring of the varying creature. +It may be answered that we cannot know anything about this, but that +"like father like son" is an ultimate fact in nature. I can only +answer that I never observe any "like father like son" without the +son's both having had every opportunity of remembering, and showing +every symptom of having remembered, in which case I decline to go +further than memory (whatever memory may be) as the cause of the +phenomenon. + +But besides inheritance, teaching must be admitted as a means of at +any rate modifying an instinct. We observe this in our own case; and +we know that animals have great powers of communicating their ideas +to one another, though their manner of doing this is as +incomprehensible by us as a plant's knowledge of chemistry, or the +manner in which an amoeba makes its test, or a spider its web, +without having gone through a long course of mathematics. I think +most readers will allow that our early training and the theological +systems of the last eighteen hundred years are likely to have made us +involuntarily under-estimate the powers of animals low in the scale +of life, both as regards intelligence and the power of communicating +their ideas to one another; but even now we admit that ants have +great powers in this respect. + +A habit, however, which is taught to the young or each successive +generation, by older members of the community who have themselves +received it by instruction, should surely rank as an inherited habit, +and be considered as due to memory, though personal teaching be +necessary to complete the inheritance. + +An objection suggests itself that if such a habit as the flight of +birds, which seems to require a little personal supervision and +instruction before it is acquired perfectly, were really due to +memory, the need of instruction would after a time cease, inasmuch as +the creature would remember its past method of procedure, and would +thus come to need no more teaching. The answer lies in the fact, +that if a creature gets to depend upon teaching and personal help for +any matter, its memory will make it look for such help on each +repetition of the action; so we see that no man's memory will exert +itself much until he is thrown upon memory as his only resource. We +may read a page of a book a hundred times, but we do not remember it +by heart unless we have either cultivated our powers of learning to +repeat, or have taken pains to learn this particular page. + +And whether we read from a book, or whether we repeat by heart, the +repetition is still due to memory; only in the one case the memory is +exerted to recall something which one saw only half a second ago, and +in the other, to recall something not seen for a much longer period. +So I imagine an instinct or habit may be called an inherited habit, +and assigned to memory, even though the memory dates, not from the +performance of the action by the learner when he was actually part of +the personality of the teacher, but rather from a performance +witnessed by, or explained by the teacher to, the pupil at a period +subsequent to birth. In either case the habit is inherited in the +sense of being acquired in one generation, and transmitted with such +modifications as genius and experience may have suggested. + +Mr. Darwin would probably admit this without hesitation; when, +therefore, he says that certain instincts could not possibly have +been acquired by habit, he must mean that they could not, under the +circumstances, have been remembered by the pupil in the person of the +teacher, and that it would be a serious error to suppose that the +greater number of instincts can be thus remembered. To which I +assent readily so far as that it is difficult (though not impossible) +to see how some of the most wonderful instincts of neuter ants and +bees can be due to the fact that the neuter ant or bee was ever in +part, or in some respects, another neuter ant or bee in a previous +generation. At the same time I maintain that this does not militate +against the supposition that both instinct and structure are in the +main due to memory. For the power of receiving any communication, +and acting on it, is due to memory; and the neuter ant or bee may +have received its lesson from another neuter ant or bee, who had it +from another and modified it; and so back and back, till the +foundation of the habit is reached, and is found to present little +more than the faintest family likeness to its more complex +descendant. Surely Mr. Darwin cannot mean that it can be shewn that +the wonderful instincts of neuter ants and bees cannot have been +acquired either, as above, by instruction, or by some not immediately +obvious form of inherited transmission, but that they must be due to +the fact that the ant or bee is, as it were, such and such a machine, +of which if you touch such and such a spring, you will get a +corresponding action. If he does, he will find, so far as I can see, +no escape from a position very similar to the one which I put into +the mouth of the first of the two professors, who dealt with the +question of machinery in my earlier work, "Erewhon," and which I have +since found that my great namesake made fun of in the following +lines:- + + +. . . "They now begun +To spur their living engines on. +For as whipped tops and bandy'd balls, +The learned hold are animals: +So horses they affirm to be +Mere engines made by geometry, +And were invented first from engines +As Indian Britons were from Penguins." +--Hudibras, Canto ii. line 53, &c. + + +I can see, then, no difficulty in the development of the ordinary so- +called instincts, whether of ants or bees, or the cuckoo, or any +other animal, on the supposition that they were, for the most part, +intelligently acquired with more or less labour, as the case may be, +in much the same way as we see any art or science now in process of +acquisition among ourselves, but were ultimately remembered by +offspring, or communicated to it. When the limits of the race's +capacity had been attained (and most races seem to have their limits, +unsatisfactory though the expression may very fairly be considered), +or when the creature had got into a condition, so to speak, of +equilibrium with its surroundings, there would be no new development +of instincts, and the old ones would cease to be improved, inasmuch +as there would be no more reasoning or difference of opinion +concerning them. The race, therefore, or species would remain in +statu quo till either domesticated, and so brought into contact with +new ideas and placed in changed conditions, or put under such +pressure, in a wild state, as should force it to further invention, +or extinguish it if incapable of rising to the occasion. That +instinct and structure may be acquired by practice in one or more +generations, and remembered in succeeding ones, is admitted by Mr. +Darwin, for he allows ("Origin of Species," p. 206) that habitual +action does sometimes become inherited, and, though he does not seem +to conceive of such action as due to memory, yet it is inconceivable +how it is inherited, if not as the result of memory. + +It must be admitted, however, that when we come to consider the +structures as well as the instincts of some of the neuter insects, +our difficulties seem greatly increased. The neuter hive-bees have a +cavity in their thighs in which to keep the wax, which it is their +business to collect; but the drones and queen, which alone bear +offspring, collect no wax, and therefore neither want, nor have, any +such cavity. The neuter bees are also, if I understand rightly, +furnished with a proboscis or trunk for extracting honey from +flowers, whereas the fertile bees, who gather no honey, have no such +proboscis. Imagine, if the reader will, that the neuter bees differ +still more widely from the fertile ones; how, then, can they in any +sense be said to derive organs from their parents, which not one of +their parents for millions of generations has ever had? How, again, +can it be supposed that they transmit these organs to the future +neuter members of the community when they are perfectly sterile? + +One can understand that the young neuter bee might be taught to make +a hexagonal cell (though I have not found that any one has seen the +lesson being given) inasmuch as it does not make the cell till after +birth, and till after it has seen other neuter bees who might tell it +much in, qua us, a very little time; but we can hardly understand its +growing a proboscis before it could possibly want it, or preparing a +cavity in its thigh, to have it ready to put wax into, when none of +its predecessors had ever done so, by supposing oral communication, +during the larvahood. Nevertheless, it must not be forgotten that +bees seem to know secrets about reproduction, which utterly baffle +ourselves; for example, the queen bee appears to know how to deposit +male or female, eggs at will; and this is a matter of almost +inconceivable sociological importance, denoting a corresponding +amount of sociological and physiological knowledge generally. It +should not, then, surprise us if the race should possess other +secrets, whose working we are unable to follow, or even detect at +all. + +Sydney Smith, indeed, writes:- + +"The warmest admirers of honey, and the greatest friends to bees, +will never, I presume, contend that the young swarm, who begin making +honey three or four months after they are born, and immediately +construct these mathematical cells, should have gained their +geometrical knowledge as we gain ours, and in three months' time +outstrip Mr. Maclaurin in mathematics as much as they did in making +honey. It would take a senior wrangler at Cambridge ten hours a day +for three years together to know enough mathematics for the +calculation of these problems, with which not only every queen bee, +but every undergraduate grub, is acquainted the moment it is born." +This last statement may be a little too strong, but it will at once +occur to the reader, that as we know the bees DO surpass Mr. +Maclaurin in the power of making honey, they may also surpass him in +capacity for those branches of mathematics with which it has been +their business to be conversant during many millions of years, and +also in knowledge of physiology and psychology in so far as the +knowledge bears upon the interests of their own community. + +We know that the larva which develops into a neuter bee, and that +again which in time becomes a queen bee, are the same kind of larva +to start with; and that if you give one of these larvae the food and +treatment which all its foremothers have been accustomed to, it will +turn out with all the structure and instincts of its foremothers--and +that it only fails to do this because it has been fed, and otherwise +treated, in such a manner as not one of its foremothers was ever yet +fed or treated. So far, this is exactly what we should expect, on +the view that structure and instinct are alike mainly due to memory, +or to medicined memory. Give the larva a fair chance of knowing +where it is, and it shows that it remembers by doing exactly what it +did before. Give it a different kind of food and house, and it +cannot be expected to be anything else than puzzled. It remembers a +great deal. It comes out a bee, and nothing but a bee; but it is an +aborted bee; it is, in fact, mutilated before birth instead of after- +-with instinct, as well as growth, correlated to its abortion, as we +see happens frequently in the case of animals a good deal higher than +bees that have been mutilated at a stage much later than that at +which the abortion of neuter bees commences. + +The larvae being similar to start with, and being similarly +mutilated--i.e., by change of food and dwelling, will naturally +exhibit much similarity of instinct and structure on arriving at +maturity. When driven from their usual course, they must take SOME +new course or die. There is nothing strange in the fact that similar +beings puzzled similarly should take a similar line of action. I +grant, however, that it is hard to see how change of food and +treatment can puzzle an insect into such "complex growth" as that it +should make a cavity in its thigh, grow an invaluable proboscis, and +betray a practical knowledge of difficult mathematical problems. + +But it must be remembered that the memory of having been queen bees +and drones--which is all that according to my supposition the larvae +can remember, (on a first view of the case), in their own proper +persons--would nevertheless carry with it a potential recollection of +all the social arrangements of the hive. They would thus potentially +remember that the mass of the bees were always neuter bees; they +would remember potentially the habits of these bees, so far as drones +and queens know anything about them; and this may be supposed to be a +very thorough acquaintance; in like manner, and with the same +limitation, they would know from the very moment that they left the +queen's body that neuter bees had a proboscis to gather honey with, +and cavities in their thighs to put wax into, and that cells were to +be made with certain angles--for surely it is not crediting the queen +with more knowledge than she is likely to possess, if we suppose her +to have a fair acquaintance with the phenomena of wax and cells +generally, even though she does not make any; they would know (while +still larvae--and earlier) the kind of cells into which neuter bees +were commonly put, and the kind of treatment they commonly received-- +they might therefore, as eggs--immediately on finding their +recollection driven from its usual course, so that they must either +find some other course, or die--know that they were being treated as +neuter bees are treated, and that they were expected to develop into +neuter bees accordingly; they might know all this, and a great deal +more into the bargain, inasmuch as even before being actually +deposited as eggs they would know and remember potentially, but +unconsciously, all that their parents knew and remembered intensely. +Is it, then, astonishing that they should adapt themselves so readily +to the position which they know it is for the social welfare of the +community, and hence of themselves, that they should occupy, and that +they should know that they will want a cavity in their thighs and a +proboscis, and hence make such implements out of their protoplasm as +readily as they make their wings? + +I admit that, under normal treatment, none of the above-mentioned +potential memories would be kindled into such a state of activity +that action would follow upon them, until the creature had attained a +more or less similar condition to that in which its parent was when +these memories were active within its mind: but the essence of the +matter is, that these larvae have been treated ABNORMALLY, so that if +they do not die, there is nothing for it but that they must vary. +One cannot argue from the normal to the abnormal. It would not, +then, be strange if the potential memories should (owing to the +margin for premature or tardy development which association admits) +serve to give the puzzled larvae a hint as to the course which they +had better take, or that, at any rate, it should greatly supplement +the instruction of the "nurse" bees themselves by rendering the +larvae so, as it were, inflammable on this point, that a spark should +set them in a blaze. Abortion is generally premature. Thus the +scars referred to in the last chapter as having appeared on the +children of men who had been correspondingly wounded, should not, +under normal circumstances, have appeared in the offspring till the +children had got fairly near the same condition generally as that in +which their fathers were when they were wounded, and even then, +normally, there should have been an instrument to wound them, much as +their fathers had been wounded. Association, however, does not +always stick to the letter of its bond. + +The line, again, might certainly be taken that the difference in +structure and instincts between neuter and fertile bees is due to the +specific effects of certain food and treatment; yet, though one would +be sorry to set limits to the convertibility of food and genius, it +seems hard to believe that there can be any untutored food which +should teach a bee to make a hexagonal cell as soon as it was born, +or which, before it was born, should teach it to prepare such +structures as it would require in after life. If, then, food be +considered as a direct