,transcribed from the #ahhd ,trubner ,co4 edition by ,david ,price1 email ccx#jgdpglaf4org ,,selections ,,from ,,previous ,,works ,,with ,,remarks ,,on ,,mr4 ,g4 ,j4 ,,romanes' ,,mental ,,evolution ,,in ,,animals ,,and ,a ,,psalm ,,of ,,montreal ,,by ,,samuel ,,butler ,the course of true science1 like that of true love1 never did run smooth4 ,,professor ,,tyndall1 ,pall ,mall ,gazette1 ,oct #cj1 #ahhc4 7,,op4 #g7 ,,london ,,trubner ,,co41 ,,ludgate ,,hill #ahhd ,all rights reserved ,ballantyne ,press ,,ballantyne1 ,,hanson ,,and ,,co4 ,,edinburgh ,,and ,,london ,,preface4 ,i delayed these pages some weeks in order to give ,mr4 ,romanes an opportunity of explaining his statement that ,canon ,kingsley wrote about instinct and inherited memory in ,nature1 ,jan4 #ah1 #ahfg4 iii ,i wrote to the ,athenaeum 7,jan4 #bf1 #ahhd7 and pointed out that ,nature did not begin to appear till nearly three years after the date given by ,mr4 ,romanes1 and that there was nothing from ,canon ,kingsley on the subject of instinct and inherited memory in any number of ,nature up to the date of ,canon ,kingsley's death4 ,i also asked for the correct reference4 ,this ,mr4 ,romanes has not thought it incumbent upon him to give4 ,i am told ,i ought not to have expected him to give it1 inasmuch as it is no longer usual for men of any but the lowest scientific standing to correct their misstatements when they are brought to book4 ,science is made for ,fellows of the ,royal ,society1 and for no one else1 not ,fellows of the ,royal ,society for science2 and if the having achieved a certain position should still involve being obliged to be as scrupulous and accurate as other people1 what is the good of the position8 ,this view of the matter is practical1 but ,i regret that ,mr4 ,romanes should have taken it1 for his having done so has prevented my being able to tell the reader what ,canon ,kingsley said about memory and instinct1 and this he might have been glad to know4 ,i suspect1 however1 that what ,canon ,kingsley said was after all not very important4 ,if it had been1 ,mr4 ,romanes would have probably told us what it was in his own book4 ,i should think it possible that ,mr4 ,romanes--not finding ,canon ,kingsley's words important enough to be quoted1 or even referred to correctly1 or never having seen them himself and not knowing exactly what they were1 yet being anxious to give every one1 and more particularly ,canon ,kingsley1 his due--felt that this was an occasion on which he might fairly take advantage of his position and say at large whatever he was in the humour for saying at the moment4 ,i should not have thought this possible if ,i had not ere now had reason to set ,mr4 ,romanes down as one who was not likely to be squeamish about trifles4 ,nevertheless1 on this present occasion ,i certainly did think that he had only made a slip such as we all make sometimes1 and such as he would gladly take the earliest opportunity to correct4 ,as it is1 ,i do not know what to think1 except that ,d4,c4,l4's and ,f4,r4,s4's seem to be made of much the same frail materials as we ordinary mortals are4 ,as regards the extracts from my previous books given in this volume1 ,i should say that ,i have revised and corrected the original text throughout1 and introduced a sentence or two here and there1 but have nowhere made any important alteration4 ,i regret greatly that want of space has prevented me from being able to give the chapters from ,life and ,habit on ,the ,abeyance of ,memory1 and ,what we should expect to find if ,differentiations of ,structure and ,instinct are mainly due to ,memory2 it is in these chapters that an explanation of many phenomena is given1 of which1 so far as ,i know1 no explanation of any kind had been previously attempted1 and in which phenomena having apparently so little connection as the sterility of hybrids1 the principle underlying longevity1 the resumption of feral characteristics1 the sterility of many animals under confinement1 are not only made intelligible but are shown to be all part and parcel of the same story--all being explicable as soon as ,memory is made the main factor of heredity4 ,feb4 #af1 #ahhd4 ,,selections ,,from ,,erewhon4 #a ,,current ,,opinions4 7,,chapter ,x4 ,,of ,,erewhon47 ,this is what ,i gathered4 ,that in that country if a man falls into ill health1 or catches any disorder1 or fails bodily in any way before he is seventy years old1 he is tried before a jury of his countrymen1 and if convicted is held up to public scorn and sentenced more or less severely as the case may be4 ,there are subdivisions of illnesses into crimes and misdemeanours as with offences amongst ourselves--a man being punished very heavily for serious illness1 while failure of eyes or hearing in one over sixty-five who has had good health hitherto is dealt with by fine only1 or imprisonment in default of payment4 ,but if a man forges a cheque1 sets his house on fire1 robs with violence from the person1 or does any other such things as are criminal in our own country1 he is either taken to a hospital and most carefully tended at the public expense1 or if he is in good circumstances1 he lets it be known to all his friends that he is suffering from a severe fit of immorality1 just as we do when we are ill1 and they come and visit him with great solicitude1 and inquire with interest how it all came about1 what symptoms first showed themselves1 and so forth1--questions which he will answer with perfect unreserve2 for bad conduct1 though considered no less deplorable than illness with ourselves1 and as unquestionably indicating something wrong with the individual who misbehaves1 is nevertheless held to be the result of either pre-natal or post-natal misfortune4 ,i should add that under certain circumstances poverty and ill luck are also considered criminal4 ,accordingly1 there exists a class of men trained in soul-craft1 whom they call straighteners1 as nearly as ,i can translate a word which literally means one who bendeth back the crooked4 ,these men practise much as medical men in ,england1 and receive a quasi-surreptitious fee on every visit4 ,they are treated with the same unreserve and obeyed just as readily as our own doctors--that is to say1 on the whole sufficiently--because people know that it is their interest to get well as soon as they can1 and that they will not be scouted as they would be if their bodies were out of order1 even though they may have to undergo a very painful course of treatment4 ,when ,i say that they will not be scouted1 ,i do not mean that an ,erewhonian offender will suffer no social inconvenience4 ,friends will fall away from him because of his being less pleasant company1 just as we ourselves are disclined to make companions of those who are either poor or poorly4 ,no one with a due sense of self-respect will place himself on an equality in the matter of affection with those who are less lucky than himself in birth1 health1 money1 good looks1 capacity1 or anything else4 ,indeed1 that dislike and even disgust should be felt by the fortunate for the unfortunate1 or at any rate for those who have been discovered to have met with any of the more serious and less familiar misfortunes1 is not only natural1 but desirable for any society1 whether of man or brute2 what progress either of body or soul had been otherwise possible8 ,the fact therefore that the ,erewhonians attach none of that guilt to crime which they do to physical ailments1 does not prevent the more selfish among them from neglecting a friend who has robbed a bank1 for instance1 till he has fully recovered2 but it does prevent them from even thinking of treating criminals with that contemptuous tone which would seem to say1 ,i1 if ,i were you1 should be a better man than you are1 a tone which is held quite reasonable in regard to physical ailment4 ,hence1 though they conceal ill health by every kind of cunning1 they are quite open about even the most flagrant mental diseases1 should they happen to exist1 which to do the people justice is not often4 ,indeed1 there are some who1 so to speak1 are spiritual valetudinarians1 and who make themselves exceedingly ridiculous by their nervous supposition that they are wicked1 while they are very tolerable people all the time4 ,this however is exceptional2 and on the whole they use much the same reserve or unreserve about the state of their moral welfare as we do about our health4 ,it has followed that all the ordinary greetings among ourselves1 such as1 ,how do you do8 and the like1 are considered signs of gross ill-breeding2 nor do the politer classes tolerate even such a common complimentary remark as telling a man that he was looking well4 ,they salute each other with1 ,i hope you are good this morning2 or ,i hope you have recovered from the snappishness from which you were suffering when ,i last saw you2 and if the person saluted has not been good1 or is still snappish1 he says so1 and is condoled with accordingly4 ,nay1 the straighteners have gone so far as to give names from the hypothetical language 7as taught at the ,colleges of ,unreason7 to all known forms of mental indisposition1 and have classified them according to a system of their own1 which1 though ,i could not understand it1 seemed to work well in practice1 for they are always able to tell a man what is the matter with him as soon as they have heard his story1 and their familiarity with the long names assures him that they thoroughly understand his case4 99 99 99 99 99 ,we in ,england rarely shrink from telling our doctor what is the matter with us merely through the fear that he will hurt us4 ,we let him do his worst upon us1 and stand it without a murmur1 because we are not scouted for being ill1 and because we know the doctor is doing his best to cure us1 and can judge of our case better than we can2 but we should conceal all illness if we were treated as the ,erewhonians are when they have anything the matter with them2 we should do as we do with our moral and intellectual diseases1--we should feign health with the most consummate art1 till we were found out1 and should hate a single flogging given by way of mere punishment more than the amputation of a limb1 if it were kindly and courteously performed from a wish to help us out of our difficulty1 and with the full consciousness on the part of the doctor that it was only by an accident of constitution that he was not in the like plight himself4 ,so the ,erewhonians take a flogging once a week1 and a diet of bread and water for two or three months together1 whenever their straightener recommends it4 ,i do not suppose that even my host1 on having swindled a confiding widow out of the whole of her property1 was put to more actual suffering than a man will readily undergo at the hands of an ,english doctor4 ,and yet he must have had a very bad time of it4 ,the sounds ,i heard were sufficient to show that his pain was exquisite1 but he never shrank from undergoing it4 ,he was quite sure that it did him good2 and ,i think he was right4 ,i cannot believe that that man will ever embezzle money again4 ,he may--but it will be a long time before he does so4 ,during my confinement in prison1 and on my journey1 ,i had discovered much of the above2 but it still seemed new and strange1 and ,i was in constant fear of committing some rudeness from my inability to look at things from the same stand-point as my neighbours2 but after a few weeks' stay with the ,nosnibors ,i got to understand things better1 especially on having heard all about my host's illness1 of which he told me fully and repeatedly4 ,it seemed he had been on the ,stock ,exchange of the city for many years and had amassed enormous wealth1 without exceeding the limits of what was generally considered justifiable or at any rate permissible dealing2 but at length on several occasions he had become aware of a desire to make money by fraudulent representations1 and had actually dealt with two or three sums in a way which had made him rather uncomfortable4 ,he had unfortunately made light of it and pooh-poohed the ailment1 until circumstances eventually presented themselves which enabled him to cheat upon a very considerable scale2--he told me what they were1 and they were about as bad as anything could be1 but ,i need not detail them2--he seized the opportunity1 and became aware when it was too late that he must be seriously out of order4 ,he had neglected himself too long4 ,he drove home at once1 broke the news to his wife and daughters as gently as he could1 and sent off for one of the most celebrated straighteners of the kingdom to a consultation with the family practitioner1 for the case was plainly serious4 ,on the arrival of the straightener he told his story1 and expressed his fear that his morals must be permanently impaired4 ,the eminent man reassured him with a few cheering words1 and then proceeded to make a more careful diagnosis of the case4 ,he inquired concerning ,mr4 ,nosnibor's parents--had their moral health been good8 ,he was answered that there had not been anything seriously amiss with them1 but that his maternal grandfather1 whom he was supposed to resemble somewhat in person1 had been a consummate scoundrel and had ended his days in a hospital1--while a brother of his father's1 after having led a most flagitious life for many years1 had been at last cured by a philosopher of a new school1 which as far as ,i could understand it bore much the same relation to the old as homoeopathy to allopathy4 ,the straightener shook his head at this1 and laughingly replied that the cure must have been due to nature4 ,after a few more questions he wrote a prescription and departed4 ,i saw the prescription4 ,it ordered a fine to the ,state of double the money embezzled2 no food but bread and milk for six months1 and a severe flogging once a month for twelve4 ,he had received his eleventh flogging on the day of my arrival4 ,i saw him later on the same afternoon1 and he was still twinged2 but even though he had been minded to do so 7which he showed no sign of being71 there would have been no escape from following out the straightener's prescription1 for the so-called sanitary laws of ,erewhon are very rigorous1 and unless the straightener was satisfied that his orders had been obeyed1 the patient would have been taken to a hospital 7as the poor are71 and would have been much worse off4 ,such at least is the law1 but it is never necessary to enforce it4 ,on a subsequent occasion ,i was present at an interview between ,mr4 ,nosnibor and the family straightener1 who was considered competent to watch the completion of the cure4 ,i was struck with the delicacy with which he avoided even the remotest semblance of inquiry after the physical well-being of his patient1 though there was a certain yellowness about my host's eyes which argued a bilious habit of body4 ,to have taken notice of this would have been a gross breach of professional etiquette4 ,i am told that a straightener sometimes thinks it right to glance at the possibility of some slight physical disorder if he finds it important in order to assist him in his diagnosis2 but the answers which he gets are generally untrue or evasive1 and he forms his own conclusions upon the matter as well as he can4 ,sensible men have been known to say that the straightener should in strict confidence be told of every physical ailment that is likely to bear upon the case2 but people are naturally shy of doing this1 for they do not like lowering themselves in the opinion of the straightener1 and his ignorance of medical science is supreme4 ,i heard of one lady however who had the hardihood to confess that a furious outbreak of ill-humour and extravagant fancies for which she was seeking advice was possibly the result of indisposition4 ,you should resist that1 said the straightener1 in a kind1 but grave voice2 we can do nothing for the bodies of our patients2 such matters are beyond our province1 and ,i desire that ,i may hear no further particulars4 ,the lady burst into tears1 promised faithfully that she would never be unwell again1 and kept her word4 ,to return however to ,mr4 ,nosnibor4 ,as the afternoon wore on many carriages drove up with callers to inquire how he had stood his flogging4 ,it had been very severe1 but the kind inquiries upon every side gave him great pleasure1 and he assured me that he felt almost tempted to do wrong again by the solicitude with which his friends had treated him during his recovery3 in this ,i need hardly say that he was not serious4 ,during the remainder of my stay in the country ,mr4 ,nosnibor was constantly attentive to his business1 and largely increased his already great possessions2 but ,i never heard a whisper to the effect of his having been indisposed a second time1 or made money by other than the most strictly honourable means4 ,i did hear afterwards in confidence that there had been reason to believe that his health had been not a little affected by the straightener's treatment1 but his friends did not choose to be over curious upon the subject1 and on his return to his affairs it was by common consent passed over as hardly criminal in one who was otherwise so much afflicted4 ,for they regard bodily ailments as the more venial in proportion as they have been produced by causes independent of the constitution4 ,thus if a person ruin his health by excessive indulgence at the table1 or by drinking1 they count it to be almost a part of the mental disease which brought it about and so it goes for little1 but they have no mercy on such illnesses as fevers or catarrhs or lung diseases1 which to us appear to be beyond the control of the individual4 ,they are only more lenient towards the diseases of