Unconscious Memory(Fiscle Part-3) by Samuel Butler (classic books to read .TXT) 📕

As To Lack Natural Instincts,  Such As Hunger Or Thirst,  And 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 Out 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."

This Was Written A Few Days After My Arrival In Canada,  June 1874.  I

Was On Montreal Mountain For The First Time,  And Was Struck With Its

Extreme Beauty.  It Was A Magnificent Summer's Evening; The Noble St.

Lawrence Flowed Almost Immediately Beneath,  And The Vast Expanse Of

Country Beyond It Was Suffused With A Colour Which Even Italy Cannot

Surpass.  Sitting Down For A While,  I Began Making Notes For "Life

And Habit," Of Which I Was Then Continually Thinking,  And Had Written

The First Few Lines Of The Above,  When The Bells Of Notre Dame In

Montreal Began To Ring,  And Their Sound Was Carried To And Fro In A

Remarkably Beautiful Manner.  I Took Advantage Of The Incident To

Insert Then And There The Last Lines Of The Piece Just Quoted.  I

Kept The Whole Passage With Hardly Any Alteration,  And Am Thus Able

To Date It Accurately.

Though So Occupied In Canada That Writing A Book Was Impossible,  I

Nevertheless Got Many Notes Together For Future Use.  I Left Canada

At The End Of 1875,  And Early In 1876 Began Putting These Notes Into

More Coherent Form.  I Did This In Thirty Pages Of Closely Written

Matter,  Of Which A Pressed Copy Remains In My Commonplace-Book.  I

Find Two Dates Among Them--The First,  "Sunday,  Feb. 6,  1876"; And The

Second,  At The End Of The Notes,  "Feb. 12,  1876."

From These Notes I Find That By This Time I Had The Theory Contained

In "Life And Habit" Completely Before Me,  With The Four Main

Principles Which It Involves,  Namely,  The Oneness Of Personality

Between Parents And Offspring; Memory On The Part Of Offspring Of

Certain Actions Which It Did When In The Persons Of Its Forefathers;

The Latency Of That Memory Until It Is Rekindled By A Recurrence Of

The Associated Ideas; And The Unconsciousness With Which Habitual

Actions Come To Be Performed.

The First Half-Page Of These Notes May Serve As A Sample,  And Runs

Thus:-

"Those Habits And Functions Which We Have In Common With The Lower

Animals Come Mainly Within The Womb,  Or Are Done Involuntarily,  As

Our [Growth Of] Limbs,  Eyes,  &C.,  And Our Power Of Digesting Food,

&C. . . .

"We Say Of The Chicken That It Knows How To Run About As Soon As It

Is Hatched,  . . . But Had It No Knowledge Before It Was Hatched?

"It Knew How To Make A Great Many Things Before It Was Hatched.

"It Grew Eyes And Feathers And Bones.

"Yet We Say It Knew Nothing About All This.

"After It Is Born It Grows More Feathers,  And Makes Its Bones Larger,

And Develops A Reproductive System.

"Again We Say It Knows Nothing About All This.

"What Then Does It Know?

"Whatever It Does Not Know So Well As To Be Unconscious Of Knowing

It.

"Knowledge Dwells Upon The Confines Of Uncertainty.

"When We Are Very Certain,  We Do Not Know That We Know.  When We Will

Very Strongly,  We Do Not Know That We Will."

I Then Began My Book,  But Considering Myself Still A Painter By

Profession,  I Gave Comparatively Little Time To Writing,  And Got On

But Slowly.  I Left England For North Italy In The Middle Of May 1876

And Returned Early In August.  It Was Perhaps Thus That I Failed To

Hear Of The Account Of Professor Hering's Lecture Given By Professor

Ray Lankester In Nature,  July 13 1876; Though,  Never At That Time

Seeing Nature,  I Should Probably Have Missed It Under Any

Circumstances.  On My Return I Continued Slowly Writing.  By August

1877 I Considered That I Had To All Intents And Purposes Completed My

Book.  My First Proof Bears Date October 13,  1877.

At This Time I Had Not Been Able To Find That Anything Like What I

Was Advancing Had Been Said Already.  I Asked Many Friends,  But Not

One Of Them Knew Of Anything More Than I Did; To Them,  As To Me,  It

Seemed An Idea So New As To Be Almost Preposterous; But Knowing How

Things Turn Up After One Has Written,  Of The Existence Of Which One

Had Not Known Before,  I Was Particularly Careful To Guard Against

Being Supposed To Claim Originality.  I Neither Claimed It Nor Wished

For It; For If A Theory Has Any Truth In It,  It Is Almost Sure To

Occur To Several People Much About The Same Time,  And A Reasonable

Person Will Look Upon His Work With Great Suspicion Unless He Can

Confirm It With The Support Of Others Who Have Gone Before Him.

