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

Since It Was Written--This Would Have Been Bad Enough Under The

Circumstances But That It Did Occur To Him To Go Out Of His Way To

Say What Was Not True.  There Was No Necessity For Him To Have Said

Anything About My Book.  It Appeared,  Moreover,  Inadequate To Tell Me

That If A Reprint Of The English Life Was Wanted (Which Might Or

Might Not Be The Case,  And If It Was Not The Case,  Why,  A Shrug Of

The Shoulders,  And I Must Make The Best Of It),  Mr. Darwin Might

Perhaps Silently Omit His Note About My Book,  As He Omitted His

Misrepresentation Of The Author Of The "Vestiges Of Creation," And

Put The Words "Revised And Corrected By The Author" On His Title-

Page.

No Matter How High A Writer May Stand,  Nor What Services He May Have

Unquestionably Rendered,  It Cannot Be For The General Well-Being That

He Should Be Allowed To Set Aside The Fundamental Principles Of

Straightforwardness And Fair Play.  When I Thought Of Buffon,  Of Dr.

Erasmus Darwin,  Of Lamarck And Even Of The Author Of The "Vestiges Of

Creation," To All Of Whom Mr. Darwin Had Dealt The Same Measure Which

He Was Now Dealing To Myself; When I Thought Of These Great Men,  Now

Dumb,  Who Had Borne The Burden And Heat Of The Day,  And Whose Laurels

Had Been Filched From Them; Of The Manner,  Too,  In Which Mr. Darwin

Had Been Abetted By Those Who Should Have Been The First To Detect

The Fallacy Which Had Misled Him; Of The Hotbed Of Intrigue Which

Science Has Now Become; Of The Disrepute Into Which We English Must

Fall As A Nation If Such Practices As Mr. Darwin Had Attempted In

This Case Were To Be Tolerated;--When I Thought Of All This,  I Felt

That Though Prayers For The Repose Of Dead Men's Souls Might Be

Unavailing,  Yet A Defence Of Their Work And Memory,  No Matter Against

What Odds,  Might Avail The Living,  And Resolved That I Would Do My

Utmost To Make My Countrymen Aware Of The Spirit Now Ruling Among

Those Whom They Delight To Honour.

At First I Thought I Ought To Continue The Correspondence Privately

With Mr. Darwin,  And Explain To Him That His Letter Was Insufficient,

But On Reflection I Felt That Little Good Was Likely To Come Of A

Second Letter,  If What I Had Already Written Was Not Enough.  I

Therefore Wrote To The Athenaeum And Gave A Condensed Account Of The

Facts Contained In The Last Ten Or A Dozen Pages.  My Letter Appeared

January 31,  1880. {50}

The Accusation Was A Very Grave One; It Was Made In A Very Public

Place.  I Gave My Name; I Adduced The Strongest Prima Facie Grounds

For The Acceptance Of My Statements; But There Was No Rejoinder,  And

For The Best Of All Reasons--That No Rejoinder Was Possible.

Besides,  What Is The Good Of Having A Reputation For Candour If One

May Not Stand Upon It At A Pinch?  I Never Yet Knew A Person With An

Especial Reputation For Candour Without Finding Sooner Or Later That

He Had Developed It As Animals Develop Their Organs,  Through "Sense

Of Need."  Not Only Did Mr. Darwin Remain Perfectly Quiet,  But All

Reviewers And Litterateurs Remained Perfectly Quiet Also.  It Seemed-

-Though I Do Not For A Moment Believe That This Is So--As If Public

Opinion Rather Approved Of What Mr. Darwin Had Done,  And Of His

Silence Than Otherwise.  I Saw The "Life Of Erasmus Darwin" More

Frequently And More Prominently Advertised Now Than I Had Seen It

Hitherto--Perhaps In The Hope Of Selling Off The Adulterated Copies,

And Being Able To Reprint The Work With A Corrected Title Page.

Presently I Saw Professor Huxley Hastening To The Rescue With His

Lecture On The Coming Of Age Of The "Origin Of Species," And By May

It Was Easy For Professor Ray Lankester To Imply That Mr. Darwin Was

The Greatest Of Living Men.  I Have Since Noticed Two Or Three Other

Controversies Raging In The Athenaeum And Times; In Each Of These

Cases I Saw It Assumed That The Defeated Party,  When Proved To Have

Publicly Misrepresented His Adversary,  Should Do His Best To Correct

In Public The Injury Which He Had Publicly Inflicted,  But I Noticed

That In None Of Them Had The Beaten Side Any Especial Reputation For

Candour.  This Probably Made All The Difference.  But However This

May Be,  Mr. Darwin Left Me In Possession Of The Field,  In The Hope,

Doubtless,  That The Matter Would Blow Over--Which It Apparently Soon

Did.  Whether It Has Done So In Reality Or No,  Is A Matter Which

Remains To Be Seen.  My Own Belief Is That People Paid No Attention

To What I Said,  As Believing It Simply Incredible,  And That When They

Come To Know That It Is True,  They Will Think As I Do Concerning It.

From Ladies And Gentlemen Of Science I Admit That I Have No

Expectations.  There Is No Conduct So Dishonourable That People Will

Not Deny It Or Explain It Away,  If It Has Been Committed By One Whom

They Recognise As Of Their Own Persuasion.  It Must Be Remembered

That Facts Cannot Be Respected By The Scientist In The Same Way As By

Other People.  It Is His Business To Familiarise Himself With Facts,

And,  As We All Know,  The Path From Familiarity To Contempt Is An Easy

One.