agent in causing the structures and instinct, +and not an indirect agent, merely indicating to the larva itself that +it is to make itself after the fashion of neuter bees, then we should +bear in mind that, at any rate, it has been leavened and prepared in +the stomachs of those neuter bees into which the larva is now +expected to develop itself, and may thus have in it more true +germinative matter--gemmules, in fact--than is commonly supposed. +Food, when sufficiently assimilated (the whole question turning upon +what IS "sufficiently"), becomes stored with all the experience and +memories of the assimilating creature; corn becomes hen, and knows +nothing but hen, when hen has eaten it. We know also that the neuter +working-bees inject matter into the cell after the larva has been +produced; nor would it seem harsh to suppose that though devoid of a +reproductive system like that of their parents, they may yet be +practically not so neuter as is commonly believed. One cannot say +what gemmules of thigh and proboscis may not have got into the +neutral bees' stomachs, if they assimilate their food sufficiently, +and thus into the larva. + +Mr. Darwin will be the first to admit that though a creature have no +reproductive system, in any ordinary sense of the word, yet every +unit or cell of its body may throw off gemmules which may be free to +move over every part of the whole organism, and which "natural +selection" might in time cause to stray into food which had been +sufficiently prepared in the stomachs of the neuter bees. + +I cannot say, then, precisely in what way, but I can see no reason +for doubting that in some of the ways suggested above, or in some +combination of them, the phenomena of the instincts of neuter ants +and bees can be brought into the same category as the instincts and +structure of fertile animals. At any rate, I see the great fact that +when treated as they have been accustomed to be treated, these +neuters act as though they remembered, and accordingly become queen +bees; and that they only depart from their ancestral course on being +treated in such fashion as their ancestors can never have remembered; +also, that when they have been thrown off their accustomed line of +thought and action, they only take that of their nurses, who have +been about them from the moment of their being deposited as eggs by +the queen bee, who have fed them from their own bodies, and between +whom and them there may have been all manner of physical and mental +communication, of which we know no more than we do of the power which +enables a bee to find its way home after infinite shifting and +turning among flowers, which no human powers could systematise so as +to avoid confusion. + +Or take it thus: We know that mutilation at an early age produces an +effect upon the structure and instincts of cattle, sheep, and horses; +and it might be presumed that if feasible at an earlier age, it would +produce a still more marked effect. We observe that the effect +produced is uniform, or nearly so. Suppose mutilation to produce a +little more effect than it does, as we might easily do, if cattle, +sheep, and horses had been for ages accustomed to a mutilated class +living among them, which class had been always a caste apart, and had +fed the young neuters from their own bodies, from an early embryonic +stage onwards; would any one in this case dream of advancing the +structure and instincts of this mutilated class against the doctrine +that instinct is inherited habit? Or, if inclined to do this, would +he not at once refrain, on remembering that the process of mutilation +might be arrested, and the embryo be developed into an entire animal +by simply treating it in the way to which all its ancestors had been +accustomed? Surely he would not allow the difficulty (which I must +admit in some measure to remain) to outweigh the evidence derivable +from these very neuter insects themselves, as well as from such a +vast number of other sources--all pointing in the direction of +instinct as inherited habit. {5} + +Lastly, it must be remembered that the instinct to make cells and +honey is one which has no very great hold upon its possessors. Bees +CAN make cells and honey, nor do they seem to have any very violent +objection to doing so; but it is quite clear that there is nothing in +their structure and instincts which urges them on to do these things +for the mere love of doing them, as a hen is urged to sit upon a +chalk stone, concerning which she probably is at heart utterly +sceptical, rather than not sit at all. There is no honey and cell- +making instinct so strong as the instinct to eat, if they are hungry, +or to grow wings, and make themselves into bees at all. Like +ourselves, so long as they can get plenty to eat and drink, they will +do no work. Under these circumstances, not one drop of honey nor one +particle of wax will they collect, except, I presume, to make cells +for the rearing of their young. + +Sydney Smith writes:- + +"The most curious instance of a change of instinct is recorded by +Darwin. The bees carried over to Barbadoes and the Western Isles +ceased to lay up any honey after the first year, as they found it not +useful to them. They found the weather so fine, and materials for +making honey so plentiful, that they quitted their grave, prudent, +and mercantile character, became exceedingly profligate and +debauched, ate up their capital, resolved to work no more, and amused +themselves by flying about the sugar-houses and stinging the blacks" +(Lecture XVII. on Moral Philosophy). The ease, then, with which the +honey-gathering and cell-making habits are relinquished, would seem +to point strongly in the direction of their acquisition at a +comparatively late period of development. + +I have dealt with bees only, and not with ants, which would perhaps +seem to present greater difficulty, inasmuch as in some families of +these there are two, or even three, castes of neuters with well- +marked and wide differences of structure and instinct; but I think +the reader will agree with me that the ants are sufficiently covered +by the bees, and that enough, therefore, has been said already. Mr. +Darwin supposes that these modifications of structure and instinct +have been effected by the accumulation of numerous slight, +profitable, spontaneous variations on the part of the fertile +parents, which has caused them (so, at least, I understand him) to +lay this or that particular kind of egg, which should develop into a +kind of bee or ant, with this or that particular instinct, which +instinct is merely a co-ordination with structure, and in no way +attributable to use or habit in preceding generations. + +Even so, one cannot see that the habit of laying this particular kind +of egg might not be due to use and memory in previous generations on +the part of the fertile parents, "for the numerous slight spontaneous +variations," on which "natural selection" is to work, must have had +some cause than which none more reasonable than sense of need and +experience presents itself; and there seems hardly any limit to what +long-continued faith and desire, aided by intelligence, may be able +to effect. But if sense of need and experience are denied, I see no +escape from the view that machines are new species of life. + +Mr. Darwin concludes: "I am surprised that no one has hitherto +advanced this demonstrative case of neuter insects against the well- +known doctrine of inherited habit as advanced by Lamarck" ("Natural +Selection," p. 233, ed. 1876). + +After reading this, one feels as though there was no more to be said. +The well-known doctrine of inherited habit, as advanced by Lamarck, +has indeed been long since so thoroughly exploded, that it is not +worth while to go into an explanation of what it was, or to refute it +in detail. Here, however, is an argument against it, which is so +much better than anything advanced yet, that one is surprised it has +never been made use of; so we will just advance it, as it were, to +slay the slain, and pass on. Such, at least, is the effect which the +paragraph above quoted produced upon myself, and would, I think, +produce on the great majority of readers. When driven by the +exigencies of my own position to examine the value of the +demonstration more closely, I conclude, either that I have utterly +failed to grasp Mr. Darwin's meaning, or that I have no less +completely mistaken the value and bearing of the facts I have myself +advanced in these few last pages. Failing this, my surprise is, not +that "no one has hitherto advanced" the instincts of neuter insects +as a demonstrative case against the doctrine of inherited habit, but +rather that Mr. Darwin should have thought the case demonstrative; or +again, when I remember that the neuter working bee is only an aborted +queen, and may be turned back again into a queen, by giving it such +treatment as it can alone be expected to remember--then I am +surprised that the structure and instincts of neuter bees has never +(if never) been brought forward in support of the doctrine of +inherited habit as advanced by Lamarck, and against any theory which +would rob such instincts of their foundation in intelligence, and of +their connection with experience and memory. + +As for the instinct to mutilate, that is as easily accounted for as +any other inherited habit, whether of man to mutilate cattle, or of +ants to make slaves, or of birds to make their nests. I can see no +way of accounting for the existence of any one of these instincts, +except on the supposition that they have arisen gradually, through +perceptions of power and need on the part of the animal which +exhibits them--these two perceptions advancing hand in hand from +generation to generation, and being accumulated in time and in the +common course of nature. + +I have already sufficiently guarded against being supposed to +maintain that very long before an instinct or structure was +developed, the creature descried it in the far future, and made +towards it. We do not observe this to be the manner of human +progress. Our mechanical inventions, which, as I ventured to say in +"Erewhon," through the mouth of the second professor, are really +nothing but extra-corporaneous limbs--a wooden leg being nothing but +a bad kind of flesh leg, and a flesh leg being only a much better +kind of wooden leg than any creature could be expected to manufacture +introspectively and consciously--our mechanical inventions have +almost invariably grown up from small beginnings, and without any +very distant foresight on the part of the inventors. When Watt +perfected the steam engine, he did not, it seems, foresee the +locomotive, much less would any one expect a savage to invent a steam +engine. A child breathes automatically, because it has learnt to +breathe little by little, and has now breathed for an incalculable +length of time; but it cannot open oysters at all, nor even conceive +the idea of opening oysters for two or three years after it is born, +for the simple reason that this lesson is one which it is only +beginning to learn. All I maintain is, that, give a child as many +generations of practice in opening oysters as it has had in breathing +or sucking, and it would on being born, turn to the oyster-knife no +less naturally than to the breast. We observe that among certain +families of men there has been a tendency to vary in the direction of +the use and development of machinery; and that in a certain still +smaller number of families, there seems to be an almost infinitely +great capacity for varying and inventing still further, whether +socially or mechanically; while other families, and perhaps the +greater number, reach a certain point and stop; but we also observe +that not even the most inventive races ever see very far ahead. I +suppose the progress of plants and animals to be exactly analogous to +this. + +Mr. Darwin has always maintained that the effects of use and disuse +are highly important in the development of structure, and if, as he +has said, habits are sometimes inherited--then they should sometimes +be important also in the development of instinct, or habit. But what +does the development of an instinct or structure, or, indeed, any +effect upon the organism produced by "use and disuse," imply? It +implies an effect produced by a desire to do something for which the +organism was not originally well adapted or sufficient, but for which +it has come to be sufficient in consequence of the desire. The wish +has been father to the power; but this again opens up the whole +theory of Lamarck, that the development of organs has been due to the +wants or desires of the animal in which the organ appears. So far as +I can see, I am insisting on little more than this. + +Once grant that a blacksmith's arm grows thicker through hammering +iron, and you have an organ modified in accordance with a need or +wish. Let the desire and the practice be remembered, and go on for +long enough, and the slight alterations of the organ will be +accumulated, until they are checked either by the creature's having +got all that he cares about making serious further effort to obtain, +or until his wants prove inconvenient to other creatures that are +stronger than he, and he is hence brought to a standstill. Use and +disuse, then, with me, and, as I gather also, with Lamarck, are the +keys to the position, coupled, of course, with continued personality +and memory. No sudden and striking changes would be effected, except +that occasionally a blunder might prove a happy accident, as happens +not unfrequently with painters, musicians, chemists, and inventors at +the present day; or sometimes a creature, with exceptional powers of +memory or reflection, would make his appearance in this race or in +that. We all profit by our accidents as well as by our more cunning +contrivances, so that analogy would point in the direction of +thinking that many of the most happy thoughts in the animal and +vegetable kingdom were originated much as certain discoveries that +have been made by accident among ourselves. These would be +originally blind variations, though even so, probably less blind than +we think, if we could know the whole truth. When originated, they +would be eagerly taken advantage of and improved upon by the animal +in whom they appeared; but it cannot be supposed that they would be +very far in advance of the last step gained, more than are those +"flukes" which sometimes enable us to go so far beyond our own +ordinary powers. For if they were, the animal would despair of +repeating them. No creature hopes, or even wishes, for very much +more than he has been accustomed to all his life, he and his family, +and the others whom he can understand, around him. It has been well +said that "enough" is always "a little more than one has." We do not +try for things which we believe to be beyond our reach, hence one +would expect that the fortunes, as it were, of animals should have +been built up gradually. Our own riches grow with our desires and +the pains we take in pursuit of them, and our desires vary and +increase with our means of gratifying them; but unless with men of +exceptional business aptitude, wealth grows gradually by the adding +field to field and farm to farm; so with the limbs and instincts of +animals; these are but the things they have made or bought with their +money, or with money that has been left them by their forefathers, +which, though it is neither silver nor gold, but faith and protoplasm +only, is good money and capital notwithstanding. + +I have already admitted that instinct may be modified by food or +drugs, which may affect a structure or habit as powerfully as we see +certain poisons affect the structure of plants by producing, as Mr. +Darwin tells us, very complex galls upon their leaves. I do not, +therefore, for a moment insist on habit as the sole cause of +instinct. Every habit must have had its originating cause, and the +causes which have started one habit will from time to time start or +modify others; nor can I explain why some individuals of a race +should be cleverer than others, any more than I can explain why they +should exist at all; nevertheless, I observe it to be a fact that +differences in intelligence and power of growth are universal in the +individuals of all those races which we can best watch. I also most +readily admit that the common course of nature would both cause many +variations to arise independently of any desire on the part of the +animal (much