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

Part 3 Note Pg 1

 

For Many Years A Link In The Chain Of Samuel Butler's Biological

Works Has Been Missing.  "Unconscious Memory" Was Originally

Published Thirty Years Ago,  But For Fully Half That Period It Has

Been Out Of Print,  Owing To The Destruction Of A Large Number Of The

Unbound Sheets In A Fire At The Premises Of The Printers Some Years

Ago.  The Present Reprint Comes,  I Think,  At A Peculiarly Fortunate

Moment,  Since The Attention Of The General Public Has Of Late Been

Drawn To Butler's Biological Theories In A Marked Manner By Several

Distinguished Men Of Science,  Notably By Dr. Francis Darwin,  Who,  In

His Presidential Address To The British Association In 1908,  Quoted

From The Translation Of Hering's Address On "Memory As A Universal

Function Of Original Matter," Which Butler Incorporated Into

"Unconscious Memory," And Spoke In The Highest Terms Of Butler

Himself.  It Is Not Necessary For Me To Do More Than Refer To The

Changed Attitude Of Scientific Authorities With Regard To Butler And

His Theories,  Since Professor Marcus Hartog Has Most Kindly Consented

To Contribute An Introduction To The Present Edition Of "Unconscious

Memory," Summarising Butler's Views Upon Biology,  And Defining His

Position In The World Of Science.  A Word Must Be Said As To The

Controversy Between Butler And Darwin,  With Which Chapter Iv Is

Concerned.  I Have Been Told That In Reissuing The Book At All I Am

Committing A Grievous Error Of Taste,  That The World Is No Longer

Interested In These "Old,  Unhappy Far-Off Things And Battles Long

Ago," And That Butler Himself,  By Refraining From Republishing

"Unconscious Memory," Tacitly Admitted That He Wished The Controversy

To Be Consigned To Oblivion.  This Last Suggestion,  At Any Rate,  Has

No Foundation In Fact.  Butler Desired Nothing Less Than That His

Vindication Of Himself Against What He Considered Unfair Treatment

Should Be Forgotten.  He Would Have Republished "Unconscious Memory"

Himself,  Had Not The Latter Years Of His Life Been Devoted To All-

Engrossing Work In Other Fields.  In Issuing The Present Edition I Am

Fulfilling A Wish That He Expressed To Me Shortly Before His Death.

 

Introduction Pg 2

 

In Reviewing Samuel Butler's Works,  "Unconscious Memory" Gives Us An

Invaluable Lead; For It Tells Us (Chaps. Ii,  Iii) How The Author Came

To Write The Book Of The Machines In "Erewhon" (1872),  With Its

Foreshadowing Of The Later Theory,  "Life And Habit," (1878),

"Evolution,  Old And New" (1879),  As Well As "Unconscious Memory"

(1880) Itself.  His Fourth Book On Biological Theory Was "Luck? Or

Cunning?" (1887). {0a}

 

Besides These Books,  His Contributions To Biology Comprise Several

Essays:  "Remarks On Romanes' Mental Evolution In Animals,  Contained

In "Selections From Previous Works" (1884) Incorporated Into "Luck?

Or Cunning," "The Deadlock In Darwinism" (Universal Review,  April-

June,  1890),  Republished In The Posthumous Volume Of "Essays On Life,

Art,  And Science" (1904),  And,  Finally,  Some Of The "Extracts From

The Notebooks Of The Late Samuel Butler," Edited By Mr. H. Festing

Jones,  Now In Course Of Publication In The New Quarterly Review.

 

 

 

 

 

Of All These,  "Life And Habit" (1878) Is The Most Important,  The Main

Building To Which The Other Writings Are Buttresses Or,  At Most,

Annexes.  Its Teaching Has Been Summarised In "Unconscious Memory" In

Four Main Principles:  "(1) The Oneness Of Personality Between Parent

And Offspring; (2) Memory On The Part Of The Offspring Of Certain

Actions Which It Did When In The Persons Of Its Forefathers; (3) The

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

Associated Ideas; (4) The Unconsciousness With Which Habitual Actions

Come To Be Performed."  To These We Must Add A Fifth:  The

Purposiveness Of The Actions Of Living Beings,  As Of The Machines

Which They Make Or Select.