Here,  Then,  I Take Leave Of This Matter For The Present.  If It

Appears That I Have Used Language Such As Is Rarely Seen In

Controversy,  Let The Reader Remember That The Occasion Is,  So Far As

I Know,  Unparalleled For The Cynicism And Audacity With Which The

Wrong Complained Of Was Committed And Persisted In.  I Trust,

However,  That,  Though Not Indifferent To This,  My Indignation Has

Been Mainly Roused,  As When I Wrote "Evolution,  Old And New," Before

Mr. Darwin Had Given Me Personal Ground Of Complaint Against Him,  By

The Wrongs He Has Inflicted On Dead Men,  On Whose Behalf I Now Fight,

As I Trust That Some One--Whom I Thank By Anticipation--May One Day

Fight On Mine.

Introduction To Professor Hering's Lecture.

After I Had Finished "Evolution,  Old And New," I Wrote Some Articles

For The Examiner,  {52} In Which I Carried Out The Idea Put Forward In

"Life And Habit," That We Are One Person With Our Ancestors.  It

Follows From This,  That All Living Animals And Vegetables,  Being--As

Appears Likely If The Theory Of Evolution Is Accepted--Descended From

A Common Ancestor,  Are In Reality One Person,  And Unite To Form A

Body Corporate,  Of Whose Existence,  However,  They Are Unconscious.

There Is An Obvious Analogy Between This And The Manner In Which The

Component Cells Of Our Bodies Unite To Form Our Single Individuality,

Of Which It Is Not Likely They Have A Conception,  And With Which They

Have Probably Only The Same Partial And Imperfect Sympathy As We,  The

Body Corporate,  Have With Them.  In The Articles Above Alluded To I

Separated The Organic From The Inorganic,  And When I Came To Rewrite

Them,  I Found That This Could Not Be Done,  And That I Must

Reconstruct What I Had Written.  I Was At Work On This--To Which I

Hope To Return Shortly--When Dr. Krause's' "Erasmus Darwin," With Its

Preliminary Notice By Mr. Charles Darwin,  Came Out,  And Having Been

Compelled,  As I Have Shown Above,  By Dr. Krause's Work To Look A

Little Into The German Language,  The Opportunity Seemed Favourable

For Going On With It And Becoming Acquainted With Professor Hering's

Lecture.  I Therefore Began To Translate His Lecture At Once,  With

The Kind Assistance Of Friends Whose Patience Seemed Inexhaustible,

And Found Myself Well Rewarded For My Trouble.

Professor Hering And I,  To Use A Metaphor Of His Own,  Are As Men Who

Have Observed The Action Of Living Beings Upon The Stage Of The

World,  He From The Point Of View At Once Of A Spectator And Of One

Who Has Free Access To Much Of What Goes On Behind The Scenes,  I From

That Of A Spectator Only,  With None But The Vaguest Notion Of The

Actual Manner In Which The Stage Machinery Is Worked.  If Two Men So

Placed,  After Years Of Reflection,  Arrive Independently Of One

Another At An Identical Conclusion As Regards The Manner In Which

This Machinery Must Have Been Invented And Perfected,  It Is Natural

That Each Should Take A Deep Interest In The Arguments Of The Other,

And Be Anxious To Put Them Forward With The Utmost Possible

Prominence.  It Seems To Me That The Theory Which Professor Hering

And I Are Supporting In Common,  Is One The Importance Of Which Is

Hardly Inferior To That Of The Theory Of Evolution Itself--For It

Puts The Backbone,  As It Were,  Into The Theory Of Evolution.  I Shall

Therefore Make No Apology For Laying My Translation Of Professor

Hering's Work Before My Reader.

Concerning The Identity Of The Main Idea Put Forward In "Life And

Habit" With That Of Professor Hering's Lecture,  There Can Hardly,  I

Think,  Be Two Opinions.  We Both Of Us Maintain That We Grow Our

Limbs As We Do,  And Possess The Instincts We Possess,  Because We

Remember Having Grown Our Limbs In This Way,  And Having Had These

Instincts In Past Generations When We Were In The Persons Of Our

Forefathers--Each Individual Life Adding A Small (But So Small,  In

Any One Lifetime,  As To Be Hardly Appreciable) Amount Of New

Experience To The General Store Of Memory; That We Have Thus Got Into

Certain Habits Which We Can Now Rarely Break; And That We Do Much Of

What We Do Unconsciously On The Same Principle As That (Whatever It

Is) On Which We Do All Other Habitual Actions,  With The Greater Ease

And Unconsciousness The More Often We Repeat Them.  Not Only Is The

Main Idea The Same,  But I Was Surprised To Find How Often Professor

Hering And I Had Taken The Same Illustrations With Which To Point Our

Meaning.

Nevertheless,  We Have Each Of Us Left Undealt With Some Points Which

The Other Has Treated Of.  Professor Hering,  For Example,  Goes Into

The Question Of What Memory Is,  And This I Did Not Venture To Do.  I

Confined Myself To Saying That Whatever Memory Was,  Heredity Was

Also.  Professor Hering Adds