the young--such as measles1 which they think to be like sowing one's wild oats--and look over them as pardonable indiscretions if they have not been too serious1 and if they are atoned for by complete subsequent recovery4 ,,an ,,erewhonian ,,trial4 7,,chapter ,,xi4 ,,of ,,erewhon47 ,i shall best convey to the reader an idea of the entire perversion of thought which exists among this extraordinary people1 by describing the public trial of a man who was accused of pulmonary consumption--an offence which was punished with death until quite recently4 ,the trial did not take place till ,i had been some months in the country1 and ,i am deviating from chronological order in giving an account of it here2 but ,i had perhaps better do so in order to exhaust this subject before proceeding with others4 ,the prisoner was placed in the dock1 and the jury were sworn much as in ,europe2 almost all our own modes of procedure were reproduced1 even to the requiring the prisoner to plead guilty or not guilty4 ,he pleaded not guilty and the case proceeded4 ,the evidence for the prosecution was very strong1 but ,i must do the court the justice to observe that the trial was absolutely impartial4 ,counsel for the prisoner was allowed to urge everything that could be said in his defence4 ,the line taken was that the prisoner was simulating consumption in order to defraud an insurance company1 from which he was about to buy an annuity1 and that he hoped thus to obtain it on more advantageous terms4 ,if this could have been shown to be the case he would have escaped criminal prosecution1 and been sent to a hospital as for moral ailment4 ,the view however was one which could not be reasonably sustained1 in spite of all the ingenuity and eloquence of one of the most celebrated advocates of the country4 ,the case was only too clear1 for the prisoner was almost at the point of death1 and it was astonishing that he had not been tried and convicted long previously4 ,his coughing was incessant during the whole trial1 and it was all that the two jailers in charge of him could do to keep him on his legs until it was over4 ,the summing up of the judge was admirable4 ,he dwelt upon every point that could be construed in favour of the prisoner1 but as he proceeded it became clear that the evidence was too convincing to admit of doubt1 and there was but one opinion in the court as to the impending verdict when the jury retired from the box4 ,they were absent for about ten minutes1 and on their return the foreman pronounced the prisoner guilty4 ,there was a faint murmur of applause but it was instantly repressed4 ,the judge then proceeded to pronounce sentence in words which ,i can never forget1 and which ,i copied out into a note-book next day from the report that was published in the leading newspaper4 ,i must condense it somewhat1 and nothing which ,i could say would give more than a faint idea of the solemn1 not to say majestic1 severity with which it was delivered4 ,the sentence was as follows3-- ,prisoner at the bar1 you have been accused of the great crime of labouring under pulmonary consumption1 and after an impartial trial before a jury of your countrymen1 you have been found guilty4 ,against the justice of the verdict ,i can say nothing3 the evidence against you was conclusive1 and it only remains for me to pass such a sentence upon you1 as shall satisfy the ends of the law4 ,that sentence must be a very severe one4 ,it pains me much to see one who is yet so young1 and whose prospects in life were otherwise so excellent1 brought to this distressing condition by a constitution which ,i can only regard as radically vicious2 but yours is no case for compassion3 this is not your first offence3 you have led a career of crime1 and have only profited by the leniency shown you upon past occasions1 to offend yet more seriously against the laws and institutions of your country4 ,you were convicted of aggravated bronchitis last year3 and ,i find that though you are now only twenty-three years old1 you have been imprisoned on no less than fourteen occasions for illnesses of a more or less hateful character2 in fact1 it is not too much to say that you have spent the greater part of your life in a jail4 ,it is all very well for you to say that you came of unhealthy parents1 and had a severe accident in your childhood which permanently undermined your constitution2 excuses such as these are the ordinary refuge of the criminal2 but they cannot for one moment be listened to by the ear of justice4 ,i am not here to enter upon curious metaphysical questions as to the origin of this or that--questions to which there would be no end were their introduction once tolerated1 and which would result in throwing the only guilt on the primordial cell1 or perhaps even on the elementary gases4 ,there is no question of how you came to be wicked1 but only this--namely1 are you wicked or not8 ,this has been decided in the affirmative1 neither can ,i hesitate for a single moment to say that it has been decided justly4 ,you are a bad and dangerous person1 and stand branded in the eyes of your fellow-countrymen with one of the most heinous known offences4 ,it is not my business to justify the law3 the law may in some cases have its inevitable hardships1 and ,i may feel regret at times that ,i have not the option of passing a less severe sentence than ,i am compelled to do4 ,but yours is no such case2 on the contrary1 had not the capital punishment for consumption been abolished1 ,i should certainly inflict it now4 ,it is intolerable that an example of such terrible enormity should be allowed to go at large unpunished4 ,your presence in the society of respectable people would lead the less able-bodied to think more lightly of all forms of illness2 neither can it be permitted that you should have the chance of corrupting unborn beings who might hereafter pester you4 ,the unborn must not be allowed to come near you3 and this not so much for their protection 7for they are our natural enemies71 as for our own2 for since they will not be utterly gainsaid1 it must be seen to that they shall be quartered upon those who are least likely to corrupt them4 ,but independently of this consideration1 and independently of the physical guilt which attaches itself to a crime so great as yours1 there is yet another reason why we should be unable to show you mercy1 even if we are inclined to do so4 ,i refer to the existence of a class of men who lie hidden among us1 and who are called physicians4 ,were the severity of the law or the current feeling of the country to be relaxed never so slightly1 these abandoned persons1 who are now compelled to practise secretly1 and who can be consulted only at the greatest risk1 would become frequent visitors in every household2 their organisation and their intimate acquaintance with all family secrets would give them a power1 both social and political1 which nothing could resist4 ,the head of the household would become subordinate to the family doctor1 who would interfere between man and wife1 between master and servant1 until the doctors should be the only depositaries of power in the nation1 and have all that we hold precious at their mercy4 ,a time of universal dephysicalisation would ensue2 medicine-vendors of all kinds would abound in our streets and advertise in all our newspapers4 ,there is one remedy for this1 and one only4 ,it is that which the laws of this country have long received and acted upon1 and consists in the sternest repression of all diseases whatsoever1 as soon as their existence is made manifest to the eye of the law4 ,would that that eye were far more piercing than it is4 ,but ,i will enlarge no further upon things that are themselves so obvious4 ,you may say that it is not your fault4 ,the answer is ready enough at hand1 and it amounts to this--that if you had been born of healthy and well-to-do parents1 and been well taken care of when you were a child1 you would never have offended against the laws of your country1 nor found yourself in your present disgraceful position4 ,if you tell me that you had no hand in your parentage and education1 and that it is therefore unjust to lay these things to your charge1 ,i answer that whether your being in a consumption is your fault or no1 it is a fault in you1 and it is my duty to see that against such faults as this the commonwealth shall be protected4 ,you may say that it is your misfortune to be criminal2 ,i answer that it is your crime to be unfortunate4 ,i do not hesitate therefore to sentence you to imprisonment1 with hard labour1 for the rest of your miserable existence4 ,during that period ,i would earnestly entreat you to repent of these wrongs you have done already1 and to entirely reform the constitution of your whole body4 ,i entertain but little hope that you will pay attention to my advice2 you are already far too abandoned4 ,did it rest with myself1 ,i should add nothing in mitigation of the sentence which ,i have passed1 but it is the merciful provision of the law that even the most hardened criminal shall be allowed some one of the three official remedies1 which is to be prescribed at the time of his conviction4 ,i shall therefore order that you receive two tablespoonfuls of castor-oil daily1 until the pleasure of the court be further known4 ,when the sentence was concluded1 the prisoner acknowledged in a few scarcely audible words that he was justly punished1 and that he had had a fair trial4 ,he was then removed to the prison from which he was never to return4 ,there was a second attempt at applause when the judge had finished speaking1 but as before it was at once repressed2 and though the feeling of the court was strongly against the prisoner1 there was no show of any violence against him1 if one may except a little hooting from the bystanders when he was being removed in the prisoners' van4 ,indeed1 nothing struck me more during my whole sojourn in the country1 than the general respect for law and order4 ,,malcontents4 7,,part ,,of ,,chapter ,,xii4 ,,of ,,erewhon47 ,i write with great diffidence1 but it seems to me that there is no unfairness in punishing people for their misfortunes1 or rewarding them for their sheer good luck3 it is the normal condition of human life that this should be done1 and no right-minded person will complain at being subjected to the common treatment4 ,there is no alternative open to us4 ,it is idle to say that men are not responsible for their misfortunes4 ,what is responsibility8 ,surely to be responsible means to be liable to have to give an answer should it be demanded1 and all things which live are responsible for their lives and actions should society see fit to question them through the mouth of its authorised agent4 ,what is the offence of a lamb that we should rear it1 and tend it1 and lull it into security1 for the express purpose of killing it8 ,its offence is the misfortune of being something which society wants to eat1 and which cannot defend itself4 ,this is ample4 ,who shall limit the right of society except society itself8 ,and what consideration for the individual is tolerable unless society be the gainer thereby8 ,wherefore should a man be so richly rewarded for having been son to a millionaire1 were it not clearly provable that the common welfare is thus better furthered8 ,we cannot seriously detract from a man's merit in having been the son of a rich father without imperilling our own tenure of things which we do not wish to jeopardise2 if this were otherwise we should not let him keep his money for a single hour2 we would have it ourselves at once4 ,for property is robbery1 but then we are all robbers or would-be robbers together1 and have found it expedient to organise our thieving1 as we have found it to organise our lust and our revenge4 ,property1 marriage1 the law2 as the bed to the river1 so rule and convention to the instinct4 ,but to return4 ,even in ,england a man on board a ship with yellow fever is held responsible for his mischance1 no matter what his being kept in quarantine may cost him4 ,he may catch the fever and die2 we cannot help it2 he must take his chance as other people do2 but surely it would be desperate unkindness to add contumely to our self-protection1 unless1 indeed1 we believe that contumely is one of our best means of self-protection4 ,again1 take the case of maniacs4 ,we say that they are irresponsible for their actions1 but we take good care1 or ought to take good care1 that they shall answer to us for their insanity1 and we imprison them in what we call an asylum 7that modern sanctuary67 if we do not like their answers4 ,this is a strange kind of irresponsibility4 ,what we ought to say is that we can afford to be satisfied with a less satisfactory answer from a lunatic than from one who is not mad1 because lunacy is less infectious than crime4 ,we kill a serpent if we go in danger by it1 simply for being such and such a serpent in such and such a place2 but we never say that the serpent has only itself to blame for not having been a harmless creature4 ,its crime is that of being the thing which it is3 but this is a capital offence1 and we are right in killing it out of the way1 unless we think it more dangerous to do so than to let it escape2 nevertheless we pity the creature1 even though we kill it4 ,but in the case of him whose trial ,i have described above1 it was impossible that any one in the court should not have known that it was but by an accident of birth and circumstances that he was not himself also in a consumption2 and yet none thought that it disgraced them to hear the judge give vent to the most cruel truisms about him4 ,the judge himself was a kind and thoughtful person4 ,he was a man of magnificent and benign presence4 ,he was evidently of an iron constitution1 and his face wore an expression of the maturest wisdom and experience2 yet for all this1 old and learned as he was1 he could not see things which one would have thought would have been apparent even to a child4 ,he could not emancipate himself from1 nay1 it did not even occur to him to feel1 the bondage of the ideas in which he had been born and bred4 ,so was it with the jury and bystanders2 and--most wonderful of all--so was it even with the prisoner4 ,throughout he seemed fully impressed with the notion that he was being dealt with justly3 he saw nothing wanton in his being told by the judge that he was to be punished1 not so much as a necessary protection to society 7although this was not entirely lost sight of71 as because he had not been better born and bred than he was4 ,but this led me to hope that he suffered less than he would have done if he had seen the matter in the same light that ,i did4 ,and1 after all1 justice is relative4 ,i may here mention that only a few years before my arrival in the country1 the treatment of all convicted invalids had been much more barbarous than now2 for no physical remedy was provided1 and prisoners were put to the severest labour in all sorts of weather1 so that most of them soon succumbed to the extreme hardships which they suffered2 this was supposed to be beneficial in some ways1 inasmuch as it put the country to less expense for the maintenance of its criminal class2 but the growth of luxury had induced a relaxation of the old severity1 and a sensitive age would no longer tolerate what appeared to be an excess of rigour1 even towards the most guilty2 moreover1 it was found that juries were less willing to convict1 and justice was often cheated because there was no alternative between virtually condemning a man to death and letting him go free2 it was also held that the country paid in recommittals for its overseverity2 for those who had been imprisoned even for trifling ailments were often permanently disabled by their imprisonment2 and when a man has been once convicted1 it was probable he would never afterwards be long off the hands of the country4 ,these evils had long been apparent and recognised2 yet people were too indolent1 and too indifferent to suffering not their own1 to bestir themselves about putting an end to them1 until at last a benevolent reformer devoted his whole life to effecting the necessary changes4 ,he divided illnesses into three classes--those affecting the head1 the trunk1 and the lower limbs--and obtained an enactment that all diseases of the head1 whether internal or external1 should be treated with laudanum1 those of the body with castor-oil1 and those of the lower limbs with an embrocation of strong sulphuric acid and water4 ,it may be said that the classification was not sufficiently careful1 and that the remedies were ill chosen2 but it is a hard thing to initiate any reform1 and it was necessary to familiarise the public mind with the principle1 by inserting the thin end of the wedge first3 it is not therefore to be wondered at that among so practical a people there should still be some room for improvement4 ,the mass of the nation are well pleased with existing arrangements1 and believe that their treatment of criminals leaves little or nothing to be desired2 but there is an energetic minority who hold what are considered to be extreme opinions1 and who are not at all disposed to rest contented until the principle lately admitted has been carried further4 ,,the ,,musical ,,banks4 7,,chapter ,,xiv4 ,,of ,,erewhon47 ,on my return to the drawing-room1 ,i found the ladies were just putting away their work and preparing to go out4 ,i asked them where they were going4 ,they answered with a certain air of reserve that they were going to the bank to get some money4 ,now ,i had already collected that the mercantile affairs of the ,erewhonians were conducted on a totally different system from our