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

Accounts Of Organic Form And Function Without Taking Account Of The

Psychical Side Is Most Strenuously Asserted.  And With Our Regret

That Past Misunderstandings Should Be So Prominent In Butler's Works,

It Was Very Pleasant To Hear Francis Darwin's Quotation From Butler's

Translation Of Hering {0l} Followed By A Personal Tribute To Butler

Himself.

In Commemoration Of The Centenary Of The Birth Of Charles Darwin And

Of The Fiftieth Anniversary Of The Publication Of The "Origin Of

Species," At The Suggestion Of The Cambridge Philosophical Society,

The University Press Published During The Current Year A Volume

Entitled "Darwin And Modern Science," Edited By Mr. A. C. Seward,

Professor Of Botany In The University.  Of The Twenty-Nine Essays By

Men Of Science Of The Highest Distinction,  One Is Of Peculiar

Interest To The Readers Of Samuel Butler:  "Heredity And Variation In

Modern Lights," By Professor W. Bateson,  F.R.S.,  To Whose Work On

"Discontinuous Variations" We Have Already Referred.  Here Once More

Butler Receives From An Official Biologist Of The First Rank Full

Recognition For His Wonderful Insight And Keen Critical Power.  This

Is The More Noteworthy Because Bateson Has Apparently No Faith In The

Transmission Of Acquired Characters; But Such A Passage As This Would

Have Commended Itself To Butler's Admiration:-

"All This Indicates A Definiteness And Specific Order In Heredity,

And Therefore In Variation.  This Order Cannot By The Nature Of The

Case Be Dependent On Natural Selection For Its Existence,  But Must Be

A Consequence Of The Fundamental Chemical And Physical Nature Of

Living Things.  The Study Of Variation Had From The First Shown That

An Orderliness Of This Kind Was Present.  The Bodies And Properties

Of Living Things Are Cosmic,  Not Chaotic.  No Matter How Low In The

Scale We Go,  Never Do We Find The Slightest Hint Of A Diminution In

That All-Pervading Orderliness,  Nor Can We Conceive An Organism

Existing For One Moment In Any Other State."

We Have Now Before Us The Materials To Determine The Problem Of

Butler's Relation To Biology And To Biologists.  He Was,  We Have

Seen,  Anticipated By Hering; But His Attitude Was His Own,  Fresh And

Original.  He Did Not Hamper His Exposition,  Like Hering,  By A

Subsidiary Hypothesis Of Vibrations Which May Or May Not Be True,

Which Burdens The Theory Without Giving It Greater Carrying Power Or

Persuasiveness,  Which Is Based On No Objective Facts,  And Which,  As

Semon Has Practically Demonstrated,  Is Needless For The Detailed

Working Out Of The Theory.  Butler Failed To Impress The Biologists

Of His Day,  Even Those On Whom,  Like Romanes,  He Might Have

Reasonably Counted For Understanding And For Support.  But He Kept

Alive Hering's Work When It Bade Fair To Sink Into The Limbo Of

Obsolete Hypotheses.  To Use Oliver Wendell Holmes's Phrase,  He

"Depolarised" Evolutionary Thought.  We Quote The Words Of A Young

Biologist,  Who,  When An Ardent And Dogmatic Weismannist Of The Most

Pronounced Type,  Was Induced To Read "Life And Habit":  "The Book Was

To Me A Transformation And An Inspiration."  Such Learned Writings As

Semon's Or Hering's Could Never Produce Such An Effect:  They Do Not

Penetrate To The Heart Of Man; They Cannot Carry Conviction To The

Intellect Already Filled Full With Rival Theories,  And With The

Unreasoned Faith That To-Morrow Or Next Day A New Discovery Will

Obliterate All Distinction Between Man And His Makings.  The Mind

Must Needs Be Open For The Reception Of Truth,  For The Rejection Of

Prejudice; And The Violence Of A Samuel Butler May In The Future As

In The Past Be Needed To Shatter The Coat Of Mail Forged By Too

Exclusively Professional A Training.

Not Finding The "Well-Known German Scientific Journal Kosmos" {0m}

Entered In The British Museum Catalogue,  I Have Presented The Museum

With A Copy Of The Number For February 1879,  Which Contains The

Article By Dr. Krause Of Which Mr. Charles Darwin Has Given A

Translation,  The Accuracy Of Which Is Guaranteed--So He Informs Us--

By The Translator's "Scientific Reputation Together With His

Knowledge Of German." {0n}

I Have Marked The Copy,  So That The Reader Can See At A Glance What

Passages Has Been Suppressed And Where Matter Has Been Interpolated.

I Have Also Present A Copy Of "Erasmus Darwin."  I Have Marked This

Too,  So That The Genuine And Spurious Passages Can Be Easily

Distinguished.

