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

Many Will Be Surprised At My Ascribing To Instinct An Unconscious

Knowledge,  Arising Out Of No Sensual Impression,  And Yet Invariably

Accurate.  This,  However,  Is Not A Consequence Of My Theory

Concerning Instinct; It Is The Foundation On Which That Theory Is

Based,  And Is Forced Upon Us By Facts.  I Must Therefore Adduce

Examples.  And To Give A Name To The Unconscious Knowledge,  Which Is

Not Acquired Through Impression Made Upon The Senses,  But Which Will

Be Found To Be In Our Possession,  Though Attained Without The

Instrumentality Of Means,  {115b} I Prefer The Word "Clairvoyance"

{115c} To "Presentiment," Which,  For Reasons Already Given,  Will Not

Serve Me.  This Word,  Therefore,  Will Be Here Employed Throughout,  As

Above Defined.

Let Us Now Consider Examples Of The Instincts Of Self-Preservation,

Subsistence,  Migration,  And The Continuation Of The Species.  Most

Animals Know Their Natural Enemies Prior To Experience Of Any Hostile

Designs Upon Themselves.  A Flight Of Young Pigeons,  Even Though They

Have No Old Birds With Them,  Will Become Shy,  And Will Separate From

One Another On The Approach Of A Bird Of Prey.  Horses And Cattle

That Come From Countries Where There Are No Lions Become Unquiet And

Display Alarm As Soon As They Are Aware That A Lion Is Approaching

Them In The Night.  Horses Going Along A Bridle-Path That Used To

Leave The Town At The Back Of The Old Dens Of The Carnivora In The

Berlin Zoological Gardens Were Often Terrified By The Propinquity Of

Enemies Who Were Entirely Unknown To Them.  Sticklebacks Will Swim

Composedly Among A Number Of Voracious Pike,  Knowing,  As They Do,

That The Pike Will Not Touch Them.  For If A Pike Once By Mistake

Swallows A Stickleback,  The Stickleback Will Stick In Its Throat By

Reason Of The Spine It Carries Upon Its Back,  And The Pike Must

Starve To Death Without Being Able To Transmit His Painful Experience

To His Descendants.  In Some Countries There Are People Who By Choice

Eat Dog's Flesh; Dogs Are Invariably Savage In The Presence Of These

Persons,  As Recognising In Them Enemies At Whose Hands They May One

Day Come To Harm.  This Is The More Wonderful Inasmuch As Dog's Fat

Applied Externally (As When Rubbed Upon Boots) Attracts Dogs By Its

Smell.  Grant Saw A Young Chimpanzee Throw Itself Into Convulsions Of

Terror At The Sight Of A Large Snake; And Even Among Ourselves A

Gretchen Can Often Detect A Mephistopheles.  An Insect Of The Genius

Bombyx Will Seize Another Of The Genus Parnopaea,  And Kill It

Wherever It Finds It,  Without Making Any Subsequent Use Of The Body;