own2 ,i had however gathered little hitherto1 except that they had two distinct commercial systems1 of which the one appealed more strongly to the imagination than anything to which we are accustomed in ,europe1 inasmuch as the banks conducted upon this system were decorated in the most profuse fashion1 and all mercantile transactions were accompanied with music1 so that they were called musical banks though the music was hideous to a ,european ear4 ,as for the system itself ,i never understood it1 neither can ,i do so now3 they have a code in connection with it1 which ,i have no doubt they themselves understand1 but no foreigner can hope to do so4 ,one rule runs into and against another as in a most complicated grammar1 or as in ,chinese pronunciation1 wherein ,i am told the slightest change in accentuation or tone of voice alters the meaning of a whole sentence4 ,whatever is incoherent in my description must be referred to the fact of my never having attained to a full comprehension of the subject4 ,so far however as ,i could collect anything certain1 they appeared to have two entirely distinct currencies1 each under the control of its own banks and mercantile codes4 ,the one of them 7the one with the musical banks7 was supposed to be the system1 and to give out the currency in which all monetary transactions should be carried on4 ,as far as ,i could see1 all who wished to be considered respectable1 did keep a certain amount of this currency at these banks2 nevertheless1 if there is one thing of which ,i am more sure than another it is that the amount so kept was but a very small part of their possessions4 ,i think they took the money1 put it into the bank1 and then drew it out again1 repeating the process day by day1 and keeping a certain amount of currency for this purpose and no other1 while they paid the expenses of the bank with the other coinage4 ,i am sure the managers and cashiers of the musical banks were not paid in their own currency4 ,mr4 ,nosnibor used to go to these musical banks1 or rather to the great mother bank of the city1 sometimes but not very often4 ,he was a pillar of one of the other kind of banks1 though he held some minor office also in these4 ,the ladies generally went alone2 as indeed was the case in most families1 except on some few great annual occasions4 ,i had long wanted to know more of this strange system1 and had the greatest desire to accompany my hostess and her daughters4 ,i had seen them go out almost every morning since my arrival1 and had noticed that they carried their purses in their hands1 not exactly ostentatiously1 yet just so as that those who met them should see whither they were going4 ,i had never yet been asked to go with them myself4 ,it is not easy to convey a person's manner by words1 and ,i can hardly give any idea of the peculiar feeling which came upon me whenever ,i saw the ladies in the hall1 with their purses in their hands1 and on the point of starting for the bank4 ,there was a something of regret1 a something as though they would wish to take me with them1 but did not like to ask me1 and yet as though ,i were hardly to ask to be taken4 ,i was determined however to bring matters to an issue with my hostess about my going with them1 and after a little parleying and many inquiries as to whether ,i was perfectly sure that ,i myself wished to go1 it was decided that ,i might do so4 ,we passed through several streets of more or less considerable houses1 and at last turning round a corner we came upon a large piazza1 at the end of which was a magnificent building1 of a strange but noble architecture and of great antiquity4 ,it did not open directly on to the piazza1 there being a screen1 through which was an archway1 between the piazza and the actual precincts of the bank4 ,on passing under the archway we found ourselves upon a green sward1 round which there ran an arcade or cloister1 while in front of us uprose the majestic towers of the bank and its venerable front1 which was divided into three deep recesses and adorned with all sorts of marbles and many sculptures4 ,on either side there were beautiful old trees wherein the birds were busy by the hundred1 and a number of quaint but substantial houses of singularly comfortable appearance2 they were situated in the midst of orchards and gardens1 and gave me an impression of great peace and plenty4 ,indeed it had been no error to say that this building was one which appealed to the imagination2 it did more--it carried both imagination and judgment by storm4 ,it was an epic in stone and marble2 neither had ,i ever seen anything in the least comparable to it4 ,i was completely charmed and melted4 ,i felt more conscious of the existence of a remote past4 ,one knows of this always1 but the knowledge is never so living as in the actual presence of some witness to the life of bygone ages4 ,i felt how short a space of human life was the period of our own existence4 ,i was more impressed with my own littleness1 and much more inclinable to believe that the people whose sense of the fitness of things was equal to the upraising of so serene a handiwork1 were hardly likely to be wrong in the conclusions they might come to upon any subject4 ,my feeling certainly was that the currency of this bank must be the right one4 ,we crossed the sward and entered the building4 ,if the outside had been impressive the inside was even more so4 ,it was very lofty and divided into several parts by walls which rested upon massive pillars2 the windows were filled with glass1 on which had been painted the principal commercial incidents of the bank for many ages4 ,in a remote part of the building there were men and boys singing2 this was the only disturbing feature1 for as the gamut was still unknown1 there was no music in the country which could be agreeable to a ,european ear4 ,the singers seemed to have derived their inspirations from the songs of birds and the wailing of the wind1 which last they tried to imitate in melancholy cadences which at times degenerated into a howl4 ,to my thinking the noise was hideous1 but it produced a great effect upon my companions1 who professed themselves much moved4 ,as soon as the singing was over the ladies requested me to stay where ,i was1 while they went inside the place from which it had seemed to come4 ,during their absence certain reflections forced themselves upon me4 ,in the first place1 it struck me as strange that the building should be so nearly empty2 ,i was almost alone1 and the few besides myself had been led by curiosity1 and had no intention of doing business with the bank4 ,but there might be more inside4 ,i stole up to the curtain1 and ventured to draw the extreme edge of it on one side4 ,no1 there was hardly any one there4 ,i saw a large number of cashiers1 all at their desks ready to pay cheques1 and one or two who seemed to be the managing partners4 ,i also saw my hostess and her daughters and two or three other ladies2 also three or four old women and the boys from one of the neighbouring ,colleges of ,unreason2 but there was no one else4 ,this did not look as though the bank was doing a very large business2 and yet ,i had always been told that every one in the city dealt with this establishment4 ,i cannot describe all that took place in these inner precincts1 for a sinister-looking person in a black gown came and made unpleasant gestures at me for peeping4 ,i happened to have in my pocket one of the musical bank pieces1 which had been given me by ,mrs4 ,nosnibor1 so ,i tried to tip him with it2 but having seen what it was1 he became so angry that it was all ,i could do to pacify him4 ,when he was gone ,i ventured to take a second look1 and saw ,zulora in the very act of giving a piece of paper which looked like a cheque to one of the cashiers4 ,he did not examine it1 but putting his hand into an antique coffer hard by1 he pulled out a quantity of dull-looking metal pieces apparently at random1 and handed them over without counting them2 neither did ,zulora count them1 but put them into her purse and departed4 ,it seemed a very singular proceeding1 but ,i supposed that they knew their own business best1 at any rate ,zulora seemed quite satisfied1 thanked him for the money1 and began making towards the curtain3 on this ,i let it drop and retreated to a reasonable distance4 ,mrs4 ,nosnibor and her daughters soon joined me4 ,for some few minutes we all kept silence1 but at last ,i ventured to remark that the bank was not so busy to-day as it probably often was4 ,on this ,mrs4 ,nosnibor said that it was indeed melancholy to see what little heed people paid to the most precious of all institutions4 ,i could say nothing in reply1 but ,i have ever been of opinion that the greater part of mankind do approximately know where they get that which does them good4 ,mrs4 ,nosnibor went on to say that ,i must not imagine there was any want of confidence in the bank because ,i had seen so few people there2 the heart of the country was thoroughly devoted to these establishments1 and any sign of their being in danger would bring in support from the most unexpected quarters4 ,it was only because people knew them to be so very safe1 that in some cases 7as she lamented to say in ,mr4 ,nosnibor's7 they felt that their support was unnecessary4 ,moreover these institutions never departed from the safest and most approved banking principles4 ,thus they never allowed interest on deposit1 a thing now frequently done by certain bubble companies1 which by doing an illegitimate trade had drawn many customers away2 and even the shareholders were fewer than formerly1 owing to the innovations of these unscrupulous persons4 ,it came out by and by that the musical banks paid little or no dividend1 but divided their profits by way of bonus on the original shares once in every three hundred and fifty years2 and as it was now only two hundred years since there had been one of these distributions1 people felt that they could not hope for another in their own time and preferred investments whereby they got some more tangible return2 all which1 she said1 was very melancholy to think of4 ,having made these last admissions1 she returned to her original statement1 namely1 that every one in the country really supported the bank4 ,as to the fewness of the people1 and the absence of the able-bodied1 she pointed out to me with some justice that this was exactly what we ought to expect4 ,the men who were most conversant about the stability of human institutions1 such as the lawyers1 men of science1 doctors1 statesmen1 painters1 and the like1 were just those who were most likely to be misled by their own fancied accomplishments1 and to be made unduly suspicious by their licentious desire for greater present return1 which was at the root of nine-tenths of the opposition1 by their vanity1 which would prompt them to affect superiority to the prejudices of the vulgar1 and by the stings of their own conscience1 which was constantly upbraiding them in the most cruel manner on account of their bodies1 which were generally diseased2 let a person's intellect be never so sound1 unless his body were in absolute health1 he could form no judgment worth having on matters of this kind4 ,the body was everything3 it need not perhaps be such a strong body 7she said this because she saw ,i was thinking of the old and infirm-looking folks whom ,i had seen in the bank71 but it must be in perfect health2 in this case1 the less active strength it had the more free would be the working of the intellect1 and therefore the sounder the conclusion4 ,the people1 then1 whom ,i had seen at the bank were in reality the very ones whose opinions were most worth having2 they declared its advantages to be incalculable1 and even professed to consider the immediate return to be far larger than they were entitled to2 and so she ran on1 nor did she leave off till we had got back to the house4 ,she might say what she pleased1 but her manner was not one that carried much conviction2 and later on ,i saw signs of general indifference to these banks that were not to be mistaken4 ,their supporters often denied it1 but the denial was generally so couched as to add another proof of its existence4 ,in commercial panics1 and in times of general distress1 the people as a mass did not so much as even think of turning to these banks4 ,a few individuals might do so1 some from habit and early training1 some from hope of gain1 but few from a genuine belief that the money was good2 the masses turned instinctively to the other currency4 ,in a conversation with one of the musical bank managers ,i ventured to hint this as plainly as politeness would allow4 ,he said that it had been more or less true till lately2 but that now they had put fresh stained glass windows into all the banks in the country1 and repaired the buildings1 and enlarged the organs1 and taken to talking nicely to the people in the streets1 and to remembering the ages of their children and giving them things when they were ill1 so that all would henceforth go smoothly4 ,but haven't you done anything to the money itself8 said ,i timidly4 ,to this day ,i do not know exactly what the bank-manager said1 but it came to this in the end--that ,i had better not meddle with things that ,i did not understand4 ,on reviewing the whole matter1 ,i can be certain of this much only1 that the money given out at the musical banks is not the current coin of the realm4 ,it is not the money with which the people do as a general rule buy their bread1 meat1 and clothing4 ,it is like it2 some coins very like it2 and it is not counterfeit4 ,it is not1 take it all round1 a spurious article made of base metal in imitation of the money which is in daily use2 but it is a distinct coinage which1 though ,i do not suppose it ever actually superseded the ordinary gold1 silver1 and copper1 was probably issued by authority1 and was intended to supplant those metals4 ,some of the pieces were really of exquisite beauty2 and some were1 ,i do verily believe1 nothing but the ordinary currency1 only that there was another head and name in place of that of the commonwealth4 ,and here was one of the great marvels2 for those who were most strongly in favour of this coinage maintained1 and even grew more excited if they were opposed here than on any other matter1 that the very self-same coin with the head of the commonwealth upon it was of little if any value1 while it became exceedingly precious it stamped with the other image4 ,some of the coins were plainly bad2 of these last there were not many2 still there were enough for them to be not uncommon4 ,these were entirely composed of alloy2 they would bend easily1 would melt away to nothing with a little heat1 and were quite unsuited for a currency4 ,yet there were few of the wealthier classes who did not maintain that even these coins were genuine good money1 though they were chary of taking them4 ,every one knew this1 so they were seldom offered2 but all thought it incumbent upon them to retain a good many in their possession1 and to let them be seen from time to time in their hands and purses4 ,of course people knew their real value exceedingly well2 but few1 if any1 dared to say what that value was2 or if they did1 it would be only in certain companies or in writing in the newspapers anonymously4 ,strange6 there was hardly any insinuation against this coinage which they would not tolerate and even applaud in their daily papers2 and yet1 if the same thing were said without ambiguity to their faces--nominative case verb and accusative being all in their right places1 and doubt impossible--they would consider themselves very seriously and justly outraged1 and accuse the speaker of being unwell4 ,i never could understand1 neither can ,i do so now1 why a single currency should not suffice them2 it would seem to me as though all their dealings would have been thus greatly simplified2 but ,i was met with a look of horror if ever ,i dared to hint at it4 ,even those who to my certain knowledge kept only just enough money at the musical banks to swear by1 would call the other banks 7where their securities really lay7 cold1 deadening1 paralysing1 and the like4 ,i noticed another thing moreover which struck me greatly4 ,i was taken to the opening of one of these banks in a neighbouring town1 and saw a large assemblage of cashiers and managers4 ,i sat opposite them and scanned their faces attentively4 ,they did not please me2 they lacked1 with a few exceptions1 the true ,erewhonian frankness2 and an equal number from any other class would have looked happier and better men4 ,when ,i met them in the streets they did not seem like other people1 but had1 as a general rule1 a cramped expression upon their faces which pained and depressed me4 ,those who came from the country were better2 they seemed to have lived less as a separate class1 and to be freer and healthier2 but in spite of my seeing not a few whose looks were benign and noble1 ,i could not help asking myself concerning the greater number of those whom ,i met1 whether ,erewhon would be a better country if their expression were to be transferred to the people in general4 ,i answered myself emphatically1 no4 ,a man's expression is his sacrament2 it is the outward and visible sign of his inward and spiritual grace1 or1 want of grace2 and as ,i looked at the majority of these men1 ,i could not help feeling that there must be a something in their lives which had stunted their natural development1 and that they would have been more healthily-minded in any other profession4 ,i was always sorry for them1 for in nine cases out of ten they were well- meaning persons2 they were in the main very poorly paid2 their constitutions