as we have lately seen that the moons of Mars were on +the point of being discovered three hundred years ago, merely through +Galileo sending to Kepler a Latin anagram which Kepler could not +understand, and arranged into the line--"Salve umbistineum geminatum +Martia prolem," and interpreted to mean that Mars had two moons, +whereas Galileo had meant to say "Altissimum planetam tergeminum +observavi," meaning that he had seen Saturn's ring), and would also +preserve and accumulate such variations when they had arisen; but I +can no more believe that the wonderful adaptation of structures to +needs, which we see around us in such an infinite number of plants +and animals, can have arisen without a perception of those needs on +the part of the creature in whom the structure appears, than I can +believe that the form of the dray-horse or greyhound--so well adapted +both to the needs of the animal in his daily service to man, and to +the desires of man, that the creature should do him this daily +service--can have arisen without any desire on man's part to produce +this particular structure, or without the inherited habit of +performing the corresponding actions for man, on the part of the +greyhound and dray-horse. + +And I believe that this will be felt as reasonable by the great +majority of my readers. I believe that nine fairly intelligent and +observant men out of ten, if they were asked which they thought most +likely to have been the main cause of the development of the various +phases either of structure or instinct which we see around us, +namely--sense of need, or even whim, and hence occasional discovery, +helped by an occasional piece of good luck, communicated, it may be, +and generally adopted, long practised, remembered by offspring, +modified by changed surroundings, and accumulated in the course of +time--or, the accumulation of small divergent, indefinite, and +perfectly unintelligent variations, preserved through the survival of +their possessor in the struggle for existence, and hence in time +leading to wide differences from the original type--would answer in +favour of the former alternative; and if for no other cause yet for +this--that in the human race, which we are best able to watch, and +between which and the lower animals no difference in kind will, I +think, be supposed, but only in degree, we observe that progress must +have an internal current setting in a definite direction, but whither +we know not for very long beforehand; and that without such internal +current there is stagnation. Our own progress--or variation--is due +not to small, fortuitous inventions or modifications which have +enabled their fortunate possessors to survive in times of difficulty, +not, in fact, to strokes of luck (though these, of course, have had +some effect--but not more, probably, than strokes of ill luck have +counteracted) but to strokes of cunning--to a sense of need, and to +study of the past and present which have given shrewd people a key +with which to unlock the chambers of the future. + +Further, Mr. Darwin himself says ("Plants and Animals under +Domestication," ii. p. 237, ed. 1875):- + +"But I think we must take a broader view and conclude that organic +beings when subjected during several generations to any change +whatever in their conditions tend to vary: THE KIND OF VARIATION +WHICH ENSUES DEPENDING IN MOST CASES IN A FAR HIGHER DEGREE ON THE +NATURE OR CONSTITUTION OF THE BEING, THAN ON THE NATURE OF THE +CHANGED CONDITIONS." And this we observe in man. The history of a +man prior to his birth is more important as far as his success or +failure goes than his surroundings after birth, important though +these may indeed be. The able man rises in spite of a thousand +hindrances, the fool fails in spite of every advantage. "Natural +selection," however, does not make either the able man or the fool. +It only deals with him after other causes have made him, and would +seem in the end to amount to little more than to a statement of the +fact that when variations have arisen they will accumulate. One +cannot look, as has already been said, for the origin of species in +that part of the course of nature which settles the preservation or +extinction of variations which have already arisen from some unknown +cause, but one must look for it in the causes that have led to +variation at all. These causes must get, as it were, behind the back +of "natural selection," which is rather a shield and hindrance to our +perception of our own ignorance than an explanation of what these +causes are. + +The remarks made above will apply equally to plants such as the +misletoe and red clover. For the sake of brevity I will deal only +with the misletoe, which seems to be the more striking case. Mr. +Darwin writes:- + +"Naturalists continually refer to external conditions, such as +climate, food, &c., as the only possible cause of variation. In one +limited sense, as we shall hereafter see, this may be true; but it is +preposterous to attribute to mere external conditions, the structure, +for instance, of the woodpecker, with its feet, tail, beak, and +tongue, so admirably adapted to catch insects under the bark of +trees. In the case of the misletoe, which draws its nourishment from +certain trees, which has seeds that must be transported by certain +birds, and which has flowers with separate sexes absolutely requiring +the agency of certain insects to bring pollen from one flower to +another, it is equally preposterous to account for the structure of +this parasite with its relations to several distinct organic beings, +by the effect of external conditions, or of habit, or of the volition +of the plant itself" ("Natural Selection," p. 3, ed. 1876). + +I cannot see this. To me it seems still more preposterous to account +for it by the action of "natural selection" operating upon indefinite +variations. It would be preposterous to suppose that a bird very +different from a woodpecker should have had a conception of a +woodpecker, and so by volition gradually grown towards it. So in +like manner with the misletoe. Neither plant nor bird knew how far +they were going, or saw more than a very little ahead as to the means +of remedying this or that with which they were dissatisfied, or of +getting this or that which they desired; but given perceptions at +all, and thus a sense of needs and of the gratification of those +needs, and thus hope and fear, and a sense of content and discontent- +-given also the lowest power of gratifying those needs--given also +that some individuals have these powers in a higher degree than +others--given also continued personality and memory over a vast +extent of time--and the whole phenomena of species and genera resolve +themselves into an illustration of the old proverb, that what is one +man's meat is another man's poison. Life in its lowest form under +the above conditions--and we cannot conceive of life at all without +them--would be bound to vary, and to result after not so very many +millions of years in the infinite forms and instincts which we see +around us. + + + +CHAPTER XIII--LAMARCK AND MR. DARWIN + + + +It will have been seen that in the preceding pages the theory of +evolution, as originally propounded by Lamarck, has been more than +once supported, as against the later theory concerning it put forward +by Mr. Darwin, and now generally accepted. + +It is not possible for me, within the limits at my command, to do +anything like justice to the arguments that may be brought forward in +favour of either of these two theories. Mr. Darwin's books are at +the command of every one; and so much has been discovered since +Lamarck's day, that if he were living now, he would probably state +his case very differently; I shall therefore content myself with a +few brief remarks, which will hardly, however, aspire to the dignity +of argument. + +According to Mr. Darwin, differentiations of structure and instinct +have mainly come about through the accumulation of small, fortuitous +variations without intelligence or desire upon the part of the +creature varying; modification, however, through desire and sense of +need, is not denied entirely, inasmuch as considerable effect is +ascribed by Mr. Darwin to use and disuse, which involves, as has been +already said, the modification of a structure in accordance with the +wishes of its possessor. + +According to Lamarck, genera and species have been evolved, in the +main, by exactly the same process as that by which human inventions +and civilisations are now progressing; and this involves that +intelligence, ingenuity, heroism, and all the elements of romance, +should have had the main share in the development of every herb and +living creature around us. + +I take the following brief outline of the most important part of +Lamarck's theory from vol. xxxvi. of the Naturalist's Library +(Edinburgh, 1843):- + +"The more simple bodies," says the editor, giving Lamarck's opinion +without endorsing it, "are easily formed, and this being the case, it +is easy to conceive how in the lapse of time animals of a more +complex structure should be produced, FOR IT MUST BE ADMITTED AS A +FUNDAMENTAL LAW, THAT THE PRODUCTION OF A NEW ORGAN IN AN ANIMAL BODY +RESULTS FROM ANY NEW WANT OR DESIRE IT MAY EXPERIENCE. The first +effort of a being just beginning to develop itself must be to procure +subsistence, and hence in time there comes to be produced a stomach +or alimentary cavity." (Thus we saw that the amoeba is in the habit +of "extemporising" a stomach when it wants one.) "Other wants +occasioned by circumstances will lead to other efforts, which in +their turn will generate new organs." + +Lamarck's wonderful conception was hampered by an unnecessary +adjunct, namely, a belief in an inherent tendency towards progressive +development in every low organism. He was thus driven to account for +the presence of many very low and very ancient organisms at the +present day, and fell back upon the theory, which is not yet +supported by evidence, that such low forms are still continually +coming into existence from inorganic matter. But there seems no +necessity to suppose that all low forms should possess an inherent +tendency towards progression. It would be enough that there should +occasionally arise somewhat more gifted specimens of one or more +original forms. These would vary, and the ball would be thus set +rolling, while the less gifted would remain in statu quo, provided +they were sufficiently gifted to escape extinction. + +Nor do I gather that Lamarck insisted on continued personality and +memory so as to account for heredity at all, and so as to see life as +a single, or as at any rate, only a few, vast compound animals, but +without the connecting organism between each component item in the +whole creature, which is found in animals that are strictly called +compound. Until continued personality and memory are connected with +the idea of heredity, heredity of any kind is little more than a term +for something which one does not understand. But there seems little +a priori difficulty as regards Lamarck's main idea, now that Mr. +Darwin has familiarised us with evolution, and made us feel what a +vast array of facts can be brought forward in support of it. + +Mr. Darwin tells us, in the preface to his last edition of the +"Origin of Species," that Lamarck was partly led to his conclusions +by the analogy of domestic productions. It is rather hard to say +what these words imply; they may mean anything from a baby to an +apple dumpling, but if they imply that Lamarck drew inspirations from +the gradual development of the mechanical inventions of man, and from +the progress of man's ideas, I would say that of all sources this +would seem to be the safest and most fertile from which to draw. + +Plants and animals under domestication are indeed a suggestive field +for study, but machines are the manner in which man is varying at +this moment. We know how our own minds work, and how our mechanical +organisations--for, in all sober seriousness, this is what it comes +to--have progressed hand in hand with our desires; sometimes the +power a little ahead, and sometimes the desire; sometimes both +combining to form an organ with almost infinite capacity for +variation, and sometimes comparatively early reaching the limit of +utmost development in respect of any new conception, and accordingly +coming to a full stop; sometimes making leaps and bounds, and +sometimes advancing sluggishly. Here we are behind the scenes, and +can see how the whole thing works. We have man, the very animal +which we can best understand, caught in the very act of variation, +through his own needs, and not through the needs of others; the whole +process is a natural one; the varying of a creature as much in a wild +state as the ants and butterflies are wild. There is less occasion +here for the continual "might be" and "may be," which we are +compelled to put up with when dealing with plants and animals, of the +workings of whose minds we can only obscurely judge. Also, there is +more prospect of pecuniary profit attaching to the careful study of +machinery than can be generally hoped for from the study of the lower +animals; and though I admit that this consideration should not be +carried too far, a great deal of very unnecessary suffering will be +spared to the lower animals; for much that passes for natural history +is little better than prying into other people's business, from no +other motive than curiosity. I would, therefore, strongly advise the +reader to use man, and the present races of man, and the growing +inventions and conceptions of man, as his guide, if he would seek to +form an independent judgement on the development of organic life. +For all growth is only somebody making something. + +Lamarck's theories fell into disrepute, partly because they were too +startling to be capable of ready fusion with existing ideas; they +were, in fact, too wide a cross for fertility; partly because they +fell upon evil times, during the reaction that followed the French +Revolution; partly because, unless I am mistaken, he did not +sufficiently link on the experience of the race to that of the +individual, nor perceive the importance of the principle that +consciousness, memory, volition, intelligence, &c., vanish, or become +latent, on becoming intense. He also appears to have mixed up matter +with his system, which was either plainly wrong, or so incapable of +proof as to enable people to laugh at him, and pooh-pooh him; but I +believe it will come to be perceived, that he has received somewhat +scant justice at the hands of his successors, and that his "crude +theories," as they have been somewhat cheaply called, are far from +having had their last say. + +Returning to Mr. Darwin, we find, as we have already seen, that it is +hard to say exactly how much Mr. Darwin differs from Lamarck, and how +much he agrees with him. Mr. Darwin has always maintained that use +and disuse are highly important, and this implies that the effect +produced on the parent should be remembered by the offspring, in the +same way as the memory of a wound is transmitted by one set of cells +to succeeding ones, who long repeat the scar, though it may fade +finally away. Also, after dealing with the manner in which one eye +of a young flat-fish travels round the head till both eyes are on the +same side of the fish, he gives ("Natural Selection," p. 188, ed. +1875) an instance of a structure "which apparently owes its origin +exclusively to use or habit." He refers to the tail of some American +monkeys "which has been converted into a wonderfully perfect +prehensile organ, and serves as a fifth hand. A reviewer," he +continues, . . . "remarks on this structure--'It is impossible to +believe that in any number of ages the first slight incipient +tendency to grasp, could preserve the lives of the individuals +possessing it, or favour their chance of having and of rearing +offspring.' But there is no necessity for any such belief. Habit, +and this almost implies that some benefit, great or small, is thus +derived, would in all probability suffice for the work." If, then, +habit can do this--and it is no small thing to develop a wonderfully +perfect prehensile organ which can serve as a fifth hand--how much +more may not habit do, even though unaided, as Mr. Darwin supposes to +have been the case in this instance, by "natural selection"? After +attributing many of the structural and instinctive differences of +plants and animals to the effects of use--as we may plainly do with +Mr. Darwin's own consent--after attributing a good deal more to +unknown causes, and a good deal to changed conditions, which are +bound, if at all important, to result either in sterility or +variation--how much of the work of originating species is left for +natural selection?