I Understand That Both The "Erasmus Darwin" And The Number Of Kosmos

Have Been Sent To The Keeper Of Printed Books,  With Instructions That

They Shall Be At Once Catalogued And Made Accessible To Readers,  And

Do Not Doubt That This Will Have Been Done Before The Present Volume

Is Published.  The Reader,  Therefore,  Who May Be Sufficiently

Interested In The Matter To Care To See Exactly What Has Been Done

Will Now Have An Opportunity Of Doing So.

October 25,  1880.

Introduction--General Ignorance On The Subject Of Evolution At The

Time The "Origin Of Species" Was Published In 1859.

There Are Few Things Which Strike Us With More Surprise,  When We

Review The Course Taken By Opinion In The Last Century,  Than The

Suddenness With Which Belief In Witchcraft And Demoniacal Possession

Came To An End.  This Has Been Often Remarked Upon,  But I Am Not

Acquainted With Any Record Of The Fact As It Appeared To Those Under

Whose Eyes The Change Was Taking Place,  Nor Have I Seen Any

Contemporary Explanation Of The Reasons Which Led To The Apparently

Sudden Overthrow Of A Belief Which Had Seemed Hitherto To Be Deeply

Rooted In The Minds Of Almost All Men.  As A Parallel To This,  Though

In Respect Of The Rapid Spread Of An Opinion,  And Not Its Decadence,

It Is Probable That Those Of Our Descendants Who Take An Interest In

Ourselves Will Note The Suddenness With Which The Theory Of

Evolution,  From Having Been Generally Ridiculed During A Period Of

Over A Hundred Years,  Came Into Popularity And Almost Universal

Acceptance Among Educated People.

It Is Indisputable That This Has Been The Case; Nor Is It Less

Indisputable That The Works Of Mr. Darwin And Mr. Wallace Have Been

The Main Agents In The Change That Has Been Brought About In Our

Opinions.  The Names Of Cobden And Bright Do Not Stand More

Prominently Forward In Connection With The Repeal Of The Corn Laws

Than Do Those Of Mr. Darwin And Mr. Wallace In Connection With The

General Acceptance Of The Theory Of Evolution.  There Is No Living

Philosopher Who Has Anything Like Mr. Darwin's Popularity With

Englishmen Generally; And Not Only This,  But His Power Of Fascination

Extends All Over Europe,  And Indeed In Every Country In Which

Civilisation Has Obtained Footing:  Not Among The Illiterate Masses,

Though These Are Rapidly Following The Suit Of The Educated Classes,

But Among Experts And Those Who Are Most Capable Of Judging.  France,

Indeed--The Country Of Buffon And Lamarck--Must Be Counted An

Exception To The General Rule,  But In England And Germany There Are

Few Men Of Scientific Reputation Who Do Not Accept Mr. Darwin As The

Founder Of What Is Commonly Called "Darwinism," And Regard Him As

Perhaps The Most Penetrative And Profound Philosopher Of Modern

Times.

To Quote An Example From The Last Few Weeks Only,  {2} I Have Observed

That Professor Huxley Has Celebrated The Twenty-First Year Since The

"Origin Of Species" Was Published By A Lecture At The Royal

Institution,  And Am Told That He Described Mr. Darwin's Candour As

Something Actually "Terrible" (I Give Professor Huxley's Own Word,  As

Reported By One Who Heard It); And On Opening A Small Book Entitled

"Degeneration," By Professor Ray Lankester,  Published A Few Days

Before These Lines Were Written,  I Find The Following Passage Amid

More That Is To The Same Purport:-

"Suddenly One Of Those Great Guesses Which Occasionally Appear In The

History Of Science Was Given To The Science Of Biology By The

Imaginative Insight Of That Greatest Of Living Naturalists--I Would

Say That Greatest Of Living Men--Charles Darwin."--Degeneration,  P.

10.

This Is Very Strong Language,  But It Is Hardly Stronger Than That

Habitually Employed By The Leading Men Of Science When They Speak Of

Mr. Darwin.  To Go Farther Afield,  In February 1879 The Germans

Devoted An Entire Number Of One Of Their Scientific Periodicals {3}

To The Celebration Of Mr. Darwin's Seventieth Birthday.  There Is No

Other Englishman Now Living Who Has Been Able To Win Such A

Compliment As This From Foreigners,  Who Should Be Disinterested

Judges.

Under These Circumstances,  It Must Seem The Height Of Presumption To

Differ From So Great An Authority,  And To Join The Small Band Of

Malcontents Who Hold That Mr. Darwin's Reputation As A Philosopher,

Though It Has Grown Up With The Rapidity Of Jonah's Gourd,  Will Yet

Not Be Permanent.  I Believe,  However,  That Though We Must Always

Gladly And Gratefully Owe It To Mr. Darwin And Mr. Wallace That The

Public Mind Has Been Brought To Accept Evolution,  The Admiration Now

Generally Felt For The "Origin Of Species" Will Appear As

Unaccountable To Our Descendants