were as a rule above suspicion2 and there were recorded numberless instances of their self-sacrifice and generosity2 but they had had the misfortune to have been betrayed into a false position at an age for the most part when their judgment was not matured1 and after having been kept in studied ignorance of the real difficulties of the system4 ,but this did not make their position the less a false one1 and its bad effects upon themselves were unmistakable4 ,few people would speak quite openly and freely before them1 which struck me as a very bad sign4 ,when they were in the room every one would talk as though all currency save that of the musical banks should be abolished2 and yet they knew perfectly well that even the cashiers themselves hardly used the musical bank money more than other people4 ,it was expected of them that they should appear to do so1 but this was all4 ,the less thoughtful of them did not seem particularly unhappy1 but many were plainly sick at heart1 though perhaps they hardly knew it1 and would not have owned to being so4 ,some few were opponents of the whole system2 but these were liable to be dismissed from their employment at any moment1 and this rendered them very careful1 for a man who had once been cashier at a musical bank was out of the field for other employment1 and was generally unfitted for it by reason of that course of treatment which was commonly called his education4 ,in fact it was a career from which retreat was virtually impossible1 and into which young men were generally induced to enter before they could be reasonably expected1 considering their training1 to have formed any opinions of their own4 ,few indeed were those who had the courage to insist on seeing both sides of the question before they committed themselves to either4 ,one would have thought that this was an elementary principle1--one of the first things that an honourable man would teach his boy to do2 but in practice it was not so4 ,i even saw cases in which parents bought the right of presenting to the office of cashier at one of these banks1 with the fixed determination that some one of their sons 7perhaps a mere child7 should fill it4 ,there was the lad himself--growing up with every promise of becoming a good and honourable man--but utterly without warning concerning the iron shoe which his natural protector was providing for him4 ,who could say that the whole thing would not end in a life-long lie1 and vain chafing to escape8 ,i confess that there were few things in ,erewhon which shocked me more than this4 ,,birth ,,formulae4 7,,chapter ,,xvii4 ,,of ,,erewhon47 ,i heard what follows not from ,arowhena1 but from ,mr4 ,nosnibor and some of the gentlemen who occasionally dined at the house3 they told me that the ,erewhonians believe in pre-existence2 and not only this 7of which ,i will write more fully in the next chapter71 but they believe that it is of their own free act and deed in a previous state that people come to be born into this world at all4 ,they hold that the unborn are perpetually plaguing and tormenting the married 7and sometimes even the unmarried7 of both sexes1 fluttering about them incessantly1 and giving them no peace either of mind or body until they have consented to take them under their protection4 ,if this were not so--this is at least what they urge--it would be a monstrous freedom for one man to take with another1 to say that he should undergo the chances and changes of this mortal life without any option in the matter4 ,no man would have any right to get married at all1 inasmuch as he can never tell what misery his doing so may entail forcibly upon his children who cannot be unhappy as long as they remain unborn4 ,they feel this so strongly that they are resolved to shift the blame on to other shoulders2 they have therefore invented a long mythology as to the world in which the unborn people live1 what they do1 and the arts and machinations to which they have recourse in order to get themselves into our own world4 ,i cannot think they seriously believe in this mythology concerning pre- existence2 they do and they do not2 they do not know themselves what they believe2 all they know is that it is a disease not to believe as they do4 ,the only thing of which they are quite sure is that it is the pestering of the unborn1 which causes them to be brought into this world1 and that they would not be here if they would only let peaceable people alone4 ,it would be hard to disprove this position1 and they might have a good case if they would only leave it as it stands4 ,but this they will not do2 they must have assurance doubly sure2 they must have the written word of the child itself as soon as it is born1 giving the parents indemnity from all responsibility on the score of its birth1 and asserting its own pre-existence4 ,they have therefore devised something which they call a birth formula--a document which varies in words according to the caution of parents1 but is much the same practically in all cases2 for it has been the business of the ,erewhonian lawyers during many ages to exercise their skill in perfecting it and providing for every contingency4 ,these formulae are printed on common paper at a moderate cost for the poor2 but the rich have them written on parchment and handsomely bound1 so that the getting up of a person's birth formula is a test of his social position4 ,they commence by setting forth1 ,that whereas ,a4 ,b4 was a member of the kingdom of the unborn1 where he was well provided for in every way1 and had no cause of discontent1 c4 c41 he did of his own wanton restlessness conceive a desire to enter into this present world2 that thereon having taken the necessary steps as set forth in laws of the unborn kingdom1 he set himself with malice aforethought to plague and pester two unfortunate people who had never wronged him1 and who were quite contented until he conceived this base design against their peace2 for which wrong he now humbly entreats their pardon4 ,he acknowledges that he is responsible for all physical blemishes and deficiencies which may render him answerable to the laws of his country2 that his parents have nothing whatever to do with any of these things2 and that they have a right to kill him at once if they be so minded1 though he entreats them to show their marvellous goodness and clemency towards him by sparing his life4 ,if they will do this he promises to be their most abject creature during his earlier years1 and indeed unto his life's end1 unless they should see fit in their abundant generosity to remit some portion of his service hereafter4 ,and so the formula continues1 going sometimes into very minute details1 according to the fancies of family lawyers1 who will not make it any shorter than they can help4 ,the deed being thus prepared1 on the third or fourth day after the birth of the child1 or as they call it1 the final importunity1 the friends gather together1 and there is a feast held1 where they are all very melancholy--as a general rule1 ,i believe quite truly so--and make presents to the father and mother of the child in order to console them for the injury which has just been done them by the unborn4 ,by and by the child himself is brought down by his nurse1 and the company begin to rail upon him1 upbraiding him for his impertinence and asking him what amends he proposes to make for the wrong that he has committed1 and how he can look for care and nourishment from those who have perhaps already been injured by the unborn on some ten or twelve occasions2 for they say of people with large families1 that they have suffered terrible injuries from the unborn2 till at last1 when this has been carried far enough1 some one suggests the formula1 which is brought forth and solemnly read to the child by the family straightener4 ,this gentleman is always invited on these occasions1 for the very fact of intrusion into a peaceful family shows a depravity on the part of the child which requires his professional services4 ,on being teased by the reading and tweaked by the nurse1 the child will commonly fall a-crying1 which is reckoned a good sign as showing a consciousness of guilt4 ,he is thereon asked1 ,does he assent to the formula8 on which1 as he still continues crying and can obviously make no answer1 some one of the friends comes forward and undertakes to sign the document on his behalf1 feeling sure 7so he says7 that the child would do it if he only knew how1 and that he will release the present signer from his engagement on arriving at maturity4 ,the friend then inscribes the signature of the child at the foot of the parchment1 which is held to bind the child as much as though he had signed it himself4 ,even this1 however1 does not fully content them1 for they feel a little uneasy until they have got the child's own signature after all4 ,so when he is about fourteen these good people partly bribe him by promises of greater liberty and good things1 and partly intimidate him through their great power of making themselves passively unpleasant to him1 so that though there is a show of freedom made1 there is really none1 and partly they use the offices of the teachers in the ,colleges of ,unreason1 till at last1 in one way or another1 they take very good care that he shall sign the paper by which he professes to have been a free agent in coming into the world1 and to take all the responsibility of having done so on to his own shoulders4 ,and yet1 though this document is in theory the most important which any one can sign in his whole life1 they will have him commit himself to it at an age when neither they nor the law will for many a year allow any one else to bind him to the smallest obligation1 no matter how righteously he may owe it1 because they hold him too young to know what he is about4 ,i thought this seemed rather hard1 and not of a piece with the many admirable institutions existing among them4 ,i once ventured to say a part of what ,i thought about it to one of the ,professors of ,unreason4 ,i asked him whether he did not think it would do serious harm to a lad's principles1 and weaken his sense of the sanctity of his word1 and of truth generally1 that he should be led into entering upon an engagement which it was so plainly impossible he should keep even for a single day with tolerable integrity--whether1 in fact1 the teachers who so led him1 or who taught anything as a certainty of which they were themselves uncertain1 were not earning their living by impairing the truth-sense of their pupils4 ,the professor1 who was a delightful person1 seemed surprised at the view ,i took1 and gave me to understand1 perhaps justly enough1 that ,i ought not to make so much fuss about a trifle4 ,no one1 he said1 expected that the boy either would or could do all that he undertook2 but the world was full of compromises2 and there was hardly any engagement which would bear being interpreted literally4 ,human language was too gross a vehicle of thought--thought being incapable of absolute translation4 ,he added1 that as there can be no translation from one language into another which shall not scant the meaning somewhat1 or enlarge upon it1 so there is no language which can render thought without a jarring and a harshness somewhere--and so forth2 all of which seemed to come to this in the end1 that it was the custom of the country1 and that the ,erewhonians were a conservative people2 that the boy would have to begin compromising sooner or later1 and this was part of his education in the art4 ,it was perhaps to be regretted that compromise should be as necessary as it was2 still it was necessary1 and the sooner the boy got to understand it the better for himself4 ,but they never tell this to the boy4 ,from the book of their mythology about the unborn ,i made the extracts which will form the following chapter4 ,,the ,,world ,,of ,,the ,,unborn4 7,,part ,,of ,,chapter ,,xvii4 ,,of ,,erewhon47 ,the ,erewhonians say it was by chance only that the earth and stars and all the heavenly worlds began to roll from east to west1 and not from west to east1 and in like manner they say it is by chance that man is drawn through life with his face to the past instead of to the future4 ,for the future is there as much as the past1 only that we may not see it4 ,is it not in the loins of the past1 and must not the past alter before the future can do so8 ,they have a fable that there was a race of men tried upon the earth once1 who knew the future better than the past1 but that they died in a twelvemonth from the misery which their knowledge caused them4 ,they say that if any were to be born too prescient now1 he would die miserably1 before he had time to transmit so peace-destroying a faculty to descendants4 ,strange fate for man6 ,he must perish if he get that1 which he must perish if he strive not after4 ,if he strive not after it he is no better than the brutes1 if he get it he is more miserable than the devils4 ,having waded through many chapters like the above1 ,i came at last to the unborn themselves1 and found that they were held to be souls pure and simple1 having no actual bodies1 but living in a sort of gaseous yet more or less anthropomorphic existence1 like that of a ghost2 they have thus neither flesh nor blood nor warmth4 ,nevertheless they are supposed to have local habitations and cities wherein they dwell1 though these are as unsubstantial as their inhabitants2 they are even thought to eat and drink some thin ambrosial sustenance1 and generally to be capable of doing whatever mankind can do1 only after a visionary ghostly fashion1 as in a dream4 ,on the other hand1 as long as they remain where they are they never die--the only form of death in the unborn world being the leaving it for our own4 ,they are believed to be extremely numerous1 far more so than mankind4 ,they arrive from unknown planets1 full grown1 in large batches at a time2 but they can only leave the unborn world by taking the steps necessary for their arrival here--which is1 in fact1 by suicide4 ,they ought to be a happy people1 for they have no extremes of good or ill fortune2 never marrying1 but living in a state much like that fabled by the poets as the primitive condition of mankind4 ,in spite of this1 however1 they are incessantly complaining2 they know that we in this world have bodies1 and indeed they know everything else about us1 for they move among us whithersoever they will1 and can read our thoughts1 as well as survey our actions at pleasure4 ,one would think that this should be enough for them2 and indeed most of them are alive to the desperate risk which they will run by indulging themselves in that body with sensible warm motion which they so much desire2 nevertheless1 there are some to whom the ennui of a disembodied existence is so intolerable that they will venture anything for a change2 so they resolve to quit4 ,the conditions which they must accept are so uncertain1 that none but the most foolish of the unborn will consent to take them2 and it is from these and these only that our own ranks are recruited4 ,when they have finally made up their minds to leave1 they must go before the magistrate of the nearest town and sign an affidavit of their desire to quit their then existence4 ,on their having done this1 the magistrate reads them the conditions which they must accept1 and which are so long that ,i can only extract some of the principal points1 which are mainly the following3-- ,first1 they must take a potion which will destroy their memory and sense of identity2 they must go into the world helpless1 and without a will of their own2 they must draw lots for their dispositions before they go1 and take it1 such as it is1 for better or worse--neither are they to be allowed any choice in the matter of the body which they so much desire2 they are simply allotted by chance1 and without appeal1 to two people whom it is their business to find and pester until they adopt them4 ,who these are to be1 whether rich or poor1 kind or unkind1 healthy or diseased1 there is no knowing2 they have1 in fact1 to entrust themselves for many years to the care of those for whose good constitution and good sense they have no sort of guarantee4 ,it is curious to read the lectures which the wiser heads give to those who are meditating a change4 ,they talk with them as we talk with a spendthrift1 and with about as much success4 ,to be born1 they say1 is a felony--it is a capital crime1 for which sentence may be executed at any moment after the commission of the offence4 ,you may perhaps happen to live for some seventy or eighty years1 but what is that1 in comparison with the eternity which you now enjoy8 ,and even though the sentence were commuted1 and you were allowed to live for ever1 you would in time become so terribly weary of life that execution would be the greatest mercy to you4 ,consider the infinite risk2 to be born of wicked parents and trained in vice6 to be born of silly parents1 and trained to unrealities6 of parents who regard you as a sort of chattel or property1 belonging more to them than to yourself6 ,again1 you may draw utterly unsympathetic parents1 who will never be able to understand you1 and who will thwart you as long as they can to the utmost of their power 7as a hen when she has hatched a duckling71 and then call you ungrateful because you do not love them1 or parents who may look upon you as a thing to be cowed while it is still young1 lest it should give them trouble hereafter by having wishes and feelings of its own4 ,in later life1 when you have been finally allowed to pass muster as a full member of the world1 you will yourself become liable to the pesterings of the unborn--and a very happy life you may be led in