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

Memory,  More Than In The Pan Of Cream On Two Successive Churning

Days,  Yet The Action Is Similar.

A Clerk In An Office Has An Hour In The Middle Of The Day For Dinner.

About Half-Past Twelve He Begins To Feel Hungry; At Once He Takes

Down His Hat And Leaves The Office.  He Does Not Yet Know The

Neighbourhood,  And On Getting Down Into The Street Asks A Policeman

At The Corner Which Is The Best Eating-House Within Easy Distance.

The Policeman Tells Him Of Three Houses,  One Of Which Is A Little

Farther Off Than The Other Two,  But Is Cheaper.  Money Being A

Greater Object To Him Than Time,  The Clerk Decides On Going To The

Cheaper House.  He Goes,  Is Satisfied,  And Returns.

Next Day He Wants His Dinner At The Same Hour,  And--It Will Be Said--

Remembering His Satisfaction Of Yesterday,  Will Go To The Same Place

As Before.  But What Has His Memory To Do With It?  Suppose Him To

Have Entirely Forgotten All The Circumstances Of The Preceding Day

From The Moment Of His Beginning To Feel Hungry Onward,  Though In

Other Respects Sound In Mind And Body,  And Unchanged Generally.  At

Half-Past Twelve He Would Begin To Be Hungry; But His Beginning To Be

Hungry Cannot Be Connected With His Remembering Having Begun To Be

Hungry Yesterday.  He Would Begin To Be Hungry Just As Much Whether

He Remembered Or No.  At One O'clock He Again Takes Down His Hat And

Leaves The Office,  Not Because He Remembers Having Done So Yesterday,

But Because He Wants His Hat To Go Out With.  Being Again In The

Street,  And Again Ignorant Of The Neighbourhood (For He Remembers

Nothing Of Yesterday),  He Sees The Same Policeman At The Corner Of

The Street,  And Asks Him The Same Question As Before; The Policeman

Gives Him The Same Answer,  And Money Being Still An Object To Him,

The Cheapest Eating-House Is Again Selected; He Goes There,  Finds The

Same Menu,  Makes The Same Choice For The Same Reasons,  Eats,  Is

Satisfied,  And Returns.

What Similarity Of Action Can Be Greater Than This,  And At The Same

Time More Incontrovertible?  But It Has Nothing To Do With Memory; On

The Contrary,  It Is Just Because The Clerk Has No Memory That His

Action Of The Second Day So Exactly Resembles That Of The First.  As

Long As He Has No Power Of Recollecting,  He Will Day After Day Repeat

The Same Actions In Exactly The Same Way,  Until Some External

Circumstances,  Such As His Being Sent Away,  Modify The Situation.

Till This Or Some Other Modification Occurs,  He Will Day After Day Go

Down Into The Street Without Knowing Where To Go; Day After Day He

Will See The Same Policeman At The Corner Of The Same Street,  And

(For We May As Well Suppose That The Policeman Has No Memory Too) He

Will Ask And Be Answered,  And Ask And Be Answered,  Till He And The

Policeman Die Of Old Age.  This Similarity Of Action Is Plainly Due

To That--Whatever It Is--Which Ensures That Like Persons Or Things

When Placed In Like Circumstances Shall Behave In Like Manner.

Allow The Clerk Ever Such A Little Memory,  And The Similarity Of

Action Will Disappear; For The Fact Of Remembering What Happened To

Him On The First Day He Went Out In Search Of Dinner Will Be A

Modification In Him In Regard To His Then Condition When He Next Goes

Out To Get His Dinner.  He Had No Such Memory On The First Day,  And

He Has Upon The Second.  Some Modification Of Action Must Ensue Upon

This Modification Of The Actor,  And This Is Immediately Observable.

He Wants His Dinner,  Indeed,  Goes Down Into The Street,  And Sees The

Policeman As Yesterday,  But He Does Not Ask The Policeman; He

Remembers What The Policeman Told Him And What He Did,  And Therefore

Goes Straight To The Eating-House Without Wasting Time:  Nor Does He

Dine Off The Same Dish Two Days Running,  For He Remembers What He Had

Yesterday And Likes Variety.  If,  Then,  Similarity Of Action Is

Rather Hindered Than Promoted By Memory,  Why Introduce It Into Such

Cases As The Repetition Of The Embryonic Processes By Successive

Generations?  The Embryos Of A Well-Fixed Breed,  Such As The Goose,

Are Almost As Much Alike As Water Is To Water,  And By Consequence One

Goose Comes To Be Almost As Like Another As Water To Water.  Why

Should It Not Be Supposed To Become So Upon The Same Grounds--Namely,

That It Is Made Of The Same Stuffs,  And Put Together In Like

Proportions In The Same Manner?

The One Faith On Which All Normal Living Beings Consciously Or

Unconsciously Act,  Is That Like Antecedents Will Be Followed By Like

Consequents.  This Is The One True And Catholic Faith,

Undemonstrable,  But Except A Living Being Believe Which,  Without

Doubt It Shall Perish Everlastingly.  In The Assurance Of This All

Action Is Taken.