--which, as Mr. Darwin admits ("Natural Selection," +p. 63, ed. 1876), does not INDUCE VARIABILITY, but "implies only the +preservation of SUCH VARIATIONS AS ARISE, and are beneficial to the +being under its conditions of life?" An important part assuredly, +and one which we can never sufficiently thank Mr. Darwin for having +put so forcibly before us, but an indirect part only, like the part +played by time and space, and not, I think, the one which Mr. Darwin +would assign to it. + +Mr. Darwin himself has admitted that in the earlier editions of his +"Origin of Species" he "underrated, as it now seems probable, the +frequency and importance of modifications due to spontaneous +variability." And this involves the having over-rated the action of +"natural selection" as an agent in the evolution of species. But one +gathers that he still believes the accumulation of small and +fortuitous variations through the agency of "natural selection" to be +the main cause of the present divergencies of structure and instinct. +I do not, however, think that Mr. Darwin is clear about his own +meaning. I think the prominence given to "natural selection" in +connection with the "origin of species" has led him, in spite of +himself, and in spite of his being on his guard (as is clearly shown +by the paragraph on page 63 "Natural Selection," above referred to), +to regard "natural selection" as in some way accounting for +variation, just as the use of the dangerous word "spontaneous,"-- +though he is so often on his guard against it, and so frequently +prefaces it with the words "so-called,"--would seem to have led him +into very serious confusion of thought in the passage quoted at the +beginning of this paragraph. + +For after saying that he had underrated "the frequency and importance +of modifications due to spontaneous variability," he continues, "but +it is impossible to attribute to this cause the innumerable +structures which are so well adapted to the habits of life of each +species." That is to say, it is impossible to attribute these +innumerable structures to spontaneous variability. + +What IS spontaneous variability? + +Clearly, from his preceding paragraph, Mr. Darwin means only "so- +called spontaneous variations," such as "the appearance of a moss- +rose on a common rose, or of a nectarine on a peach-tree," which he +gives as good examples of so-called spontaneous variation. + +And these variations are, after all, due to causes, but to unknown +causes; spontaneous variation being, in fact, but another name for +variation due to causes which we know nothing about, but in no +possible sense a CAUSE OF VARIATION. So that when we come to put +clearly before our minds exactly what the sentence we are considering +amounts to, it comes to this: that it is impossible to attribute the +innumerable structures which are so well adapted to the habits of +life of each species to UNKNOWN CAUSES. + +"I can no more believe in THIS," continues Mr. Darwin, "than that the +well-adapted form of a race-horse or greyhound, which, before the +principle of selection by man was well understood, excited so much +surprise in the minds of the older naturalists, can THUS be +explained" ("Natural Selection," p. 171, ed. 1876). + +Or, in other words, "I can no more believe that the well-adapted +structures of species are due to unknown causes, than I can believe +that the well-adapted form of a race-horse can be explained by being +attributed to unknown causes. + +I have puzzled over this paragraph for several hours with the +sincerest desire to get at the precise idea which underlies it, but +the more I have studied it the more convinced I am that it does not +contain, or at any rate convey, any clear or definite idea at all. +If I thought it was a mere slip, I should not call attention to it; +this book will probably have slips enough of its own without +introducing those of a great man unnecessarily; but I submit that it +is necessary to call attention to it here, inasmuch as it is +impossible to believe that after years of reflection upon his +subject, Mr. Darwin should have written as above, especially in such +a place, if his mind was really clear about his own position. +Immediately after the admission of a certain amount of +miscalculation, there comes a more or less exculpatory sentence which +sounds so right that ninety-nine people out of a hundred would walk +through it, unless led by some exigency of their own position to +examine it closely but which yet upon examination proves to be as +nearly meaningless as a sentence can be. + +The weak point in Mr. Darwin's theory would seem to be a deficiency, +so to speak, of motive power to originate and direct the variations +which time is to accumulate. It deals admirably with the +accumulation of variations in creatures already varying, but it does +not provide a sufficient number of sufficiently important variations +to be accumulated. Given the motive power which Lamarck suggested, +and Mr. Darwin's mechanism would appear (with the help of memory, as +bearing upon reproduction, of continued personality, and hence of +inherited habit, and of the vanishing tendency of consciousness) to +work with perfect ease. Mr. Darwin has made us all feel that in some +way or other variations ARE ACCUMULATED, and that evolution is the +true solution of the present widely different structures around us, +whereas, before he wrote, hardly any one believed this. However we +may differ from him in detail, the present general acceptance of +evolution must remain as his work, and a more valuable work can +hardly be imagined. Nevertheless, I cannot think that "natural +selection," working upon small, fortuitous, indefinite, unintelligent +variations, would produce the results we see around us. One wants +something that will give a more definite aim to variations, and +hence, at times, cause bolder leaps in advance. One cannot but doubt +whether so many plants and animals would be being so continually +saved "by the skin of their teeth," as must be so saved if the +variations from which genera ultimately arise are as small in their +commencement and at each successive stage as Mr. Darwin seems to +believe. God--to use the language of the Bible--is not extreme to +mark what is done amiss, whether with plant or beast or man; on the +other hand, when towers of Siloam fall, they fall on the just as well +as the unjust. + +One feels, on considering Mr. Darwin's position, that if it be +admitted that there is in the lowest creature a power to vary, no +matter how small, one has got in this power as near the "origin of +species" as one can ever hope to get. For no one professes to +account for the origin of life; but if a creature with a power to +vary reproduces itself at all, it must reproduce another creature +WHICH SHALL ALSO HAVE THE POWER TO VARY; so that, given time and +space enough, there is no knowing where such a creature could or +would stop. + +If the primordial cell had been only capable of reproducing itself +once, there would have followed a single line of descendants, the +chain of which might at any moment have been broken by casualty. +Doubtless the millionth repetition would have differed very +materially from the original--as widely, perhaps, as we differ from +the primordial cell; but it would only have differed by addition, and +could no more in any generation resume its latest development without +having passed through the initial stage of being what its first +forefather was, and doing what its first forefather did, and without +going through all or a sufficient number of the steps whereby it had +reached its latest differentiation, than water can rise above its own +level. + +The very idea, then, of reproduction involves, unless I am mistaken, +that, no matter how much the creature reproducing itself may gain in +power and versatility, it must still always begin WITH ITSELF AGAIN +in each generation. The primordial cell being capable of reproducing +itself not only once, but many times over, each of the creatures +which it produces must be similarly gifted; hence the geometrical +ratio of increase and the existing divergence of type. In each +generation it will pass rapidly and unconsciously through all the +earlier stages of which there has been infinite experience, and for +which the conditions are reproduced with sufficient similarity to +cause no failure of memory or hesitation; but in each generation, +when it comes to the part in which the course is not so clear, it +will become conscious; still, however, where the course is plain, as +in breathing, digesting, &c., retaining unconsciousness. Thus organs +which present all the appearance of being designed--as, for example, +the tip for its beak prepared by the embryo chicken--would be +prepared in the end, as it were, by rote, and without sense of +design, though none the less owing their origin to design. + +The question is not concerning evolution, but as to the main cause +which has led to evolution in such and such shapes. To me it seems +that the "Origin of Variation," whatever it is, is the only true +"Origin of Species," and that this must, as Lamarck insisted, be +looked for in the needs and experiences of the creatures varying. +Unless we can explain the origin of variations, we are met by the +unexplained AT EVERY STEP in the progress of a creature from its +original homogeneous condition to its differentiation, we will say, +as an elephant; so that to say that an elephant has become an +elephant through the accumulation of a vast number of small, +fortuitous, but unexplained, variations in some lower creatures, is +really to say that it has become an elephant owing to a series of +causes about which we know nothing whatever, or, in other words, that +one does not know how it came to be an elephant. But to say that an +elephant has become an elephant owing to a series of variations, +nine-tenths of which were caused by the wishes of the creature or +creatures from which the elephant is descended--this is to offer a +reason, and definitely put the insoluble one step further back. The +question will then turn upon the sufficiency of the reason--that is +to say, whether the hypothesis is borne out by facts. + +The effects of competition would, of course, have an extremely +important effect upon any creature, in the same way as any other +condition of nature under which it lived, must affect its sense of +need and its opinions generally. The results of competition would +be, as it were, the decisions of an arbiter settling the question +whether such and such variation was really to the animal's advantage +or not--a matter on which the animal will, on the whole, have formed +a pretty fair judgement for itself. UNDOUBTEDLY THE PAST DECISIONS +OF SUCH AN ARBITER WOULD AFFECT THE CONDUCT OF THE CREATURE, which +would have doubtless had its shortcomings and blunders, and would +amend them. The creature would shape its course according to its +experience of the common course of events, but it would be +continually trying and often successfully, to evade the law by all +manner of sharp practice. New precedents would thus arise, so that +the law would shift with time and circumstances; but the law would +not otherwise direct the channels into which life would flow, than as +laws, whether natural or artificial, have affected the development of +the widely differing trades and professions among mankind. These +have had their origin rather in the needs and experiences of mankind +than in any laws. + +To put much the same as the above in different words. Assume that +small favourable variations are preserved more commonly, in +proportion to their numbers, than is perhaps the case, and assume +that considerable variations occur more rarely than they probably do +occur, how account for any variation at all? "Natural selection" +cannot CREATE the smallest variation unless it acts through +perception of its mode of operation, recognised inarticulately, but +none the less clearly, by the creature varying. "Natural selection" +operates on what it finds, and not on what it has made. Animals that +have been wise and lucky live longer and breed more than others less +wise and lucky. Assuredly. The wise and lucky animals transmit +their wisdom and luck. Assuredly. They add to their powers, and +diverge into widely different directions. Assuredly. What is the +cause of this? Surely the fact that they were capable of feeling +needs, and that they differed in their needs and manner of gratifying +them, and that they continued to live in successive generations, +rather than the fact that when lucky and wise they thrived and bred +more descendants. This last is an accessory hardly less important +for the DEVELOPMENT of species than the fact of the continuation of +life at all; but it is an accessory of much the same kind as this, +for if animals continue to live at all, they must live IN SOME WAY, +and will find that there are good ways and bad ways of living. An +animal which discovers the good way will gradually develop further +powers, and so species will get further and further apart; but the +origin of this is to be looked for, not in the power which decides +whether this or that way was good, but in the cause which determines +the creature, consciously or unconsciously, to try this or that way. + +But Mr. Darwin might say that this is not a fair way of stating the +issue. He might say, "You beg the question; you assume that there is +an inherent tendency in animals towards progressive development, +whereas I say that there is no good evidence of any such tendency. I +maintain that the differences that have from time to time arisen have +come about mainly from causes so far beyond our ken, that we can only +call them spontaneous; and if so, natural selection which you must +allow to have at any rate played an important part in the +ACCUMULATION of variations, must also be allowed to be the nearest +thing to the cause of Specific differences, which we are able to +arrive at." + +Thus he writes ("Natural Selection," p. 176, ed. 1876): "Although we +have no good evidence of the existence in organic beings of a +tendency towards progressive development, yet this necessarily +follows, as I have attempted to show in the fourth chapter, through +the continued action of natural selection." Mr. Darwin does not say +that organic beings have no tendency to vary at all, but only that +there is no good evidence that they have a tendency to progressive +development, which, I take it, means, to see an ideal a long way off, +and very different to their present selves, which ideal they think +will suit them, and towards which they accordingly make. I would +admit this as contrary to all experience. I doubt whether plants and +animals have any INNATE TENDENCY TO VARY at all, being led to +question this by gathering from "Plants and Animals under +Domestication" that this is Mr. Darwin's own opinion. I am inclined +rather to think that they have only an innate POWER TO VARY slightly, +in accordance with changed conditions, and an innate capability of +being affected both in structure and instinct, by causes similar to +those which we observe to affect ourselves. But however this may be, +they do vary somewhat, and unless they did, they would not in time +have come to be so widely different from each other as they now are. +The question is as to the origin and character of these variations. + +We say they mainly originate in a creature through a sense of its +needs, and vary through the varying surroundings which will cause +those needs to vary, and through the opening up of new desires in +many creatures, as the consequence of the gratification of old ones; +they depend greatly on differences of individual capacity and +temperament; they are communicated, and in the course of time +transmitted, as what we call hereditary habits or structures, though +these are only, in truth, intense and epitomised memories of how +certain creatures liked to deal with protoplasm. The question +whether this or that is really good or ill, is settled, as the proof +of the pudding by the eating thereof, i.e., by the rigorous +competitive examinations through which most living organisms must +pass. Mr. Darwin says that there