consequence6 ,for we solicit so strongly that a few only--nor these the best--can refuse us2 and yet not to refuse is much the same as going into partnership with half a dozen different people about whom one can know absolutely nothing beforehand--not even whether one is going into partnership with men or women1 nor with how many of either4 ,delude not yourself with thinking that you will be wiser than your parents4 ,you may be an age in advance of them1 but unless you are one of the great ones 7and if you are one of the great ones1 woe betide you71 you will still be an age behind your children4 ,imagine what it must be to have an unborn quartered upon you1 who is of a different temperament to your own2 nay1 half a dozen such1 who will not love you though you may tell them that you have stinted yourself in a thousand ways to provide for their well-being1--who will forget all that self-sacrifice of which you are yourself so conscious1 and of whom you may never be sure that they are not bearing a grudge against you for errors of judgment into which you may have fallen1 but which you had hoped had been long since atoned for4 ,ingratitude such as this is not uncommon1 yet fancy what it must be to bear6 ,it is hard upon the duckling to have been hatched by a hen1 but is it not also hard upon the hen to have hatched the duckling8 ,consider it again1 we pray you1 not for our sake but for your own4 ,your initial character you must draw by lot2 but whatever it is1 it can only come to a tolerably successful development after long training2 remember that over that training you will have no control4 ,it is possible1 and even probable1 that whatever you may get in after life which is of real pleasure and service to you1 will have to be won in spite of1 rather than by the help of1 those whom you are now about to pester1 and that you will only win your freedom after years of a painful struggle1 in which it will be hard to say whether you have suffered most injury1 or inflicted it4 ,remember also1 that if you go into the world you will have free will2 that you will be obliged to have it1 that there is no escaping it1 that you will be fettered to it during your whole life1 and must on every occasion do that which on the whole seems best to you at any given time1 no matter whether you are right or wrong in choosing it4 ,your mind will be a balance for considerations1 and your action will go with the heavier scale4 ,how it shall fall will depend upon the kind of scales which you may have drawn at birth1 the bias which they will have obtained by use1 and the weight of the immediate considerations4 ,if the scales were good to start with1 and if they have not been outrageously tampered with in childhood1 and if the combinations into which you enter are average ones1 you may come off well2 but there are too many ifs in this1 and with the failure of any one of them your misery is assured4 ,reflect on this1 and remember that should the ill come upon you1 you will have yourself to thank1 for it is your own choice to be born1 and there is no compulsion in the matter4 ,not that we deny the existence of pleasures among mankind2 there is a certain show of sundry phases of contentment which may even amount to very considerable happiness2 but mark how they are distributed over a man's life1 belonging1 all the keenest of them1 to the fore part1 and few indeed to the after4 ,can there be any pleasure worth purchasing with the miseries of a decrepit age8 ,if you are good1 strong1 and handsome1 you have a fine fortune indeed at twenty1 but how much of it will be left at sixty8 ,for you must live on your capital2 there is no investing your powers so that you may get a small annuity of life for ever3 you must eat up your principal bit by bit and be tortured by seeing it grow continually smaller and smaller1 even though you happen to escape being rudely robbed of it by crime or casualty4 ,remember1 too1 that there never yet was a man of forty who would not come back into the world of the unborn if he could do so with decency and honour4 ,being in the world1 he will as a general rule stay till he is forced to go2 but do you think that he would consent to be born again1 and re-live his life1 if he had the offer of doing so8 ,do not think it4 ,if he could so alter the past as that he should never have come into being at all1 do you not think that he would do it very gladly8 ,what was it that one of their own poets meant1 if it was not this1 when he cried out upon the day in which he was born1 and the night in which it was said there is a man child conceived8 ',for now1' he says1 ',i should have lain still and been quiet1 ,i should have slept2 then had ,i been at rest with kings and counsellors of the earth1 which built desolate places for themselves2 or with princes that had gold1 who filled their houses with silver2 or as an hidden untimely birth1 ,i had not been2 as infants which never saw light4 ,there the wicked cease from troubling1 and the weary are at rest4' ,be very sure that the guilt of being born carries this punishment at times to all men2 but how can they ask for pity1 or complain of any mischief that may befall them1 having entered open-eyed into the snare8 ,one word more and we have done4 ,if any faint remembrance1 as of a dream1 flit in some puzzled moment across your brain1 and you shall feel that the potion which is to be given you shall not have done its work1 and the memory of this existence which you are leaving endeavours vainly to return2 we say in such a moment1 when you clutch at the dream but it eludes your grasp1 and you watch it1 as ,orpheus watched ,eurydice1 gliding back again into the twilight kingdom1 fly--fly--if you can remember the advice--to the haven of your present and immediate duty1 taking shelter incessantly in the work which you have in hand4 ,this much you may perhaps recall2 and this1 if you will imprint it deeply upon your every faculty1 will be most likely to bring you safely and honourably home through the trials that are before you4 #dg ,this is the fashion in which they reason with those who would be for leaving them1 but it is seldom that they do much good1 for none but the unquiet and unreasonable ever think of being born1 and those who are foolish enough to think of it are generally foolish enough to do it4 ,finding therefore that they can do no more1 the friends follow weeping to the courthouse of the chief magistrate1 where the one who wishes to be born declares solemnly and openly that he accepts the conditions attached to his decision4 ,on this he is presented with the potion1 which immediately destroys his memory and sense of identity1 and dissipates the thin gaseous tenement which he has inhabited3 he becomes a bare vital principle1 not to be perceived by human senses1 nor appreciated by any chemical test4 ,he has but one instinct1 which is that he is to go to such and such a place1 where he will find two persons whom he is to importune till they consent to undertake him2 but whether he is to find these persons among the race of ,chowbok or the ,erewhonians themselves is not for him to choose4 ,,selections ,,from ,,the ,,fair ,,haven4 ,,memoir ,,of ,,the ,,late ,,john ,,pickard ,,owen4 7,,chapter ,i4 ,,of ,,the ,,fair ,,haven47 #dh ,the subject of this memoir1 and author of the work which follows it1 was born in ,goodge ,street1 ,tottenham ,court ,road1 ,london1 on the #eth of ,february #ahcb4 ,he was my elder brother by about eighteen months4 ,our father and mother had once been rich1 but through a succession of unavoidable misfortunes they were left with but a slender income when my brother and myself were about three and four years old4 ,my father died some five or six years afterwards1 and we only recollected him as a singularly gentle and humorous playmate who doted upon us both and never spoke unkindly4 ,the charm of such a recollection can never be dispelled2 both my brother and myself returned his love with interest1 and cherished his memory with the most affectionate regret1 from the day on which he left us till the time came that the one of us was again to see him face to face4 ,so sweet and winning was his nature that his slightest wish was our law--and whenever we pleased him1 no matter how little1 he never failed to thank us as though we had done him a service which we should have had a perfect right to withhold4 ,how proud were we upon any of these occasions1 and how we courted the opportunity of being thanked6 ,he did indeed well know the art of becoming idolised by his children1 and dearly did he prize the results of his own proficiency2 yet truly there was no art about it2 all arose spontaneously from the well-spring of a sympathetic nature which was quick to feel as others felt1 whether old or young1 rich or poor1 wise or foolish4 ,on one point alone did he neglect us--,i refer to our religious education4 ,on all other matters he was the kindest and most careful teacher in the world4 ,love and gratitude be to his memory6 ,my mother loved us no less ardently than my father1 but she was of a quicker temper1 and less adept at conciliating affection4 ,she must have been exceedingly handsome when she was young1 and was still comely when we first remembered her2 she was also highly accomplished1 but she felt my father's loss of fortune more keenly than my father himself1 and it preyed upon her mind1 though rather for our sake than for her own4 ,had we not known my father we should have loved her better than any one in the world1 but affection goes by comparison1 and my father spoiled us for any one but himself2 indeed1 in after life1 ,i remember my mother's telling me1 with many tears1 how jealous she had often been of the love we bore him1 and how mean she had thought it of him to entrust all scolding or repression to her1 so that he might have more than his due share of our affection4 ,not that ,i believe my father did this consciously2 still1 he so greatly hated scolding that ,i dare say we might often have got off scot-free when we really deserved reproof had not my mother undertaken the onus of scolding us herself4 ,we therefore naturally feared her more than my father1 and fearing more we loved less4 ,for as love casteth out fear1 so fear love4 ,this must have been hard to bear1 and my mother scarcely knew the way to bear it4 ,she tried to upbraid us1 in little ways1 into loving her as much as my father2 the more she tried this1 the less we could succeed in doing it2 and so on and so on in a fashion which need not be detailed4 ,not but what we really loved her deeply1 while her affection for us was insurpassable2 still we loved her less than we loved my father1 and this was the grievance4 ,my father entrusted our religious education entirely to my mother4 ,he was himself1 ,i am assured1 of a deeply religious turn of mind1 and a thoroughly consistent member of the ,church of ,england2 but he conceived1 and perhaps rightly1 that it is the mother who should first teach her children to lift their hands in prayer1 and impart to them a knowledge of the ,one in whom we live and move and have our being4 ,my mother accepted the task gladly1 for in spite of a certain narrowness of view--the natural but deplorable result of her earlier surroundings--she was one of the most truly pious women whom ,i have ever known2 unfortunately for herself and us she had been trained in the lowest school of ,evangelical literalism--a school which in after life both my brother and myself came to regard as the main obstacle to the complete overthrow of unbelief2 we therefore looked upon it with something stronger than aversion1 and for my own part ,i still deem it perhaps the most insidious enemy which the cause of ,christ has ever encountered4 ,but of this more hereafter4 ,my mother1 as ,i said1 threw her whole soul into the work of our religious education4 ,whatever she believed she believed literally1 and1 if ,i may say so1 with a harshness of realisation which left little scope for imagination or mystery4 ,her ideas concerning heaven and her solutions of life's enigmas were clear and simple1 but they could only be reconciled with certain obvious facts--such as the omnipotence and all-goodness of ,god--by leaving many things absolutely out of sight4 ,and this my mother succeeded effectually in doing4 ,she never doubted that her opinions comprised the truth1 the whole truth1 and nothing but the truth2 she therefore made haste to sow the good seed in our tender minds1 and so far succeeded that when my brother was four years old he could repeat the ,apostles' ,creed1 the general confession1 and the ,lord's ,prayer without a blunder4 ,my mother made herself believe that he delighted in them2 but1 alas6 it was far otherwise2 for strange as it may appear concerning one whose later life was a continual prayer1 in childhood he detested nothing so much as being made to pray1 and to learn his catechism4 ,in this ,i am sorry to say we were both heartily of a mind4 ,as for ,sunday the less said the better4 ,i have already hinted 7but as a warning to other parents had better1 perhaps1 express myself more plainly7 that this aversion was probably the result of my mother's undue eagerness to reap an artificial fruit of lip- service1 which could have little meaning to the heart of one so young4 ,i believe that the severe check which the natural growth of faith experienced in my brother's case was due almost entirely to this cause1 and to the school of literalism in which he had been trained2 but1 however this may be1 we both of us hated being made to say our prayers4 ,morning and evening it was our one bugbear1 and we would avoid it1 as indeed children generally will1 by every artifice which we could employ4 ,thus we were in the habit of feigning to be asleep shortly before prayer time1 and would gratefully hear my father tell my mother that it was a shame to wake us2 whereon he would carry us up to bed in a state apparently of the profoundest slumber when we were really wide awake and in great fear of detection4 ,for we knew how to pretend to be asleep1 but we did not know how we ought to wake again2 there was nothing for it therefore when we were once committed1 but to go on sleeping till we were fairly undressed and put to bed1 and could wake up safely in the dark4 ,but deceit is never long successful1 and we were at last ignominiously exposed4 ,it happened one evening that my mother suspected my brother ,john1 and tried to open his little hands which were lying clasped in front of him4 ,now my brother was as yet very crude and inconsistent in his theories concerning sleep1 and had no conception what a real sleeper would do under these circumstances4 ,fear deprived him of his powers of reflection1 and he thus unfortunately concluded that because sleepers1 so far as he had observed them1 were always motionless1 therefore they must be rigid and incapable of motion2 and indeed that any movement1 under any circumstances 7for from his earliest childhood he liked to carry his theories to their legitimate conclusion71 would be physically impossible for one who was really sleeping2 forgetful1 oh6 unhappy one1 of the flexibility of his own body on being carried up stairs1 and1 more unhappy still1 ignorant of the art of waking4 ,he therefore clenched his fingers harder and harder as he felt my mother trying to unfold them1 while his head hung listless1 and his eyes were closed as though he were sleeping sweetly4 ,it is needless to detail the agony of shame that followed4 ,my mother begged my father to box his ears1 which my father flatly refused to do4 ,then she boxed them herself1 and there followed a scene1 and a day or two of disgrace for both of us4 ,shortly after this there happened another misadventure4 ,a lady came to stay with my mother1 and was to sleep in a bed that had been brought into our nursery1 for my father's fortunes had already failed1 and we were living in a humble way4 ,we were still but four and five years old1 so the arrangement was not unnatural1 and it was assumed that we should be asleep before the lady went to bed1 and be down stairs before she would get up in the morning4 ,but the arrival of this lady and her being put to sleep in the nursery were great events to us in those days1 and being particularly wanted to go to sleep1 we of course sat up in bed talking and keeping ourselves awake till she should come up stairs4 ,perhaps we had fancied that she would give us something1 but if so we were disappointed4 ,however1 whether this was the case or not1 we were wide awake when our visitor came to bed1 and having no particular object to gain1 we made no pretence of sleeping4 ,the lady kissed us both1 told us to lie still and go to sleep like good children1 and then began doing her hair4 ,i remember this was the occasion on which my brother discovered a good many things in connection with the fair sex which had hitherto been beyond his ken2 more especially that the mass of petticoats and clothes which envelop the female form were not1 as he expressed it to me1 all solid woman1 but that women were not in reality more substantially built than men1 and had legs as much as he had--a fact which he had never yet realised4 ,on this he for a long time considered them as impostors1 who had wronged him by leading him to suppose that they had far more body in them 7so he said7 than he now found they had4 ,this was a sort of thing which he regarded with stern moral reprobation4 ,if he had been old enough to have a solicitor ,i believe he would have put the matter into his hands1 as well as certain other things which had lately troubled him4 ,for but recently my mother had bought a fowl1 and he had seen it plucked1 and the inside taken out2 his irritation had been