But We Know That The Last-Named Insect Lies In Wait For The Eggs Of

The First,  And Is Therefore The Natural Enemy Of Its Race.  The

Phenomenon Known To Stockdrivers And Shepherds As "Das Biesen Des

Viehes" Affords Another Example.  For When A "Dassel" Or "Bies" Fly

Draws Near The Herd,  The Cattle Become Unmanageable And Run About

Among One Another As Though They Were Mad,  Knowing,  As They Do,  That

The Larvae From The Eggs Which The Fly Will Lay Upon Them Will

Presently Pierce Their Hides And Occasion Them Painful Sores.  These

"Dassel" Flies--Which Have No Sting--Closely Resemble Another Kind Of

Gadfly Which Has A Sting.  Nevertheless,  This Last Kind Is Little

Feared By Cattle,  While The First Is So To An Inordinate Extent.  The

Laying Of The Eggs Upon The Skin Is At The Time Quite Painless,  And

No Ill Consequences Follow Until Long Afterwards,  So That We Cannot

Suppose The Cattle To Draw A Conscious Inference Concerning The

Connection That Exists Between The Two.  I Have Already Spoken Of The

Foresight Shown By Ferrets And Buzzards In Respect Of Adders; In Like

Manner A Young Honey-Buzzard,  On Being Shown A Wasp For The First

Time,  Immediately Devoured It After Having Squeezed The Sting From

Its Body.  No Animal,  Whose Instinct Has Not Been Vitiated By

Unnatural Habits,  Will Eat Poisonous Plants.  Even When Apes Have

Contracted Bad Habits Through Their Having Been Brought Into Contact

With Mankind,  They Can Still Be Trusted To Show Us Whether Certain

Fruits Found In Their Native Forests Are Poisonous Or No; For If

Poisonous Fruits Are Offered Them They Will Refuse Them With Loud

Cries.  Every Animal Will Choose For Its Sustenance Exactly Those

Animal Or Vegetable Substances Which Agree Best With Its Digestive

Organs,  Without Having Received Any Instruction On The Matter,  And

Without Testing Them Beforehand.  Even,  Indeed,  Though We Assume That

The Power Of Distinguishing The Different Kinds Of Food Is Due To

Sight And Not To Smell,  It Remains None The Less Mysterious How The

Animal Can Know What It Is That Will Agree With It.  Thus The Kid

Which Galen Took Prematurely From Its Mother Smelt At All The

Different Kinds Of Food That Were Set Before It,  But Drank Only The

Milk Without Touching Anything Else.  The Cherry-Finch Opens A

Cherry-Stone By Turning It So That Her Beak Can Hit The Part Where

The Two Sides Join,  And Does This As Much With The First Stone She

Cracks As With The Last.  Fitchets,  Martens,  And Weasels Make Small

Holes On The Opposite Sides Of An Egg Which They Are About To Suck,

So That The Air May Come In While They Are Sucking.  Not Only Do

Animals Know The Food That Will Suit Them Best,  But They Find Out The

Most Suitable Remedies When They Are Ill,  And Constantly Form A

Correct Diagnosis Of Their Malady With A Therapeutical Knowledge

Which They Cannot Possibly Have Acquired.  Dogs Will Often Eat A

Great Quantity Of Grass--Particularly Couch-Grass--When They Are

Unwell,  Especially After Spring,  If They Have Worms,  Which Thus Pass

From Them Entangled In The Grass,  Or If They Want To Get Fragments Of

Bone From Out Of Their Stomachs.  As A Purgative They Make Use Of

Plants That Sting.  Hens And Pigeons Pick Lime From Walls And

Pavements If Their Food Does Not Afford Them Lime Enough To Make

Their Eggshells With.  Little Children Eat Chalk When Suffering From

Acidity Of The Stomach,  And Pieces Of Charcoal If They Are Troubled

With Flatulence.  We May Observe These Same Instincts For Certain

Kinds Of Food Or Drugs Even Among Grown-Up People,  Under

Circumstances In Which Their Unconscious Nature Has Unusual Power;

As,  For Example,  Among Women When They Are Pregnant,  Whose Capricious

Appetites Are Probably Due To Some Special Condition Of The Foetus,

Which Renders A Certain State Of The Blood Desirable.  Field-Mice

Bite Off The Germs Of The Corn Which They Collect Together,  In Order

To Prevent Its Growing During The Winter.  Some Days Before The

Beginning Of Cold Weather The Squirrel Is Most Assiduous In

Augmenting Its Store,  And Then Closes Its Dwelling.  Birds Of Passage

Betake Themselves To Warmer Countries At Times When There Is Still No

Scarcity Of Food For Them Here,  And When The Temperature Is

Considerably Warmer Than It Will Be When They Return To Us.  The Same

Holds Good Of The Time When Animals Begin To Prepare Their Winter

Quarters,  Which Beetles Constantly Do During The Very Hottest Days Of

Autumn.  When Swallows And Storks Find Their Way Back To Their Native

Places Over Distances Of Hundreds Of Miles,  And Though The Aspect Of

The Country Is Reversed,  We Say That This Is Due To The Acuteness Of

Their Perception Of Locality; But The Same Cannot Be Said Of Dogs,

Which,  Though They Have Been Carried In A Bag From One Place To

Another That They Do Not Know,  And Have Been Turned Round And Round

Twenty Times Over,  Have Still Been Known To Find Their Way Home.

Here We Can Say No More Than That Their Instinct Has Conducted Them--

That The Clairvoyance Of The Unconscious Has Allowed Them To

Conjecture Their Way. {119a}

Before An Early Winter,  Birds Of Passage Collect Themselves In

Preparation For Their Flight Sooner Than Usual; But When The Winter

Is Going To Be Mild,  They Will Either Not Migrate At All,  Or Travel

Only A Small Distance Southward.  When A Hard Winter Is Coming,

Tortoises Will Make Their Burrows Deeper.  If Wild Geese,  Cranes,

Etc.,  Soon Return From The Countries To Which They Had Betaken

Themselves At The Beginning Of Spring,  It Is A Sign That A Hot And

Dry Summer Is About To Ensue In Those Countries,  And That The Drought

Will Prevent Their Being Able To Rear Their Young.  In Years Of

Flood,  Beavers Construct Their Dwellings At A Higher Level Than

Usual,  And Shortly Before An Inundation The Field-Mice In Kamtschatka

Come Out Of Their Holes In Large Bands.  If The Summer Is Going To Be

Dry,  Spiders May Be Seen In May And April,  Hanging From The Ends Of

Threads Several Feet In Length.  If In Winter Spiders Are Seen

Running About Much,  Fighting With One Another And Preparing New Webs,

There Will Be Cold Weather Within The Next Nine Days,  Or From That To

Twelve:  When They Again Hide Themselves There Will Be A Thaw.  I

Have No Doubt That Much Of This Power Of Prophesying The Weather Is

Due To A Perception Of Certain Atmospheric Conditions Which Escape

Ourselves,  But This Perception Can Only Have Relation To A Certain

Actual And Now Present Condition Of The Weather; And What Can The

Impression Made By This Have To Do With Their Idea Of The Weather

That Will Ensue?  No One Will Ascribe To Animals A Power Of

Prognosticating The Weather Months Beforehand By Means Of Inferences

Drawn Logically From A Series Of Observations,  {119b} To The Extent

Of Being Able To Foretell Floods.  It Is Far More Probable That The

Power Of Perceiving Subtle Differences Of Actual Atmospheric

Condition Is Nothing More Than The Sensual Perception Which Acts As

Motive--For A Motive Must Assuredly Be Always Present--When An

Instinct Comes Into Operation.  It Continues To Hold Good,  Therefore,

That The Power Of Foreseeing The Weather Is A Case Of Unconscious

Clairvoyance,  Of Which The Stork Which Takes Its Departure For The

South Four Weeks Earlier Than Usual Knows No More Than Does The Stag

When Before A Cold Winter He Grows Himself A Thicker Pelt Than Is His

Wont.  On The One Hand,  Animals Have Present In Their Consciousness A

Perception Of The Actual State Of The Weather; On The Other,  Their

Ensuing Action Is Precisely Such As It Would Be If The Idea Present

With Them Was That Of The Weather That Is About To Come.  This They

Cannot Consciously Have; The Only Natural Intermediate Link,

Therefore,  Between Their Conscious Knowledge