is no good evidence in support of +any great principle, or tendency on the part of the creature itself, +which would steer variation, as it were, and keep its head straight, +but that the most marvellous adaptations of structures to needs are +simply the result of small and blind variations, accumulated by the +operation of "natural selection," which is thus the main cause of the +origin of species. + +Enough has perhaps already been said to make the reader feel that the +question wants reopening; I shall, therefore, here only remark that +we may assume no fundamental difference as regards intelligence, +memory, and sense of needs to exist between man and the lowest +animals, and that in man we do distinctly see a tendency towards +progressive development, operating through his power of profiting by +and transmitting his experience, but operating in directions which +man cannot foresee for any long distance. We also see this in many +of the higher animals under domestication, as with horses which have +learnt to canter and dogs which point; more especially we observe it +along the line of latest development, where equilibrium of settled +convictions has not yet been fully attained. One neither finds nor +expects much a priori knowledge, whether in man or beast; but one +does find some little in the beginnings of, and throughout the +development of, every habit, at the commencement of which, and on +every successive improvement in which, deductive and inductive +methods are, as it were, fused. Thus the effect, where we can best +watch its causes, seems mainly produced by a desire for a definite +object--in some cases a serious and sensible desire, in others an +idle one, in others, again, a mistaken one; and sometimes by a +blunder which, in the hands of an otherwise able creature, has turned +up trumps. In wild animals and plants the divergences have been +accumulated, if they answered to the prolonged desires of the +creature itself, and if these desires were to its true ultimate good; +with plants or animals under domestication they have been accumulated +if they answered a little to the original wishes of the creature, and +much, to the wishes of man. As long as man continued to like them, +they would be advantageous to the creature; when he tired of them, +they would be disadvantageous to it, and would accumulate no longer. +Surely the results produced in the adaptation of structure to need +among many plants and insects are better accounted for on this, which +I suppose to be Lamarck's view, namely, by supposing that what goes +on amongst ourselves has gone on amongst all creatures, than by +supposing that these adaptations are the results of perfectly blind +and unintelligent variations. + +Let me give two examples of such adaptations, taken from Mr. St. +George Mivart's "Genesis of Species," to which work I would wish +particularly to call the reader's attention. He should also read Mr. +Darwin's answers to Mr. Mivart (p. 176, "Natural Selection," ed. +1876, and onwards). + +Mr. Mivart writes:- + +"Some insects which imitate leaves extend the imitation even to the +very injuries on those leaves made by the attacks of insects or +fungi. Thus speaking of the walking-stick insects, Mr. Wallace says, +'One of these creatures obtained by myself in Borneo (ceroxylus +laceratus) was covered over with foliaceous excrescences of a clear +olive green colour, so as exactly to resemble a stick grown over by a +creeping moss or jungermannia. The Dyak who brought it me assured me +it was grown over with moss, though alive, and it was only after a +most minute examination that I could convince myself it was not so.' +Again, as to the leaf butterfly, he says, 'We come to a still more +extraordinary part of the imitation, for we find representations of +leaves in every stage of decay, variously blotched, and mildewed, and +pierced with holes, and in many cases irregularly covered with +powdery black dots, gathered into patches and spots so closely +resembling the various kinds of minute fungi that grow on dead +leaves, that it is impossible to avoid thinking at first sight that +the butterflies themselves have been attacked by real fungi.'" + +I can no more believe that these artificial fungi in which the moth +arrays itself are due to the accumulation of minute, perfectly blind, +and unintelligent variations, than I can believe that the artificial +flowers which a woman wears in her hat can have got there without +design; or that a detective puts on plain clothes without the +slightest intention of making his victim think that he is not a +policeman. + +Again Mr. Mivart writes:- + +"In the work just referred to ('The Fertilisation of Orchids'), Mr. +Darwin gives a series of the most wonderful and minute contrivances, +by which the visits of insects are utilised for the fertilisation of +orchids--structures so wonderful that nothing could well be more so, +except the attribution of their origin to minute, fortuitous, and +indefinite variations. + +"The instances are too numerous and too long to quote, but in his +'Origin of Species' he describes two which must not be passed over. +In one (coryanthes) the orchid has its lower lip enlarged into a +bucket, above which stand two water-secreting horns. These latter +replenish the bucket, from which, when half-filled, the water +overflows by a spout on one side. Bees visiting the flower fall into +the bucket and crawl out at the spout. By the peculiar arrangement +of the parts of the flower, the first bee which does so, carries away +the pollen mass glued to his back, and then when he has his next +involuntary bath in another flower, as he crawls out, the pollen +attached to him comes in contact with the stigma of that second +flower and fertilises it. In the other example (catasetum), when a +bee gnaws a certain part of the flower, he inevitably touches a long +delicate projection which Mr. Darwin calls the 'antenna.' 'This +antenna transmits a vibration to a membrane which is instantly +ruptured; this sets free a spring by which the pollen mass is shot +forth like an arrow in the right direction, and adheres by its viscid +extremity to the back of the bee'" ("Genesis of Species," p. 63). + +No one can tell a story so charmingly as Mr. Darwin, but I can no +more believe that all this has come about without design on the part +of the orchid, and a gradual perception of the advantages it is able +to take over the bee, and a righteous determination to enjoy them, +than I can believe that a mousetrap or a steam-engine is the result +of the accumulation of blind minute fortuitous variations in a +creature called man, which creature has never wanted either +mousetraps or steam-engines, but has had a sort of promiscuous +tendency to make them, and was benefited by making them, so that +those of the race who had a tendency to make them survived and left +issue, which issue would thus naturally tend to make more mousetraps +and more steam-engines. + +Pursuing this idea still further, can we for a moment believe that +these additions to our limbs--for this is what they are--have mainly +come about through the occasional birth of individuals, who, without +design on their own parts, nevertheless made them better or worse, +and who, accordingly, either survived and transmitted their +improvement, or perished, they and their incapacity together? + +When I can believe in this, then--and not till then--can I believe in +an origin of species which does not resolve itself mainly into sense +of need, faith, intelligence, and memory. Then, and not till then, +can I believe that such organs as the eye and ear can have arisen in +any other way than as the result of that kind of mental ingenuity, +and of moral as well as physical capacity, without which, till then, +I should have considered such an invention as the steam-engine to be +impossible. + + + +CHAPTER XIV--MR. MIVART AND MR. DARWIN + + + +"A distinguished zoologist, Mr. St. George Mivart," writes Mr. +Darwin, "has recently collected all the objections which have ever +been advanced by myself and others against the theory of natural +selection, as propounded by Mr. Wallace and myself, and has +illustrated them with admirable art and force ("Natural Selection," +p. 176, ed. 1876). I have already referred the reader to Mr. +Mivart's work, but quote the above passage as showing that Mr. Mivart +will not, probably, be found to have left much unsaid that would +appear to make against Mr. Darwin's theory. It is incumbent upon me +both to see how far Mr. Mivart's objections are weighty as against +Mr. Darwin, and also whether or not they tell with equal force +against the view which I am myself advocating. I will therefore +touch briefly upon the most important of them, with the purpose of +showing that they are serious as against the doctrine that small +fortuitous variations are the origin of species, but that they have +no force against evolution as guided by intelligence and memory. + +But before doing this, I would demur to the words used by Mr. Darwin, +and just quoted above, namely, "the theory of natural selection." I +imagine that I see in them the fallacy which I believe to run through +almost all Mr. Darwin's work, namely, that "natural selection" is a +theory (if, indeed, it can be a theory at all), in some way +accounting for the origin of variation, and so of species--"natural +selection," as we have already seen, being unable to "induce +variability," and being only able to accumulate what--on the occasion +of each successive variation, and so during the whole process--must +have been originated by something else. + +Again, Mr. Darwin writes--"In considering the origin of species it is +quite conceivable that a naturalist, reflecting on the mutual +affinities of organic beings, or their embryological relations, their +geographical distribution, geological succession, and other such +facts, might come to the conclusion that species had not been +independently created, but had descended, like varieties from other +species. Nevertheless, such a conclusion, even if well founded, +would be unsatisfactory, until it could be shown how the innumerable +species inhabiting this world had been modified, so as to acquire +that perfection of structure and co-adaptation which justly excites +our admiration" ("Origin of Species," p. 2, ed. 1876). + +After reading the above we feel that nothing more satisfactory could +be desired. We are sure that we are in the hands of one who can +indeed tell us "how the innumerable species inhabiting this world +have been modified," and we are no less sure that though others may +have written upon the subject before, there has been, as yet, no +satisfactory explanation put forward of the grand principle upon +which modification has proceeded. Then follows a delightful volume, +with facts upon facts concerning animals, all showing that species is +due to successive small modifications accumulated in the course of +nature. But one cannot suppose that Lamarck ever doubted this; for +he can never have meant to say, that a low form of life made itself +into an elephant at one or two great bounds; and if he did not mean +this, he must have meant that it made itself into an elephant through +the accumulation of small successive modifications; these, he must +have seen, were capable of accumulation in the scheme of nature, +though he may not have dwelt on the manner in which this is +accomplished, inasmuch as it is obviously a matter of secondary +importance in comparison with the origin of the variations +themselves. We believe, however, throughout Mr. Darwin's book, that +we are being told what we expected to be told; and so convinced are +we, by the facts adduced, that in some way or other evolution must be +true, and so grateful are we for being allowed to think this, that we +put down the volume without perceiving that, whereas Lamarck DID +adduce a great and general cause of variation, the insufficiency of +which, in spite of errors of detail, has yet to be shown, Mr. +Darwin's main cause of variation resolves itself into a confession of +ignorance. + +This, however, should detract but little from our admiration for Mr. +Darwin's achievement. Any one can make people see a thing if he puts +it in the right way, but Mr. Darwin made us see evolution, in spite +of his having put it, in what seems to not a few, an exceedingly +mistaken way. Yet his triumph is complete, for no matter how much +any one now moves the foundation, he cannot shake the superstructure, +which has become so currently accepted as to be above the need of any +support from reason, and to be as difficult to destroy as it was +originally difficult of construction. Less than twenty years ago, we +never met with, or heard of, any one who accepted evolution; we did +not even know that such a doctrine had been ever broached; unless it +was that some one now and again said that there was a very dreadful +book going about like a rampant lion, called "Vestiges of Creation," +whereon we said that we would on no account read it, lest it should +shake our faith; then we would shake our heads and talk of the +preposterous folly and wickedness of such shallow speculations. Had +not the book of Genesis been written for our learning? Yet, now, who +seriously disputes the main principles of evolution? I cannot +believe that there is a bishop on the bench at this moment who does +not accept them; even the "holy priests" themselves bless evolution +as their predecessors blessed Cleopatra--when they ought not. It is +not he who first conceives an idea, nor he who sets it on its legs +and makes it go on all fours, but he who makes other people accept +the main conclusion, whether on right grounds or on wrong ones, who +has done the greatest work as regards the promulgation of an opinion. +And this is what Mr. Darwin has done for evolution. He has made us +think that we know the origin of species, and so of genera, in spite +of his utmost efforts to assure us that we know nothing of the causes +from which the vast majority of modifications have arisen--that is to +say, he has made us think we know the whole road, though he has +almost ostentatiously blindfolded us at every step of the journey. +But to the end of time, if the question be asked, "Who taught people +to believe in evolution?" there can only be one answer--that it was +Mr. Darwin. + +Mr. Mivart urges with much force the difficulty of STARTING any +modification on which "natural selection" is to work, and of getting +a creature to vary in any definite direction. Thus, after quoting +from Mr. Wallace some of the wonderful cases of "mimicry" which are +to be found among insects, he writes:- + +"Now, let us suppose that the ancestors of these various animals were +all destitute of the very special protection they at present possess, +as on the Darwinian hypothesis we must do. Let it be also conceded +that small deviations from the antecedent colouring or form would +tend to make some of their ancestors escape destruction, by causing +them more or less frequently to be passed over or mistaken by their +persecutors. Yet the deviation must, as the event has shown, in each +case, be in some definite direction, whether it be towards some other +animal or plant, or towards some dead or inorganic matter. But as, +according to Mr. Darwin's theory, there is a constant tendency to +indefinite variation, and as the minute incipient variations will be +IN ALL DIRECTIONS, they must tend to neutralise each other, and at +first to form such unstable modifications, that it is difficult, if +not impossible, to see how such indefinite modifications of +insignificant beginnings can ever build up a sufficiently appreciable +resemblance to a leaf, bamboo, or other object for "natural +selection," to seize upon and perpetuate. This difficulty is +augmented when we consider--a point to be dwelt upon hereafter--how +necessary it is that many individuals should be similarly modified +simultaneously. This has been insisted on in an able article in the +'North British Review' for June 1867, p. 286, and the consideration +of the article has occasioned Mr. Darwin" ("Origin of Species," 5th +ed., p. 104) "to make an important modification in his views +("Genesis of Species," p. 38). + +To this Mr. Darwin rejoins:- + +"But in all the foregoing cases the insects in their original state, +no doubt, presented some rude and accidental resemblance to an object +commonly found in the stations frequented by them. Nor is this +improbable, considering the almost infinite number of surrounding +objects, and the diversity of form and colour of the host of insects +that exist" ("Natural Selection," p. 182, ed. 1876). + +Mr. Mivart has just said: "It is difficult to see how such +indefinite modifications of insignificant beginnings CAN EVER BUILD +UP A SUFFICIENTLY APPRECIABLE RESEMBLANCE TO A LEAF, BAMBOO, OR OTHER +OBJECT, FOR 'NATURAL SELECTION' TO WORK UPON." + +The answer is, that "natural selection" did not begin to work UNTIL, +FROM UNKNOWN CAUSES, AN APPRECIABLE RESEMBLANCE HAD NEVERTHELESS BEEN +PRESENTED. I think the reader will agree with me that the +development of the lowest life into a creature which bears even "a +rude resemblance" to the objects commonly found in the station in +which it is moving in its present differentiation, requires more +explanation than is given by the word "accidental." + +Mr. Darwin continues: "As some rude resemblance is necessary for the +first start," &c.; and a little lower he writes: "Assuming that an +insect originally happened to resemble in some degree a dead twig or +a decayed leaf, and that it varied slightly in many ways, then all +the variations which rendered the insect at all more like any such +object, and thus favoured its escape, would be preserved, while other +variations would be neglected, and ultimately lost, or if they +rendered the insect at all less like the imitated object, they would +be eliminated." + +But here, again, we are required to begin with Natural Selection when +the work is already in great part done, owing to causes about which +we are left completely in the dark; we may, I think, fairly demur to +the insects ORIGINALLY happening to resemble in some degree a dead +twig or a decayed leaf. And when we bear in mind that the +variations, being supposed by Mr. Darwin to be indefinite, or devoid +of aim, will appear in every direction, we cannot forget what Mr. +Mivart insists upon, namely, that the chances of many favourable +variations being counteracted by other unfavourable ones in the same +creature are not inconsiderable. Nor, again, is it likely that the +favourable variation would make its mark upon the race, and escape +being absorbed in the course of a few generations, unless--as Mr. +Mivart elsewhere points out, in a passage to which I shall call the +reader's attention presently--a larger number of similarly varying +creatures made their appearance at the same time than there seems +sufficient reason to anticipate, if the variations can be called +fortuitous. + +"There would," continues Mr. Darwin, "indeed be force in Mr. Mivart's +objection if we were to attempt to account for the above +resemblances, independently of 'natural selection,' through mere +fluctuating variability; but as the case stands, there is none." + +This comes to saying that, if there was no power in nature which +operates so that of all the many fluctuating variations, those only +are preserved which tend to the resemblance which is beneficial to +the creature, then indeed there would be difficulty in understanding +how the resemblance could have come about; but that as there is a +beneficial resemblance to start with, and as there is a power in +nature which would preserve and accumulate further beneficial +resemblance, should it arise from this cause or that, the difficulty +is removed. But Mr. Mivart does not, I take it, deny the existence +of such a power in nature, as Mr. Darwin supposes, though, if I +understand him rightly, he does not see that its operation UPON SMALL +FORTUITOUS VARIATIONS is at all the simple and obvious process, which +on a superficial view of the case it would appear to be. He thinks-- +and I believe the reader will agree with him--that this process is +too slow and too risky. What he wants to know is, how the insect +came even rudely to resemble the object, and how, if its variations +are indefinite, we are ever to get into such a condition as to be +able to report progress, owing to the constant liability of the +creature which has varied favourably, to play the part of Penelope +and undo its work, by varying in some one of the infinite number of +other directions which are open to it--all of which, except this one, +tend to destroy the resemblance, and yet may be in some other respect +even more advantageous to the creature, and so tend to its +preservation. Moreover, here, too, I think (though I cannot be +sure), we have a recurrence of the original fallacy in the words--"If +we were to account for the above resemblances, independently of +'natural selection,' through mere fluctuating variability." Surely +Mr. Darwin does, after all, "account for the resemblances through +mere fluctuating variability," for "natural selection" does not +account for one single variation in the whole list of them from first +to last, other than indirectly, as shewn in the preceding chapter. + +It is impossible for me to continue this subject further; but I would +beg the reader to refer to other paragraphs in the neighbourhood of +the one just quoted, in which he may--though I do not think he will-- +see reason to think that I should have given Mr. Darwin's answer more +fully. I do not quote Mr. Darwin's next paragraph, inasmuch as I see +no great difficulty about "the last touches of perfection in +mimicry," provided Mr. Darwin's theory will account for any mimicry +at all. If it could do this, it might as well do more; but a strong +impression is left on my mind, that without the help of something +over and above the power to vary, which should give a definite aim to +variations, all the "natural selection" in the world would not have +prevented stagnation and self-stultification, owing to the indefinite +tendency of the variations, which thus could not have developed +either a preyer or a preyee, but would have gone round and round and +round the primordial cell till they were weary of it. + +As against Mr. Darwin, therefore, I think that the objection just +given from Mr. Mivart is fatal. I believe, also, that the reader +will feel the force of it much more strongly if he will turn to Mr. +Mivart's own pages. Against the view which I am myself supporting, +the objection breaks down entirely, for grant "a little dose of +judgement and reason" on the part of the creature itself--grant also +continued personality and memory--and a definite tendency is at once +given to the variations. The process is thus started, and is kept +straight, and helped forward through every stage by "the little dose +of reason," &c., which enabled it to take its first step. We are, in +fact, no longer without a helm, but can steer each creature that is +so discontented with its condition, as to make a serious effort to +better itself, into SOME--and into a very distant--harbour. + + +It has been objected against Mr. Darwin's theory that if all species +and genera have come to differ through the accumulation of minute +but--as a general rule--fortuitous variations, there has not been +time enough, so far as we are able to gather, for the evolution of +all existing forms by so slow a process. On this subject I would +again refer the reader to Mr. Mivart's book, from which I take the +following:- + +"Sir William Thompson has lately advanced arguments from three +distinct lines of inquiry agreeing in one approximate result. The +three lines of inquiry are--(1) the action of the tides upon the +earth's rotation; (2) the probable length of time during which the +sun has illuminated this planet; and (3) the temperature of the +interior of the earth. The result arrived at by these investigations +is a conclusion that the existing state of things on the earth, life +on the earth, all geological history showing continuity of life, must +be limited within some such period of past time as one hundred +million years. The first question which suggests itself, supposing +Sir W. Thompson's views to be correct, is: Has this period been +anything like enough for the evolution of all organic forms by +'natural selection'? The second is: Has the period been anything +like enough for the deposition of the strata which must have been +deposited if all organic forms have been evolved by minute steps, +according to the Darwinian theory?" ("Genesis of Species," p. 154). + +Mr. Mivart then quotes from Mr. Murphy--whose work I have not seen-- +the following passage:- + +"Darwin justly mentions the greyhound as being equal to any natural +species in the perfect co-ordination of its parts, 'all adapted for +extreme fleetness and for running down weak prey.' Yet it is an +artificial species (and not physiologically a species at all) formed +by a long-continued selection under domestication; and there is no +reason to suppose that any of the variations which have been selected +to form it have been other than gradual and almost imperceptible. +Suppose that it has taken five hundred years to form the greyhound +out of his wolf-like ancestor. This is a mere guess, but it gives +the order of magnitude. Now, if so, how long would it take to obtain +an elephant from a protozoon or even from a tadpole-like fish? Ought +it not to take much more than a million times as long?" ("Genesis of +Species," p. 155). + +I should be very sorry to pronounce any opinion upon the foregoing +data; but a general impression is left upon my mind, that if the +differences between an elephant and a tadpole-like fish have arisen +from the accumulation of small variations that have had no direction +given them by intelligence and sense of needs, then no time +conceivable by man would suffice for their development. But grant "a +little dose of reason and judgement," even to animals low down in the +scale of nature, and grant this, not only during their later life, +but during their embryological existence, and see with what +infinitely greater precision of aim and with what increased speed the +variations would arise. Evolution entirely unaided by inherent +intelligence must be a very slow, if not quite inconceivable, +process. Evolution helped by intelligence would still be slow, but +not so desperately slow. One can conceive that there has been +sufficient time for the second, but one cannot conceive it for the +first. + + +I find from Mr. Mivart that objection has been taken to Mr. Darwin's +views, on account of the great odds that exist against the appearance +of any given variation at one and the same time, in a sufficient +number of individuals, to prevent its being obliterated almost as +soon as produced by the admixture of unvaried blood which would so +greatly preponderate around it; and indeed the necessity for a nearly +simultaneous and similar variation, or readiness so to vary on the +part of many individuals, seems almost a postulate for evolution at +all. On this subject Mr. Mivart writes:- + +"The 'North British Review' (speaking of the supposition that species +is changed by the survival of a few individuals in a century through +a similar and favourable variation) says - + +"'It is very difficult to see how this can be accomplished, even when +the variation is eminently favourable indeed; and still more, when +the advantage gained is very slight, as must generally be the case. +The advantage, whatever it may be, is utterly outbalanced by +numerical inferiority. A million creatures are born; ten thousand +survive to produce offspring. One of the million has twice as good a +chance as any other of surviving, but the chances are fifty to one +against the gifted individuals being one of the hundred survivors. +No doubt the chances are twice as great against any other individual, +but this does not prevent their being enormously in favour of SOME +average individual. However slight the advantage may be, if it is +shared by half the individuals produced, it will probably be present +in at least fifty-one of the survivors, and in a larger proportion of +their offspring; but the chances are against the preservation of any +one "sport" (i.e., sudden marked variation) in a numerous tribe. The +vague use of an imperfectly-understood doctrine of chance, has led +Darwinian supporters, first, to confuse the two cases above +distinguished, and secondly, to imagine that a very slight balance in +favour of some individual sport must lead to its perpetuation. All +that can be said is that in the above example the favoured sport +would be preserved once in fifty times. Let us consider what will be +its influence on the main stock when preserved. It will breed and +have a progeny of say 100; now this progeny will, on the whole, be +intermediate between the average individual and the sport. The odds +in favour of one of this generation of the new breed will be, say one +and a half to one, as compared with the average individual; the odds +in their favour will, therefore, be less than that of their parents; +but owing to their greater number the chances are that about one and +a half of them would survive. Unless these breed together--a most +improbable event--their progeny would again approach the average +individual; there would be 150 of them, and their superiority would +be, say in the ratio of one and a quarter to one; the probability +would now be that nearly two of them would survive, and have 200 +children with an eighth superiority. Rather more than two of these +would survive; but the superiority would again dwindle; until after a +few generations it would no longer be observed, and would count for +no more in the struggle for life than any of the hundred trifling +advantages which occur in the ordinary organs. + +"'An illustration will bring this conception home. Suppose a white +man to have been wrecked on an island inhabited by negroes, and to +have established himself in friendly relations with a powerful tribe, +whose customs he has learnt. Suppose him to possess the physical +strength, energy, and ability of a dominant white race, and let the +food of the island suit his constitution; grant him every advantage +which we can conceive a white to possess over the native; concede +that in the struggle for existence, his chance of a long life will be +much superior to that of the native chiefs; yet from all these +admissions there does not follow the conclusion, that after a limited +or unlimited number of generations, the inhabitants of the island +will be white. Our shipwrecked hero would probably become king; he +would kill a great many blacks in the struggle for existence; he +would have a great many wives and children . . . In the first +generation there will be some dozens of intelligent young mulattoes, +much superior in average intelligence to the negroes. We might +expect the throne for some generations to be occupied by a more or +less yellow king; but can any one believe that the whole island will +gradually acquire a white, or even a yellow population? . . . Darwin +says, that in the struggle for life a grain may turn the balance in +favour of a given structure, which will then be preserved. But one +of the weights in the scale of nature is due to the number of a given +tribe. Let there be 7000 A's and 7000 B's representing two varieties +of a given animal, and let all the B's, in virtue of a slight +difference of structure, have the better chance by one-thousandth +part. We must allow that there is a slight probability that the +descendants of B will supplant the descendants of A; but let there be +7001 A's against 7000 B's at first, and the chances are once more +equal, while if there be 7002 A's to start, the odds would be laid on +the A's. Thus they stand a greater chance of being killed; but, +then, they can better afford to be killed. The grain will only turn +the scales when these are very nicely balanced, and an advantage in +numbers counts for weight, even as an advantage in structure. As the +numbers of the favoured variety diminish, so must its relative +advantages increase, if the chance of its existence is to surpass the +chance of its extinction, until hardly any conceivable advantage +would enable the descendants of a single pair to exterminate the +descendants of many thousands, if they and their descendants are +supposed to breed freely with the inferior variety, and so gradually +lose their ascendancy,'" ("North British Review," June 1867, p. 286 +"Genesis of Species," p. 64, and onwards). + +Against this it should be remembered that there is always an +antecedent probability that several specimens of a given variation +would appear at one time and place. This would probably be the case +even on Mr. Darwin's hypothesis, that the variations are fortuitous; +if they are mainly guided by sense of need and intelligence, it