extreme on discovering that fowls were not all solid flesh1 but that their insides--and these formed1 as it appeared to him1 an enormous percentage of the bird--were perfectly useless4 ,he was now beginning to understand that sheep and cows were also hollow as far as good meat was concerned2 the flesh they had was only a mouthful in comparison with what they ought to have considering their apparent bulk3 insignificant1 mere skin and bone covering a cavern4 ,what right had they1 or anything else1 to assert themselves as so big1 and prove so empty8 ,and now this discovery of woman's falsehood was quite too much for him4 ,the world itself was hollow1 made up of shams and delusions1 full of sound and fury signifying nothing4 ,truly a prosaic young gentleman enough4 ,everything with him was to be exactly in all its parts what it appeared on the face of it1 and everything was to go on doing exactly what it had been doing hitherto4 ,if a thing looked solid1 it was to be very solid2 if hollow1 very hollow2 nothing was to be half and half1 and nothing was to change unless he had himself already become accustomed to its times and manners of changing2 there were to be no exceptions and no contradictions2 all things were to be perfectly consistent1 and all premisses to be carried with extremest rigour to their legitimate conclusions4 ,heaven was to be very neat 7for he was always tidy himself71 and free from sudden shocks to the nervous system1 such as those caused by dogs barking at him1 or cows driven in the streets4 ,god was to resemble my father1 and the ,holy ,spirit to bear some sort of indistinct analogy to my mother4 ,such were the ideal theories of his childhood--unconsciously formed1 but very firmly believed in4 ,as he grew up he made such modifications as were forced upon him by enlarged perceptions1 but every modification was an effort to him1 in spite of a continual and successful resistance to what he recognised as his initial mental defect4 ,i may perhaps be allowed to say here1 in reference to a remark in the preceding paragraph1 that both my brother and myself used to notice it as an almost invariable rule that children's earliest ideas of ,god are modelled upon the character of their father--if they have one4 ,should the father be kind1 considerate1 full of the warmest love1 fond of showing it1 and reserved only about his displeasure1 the child1 having learned to look upon ,god as his ,heavenly ,father through the ,lord's ,prayer and our ,church ,services1 will feel towards ,god as he does towards his own father2 this conception will stick to a man for years and years after he has attained manhood--probably it will never leave him4 ,on the other hand1 if a man has found his earthly father harsh and uncongenial1 his conception of his ,heavenly ,parent will be painful4 ,he will begin by seeing ,god as an exaggerated likeness of his father4 ,he will therefore shrink from ,him4 ,the rottenness of still-born love in the heart of a child poisons the blood of the soul1 and hence1 later1 crime4 ,to return1 however1 to the lady4 ,when she had put on her night-gown1 she knelt down by her bed-side and1 to our consternation1 began to say her prayers4 ,this was a cruel blow to both of us2 we had always been under the impression that grown-up people were not made to say their prayers1 and the idea of any one saying them of his or her own accord had never occurred to us as possible4 ,of course the lady would not say her prayers if she were not obliged2 and yet she did say them2 therefore she must be obliged to say them2 therefore we should be obliged to say them1 and this was a great disappointment4 ,awe-struck and open-mouthed we listened while the lady prayed aloud and with a good deal of pathos for many virtues and blessings which ,i do not now remember1 and finally for my father and mother and for both of us--shortly afterwards she rose1 blew out the light and got into bed4 ,every word that she said had confirmed our worst apprehensions3 it was just what we had been taught to say ourselves4 ,next morning we compared notes and drew some painful inferences2 but in the course of the day our spirits rallied4 ,we agreed that there were many mysteries in connection with life and things which it was high time to unravel1 and that an opportunity was now afforded us which might not readily occur again4 ,all we had to do was to be true to ourselves and equal to the occasion4 ,we laid our plans with great astuteness4 ,we would be fast asleep when the lady came up to bed1 but our heads should be turned in the direction of her bed1 and covered with clothes1 all but a single peep-hole4 ,my brother1 as the eldest1 had clearly a right to be nearest the lady1 but ,i could see sufficiently1 and could depend on his reporting faithfully whatever should escape me4 ,there was no chance of her giving us anything--if she had meant to do so she would have done it sooner2 she might1 indeed1 consider the moment of her departure as the most auspicious for this purpose1 but then she was not going yet1 and the interval was at our own disposal4 ,we spent the afternoon in trying to learn to snore1 but we were not certain about it1 and in the end concluded that as snoring was not de rigueur we had better dispense with it4 ,we were put to bed2 the light was taken away2 we were told to go to sleep1 and promised faithfully that we would do so2 the tongue indeed swore1 but the mind was unsworn4 ,it was agreed that we should keep pinching one another to prevent our going to sleep4 ,we did so at frequent intervals2 at last our patience was rewarded with the heavy creak1 as of a stout elderly lady labouring up the stairs1 and presently our victim entered4 ,to cut a long story short1 the lady on satisfying herself that we were asleep1 never said her prayers at all2 during the remainder of her visit whenever she found us awake she always said them1 but when she thought we were asleep1 she never prayed4 ,i should perhaps say that we had the matter out with her before she left1 and that the consequences were unpleasant for all parties2 they added to the troubles in which we were already involved as to our prayers1 and were indirectly among the earliest causes which led my brother to look with scepticism upon religion4 ,for awhile1 however1 all went on as though nothing had happened4 ,an effect of distrust1 indeed1 remained after the cause had been forgotten1 but my brother was still too young to oppose anything that my mother told him1 and to all outward appearance he grew in grace no less rapidly than in stature4 ,for years we led a quiet and eventless life1 broken only by the one great sorrow of our father's death4 ,shortly after this we were sent to a day school in ,bloomsbury4 ,we were neither of us very happy there1 but my brother1 who always took kindly to his books1 picked up a fair knowledge of ,latin and ,greek2 he also learned to draw1 and to exercise himself a little in ,english composition4 ,when ,i was about fourteen my mother capitalised a part of her income and started me off to ,america1 where she had friends who could give me a helping hand2 by their kindness ,i was enabled1 after an absence of twenty years1 to return with a handsome income1 but not1 alas6 before the death of my mother4 ,up to the time of my departure my mother continued to read the ,bible with us and explain it4 ,she had become enamoured of those millenarian opinions which laid hold of so many some twenty-five or thirty years ago4 ,the ,apocalypse was perhaps her favourite book in the ,bible1 and she was imbued with a conviction that all the many and varied horrors with which it teems were upon the eve of their accomplishment4 ,the year eighteen hundred and forty-eight was to be 7as indeed it was7 a time of general bloodshed and confusion1 while in eighteen hundred and sixty-six1 should it please ,god to spare her1 her eyes would be gladdened by the visible descent of the ,son of ,man with a shout1 with the voice of the ,archangel1 with the trump of ,god1 and the dead in ,christ should rise first2 then she1 as one of them that were alive1 would be caught up with other saints into the air1 and would possibly receive while rising some distinguishing token of confidence and approbation which should fall with due impressiveness upon the surrounding multitude2 then would come the consummation of all things1 and she would be ever with the ,lord4 ,she died peaceably in her bed before she could know that a commercial panic was the nearest approach to the fulfilment of prophecy which the year eighteen hundred and sixty-six brought forth4 ,these opinions of my mother's injured her naturally healthy and vigorous mind by leading her to indulge in all manner of dreamy and fanciful interpretations of ,scripture1 which any but the most narrow literalist would feel at once to be untenable4 ,thus several times she expressed to us her conviction that my brother and myself were to be the two witnesses mentioned in the eleventh chapter of the ,book of ,revelation1 and dilated upon the gratification she should experience upon finding that we had indeed been reserved for a position of such distinction4 ,we were as yet mere children1 and naturally took all for granted that our mother told us2 we therefore made a careful examination of the passage which threw light upon our future4 ,on finding that the prospect was gloomy and full of bloodshed we protested against the honours which were intended for us1 more especially when we reflected that the mother of the two witnesses was not menaced in ,scripture with any particular discomfort4 ,if we were to be martyrs1 my mother ought to wish to be a martyr too1 whereas nothing was farther from her intention4 ,her notion clearly was that we were to be massacred somewhere in the streets of ,london1 in consequence of the anti-,christian machinations of the ,pope2 that after lying about unburied for three days and a half we were to come to life again2 and finally1 that we should conspicuously ascend to heaven1 in front1 perhaps1 of the ,foundling ,hospital4 ,she was not herself indeed to share either our martyrdom or our glorification1 but was to survive us many years on earth1 living in an odour of great sanctity and reflected splendour1 as the central and most august figure in a select society4 ,she would perhaps be able indirectly1 through her sons' influence with the ,almighty1 to have a voice in most of the arrangements both of this world and of the next4 ,if all this were to come true 7and things seemed very like it71 those friends who had neglected us in our adversity would not find it too easy to be restored to favour1 however greatly they might desire it--that is to say1 they would not have found it too easy in the case of one less magnanimous and spiritually-minded than herself4 ,my mother said but little of the above directly1 but the fragments which occasionally escaped her were pregnant1 and on looking back it is easy to perceive that she must have been building one of the most stupendous aerial fabrics that have ever been reared4 ,i have given the above in its more amusing aspect1 and am half afraid that ,i may appear to be making a jest of weakness on the part of one of the most devotedly unselfish mothers who have ever existed4 ,but one can love while smiling1 and the very wildness of my mother's dream serves to show how entirely her whole soul was occupied with the things which are above4 ,to her1 religion was all in all2 the earth was but a place of pilgrimage--only so far important as it was a possible road to heaven4 ,she impressed this upon both of us by every word and action--instant in season and out of season1 so that she might but fill us more deeply with a sense of the things belonging to our peace4 ,but the inevitable consequences happened2 my mother had aimed too high and had overshot her mark4 ,the influence indeed of her guileless and unworldly nature remained impressed upon my brother even during the time of his extremest unbelief 7perhaps his ultimate safety is in the main referable to this cause1 and to the happy memories of my father1 which had predisposed him to love ,god71 but my mother had insisted on the most minute verbal accuracy of every part of the ,bible2 she had also dwelt upon the duty of independent research1 and on the necessity of giving up everything rather than assent to things which our conscience did not assent to4 ,no one could have more effectually taught us to try to think the truth1 and we had taken her at her word because our hearts told us that she was right4 ,but she required three incompatible things4 ,when my brother grew older he came to feel that independent and unflinching examination1 with a determination to abide by the results1 would lead him to reject the point which to my mother was more important than any other--,i mean the absolute accuracy of the ,gospel records4 ,my mother was inexpressibly shocked at hearing my brother doubt the authenticity of the ,epistle to the ,hebrews2 and then1 as it appeared to him1 she tried to make him violate the duties of examination and candour which he had learnt too thoroughly to unlearn4 ,thereon came pain and an estrangement which was none the less profound for being mutually concealed4 ,it seemed to my mother that he would not give up the wilfulness of his own opinions for her and for his ,redeemer's sake4 ,to him it seemed that he was ready to give up not only his mother but ,christ ,himself for ,christ's sake4 ,this estrangement was the gradual work of some five or six years1 during which my brother was between eleven and seventeen years old4 ,at seventeen1 ,i am told that he was remarkably well informed and clever4 ,his manners were1 like my father's1 singularly genial1 and his appearance very prepossessing4 ,he had as yet no doubt concerning the soundness of any fundamental ,christian doctrine1 but his mind was already too active to allow of his being contented with my mother's childlike faith4 ,there were points on which he did not indeed doubt1 but which it would none the less be interesting to consider2 such for example as the perfectibility of the regenerate ,christian1 and the meaning of the mysterious central chapters of the ,epistle to the ,romans4 ,he was engaged in these researches though still only a boy1 when an event occurred which gave the first real shock to his faith4 ,he was accustomed to teach in a school for the poorest children every ,sunday afternoon1 a task for which his patience and good temper well fitted him4 ,on one occasion1 however1 while he was explaining the effect of baptism to one of his favourite pupils1 he discovered to his great surprise that the boy had never been baptized4 ,he pushed his inquiries further1 and found that out of the fifteen boys in his class only five had been baptized1 and1 not only so1 but that no difference in disposition or conduct could be discovered between the regenerate boys and the unregenerate4 ,the good and bad boys were distributed in proportions equal to the respective numbers of the baptized and unbaptized4 ,in spite of a certain impetuosity of natural character1 he was also of a matter-of-fact and experimental turn of mind2 he therefore went through the whole school1 which numbered about a hundred boys1 and found out who had been baptized and who had not4 ,the same results appeared4 ,the majority had not been baptized2 yet the good and bad dispositions were so distributed as to preclude all possibility of maintaining that the baptized boys were better than the unbaptized4 ,the reader may smile at the idea of any one's faith being troubled by a fact of which the explanation is so obvious1 but as a matter of fact my brother was seriously and painfully shocked4 ,the teacher to whom he applied for a solution of the difficulty was not a man of any real power1 and reported my brother to the rector for having disturbed the school by his inquiries4 ,the rector was old and self-opinionated2 the difficulty1 indeed1 was plainly as new to him as it had been to my brother1 but instead of saying so at once1 and referring to any recognised theological authority1 he tried to put him off with words which seemed intended to silence him rather than to satisfy him2 finally he lost his temper1 and my brother fell under suspicion of unorthodoxy4 ,this kind of treatment did not answer with my brother4 ,he alludes to it resentfully in the introductory chapter of his book4 ,he became suspicious that a preconceived opinion was being defended at the expense of honest scrutiny1 and was thus driven upon his own unaided investigation4 ,the result may be guessed3 he began to go astray1 and strayed further and further4 ,the children of ,god1 he reasoned1 the members of ,christ and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven1 were no more spiritually minded than the children of the world and the devil4 ,was then the grace of ,god a gift which left no trace whatever upon those who were possessed of it8 ,a thing the presence or absence of which might be ascertained by consulting the parish registry1 but was not discernible in conduct8 ,the grace of man was more clearly perceptible than this4 ,assuredly there must be a screw loose somewhere1 which1 for aught he knew1 might be jeopardising the salvation of all ,christendom4 ,where then was this loose screw to be found8 ,he concluded after some months of reflection that the mischief was caused by the system of sponsors and by infant baptism4 ,he1 therefore1 to my mother's inexpressible grief1 joined the ,baptists1 and was immersed in a pond near ,dorking4 ,with the ,baptists he remained quiet about three months1 and then began to quarrel with his instructors as to their doctrine of predestination4 ,shortly