 

Butler Tells ("Life And Habit," P. 33) That He Sometimes Hoped "That

This Book Would Be Regarded As A Valuable Adjunct To Darwinism."  He

Was Bitterly Disappointed In The Event,  For The Book,  As A Whole,  Was

Received By Professional Biologists As A Gigantic Joke--A Joke,

Moreover,  Not In The Best Possible Taste.  True,  Its Central Ideas,

Largely Those Of Lamarck,  Had Been Presented By Hering In 1870 (As

Butler Found Shortly After His Publication); They Had Been Favourably

Received,  Developed By Haeckel,  Expounded And Praised By Ray

Lankester.  Coming From Butler,  They Met With Contumely,  Even From

Introduction Pg 3

Such Men As Romanes,  Who,  As Butler Had No Difficulty In Proving,

Were Unconsciously Inspired By The Same Ideas--"Nur Mit Ein Bischen

Ander'n Worter."

 

It Is Easy,  Looking Back,  To See Why "Life And Habit" So Missed Its

Mark.  Charles Darwin's Presentation Of The Evolution Theory Had,  For

The First Time,  Rendered It Possible For A "Sound Naturalist" To

Accept The Doctrine Of Common Descent With Divergence; And So Given A

Real Meaning To The Term "Natural Relationship," Which Had Forced

Itself Upon The Older Naturalists,  Despite Their Belief In Special

And Independent Creations.  The Immediate Aim Of The Naturalists Of

The Day Was Now To Fill Up The Gaps In Their Knowledge,  So As To

Strengthen The Fabric Of A Unified Biology.  For This Purpose They

Found Their Actual Scientific Equipment So Inadequate That They Were

Fully Occupied In Inventing Fresh Technique,  And Working Therewith At

Facts--Save A Few Critics,  Such As St. George Mivart,  Who Was

Regarded As Negligible,  Since He Evidently Held A Brief For A Party

Standing Outside The Scientific World.

 

Butler Introduced Himself As What We Now Call "The Man In The

Street," Far Too Bare Of Scientific Clothing To Satisfy The Mrs.

Grundy Of The Domain:  Lacking All Recognised Tools Of Science And

All Sense Of The Difficulties In His Way,  He Proceeded To Tackle The

Problems Of Science With Little Save The Deft Pen Of The Literary

Expert In His Hand.  His Very Failure To Appreciate The Difficulties

Gave Greater Power To His Work--Much As Tartarin Of Tarascon Ascended

The Jungfrau And Faced Successfully All Dangers Of Alpine Travel,  So

Long As He Believed Them To Be The Mere "Blagues De Reclame" Of The

Wily Swiss Host.  His Brilliant Qualities Of Style And Irony

Themselves Told Heavily Against Him.  Was He Not Already Known For

Having Written The Most Trenchant Satire That Had Appeared Since

"Gulliver's Travels"?  Had He Not Sneered Therein At The Very

Foundations Of Society,  And Followed Up Its Success By A Pseudo-

Biography That Had Taken In The "Record" And The "Rock"?  In "Life

And Habit," At The Very Start,  He Goes Out Of His Way To Heap Scorn

At The Respected Names Of Marcus Aurelius,  Lord Bacon,  Goethe,  Arnold

Of Rugby,  And Dr. W. B. Carpenter.  He Expressed The Lowest Opinion

Of The Fellows Of The Royal Society.  To Him The Professional Man Of

Science,  With Self-Conscious Knowledge For His Ideal And Aim,  Was A

Medicine-Man,  Priest,  Augur--Useful,  Perhaps,  In His Way,  But To Be

Carefully Watched By All Who Value Freedom Of Thought And Person,

Lest With Opportunity He Develop Into A Persecutor Of The Worst Type.