Still I Knew Of Nothing In The Least Resembling It,  And Was So Afraid

Of What I Was Doing,  That Though I Could See No Flaw In The Argument,

Nor Any Loophole For Escape From The Conclusion It Led To,  Yet I Did

Not Dare To Put It Forward With The Seriousness And Sobriety With

Which I Should Have Treated The Subject If I Had Not Been In

Continual Fear Of A Mine Being Sprung Upon Me From Some Unexpected

Quarter.  I Am Exceedingly Glad Now That I Knew Nothing Of Professor

Hering's Lecture,  For It Is Much Better That Two People Should Think

A Thing Out As Far As They Can Independently Before They Become Aware

Of Each Other's Works But If I Had Seen It,  I Should Either,  As Is

Most Likely,  Not Have Written At All,  Or I Should Have Pitched My

Book In Another Key.

Among The Additions I Intended Making While The Book Was In The

Press,  Was A Chapter On Mr. Darwin's Provisional Theory Of

Pangenesis,  Which I Felt Convinced Must Be Right If It Was Mr.

Darwin's,  And Which I Was Sure,  If I Could Once Understand It,  Must

Have An Important Bearing On "Life And Habit."  I Had Not As Yet Seen

That The Principle I Was Contending For Was Darwinian,  Not Neo-

Darwinian.  My Pages Still Teemed With Allusions To "Natural

Selection," And I Sometimes Allowed Myself To Hope That "Life And

Habit" Was Going To Be An Adjunct To Darwinism Which No One Would

Welcome More Gladly Than Mr. Darwin Himself.  At This Time I Had A

Visit From A Friend,  Who Kindly Called To Answer A Question Of Mine,

Relative,  If I Remember Rightly,  To "Pangenesis."  He Came,  September

26,  1877.  One Of The First Things He Said Was,  That The Theory Which

Had Pleased Him More Than Anything He Had Heard Of For Some Time Was

One Referring All Life To Memory.  I Said That Was Exactly What I Was

Doing Myself,  And Inquired Where He Had Met With His Theory.  He

Replied That Professor Ray Lankester Had Written A Letter About It In

Nature Some Time Ago,  But He Could Not Remember Exactly When,  And Had

Given Extracts From A Lecture By Professor Ewald Hering,  Who Had

Originated The Theory.  I Said I Should Not Look At It,  As I Had

Completed That Part Of My Work,  And Was On The Point Of Going To

Press.  I Could Not Recast My Work If,  As Was Most Likely,  I Should

Find Something,  When I Saw What Professor Hering Had Said,  Which

Would Make Me Wish To Rewrite My Own Book; It Was Too Late In The Day

And I Did Not Feel Equal To Making Any Radical Alteration; And So The

Matter Ended With Very Little Said Upon Either Side.  I Wrote,

However,  Afterwards To My Friend Asking Him To Tell Me The Number Of

Nature Which Contained The Lecture If He Could Find It,  But He Was

Unable To Do So,  And I Was Well Enough Content.

A Few Days Before This I Had Met Another Friend,  And Had Explained To

Him What I Was Doing.  He Told Me I Ought To Read Professor Mivart's

"Genesis Of Species," And That If I Did So I Should Find There Were

Two Sides To "Natural Selection."  Thinking,  As So Many People Do--

And No Wonder--That "Natural Selection" And Evolution Were Much The

Same Thing,  And Having Found So Many Attacks Upon Evolution Produce

No Effect Upon Me,  I Declined To Read It.  I Had As Yet No Idea That

A Writer Could Attack Neo-Darwinism Without Attacking Evolution.  But

My Friend Kindly Sent Me A Copy; And When I Read It,  I Found Myself

In The Presence Of Arguments Different From Those I Had Met With

Hitherto,  And Did Not See My Way To Answering Them.  I Had,  However,

Read Only A Small Part Of Professor Mivart's Work,  And Was Not Fully

Awake To The Position,  When The Friend Referred To In The Preceding

Paragraph Called On Me.

When I Had Finished The "Genesis Of Species," I Felt That Something

Was Certainly Wanted Which Should Give A Definite Aim To The

Variations Whose Accumulation Was To Amount Ultimately To Specific

And Generic Differences,  And That Without This There Could Have Been

No Progress In Organic Development.  I Got The Latest Edition Of The

"Origin Of Species" In Order To See How Mr. Darwin Met Professor

Mivart,  And Found His Answers In Many Respects Unsatisfactory.  I Had

Lost My Original Copy Of The "Origin Of Species," And Had Not Read

The Book For Some Years.  I Now Set About Reading It Again,  And Came

To The Chapter On Instinct,  Where I Was Horrified To Find The

Following Passage:-

"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 The 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." {23a}