afterwards he came accidentally upon a fascinating stranger who was no less struck with my brother than my brother with him1 and this gentleman1 who turned out to be a ,roman ,catholic missionary1 landed him in the ,church of ,rome1 where he felt sure that he had now found rest for his soul4 ,but here1 too1 he was mistaken2 after about two years he rebelled against the stifling of all free inquiry2 on this rebellion the flood-gates of scepticism were opened1 and he was soon battling with unbelief4 ,he then fell in with one who was a pure ,deist1 and was shorn of every shred of dogma which he had ever held1 except a belief in the personality and providence of the ,creator4 ,on reviewing his letters written to me about this time1 ,i am painfully struck with the manner in which they show that all these pitiable vagaries were to be traced to a single cause--a cause which still exists to the misleading of hundreds of thousands1 and which1 ,i fear1 seems likely to continue in full force for many a year to come--,i mean1 to a false system of training which teaches people to regard ,christianity as a thing one and indivisible1 to be accepted entirely in the strictest reading of the letter1 or to be rejected as absolutely untrue4 ,the fact is1 that all permanent truth is as one of those coal measures1 a seam of which lies near the surface1 and even crops up above the ground1 but which is generally of an inferior quality and soon worked out2 beneath it there comes a labour of sand and clay1 and then at last the true seam of precious quality1 and in virtually inexhaustible supply4 ,the truth which is on the surface is rarely the whole truth4 ,it is seldom until this has been worked out and done with--as in the case of the apparent flatness of the earth--that unchangeable truth is discovered4 ,it is the glory of the ,lord to conceal a matter3 it is the glory of the king to find it out4 ,if my brother1 from whom ,i have taken the above illustration1 had had some judicious and wide-minded friend1 to correct and supplement the mainly admirable principles which had been instilled into him by my mother1 he would have been saved years of spiritual wandering2 but1 as it was1 he fell in with one after another1 each in his own way as literal and unspiritual as the other--each impressed with one aspect of religious truth1 and with one only4 ,in the end he became perhaps the widest-minded and most original thinker whom ,i have ever met2 but no one from his early manhood could have augured this result2 on the contrary1 he showed every sign of being likely to develop into one of those who can never see more than one side of a question at a time1 in spite of their seeing that side with singular clearness of mental vision4 ,in after life1 he often met with mere lads who seemed to him to be years and years in advance of what he had been at their age1 and would say1 smiling1 ,with a great sum obtained ,i this freedom2 but thou wast free-born4 ,yet when one comes to think of it1 a late development and laborious growth are generally more fruitful than those which are over early luxuriant4 ,drawing an illustration from the art of painting1 with which he was well acquainted1 my brother used to say that all the greatest painters had begun with a hard and precise manner1 from which they had only broken after several years of effort2 and that in like manner all the early schools were founded upon definiteness of outline to the exclusion of truth of effect4 ,this may be true2 but in my brother's case there was something even more unpromising than this2 there was a commonness1 so to speak1 of mental execution1 from which no one could have foreseen his after-emancipation4 ,yet in the course of time he was indeed emancipated to the very uttermost1 while his bonds will1 ,i firmly trust1 be found to have been of inestimable service to the whole human race4 ,for although it was so many years before he was enabled to see the ,christian scheme as a whole1 or even to conceive the idea that there was any whole at all1 other than each one of the stages of opinion through which he was at the time passing2 yet when the idea was at length presented to him by one whom ,i must not name1 the discarded fragments of his faith assumed shape1 and formed themselves into a consistently organised scheme4 ,then became apparent the value of his knowledge of the details of so many different sides of ,christian verity4 ,buried in the details1 he had hitherto ignored the fact that they were only the unessential developments of certain component parts4 ,awakening to the perception of the whole after an intimate acquaintance with the details1 he was able to realise the position and meaning of all that he had hitherto experienced in a way which has been vouchsafed to few1 if any others4 ,thus he became truly a broad ,churchman4 ,not broad in the ordinary and ill-considered use of the term 7for the broad ,churchman is as little able to sympathise with ,romanists1 extreme ,high ,churchmen and ,dissenters1 as these are with himself--he is only one of a sect which is called by the name of broad1 though it is no broader than its own base71 but in the true sense of being able to believe in the naturalness1 legitimacy1 and truth qua ,christianity even of those doctrines which seem to stand most widely and irreconcilably asunder4 ,,selections ,,from ,,life ,,and ,,habit4 ,,on ,,certain ,,acquired ,,habits4 7,,from ,,chapter ,i4 ,,of ,,life ,,and ,,habit47 #fh ,it will be our business in the following chapters to consider whether the unconsciousness1 or quasi-unconsciousness1 with which we perform certain acquired actions1 throws any light upon ,embryology and inherited instincts1 and otherwise to follow the train of thought which the class of actions above mentioned may suggest4 ,more especially ,i propose to consider them in so far as they bear upon the origin of species and the continuation of life by successive generations1 whether in the animal or vegetable kingdoms4 ,taking then1 the art of playing the piano as an example of the kind of action we are in search of1 we observe that a practised player will perform very difficult pieces apparently without effort1 often1 indeed1 while thinking and talking of something quite other than his music2 yet he will play accurately and1 possibly1 with much expression4 ,if he has been playing a fugue1 say in four parts1 he will have kept each part well distinct1 in such a manner as to prove that his mind was not prevented1 by its other occupations1 from consciously or unconsciously following four distinct trains of musical thought at the same time1 nor from making his fingers act in exactly the required manner as regards each note of each part4 ,it commonly happens that in the course of four or five minutes a player may have struck four or five thousand notes4 ,if we take into consideration the rests1 dotted notes1 accidentals1 variations of time1 c41 we shall find his attention must have been exercised on many more occasions than when he was actually striking notes3 so that it may not be too much to say that the attention of a first-rate player has been exercised--to an infinitesimally small extent--but still truly exercised--on as many as ten thousand occasions within the space of five minutes1 for no note can be struck nor point attended to without a certain amount of attention1 no matter how rapidly or unconsciously given4 ,moreover1 each act of attention has been followed by an act of volition1 and each act of volition by a muscular action1 which is composed of many minor actions2 some so small that we can no more follow them than the player himself can perceive them2 nevertheless1 it may have been perfectly plain that the player was not attending to what he was doing1 but was listening to conversation on some other subject1 not to say joining in it himself4 ,if he has been playing the violin1 he may have done all the above1 and may also have been walking about4 ,herr ,joachim would unquestionably be able to do all that has here been described4 ,so complete may be the player's unconsciousness of the attention he is giving1 and the brain power he is exerting1 that we may find it difficult to awaken his attention to any particular part of his performance without putting him out4 ,indeed we cannot do so4 ,we observe that he finds it hardly less difficult to compass a voluntary consciousness of what he has once learnt so thoroughly that it has passed1 so to speak1 into the domain of unconsciousness1 than he found it to learn the note or passage in the first instance4 ,the effort after a second consciousness of detail baffles him--compels him to turn to his music or play slowly4 ,in fact it seems as though he knows the piece too well to be able to know that he knows it1 and is only conscious of knowing those passages which he does not know so thoroughly4 ,at the end of his performance1 his power of recollecting appears to be no less annihilated than was his consciousness of attention and volition4 ,for of the thousands of acts requiring the exercise of both the one and the other1 which he has done during the five minutes1 we will say1 of his performance1 he will remember hardly one when it is over4 ,if he calls to mind anything beyond the main fact that he has played such and such a piece1 it will probably be some passage which he has found more difficult than the others1 and with the like of which he has not been so long familiar4 ,all the rest he will forget as completely as the breath which he has drawn while playing4 ,he finds it difficult to remember even the difficulties he experienced in learning to play4 ,a few may have so impressed him that they remain with him1 but the greater part will have escaped him as completely as the remembrance of what he ate1 or how he put on his clothes1 this day ten years ago2 nevertheless1 it is plain he does in reality remember more than he remembers remembering1 for he avoids mistakes which he made at one time1 and his performance proves that all the notes are in his memory1 though if called upon to play such and such a bar at random from the middle of the piece1 and neither more nor less1 he will probably say that he cannot remember it unless he begins from the beginning of the phrase which leads to it4 ,in spite1 however1 of the performer's present proficiency1 our experience of the manner in which proficiency is usually acquired warrants us in assuming that there must have been a time when what is now so easy as to be done without conscious effort of the brain was only done by means of brain work which was very keenly perceived1 even to fatigue and positive distress4 ,even now1 if the player is playing something the like of which he has not met before1 we observe he pauses and becomes immediately conscious of attention4 ,we draw the inference1 therefore1 as regards pianoforte or violin playing1 that the more the familiarity or knowledge of the art1 the less is there consciousness of such knowledge2 even so far as that there should be almost as much difficulty in awakening consciousness which has become1 so to speak1 latent1--a consciousness of that which is known too well to admit of recognised self-analysis while the knowledge is being exercised--as in creating a consciousness of that which is not yet well enough known to be properly designated as known at all4 ,on the other hand1 we observe that the less the familiarity or knowledge1 the greater the consciousness of whatever knowledge there is4 99 99 99 99 99 ,to sum up1 then1 briefly4 ,it would appear as though perfect knowledge and perfect ignorance were extremes which meet and become indistinguishable from one another2 so also perfect volition and perfect absence of volition1 perfect memory and perfect forgetfulness2 for we are unconscious of knowing1 willing1 or remembering1 either from not yet having known or willed1 or from knowing and willing so well and so intensely as to be no longer conscious of either4 ,conscious knowledge and volition are of attention2 attention is of suspense2 suspense is of doubt2 doubt is of uncertainty2 uncertainty is of ignorance2 so that the mere fact of conscious knowing or willing implies the presence of more or less novelty and doubt4 ,it would also appear as a general principle on a superficial view of the foregoing instances 7and the reader may readily supply himself with others which are perhaps more to the purpose71 that unconscious knowledge and unconscious volition are never acquired otherwise than as the result of experience1 familiarity1 or habit2 so that whenever we observe a person able to do any complicated action unconsciously1 we may assume both that he must have done it very often before he could acquire so great proficiency1 and also that there must have been a time when he did not know how to do it at all4 ,we may assume that there was a time when he was yet so nearly on the point of neither knowing nor willing perfectly1 that he was quite alive to whatever knowledge or volition he could exert2 going further back1 we shall find him still more keenly alive to a less perfect knowledge2 earlier still1 we find him well aware that he does not know nor will correctly1 but trying hard to do both the one and the other2 and so on1 back and back1 till both difficulty and consciousness become little more than a sound of going1 as it were1 in the brain1 a flitting to and fro of something barely recognisable as the desire to will or know at all--much less as the desire to know or will definitely this or that4 ,finally they retreat beyond our ken into the repose--the inorganic kingdom--of as yet unawakened interest4 ,in either case--the repose of perfect ignorance or of perfect knowledge--disturbance is troublesome4 ,when first starting on an ,atlantic steamer1 our rest is hindered by the screw2 after a short time1 it is hindered if the screw stops4 ,a uniform impression is practically no impression4 ,one cannot either learn or unlearn without pains or pain4 ,,conscious ,,and ,,unconscious ,,knowers ,,the ,,law ,,and ,,grace4 7,,from ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,of ,,life ,,and ,,habit47 ,certain it is that we know best what we are least conscious of knowing1 or at any rate least able to prove2 as1 for example1 our own existence1 or that there is a country ,england4 ,if any one asks us for proof on matters of this sort1 we have none ready1 and are justly annoyed at being called to consider what we regard as settled questions4 ,again1 there is hardly anything which so much affects our actions as the centre of the earth 7unless1 perhaps1 it be that still hotter and more unprofitable spot the centre of the universe71 for we are incessantly trying to get as near it as circumstances will allow1 or to avoid getting nearer than is for the time being convenient4 ,walking1 running1 standing1 sitting1 lying1 waking1 or sleeping1 from birth till death it is a paramount object with us2 even after death--if it be not fanciful to say so--it is one of the few things of which what is left of us can still feel the influence2 yet what can engross less of our attention than this dark and distant spot so many thousands of miles away8 ,the air we breathe1 so long as it is neither too hot nor cold1 nor rough1 nor full of smoke--that is to say1 so long as it is in that state with which we are best acquainted--seldom enters into our thoughts2 yet there is hardly anything with which we are more incessantly occupied night and day4 ,indeed1 it is not too much to say that we have no really profound knowledge upon any subject--no knowledge on the strength of which we are ready to act at moments unhesitatingly without either preparation or after-thought--till we have left off feeling conscious of the possession of such knowledge1 and of the grounds on which it rests4 ,a lesson thoroughly learned must be like the air which feels so light1 though pressing so heavily against us1 because every pore of our skin is saturated1 so to speak1 with it on all sides equally4 ,this perfection of knowledge sometimes extends to positive disbelief in the thing known1 so that the most thorough knower shall believe himself altogether ignorant4 ,no thief1 for example1 is such an utter thief--so good a thief--as the kleptomaniac4 ,until he has become a kleptomaniac1 and can steal a horse as it were by a reflex action1 he is still but half a thief1 with many unthievish notions still clinging to him4 ,yet the kleptomaniac is probably unaware that he can steal at all1 much less that he can steal so well4 ,he would be shocked if he were to know the truth4 ,so again1 no man is a great hypocrite until he has left off knowing that he is a hypocrite4 ,the great hypocrites of the world are almost invariably under the impression that they are among the very few really honest people to be found2 and1 as we must all have observed1 it is rare to find any one strongly under this impression without ourselves having good reason to differ from him4 ,again1 it has been often and very truly said that it is not the conscious and self-styled sceptic1 as ,shelley1 for example1 who is the true unbeliever4 ,such a man as ,shelley will1 as indeed his life abundantly proves1 have more in common than not with the true unselfconscious believer4 ,gallio again1 whose indifference to religious animosities has won him the cheapest immortality which1 so far as ,i can remember1 was ever yet won1 was probably1 if the truth were known1 a person of the sincerest piety4 ,it is the unconscious unbeliever who is the true infidel1 however greatly he would be surprised to know the truth4 ,mr4 ,spurgeon was reported as having asked ,god to remove ,lord ,beaconsfield from office as soon as possible4 ,there lurks a more profound