But If This Fundamental Article Is Admitted,  And It Cannot Be

Gainsaid,  It Follows That If Ever A Complete Cycle Were Formed,  So

That The Whole Universe Of One Instant Were To Repeat Itself

Absolutely In A Subsequent One,  No Matter After What Interval Of

Time,  Then The Course Of The Events Between These Two Moments Would

Go On Repeating Itself For Ever And Ever Afterwards In Due Order,

Down To The Minutest Detail,  In An Endless Series Of Cycles Like A

Circulating Decimal.  For The Universe Comprises Everything; There

Could Therefore Be No Disturbance From Without.  Once A Cycle,  Always

A Cycle.

Let Us Suppose The Earth,  Of Given Weight,  Moving With Given Momentum

In A Given Path,  And Under Given Conditions In Every Respect,  To Find

Itself At Any One Time Conditioned In All These Respects As It Was

Conditioned At Some Past Moment; Then It Must Move Exactly In The

Same Path As The One It Took When At The Beginning Of The Cycle It

Has Just Completed,  And Must Therefore In The Course Of Time Fulfil A

Second Cycle,  And Therefore A Third,  And So On For Ever And Ever,

With No More Chance Of Escape Than A Circulating Decimal Has,  If The

Circumstances Have Been Reproduced With Perfect Accuracy.

We See Something Very Like This Actually Happen In The Yearly

Revolutions Of The Planets Round The Sun.  But The Relations Between,

We Will Say,  The Earth And The Sun Are Not Reproduced Absolutely.

These Relations Deal Only With A Small Part Of The Universe,  And Even

In This Small Part The Relation Of The Parts Inter Se Has Never Yet

Been Reproduced With The Perfection Of Accuracy Necessary For Our

Argument.  They Are Liable,  Moreover,  To Disturbance From Events

Which May Or May Not Actually Occur (As,  For Example,  Our Being

Struck By A Comet,  Or The Sun's Coming Within A Certain Distance Of

Another Sun),  But Of Which,  If They Do Occur,  No One Can Foresee The

Effects.  Nevertheless The Conditions Have Been So Nearly Repeated

That There Is No Appreciable Difference In The Relations Between The

Earth And Sun On One New Year's Day And On Another,  Nor Is There

Reason For Expecting Such Change Within Any Reasonable Time.

If There Is To Be An Eternal Series Of Cycles Involving The Whole

Universe,  It Is Plain That Not One Single Atom Must Be Excluded.

Exclude A Single Molecule Of Hydrogen From The Ring,  Or Vary The

Relative Positions Of Two Molecules Only,  And The Charm Is Broken; An

Element Of Disturbance Has Been Introduced,  Of Which The Utmost That

Can Be Said Is That It May Not Prevent The Ensuing Of A Long Series

Of Very Nearly Perfect Cycles Before Similarity In Recurrence Is

Destroyed,  But Which Must Inevitably Prevent Absolute Identity Of

Repetition.  The Movement Of The Series Becomes No Longer A Cycle,

But Spiral,  And Convergent Or Divergent At A Greater Or Less Rate

According To Circumstances.  We Cannot Conceive Of All The Atoms In

The Universe Standing Twice Over In Absolutely The Same Relation Each

One Of Them To Every Other.  There Are Too Many Of Them And They Are

Too Much Mixed; But,  As Has Been Just Said,  In The Planets And Their

Satellites We Do See Large Groups Of Atoms Whose Movements Recur With

Some Approach To Precision.  The Same Holds Good Also With Certain

Comets And With The Sun Himself.  The Result Is That Our Days And

Nights And Seasons Follow One Another With Nearly Perfect Regularity

From Year To Year,  And Have Done So For As Long Time As We Know

Anything For Certain.  A Vast Preponderance Of All The Action That

Takes Place Around Us Is Cycular Action.

Within The Great Cycle Of The Planetary Revolution Of Our Own Earth,

And As A Consequence Thereof,  We Have The Minor Cycle Of The

Phenomena Of The Seasons; These Generate Atmospheric Cycles.  Water

Is Evaporated From The Ocean And Conveyed To Mountain Ranges,  Where

It Is Cooled,  And Whence It Returns Again To The Sea.  This Cycle Of

Events Is Being Repeated Again And Again With Little Appreciable

Variation.  The Tides And Winds In Certain Latitudes Go Round And

Round The World With What Amounts To Continuous Regularity.--There

Are Storms Of Wind And Rain Called Cyclones.  In The Case Of These,

The Cycle Is Not Very Complete,  The Movement,  Therefore,  Is Spiral,

And The Tendency To Recur Is Comparatively Soon Lost.  It Is A Common

Saying That History Repeats Itself,  So That Anarchy Will Lead To

Despotism And Despotism To Anarchy; Every Nation Can Point To