Not Content With Blackguarding The Audience To Whom His Work Should

Most Appeal,  He Went On To Depreciate That Work Itself And Its Author

In His Finest Vein Of Irony.  Having Argued That Our Best And Highest

Knowledge Is That Of Whose Possession We Are Most Ignorant,  He

Proceeds:  "Above All,  Let No Unwary Reader Do Me The Injustice Of

Believing In Me.  In That I Write At All I Am Among The Damned."

 

 

 

 

 

His Writing Of "Evolution,  Old And New" (1879) Was Due To His

Introduction Pg 4

Conviction That Scant Justice Had Been Done By Charles Darwin And

Alfred Wallace And Their Admirers To The Pioneering Work Of Buffon,

Erasmus Darwin,  And Lamarck.  To Repair This He Gives A Brilliant

Exposition Of What Seemed To Him The Most Valuable Portion Of Their

Teachings On Evolution.  His Analysis Of Buffon's True Meaning,

Veiled By The Reticences Due To The Conditions Under Which He Wrote,

Is As Masterly As The English In Which He Develops It.  His Sense Of

Wounded Justice Explains The Vigorous Polemic Which Here,  As In All

His Later Writings,  He Carries To The Extreme.

 

As A Matter Of Fact,  He Never Realised Charles Darwin's Utter Lack Of

Sympathetic Understanding Of The Work Of His French Precursors,  Let

Alone His Own Grandfather,  Erasmus.  Yet This Practical Ignorance,

Which To Butler Was So Strange As To Transcend Belief,  Was Altogether

Genuine,  And Easy To Realise When We Recall The Position Of Natural

Science In The Early Thirties In Darwin's Student Days At Cambridge,

And For A Decade Or Two Later.  Catastropharianism Was The Tenet Of

The Day:  To The Last It Commended Itself To His Professors Of Botany

And Geology,--For Whom Darwin Held The Fervent Allegiance Of The

Indian Scholar,  Or Chela,  To His Guru.  As Geikie Has Recently

Pointed Out,  It Was Only Later,  When Lyell Had Shown That The Breaks

In The Succession Of The Rocks Were Only Partial And Local,  Without

Involving The Universal Catastrophes That Destroyed All Life And

Rendered Fresh Creations Thereof Necessary,  That Any General

Acceptance Of A Descent Theory Could Be Expected.  We May Be Very

Sure That Darwin Must Have Received Many Solemn Warnings Against The

Dangerous Speculations Of The "French Revolutionary School."  He

Himself Was Far Too Busy At The Time With The Reception And

Assimilation Of New Facts To Be Awake To The Deeper Interest Of Far-

Reaching Theories.

 

It Is The More Unfortunate That Butler's Lack Of Appreciation On

These Points Should Have Led To The Enormous Proportion Of Bitter

Personal Controversy That We Find In The Remainder Of His Biological

Writings.  Possibly,  As Suggested By George Bernard Shaw,  His

Acquaintance And Admirer,  He Was Also Swayed By Philosophical

Resentment At That Banishment Of Mind From The Organic Universe,

Which Was Generally Thought To Have Been Achieved By Charles Darwin's

Theory.  Still,  We Must Remember That This Mindless View Is Not

Implicit In Charles Darwin's Presentment Of His Own Theory,  Nor Was

It Accepted By Him As It Has Been By So Many Of His Professed

Disciples.

 

 

 

 

 

"Unconscious Memory" (1880).--We Have Already Alluded To An

Anticipation Of Butler's Main Theses.  In 1870 Dr. Ewald Hering,  One

Of The Most Eminent Physiologists Of The Day,  Professor At Vienna,

Gave An Inaugural Address To The Imperial Royal Academy Of Sciences:

"Das Gedachtniss Als Allgemeine Funktion Der Organisirter Substanz"

("Memory As A Universal Function Of Organised Matter").  When "Life

And Habit" Was Well Advanced,  Francis Darwin,  At The Time A Frequent