would +almost certainly be so, for all would have much the same idea as to +their well-being, and the same cause which would lead one to vary in +this direction would lead not a few others to do so at the same time, +or to follow suit. Thus we see that many human ideas and inventions +have been conceived independently but simultaneously. The chances, +moreover, of specimens that have varied successfully, intermarrying, +are, I think, greater than the reviewer above quoted from would +admit. I believe that on the hypothesis that the variations are +fortuitous, and certainly on the supposition that they are +intelligent, they might be looked for in members of the same family, +who would hence have a better chance of finding each other out. +Serious as is the difficulty advanced by the reviewer as against Mr. +Darwin's theory, it may be in great measure parried without departing +from Mr. Darwin's own position, but the "little dose of judgement and +reason" removes it, absolutely and entirely. As for the reviewer's +shipwrecked hero, surely the reviewer must know that Mr. Darwin would +no more expect an island of black men to be turned white, or even +perceptibly whitened after a few generations, than the reviewer +himself would do so. But if we turn from what "might" or what +"would" happen to what "does" happen, we find that a few white +families have nearly driven the Indian from the United States, the +Australian natives from Australia, and the Maories from New Zealand. +True, these few families have been helped by immigration; but it will +be admitted that this has only accelerated a result which would +otherwise, none the less surely, have been effected. + +There is all the difference between a sudden sport, or even a variety +introduced from a foreign source, and the gradual, intelligent, and, +in the main, steady, growth of a race towards ends always a little, +but not much, in advance of what it can at present compass, until it +has reached equilibrium with its surroundings. So far as Mr. +Darwin's variations are of the nature of "sport," i.e., rare, and +owing to nothing that we can in the least assign to any known cause, +the reviewer's objections carry much weight. Against the view here +advocated, they are powerless. + +I cannot here go into the difficulties of the geologic record, but +they too will, I believe, be felt to be almost infinitely simplified +by supposing the development of structure and instinct to be guided +by intelligence and memory, which, even under unstable conditions, +would be able to meet in some measure the demands made upon them. + +When Mr. Mivart deals with evolution and ethics, I am afraid that I +differ from him even more widely than I have done from Mr. Darwin. +He writes ("Genesis of Species," p. 234): "That 'natural selection' +could not have produced from the sensations of pleasure and pain +experienced by brutes a higher degree of morality than was useful; +therefore it could have produced any amount of 'beneficial habits,' +but not abhorrence of certain acts as impure and sinful." + +Possibly "natural selection" may not be able to do much in the way of +accumulating variations that do not arise; but that, according to the +views supported in this volume, all that is highest and most +beautiful in the soul, as well as in the body, could be, and has +been, developed from beings lower than man, I do not greatly doubt. +Mr. Mivart and myself should probably differ as to what is and what +is not beautiful. Thus he writes of "the noble virtue of a Marcus +Aurelius" (p. 235), than whom, for my own part, I know few +respectable figures in history to whom I am less attracted. I cannot +but think that Mr. Mivart has taken his estimate of this emperor at +second-hand, and without reference to the writings which happily +enable us to form a fair estimate of his real character. + +Take the opening paragraphs of the "Thoughts" of Marcus Aurelius, as +translated by Mr. Long:- + +"From the reputation and remembrance of my father [I learned] modesty +and a manly character; from my mother, piety and beneficence, +abstinence not only from evil deeds, but even from evil thoughts. . . +. From my great-grandfather, not to have frequented public schools, +and to have had good teachers at home, and to know that on such +things a man should spend liberally . . . From Diognetus . . . [I +learned] to have become intimate with philosophy, . . . and to have +written dialogues in my youth, and to have desired a plank bed and +skin, and whatever else of the kind belongs to the Greek discipline. +. . . From Rusticus I received the impression that my character +required improvement and discipline;" and so on to the end of the +chapter, near which, however, it is right to say that there appears a +redeeming touch, in so far as that he thanks the gods that he could +not write poetry, and that he had never occupied himself about the +appearance of things in the heavens. + +Or, again, opening Mr. Long's translation at random I find (p. 37):- + +"As physicians have always their instruments and knives ready for +cases which suddenly require their skill, so do thou have principles +ready for the understanding of things divine and human, and for doing +everything, even the smallest, with a recollection of the bond that +unites the divine and human to one another. For neither wilt thou do +anything well which pertains to man without at the same time having a +reference to things divine; nor the contrary." + +Unhappy one! No wonder the Roman empire went to pieces soon after +him. If I remember rightly, he established and subsidised +professorships in all parts of his dominions. Whereon the same +befell the arts and literature of Rome as befell Italian painting +after the Academic system had taken root at Bologna under the +Caracci. Mr. Martin Tupper, again, is an amiable and well-meaning +man, but we should hardly like to see him in Lord Beaconsfield's +place. The Athenians poisoned Socrates; and Aristophanes--than whom +few more profoundly religious men have ever been born--did not, so +far as we can gather, think the worse of his countrymen on that +account. It is not improbable that if they had poisoned Plato too, +Aristophanes would have been well enough pleased; but I think he +would have preferred either of these two men to Marcus Aurelius. + +I know nothing about the loving but manly devotion of a St. Lewis, +but I strongly suspect that Mr. Mivart has taken him, too, upon +hearsay. + +On the other hand, among dogs we find examples of every heroic +quality, and of all that is most perfectly charming to us in man. + +As for the possible development of the more brutal human natures from +the more brutal instincts of the lower animals, those who read a +horrible story told in a note, pp. 233, 234 of Mr. Mivart's "Genesis +of Species," will feel no difficulty on that score. I must admit, +however, that the telling of that story seems to me to be a mistake +in a philosophical work, which should not, I think, unless under +compulsion, deal either with the horrors of the French Revolution--or +of the Spanish or Italian Inquisition. + +For the rest of Mr. Mivart's objections, I must refer the reader to +his own work. I have been unable to find a single one, which I do +not believe to be easily met by the Lamarckian view, with the +additions (if indeed they are additions, for I must own to no very +profound knowledge of what Lamarck did or did not say), which I have +in this volume proposed to make to it. At the same time I admit, +that as against the Darwinian view, many of them seem quite +unanswerable. + + + +CHAPTER XV--CONCLUDING REMARKS + + + +Here, then, I leave my case, though well aware that I have crossed +the threshold only of my subject. My work is of a tentative +character, put before the public as a sketch or design for a, +possibly, further endeavour, in which I hope to derive assistance +from the criticisms which this present volume may elicit. Such as it +is, however, for the present I must leave it. + +We have seen that we cannot do anything thoroughly till we can do it +unconsciously, and that we cannot do anything unconsciously till we +can do it thoroughly; this at first seems illogical; but logic and +consistency are luxuries for the gods, and the lower animals, only. +Thus a boy cannot really know how to swim till he can swim, but he +cannot swim till he knows how to swim. Conscious effort is but the +process of rubbing off the rough corners from these two contradictory +statements, till they eventually fit into one another so closely that +it is impossible to disjoin them. + +Whenever, therefore, we see any creature able to go through any +complicated and difficult process with little or no effort--whether +it be a bird building her nest, or a hen's egg making itself into a +chicken, or an ovum turning itself into a baby--we may conclude that +the creature has done the same thing on a very great number of past +occasions. + +We found the phenomena exhibited by heredity to be so like those of +memory, and to be so utterly inexplicable on any other supposition, +that it was easier to suppose them due to memory in spite of the fact +that we cannot remember having recollected, than to believe that +because we cannot so remember, therefore the phenomena cannot be due +to memory. + +We were thus led to consider "personal identity," in order to see +whether there was sufficient reason for denying that the experience, +which we must have clearly gained somewhere, was gained by us when we +were in the persons of our forefathers; we found, not without +surprise, that unless we admitted that it might be so gained, in so +far as that we once ACTUALLY WERE our remotest ancestor, we must +change our ideas concerning personality altogether. + +We therefore assumed that the phenomena of heredity, whether as +regards instinct or structure were mainly due to memory of past +experiences, accumulated and fused till they had become automatic, or +quasi automatic, much in the same way as after a long life - + + +. . "Old experience do attain +To something like prophetic strain." + + +After dealing with certain phenomena of memory, but more especially +with its abeyance and revival, we inquired what the principal +corresponding phenomena of life and species should be, on the +hypothesis that they were mainly due to memory. + +I think I may say that we found the hypothesis fit in with actual +facts in a sufficiently satisfactory manner. We found not a few +matters, as, for example, the sterility of hybrids, the phenomena of +old age, and puberty as generally near the end of development, +explain themselves with more completeness than I have yet heard of +their being explained on any other hypothesis. + +We considered the most important difficulty in the way of instinct as +hereditary habit, namely, the structure and instincts of neuter +insects; these are very unlike those of their parents, and cannot +apparently be transmitted to offspring by individuals of the previous +generation, in whom such structure and instincts appeared, inasmuch +as these creatures are sterile. I do not say that the difficulty is +wholly removed, inasmuch as some obscurity must be admitted to remain +as to the manner in which the structure of the larva is aborted; this +obscurity is likely to remain till we know more of the early history +of civilisation among bees than I can find that we know at present; +but I believe the difficulty was reduced to such proportions as to +make it little likely to be felt in comparison with that of +attributing instinct to any other cause than inherited habit, or +inherited habit modified by changed conditions. + +We then inquired what was the great principle underlying variation, +and answered, with Lamarck, that it must be "sense of need;" and +though not without being haunted by suspicion of a vicious circle, +and also well aware that we were not much nearer the origin of life +than when we started, we still concluded that here was the truest +origin of species, and hence of genera; and that the accumulation of +variations, which in time amounted to specific and generic +differences, was due to intelligence and memory on the part of the +creature varying, rather than to the operation of what Mr. Darwin has +called "natural selection." At the same time we admitted that the +course of nature is very much as Mr. Darwin has represented it, in +this respect, in so far as that there is a struggle for existence, +and that the weaker must go to the wall. But we denied that this +part of the course of nature would lead to much, if any, accumulation +of variation, unless the variation was directed mainly by intelligent +sense of need, with continued personality and memory. + +We conclude, therefore, that the small, structureless, impregnate +ovum from which we have each one of us sprung, has a potential +recollection of all that has happened to each one of its ancestors +prior to the period at which any such ancestor has issued from the +bodies of its progenitors--provided, that is to say, a sufficiently +deep, or sufficiently often-repeated, impression has been made to +admit of its being remembered at all. + +Each step of normal development will lead the impregnate ovum up to, +and remind it of, its next ordinary course of action, in the same way +as we, when we recite a well-known passage, are led up to each +successive sentence by the sentence which has immediately preceded +it. + +And for this reason, namely, that as it takes two people "to tell" a +thing--a speaker and a comprehending listener, without which last, +though much may have been said, there has been nothing told--so also +it takes two people, as it were, to "remember" a thing--the creature +remembering, and the surroundings of the creature at the time it last +remembered. Hence, though the ovum immediately after impregnation is +instinct with all the memories of both parents, not one of these +memories can normally become active till both the ovum itself, and +its surroundings, are sufficiently like what they respectively were, +when the occurrence now to be remembered last took place. The memory +will then immediately return, and the creature will do as it did on +the last occasion that it was in like case as now. This ensures that +similarity of order shall be preserved in all the stages of +development, in successive generations. + +Life, then, is faith founded upon experience, which experience is in +its turn founded upon faith--or more simply, it is memory. Plants +and animals only differ from one another because they remember +different things; plants and animals only grow up in the shapes they +assume because this shape is their memory, their idea concerning +their own past history. + +Hence the term "Natural History," as applied to the different plants +and animals around us. For surely the study of natural history means +only the study of plants and animals themselves, which, at the moment +of using the words "Natural History," we assume to be the most +important part of nature. + +A living creature well supported by a mass of healthy ancestral +memory is a young and growing creature, free from ache or pain, and +thoroughly acquainted with its business so far, but with much yet to +be reminded of. A creature which finds itself and its surroundings +not so unlike those of its parents about the time of their begetting +it, as to be compelled to recognise that it never yet was in any such +position, is a creature in the heyday of life. A creature which +begins to be aware of itself is one which is beginning to recognise +that the situation is a new one. + +It is the young and fair, then, who are the truly old and the truly +experienced; it is they who alone have a trustworthy memory to guide +them; they alone know things as they are, and it is from them that, +as we grow older, we must study if we would still cling to truth. +The whole charm of youth lies in its advantage over age in respect of +experience, and where this has for some reason failed, or been +misapplied, the charm is broken. When we say that we are getting +old, we should say rather that we are getting new or young, and are +suffering from inexperience, which drives us into doing things which +we do not understand, and lands us, eventually, in the utter +impotence of death. The kingdom of heaven is the kingdom of little +children. + +A living creature bereft of all memory dies. If bereft of a great +part of memory, it swoons or sleeps; and when its memory returns, we +say it has returned to life. + +Life and death, then, should be memory and forgetfulness, for we are +dead to all that we have forgotten. + +Life is that property of matter whereby it can remember. Matter +which can remember is living; matter which cannot remember is dead. + +LIFE, THEN, IS MEMORY. The life of a creature is the memory of a +creature. We are all the same stuff to start with, but we remember +different things, and if we did not remember different things we +should be absolutely like each other. As for the stuff itself of +which we are made, we know nothing +save only that it is "such as dreams are made of." + +I am aware that there are many expressions throughout this book, +which are not scientifically accurate. Thus I imply that we tend +towards the centre of the earth, when, I believe, I should say we +tend towards to the centre of gravity of the earth. I speak of "the +primordial cell," when I mean only the earliest form of life, and I +thus not only assume a single origin of life when there is no +necessity for doing so, and perhaps no evidence to this effect, but I +do so in spite of the fact that the amoeba, which seems to be "the +simplest form of life," does not appear to be a cell at all. I have +used the word "beget," of what, I am told, is asexual generation, +whereas the word should be confined to sexual generation only. Many +more such errors have been pointed out to me, and I doubt not that a +larger number remain of which I know nothing now, but of which I may +perhaps be told presently. + +I did not, however, think that in a work of this description the +additional words which would have been required for scientific +accuracy were worth the paper and ink and loss of breadth which their +introduction would entail. Besides, I know nothing about science, +and it is as well that there should be no mistake on this head; I +neither know, nor want to know, more detail than is necessary to +enable me to give a fairly broad and comprehensive view of my +subject. When for the purpose of giving this, a matter importunately +insisted on being made out, I endeavoured to make it out as well as I +could; otherwise--that is to say, if it did not insist on being +looked into, in spite of a good deal of snubbing, I held that, as it +was blurred and indistinct in nature, I had better so render it in my +work. + +Nevertheless, if one has gone for some time through a wood full of +burrs, some of them are bound to stick. I am afraid that I have left +more such burrs in one part and another of my book, than the kind of +reader whom I alone wish to please will perhaps put up with. +Fortunately, this kind of reader is the best-natured critic in the +world, and is long suffering of a good deal that the more consciously +scientific will not tolerate; I wish, however, that I had not used +such expressions as "centres of thought and action" quite so often. + +As for the kind of inaccuracy already alluded to, my reader will not, +I take it, as a general rule, know, or wish to know, much more about +science than I do, sometimes perhaps even less; so that he and I +shall commonly be wrong in the same places, and our two wrongs will +make a sufficiently satisfactory right for practical purposes. + +Of course, if I were a specialist writing a treatise or primer on +such and such a point of detail, I admit that scientific accuracy +would be de rigueur; but I have been trying to paint a picture rather +than to make a diagram, and I claim the painter's license "quidlibet +audendi." I have done my utmost to give the spirit of my subject, +but if the letter interfered with the spirit, I have sacrificed it +without remorse. + +May not what is commonly called a scientific subject have artistic +value which it is a pity to neglect? But if a subject is to be +treated artistically--that is to say, with a desire to consider not +only the facts, but the way in which the reader will feel concerning +those facts, and the way in which he will wish to see them rendered, +thus making his mind a factor of the intention, over and above the +subject itself--then the writer must not be denied a painter's +license. If one is painting a hillside at a sufficient distance, and +cannot see whether it is covered with chestnut-trees or walnuts, one +is not bound to go across the valley to see. If one is painting a +city, it is not necessary that one should know the names of the +streets. If a house or tree stands inconveniently for one's purpose, +it must go without more ado; if two important features, neither of +which can be left out, want a little bringing together or separating +before the spirit of the place can be well given, they must be +brought together, or separated. Which is a more truthful view, of +Shrewsbury, for example, from a spot where St. Alkmund's spire is in +parallax with St. Mary's--a view which should give only the one spire +which can be seen, or one which should give them both, although the +one is hidden? There would be, I take it, more representation in the +misrepresentation than in the representation--"the half would be +greater than the whole," unless, that is to say, one expressly told +the spectator that St. Alkmund's spire was hidden behind St. Mary's-- +a sort of explanation which seldom adds to the poetical value of any +work of art. Do what one may, and no matter how scientific one may +be, one cannot attain absolute truth. The question is rather, how do +people like to have their error? than, will they go without any error +at all? All truth and no error cannot be given by the scientist more +than by the artist; each has to sacrifice truth in one way or +another; and even if perfect truth could be given, it is doubtful +whether it would not resolve itself into unconsciousness pure and +simple, consciousness being, as it were, the clash of small +conflicting perceptions, without which there is neither intelligence +nor recollection possible. It is not, then, what a man has said, nor +what he has put down with actual paint upon his canvass, which speaks +to us with living language--IT IS WHAT HE HAS THOUGHT TO US (as is so +well put in the letter quoted on page 83), by which our opinion +should be guided;--what has he made us feel that he had it in him, +and wished to do? If he has said or painted enough to make us feel +that he meant and felt as we should wish him to have done, he has +done the utmost that man can hope to do. + +I feel sure that no additional amount of technical accuracy would +make me more likely to succeed, in this respect, if I have otherwise +failed; and as this is the only success about which I greatly care, I +have left my scientific inaccuracies uncorrected, even when aware of +them. At the same time, I should say that I have taken all possible +pains as regards anything which I thought could materially affect the +argument one way or another. + +It may be said that I have fallen between two stools, and that the +subject is one which, in my hands, has shown neither artistic nor +scientific value. This would be serious. To fall between two +stools, and to be hanged for a lamb, are the two crimes which - + + +"Nor gods, nor men, nor any schools allow." + + +Of the latter, I go in but little danger; about the former, I shall +know better when the public have enlightened me. + +The practical value of the views here advanced (if they be admitted +as true at all) would appear to be not inconsiderable, alike as +regards politics or the well-being of the community, and medicine +which deals with that of the individual. In the first case we see +the rationale of compromise, and the equal folly of making +experiments upon too large a scale, and of not making them at all. +We see that new ideas cannot be fused with old, save gradually and by +patiently leading up to them in such a way as to admit of a sense of +continued identity between the old and the new. This should teach us +moderation. For even though nature wishes to travel in a certain +direction, she insists on being allowed to take her own time; she +will not be hurried, and will cull a creature out even more surely +for forestalling her wishes too readily, than for lagging a little +behind them. So the greatest musicians, painters, and poets owe +their greatness rather to their fusion and assimilation of all the +good that has been done up to, and especially near about, their own +time, than to any very startling steps they have taken in advance. +Such men will be sure to take some, and important, steps forward; for +unless they have this power, they will not be able to assimilate well +what has been done already, and if they have it, their study of older +work will almost indefinitely assist it; but, on the whole, they owe +their greatness to their completer fusion and assimilation of older +ideas; for nature is distinctly a fairly liberal conservative rather +than a conservative liberal. All which is well said in the old +couplet - + + +"Be not the first by whom the new is tried, +Nor yet the last to throw the old aside." + + +Mutatis mutandis, the above would seem to hold as truly about +medicine as about politics. We cannot reason with our cells, for +they know so much more than we do that they cannot understand us;-- +but though we cannot reason with them, we can find out what they have +been most accustomed to, and what, therefore, they are most likely to +expect; we can see that they get this, as far as it is in our power +to give it them, and may then generally leave the rest to them, only +bearing in mind that they will rebel equally against too sudden a +change of treatment, and no change at all. + +Friends have complained to me that they can never tell whether I am +in jest or earnest. I think, however, it should be sufficiently +apparent that I am in very serious earnest, perhaps too much so, from +the first page of my book to the last. I am not aware of a single +argument put forward which is not a bona fide argument, although, +perhaps, sometimes admitting of a humorous side. If a grain of corn +looks like a piece of chaff, I confess I prefer it occasionally to +something which looks like a grain, but which turns out to be a piece +of chaff only. There is no lack of matter of this description going +about in some very decorous volumes; I have, therefore, endeavoured, +for a third time, to furnish the public with a book whose fault +should lie rather in the direction of seeming less serious than it +is, than of being less so than it seems. + +At the same time, I admit that when I began to write upon my subject +I did not seriously believe in it. I saw, as it were, a pebble upon +the ground, with a sheen that pleased me; taking it up, I turned it +over and over for my amusement, and found it always grow brighter and +brighter the more I examined it. At length I became fascinated, and +gave loose rein to self-illusion. The aspect of the world seemed +changed; the trifle which I had picked up idly had proved to be a +talisman of inestimable value, and had opened a door through which I +caught glimpses of a strange and interesting transformation. Then +came one who told me that the stone was not mine, but that it had +been dropped by Lamarck, to whom it belonged rightfully, but who had +lost it; whereon I said I cared not who was the owner, if only I +might use it and enjoy it. Now, therefore, having polished it with +what art and care one who is no jeweller could bestow upon it, I +return it, as best I may, to its possessor. + +What am I to think or say? That I tried to deceive others till I +have fallen a victim to my own falsehood? Surely this is the most +reasonable conclusion to arrive at. Or that I have really found +Lamarck's talisman, which had been for some time lost sight of? + +Will the reader bid me wake with him to a world of chance and +blindness? Or can I persuade him to dream with me of a more living +faith than either he or I had as yet conceived as possible? As I +have said, reason points remorselessly to an awakening, but faith and +hope still beckon to the dream. + + + +APPENDIX--AUTHOR'S ADDENDA + + + +{2} But I may say in passing that though articulate speech and the +power to maintain the upright position come much about the same time, +yet the power of making gestures of more or less significance is +prior to that of walking uprightly, and therefore to that of speech. +Not only is gesticulation the earlier faculty in the individual, but +it was so also in the history of our race. Our semi-simious +ancestors could gesticulate long before they could talk articulately. +It is significant of this that gesture is still found easier than +speech even by adults, as may be observed on our river steamers, +where the captain moves his hand but does not speak, a boy +interpreting his gesture into language. To develop this here would +complicate the argument; let us be content to note it and pass on. + +{3} Nevertheless, the smallness of the effort touches upon the +deepest mystery of organic life--the power to originate, to err, to +sport, the power which differentiates the living organism from the +machine, however complicated. The action and working of this power +is found to be like the action of any other mental and, therefore, +physical power (for all physical action of living beings is but the +expression of a mental action), but I can throw no light upon its +origin any more than upon the origin of life. This, too, must be +noted and passed over. + +{4} How different from the above uncertain sound is the full clear +note of one who truly believes:- + +"The Church of England is commonly called a Lutheran church, but +whoever compares it with the Lutheran churches on the Continent will +have reason to congratulate himself on its superiority. It is in +fact a church sui generis, yielding in point of dignity, purity and +decency of its doctrines, establishment and ceremonies, to no +congregation of christians in the world; modelled to a certain and +considerable extent, but not entirely, by our great and wise pious +reformers on the doctrines of Luther, so far as they are in +conformity with the sure and solid foundation on which it rests, and +we trust for ever will rest--the authority of the Holy Scriptures, +Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone." ("Sketch of +Modern and Ancient Geography," by Dr. Samuel Butler, of Shrewsbury. +Ed. 1813.) + +This is the language of faith, compelled by the exigencies of the +occasion to be for a short time conscious of its own existence, but +surely very little likely to become so to the extent of feeling the +need of any assistance from reason. It is the language of one whose +convictions are securely founded upon the current opinion of those +among whom he has been born and bred; and of all merely post-natal +faiths a faith so founded is the strongest. It is pleasing to see +that the only alterations in the edition of 1838 consist in spelling +Christians with a capital C and the omission of the epithet "wise" as +applied to the reformers, an omission more probably suggested by a +desire for euphony than by any nascent doubts concerning the +applicability of the epithet itself. + +{5} Or take, again, the constitution of the Church of England. The +bishops are the spiritual queens, the clergy are the neuter workers. +They differ widely in structure (for dress must be considered as a +part of structure), in the delicacy of the food they eat and the kind +of house they inhabit, and also in many of their instincts, from the +bishops, who are their spiritual parents. Not only this, but there +are two distinct kinds of neuter workers--priests and deacons; and of +the former there are deans, archdeacons, prebends, canons, rural +deans, vicars, rectors, curates, yet all spiritually sterile. In +spite of this sterility, however, is there anyone who will maintain +that the widely differing structures and instincts of these castes +are not due to inherited spiritual habit? Still less will he be +inclined to do so when he reflects that by such slight modification +of treatment as consecration and endowment any one of them can be +rendered spiritually fertile. + + + +Footnotes: + +{1} Although the original edition of "Life and Habit" is dated 1878, +the book was actually published in December, 1877. + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, LIFE AND HABIT *** + +This file should be named lfhb10.txt or lfhb10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, lfhb11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, lfhb10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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