distrust of ,god's power in these words than in almost any open denial of ,his existence4 ,in like manner1 the most perfect humour and irony is generally quite unconscious4 ,examples of both are frequently given by men whom the world considers as deficient in humour2 it is more probably true that these persons are unconscious of their own delightful power through the very mastery and perfection with which they hold it4 ,there is a play1 for instance1 of genuine fun in some of the more serious scientific and theological journals which for some time past we have looked for in vain in --- ,the following extract1 from a journal which ,i will not advertise1 may serve as an example3 ,lycurgus1 when they had abandoned to his revenge him who had put out his eyes1 took him home1 and the punishment he inflicted upon him was sedulous instructions to virtue4 ,yet this truly comic paper does not probably know that it is comic1 any more than the kleptomaniac knows that he steals1 or than ,john ,milton knew he was a humorist when he wrote a hymn upon the circumcision1 and spent his honeymoon in composing a treatise on divorce4 ,no more again did ,goethe know how exquisitely humorous he was when he wrote1 in his ,wilhelm ,meister1 that a beautiful tear glistened in ,theresa's right eye1 and then went on to explain that it glistened in her right eye and not in her left1 because she had had a wart on her left which had been removed--and successfully4 ,goethe probably wrote this without a chuckle2 he believed what a good many people who have never read ,wilhelm ,meister believe still1 namely1 that it was a work full of pathos--of fine and tender feeling2 yet a less consummate humorist must have felt that there was scarcely a paragraph in it from first to last the chief merit of which did not lie in its absurdity4 ,but enough has perhaps been said4 ,as the fish in the sea1 or the bird in the air1 so unreasoningly and inarticulately safe must a man feel before he can be said to know4 ,it is only those who are ignorant and uncultivated who can know anything at all in a proper sense of the words4 ,cultivation will breed in any man a certainty of the uncertainty even of his most assured convictions4 ,it is perhaps fortunate for our comfort that we can none of us be cultivated upon very many subjects1 so that considerable scope for assurance will still remain to us2 but however this may be1 we certainly observe it as a fact that those are the greatest men who are most uncertain in spite of certainty1 and at the same time most certain in spite of uncertainty1 and who are thus best able to feel that there is nothing in such complete harmony with itself as a flat contradiction in terms4 ,for nature hates that any principle should breed1 so to speak1 hermaphroditically1 but will give to each an help meet for it which shall cross it and be the undoing of it2 as in the case of descent with modification1 of which the essence is that every offspring resembles its parents1 and yet1 at the same time1 that no offspring resembles its parents4 ,but for the slightly irritating stimulant of this perpetual crossing1 we should pass our lives unconsciously as though in slumber4 ,until we have got to understand that though black is not white1 yet it may be whiter than white itself 7and any painter will readily paint that which shall show obviously as black1 yet it shall be whiter than that which shall show no less obviously as white71 we may be good logicians1 but we are still poor reasoners4 ,knowledge is in an inchoate state as long as it is capable of logical treatment2 it must be transmuted into that sense or instinct which rises altogether above the sphere in which words can have being at all1 otherwise it is not yet incarnate4 ,for sense is to knowledge what conscience is to reasoning about light and wrong2 the reasoning must be so rapid as to defy conscious reference to first principles1 and even at times to be apparently subversive of them altogether1 or the action will halt4 ,it must become automatic before we are safe with it4 ,while we are fumbling for the grounds of our conviction1 our conviction is prone to fall1 as ,peter for lack of faith sinking into the waves of ,galilee2 so that the very power to prove at all is an a priori argument against the truth--or at any rate the practical importance to the vast majority of mankind--of all that is supported by demonstration4 ,for the power to prove implies a sense of the need of proof1 and things which the majority of mankind find practically important are in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred above proof4 ,the need of proof becomes as obsolete in the case of assured knowledge1 as the practice of fortifying towns in the middle of an old and long-settled country4 ,who builds defences for that which is impregnable or little likely to be assailed8 ,the answer is ready1 that unless the defences had been built in former times it would be impossible to do without them now2 but this does not touch the argument1 which is not that demonstration is unwise but that as long as a demonstration is still felt necessary1 and therefore kept ready to hand1 the subject of such demonstration is not yet securely known4 ,qui s'excuse1 s'accuse2 and unless a matter can hold its own without the brag and self-assertion of continual demonstration1 it is still more or less of a parvenu1 which we shall not lose much by neglecting till it has less occasion to blow its own trumpet4 ,the only alternative is that it is an error in process of detection1 for if evidence concerning any opinion has long been deemed superfluous1 and ever after this comes to be again felt necessary1 we know that the opinion is doomed4 ,if there is any truth in the above1 it follows that our conception of the words science and scientific must undergo some modification4 ,not that we should speak slightingly of science1 but that we should recognise more than we do1 that there are two distinct classes of scientific people1 corresponding not inaptly with the two main parties into which the political world is divided4 ,the one class is deeply versed in those sciences which have already become the common property of mankind2 enjoying1 enforcing1 perpetuating1 and engraining still more deeply into the mind of man acquisitions already approved by common experience1 but somewhat careless about extension of empire1 or at any rate disinclined1 for the most part1 to active effort on their own part for the sake of such extension--neither progressive1 in fact1 nor aggressive--but quiet1 peaceable people1 who wish to live and let live1 as their fathers before them2 while the other class is chiefly intent upon pushing forward the boundaries of science1 and is comparatively indifferent to what is known already save in so far as necessary for purposes of extension4 ,these last are called pioneers of science1 and to them alone is the title scientific commonly accorded2 but pioneers1 important to an army as they are1 are still not the army itself1 which can get on better without the pioneers than the pioneers without the army4 ,surely the class which knows thoroughly well what it knows1 and which adjudicates upon the value of the discoveries made by the pioneers--surely this class has as good a right or better to be called scientific than the pioneers themselves4 ,these two classes above described blend into one another with every shade of gradation4 ,some are admirably proficient in the well-known sciences--that is to say1 they have good health1 good looks1 good temper1 common sense1 and energy1 and they hold all these good things in such perfection as to be altogether without introspection--to be not under the law1 but so entirely under grace that every one who sees them likes them4 ,but such may1 and perhaps more commonly will1 have very little inclination to extend the boundaries of human knowledge2 their aim is in another direction altogether4 ,of the pioneers1 on the other hand1 some are agreeable people1 well versed in the older sciences1 though still more eminent as pioneers1 while others1 whose services in this last capacity have been of inestimable value1 are noticeably ignorant of the sciences which have already become current with the larger part of mankind--in other words1 they are ugly1 rude1 and disagreeable people1 very progressive1 it may be1 but very aggressive to boot4 ,the main difference between these two classes lies in the fact that the knowledge of the one1 so far as it is new1 is known consciously1 while that of the other is unconscious1 consisting of sense and instinct rather than of recognised knowledge4 ,so long as a man has these1 and of the same kind as the more powerful body of his fellow-countrymen1 he is a man of science though he can hardly read or write4 ,as my great namesake said so well1 ,he knows what's what1 and that's as high as metaphysic wit can fly4 ,as is usual in cases of great proficiency1 these true and thorough knowers do not know that they are scientific1 and can seldom give a reason for the faith that is in them4 ,they believe themselves to be ignorant1 uncultured men1 nor can even the professors whom they sometimes outwit in their own professorial domain perceive that they have been outwitted by men of superior scientific attainments to their own4 ,the following passage from ,dr4 ,carpenter's ,mesmerism1 ,spiritualism1 c41 may serve as an illustration3-- ,it is well known that persons who are conversant with the geological structure of a district are often able to indicate with considerable certainty in what spot and at what depth water will be found2 and men of less scientific knowledge1 but of considerable practical experience--7so that in ,dr4 ,carpenter's mind there seems to be some sort of contrast or difference in kind between the knowledge which is derived from observation of facts and scientific knowledge7--frequently arrive at a true conclusion upon this point without being able to assign reasons for their opinions4 ,exactly the same may be said in regard to the mineral structure of a mining district2 the course of a metallic vein being often correctly indicated by the shrewd guess of an observant workman1 when the scientific reasoning of the mining engineer altogether fails4 ,precisely4 ,here we have exactly the kind of thing we are in search of3 the man who has observed and observed till the facts are so thoroughly in his head that through familiarity he has lost sight both of them and of the processes whereby he deduced his conclusions from them--is apparently not considered scientific1 though he knows how to solve the problem before him2 the mining engineer1 on the other hand1 who reasons scientifically--that is to say1 with a knowledge of his own knowledge--is found not to know1 and to fail in discovering the mineral4 ,it is an experience we are continually encountering in other walks of life1 continues ,dr4 ,carpenter1 that particular persons are guided--some apparently by an original and others by an acquired intuition--to conclusions for which they can give no adequate reason1 but which subsequent events prove to have been correct4 ,and this1 ,i take it1 implies what ,i have been above insisting on1 namely1 that on becoming intense1 knowledge seems also to become unaware of the grounds on which it rests1 or that it has or requires grounds at all1 or indeed even exists4 ,the only issue between myself and ,dr4 ,carpenter would appear to be that ,dr4 ,carpenter1 himself an acknowledged leader in the scientific world1 restricts the term scientific to the people who know that they know1 but are beaten by those who are not so conscious of their own knowledge2 while ,i say that the term scientific should be applied 7only that they would not like it7 to the nice sensible people who know what's what rather than to the professorial classes4 ,and this is easily understood when we remember that the pioneer cannot hope to acquire any of the new sciences in a single lifetime so perfectly as to become unaware of his own knowledge4 ,as a general rule1 we observe him to be still in a state of active consciousness concerning whatever particular science he is extending1 and as long as he is in this state he cannot know utterly4 ,it is1 as ,i have already so often insisted1 those who do not know that they know so much who have the firmest grip of their knowledge3 the best class1 for example1 of our ,english youth1 who live much in the open air1 and1 as ,lord ,beaconsfield finely said1 never read4 ,these are the people who know best those things which are best worth knowing--that is to say1 they are the most truly scientific4 ,unfortunately1 the apparatus necessary for this kind of science is so costly as to be within the reach of few1 involving1 as it does1 an experience in the use of it for some preceding generations4 ,even those who are born with the means within their reach must take no less pains1 and exercise no less self-control1 before they can attain the perfect unconscious use of them1 than would go to the making of a ,james ,watt or a ,stephenson2 it is vain1 therefore1 to hope that this best kind of science can ever be put within the reach of the many2 nevertheless it may be safely said that all the other and more generally recognised kinds of science are valueless except in so far as they minister to this the highest kind4 ,they have no raison d'etre unless they tend to do away with the necessity for work1 and to diffuse good health1 and that good sense which is above self-consciousness4 ,they are to be encouraged because they have rendered the most fortunate kind of modern ,european possible1 and because they tend to make possible a still more fortunate kind than any now existing4 ,but the man who devotes himself to science cannot--with the rarest1 if any1 exceptions--belong to this most fortunate class himself4 ,he occupies a lower place1 both scientifically and morally1 for it is not possible but that his drudgery should somewhat soil him both in mind and health of body1 or1 if this be denied1 surely it must let him and hinder him in running the race for unconsciousness4 ,we do not feel that it increases the glory of a king or great nobleman that he should excel in what is commonly called science4 ,certainly he should not go further than ,prince ,rupert's drops4 ,nor should he excel in music1 art1 literature1 or theology--all which things are more or less parts of science4 ,he should be above them all1 save in so far as he can without effort reap renown from the labours of others4 ,it is a lache in him that he should write music or books1 or paint pictures at all2 but if he must do so1 his work should be at best contemptible4 ,much as we must condemn ,marcus ,aurelius1 we condemn ,james ,i4 even more severely4 ,it is a pity there should exist so general a confusion of thought upon this subject1 for it may be asserted without fear of contradiction that there is hardly any form of immorality now rife which produces more disastrous effects upon those who give themselves up to it1 and upon society in general1 than the so-called science of those who know that they know too well to be able to know truly4 ,with very clever people--the people who know that they know--it is much as with the members of the early ,corinthian ,church1 to whom ,st4 ,paul wrote1 that if they looked their numbers over1 they would not find many wise1 nor powerful1 nor well- born people among them4 ,dog-fanciers tell us that performing dogs never carry their tails2 such dogs have eaten of the tree of knowledge1 and are convinced of sin accordingly--they know that they know things1 in respect of which1 therefore1 they are no longer under grace1 but under the law1 and they have yet so much grace left as to be ashamed4 ,so with the human clever dog2 he may speak with the tongues of men and angels1 but so long as he knows that he knows1 his tail will droop4 ,more especially does this hold in the case of those who are born to wealth and of old family4 ,we must all feel that a rich young nobleman with a taste for science and principles is rarely a pleasant object4 ,we do not understand the rich young man in the ,bible who wanted to inherit eternal life1 unless1 indeed1 he merely wanted to know whether there was not some way by which he could avoid dying1 and even so he is hardly worth considering4 ,principles are like logic1 which never yet made a good reasoner of a bad one1 but might still be occasionally useful if they did not invariably contradict each other whenever there is any temptation to appeal to them4 ,they are like fire1 good servants but bad masters4 ,as many people or more have been wrecked on principle as from want of principle4 ,they are1 as their name implies1 of an elementary character1 suitable for beginners only1 and he who has so little mastered them as to have occasion to refer to them consciously1 is out of place in the society of well-educated people4 ,the truly scientific invariably hate him1 and1 for the most part1 the more profoundly in proportion to the unconsciousness with which they do so4 ,if the reader hesitates1 let him go down into the streets and look in the shop-windows at the photographs of eminent men1 whether literary1 artistic1 or scientific1 and note the work which the consciousness of knowledge has wrought on nine out of every ten of them2 then let him go to the masterpieces of ,greek and ,italian art1 the truest preachers of the truest gospel of grace2 let him look at the ,venus of ,milo1 the ,discobolus1 the ,st4 ,george of ,donatello4 ,if it had pleased these people to wish to study1 there was no lack of brains to do it with2 but imagine what a deal of scorn would look beautiful in the contempt and anger of the ,venus of ,milo's lip if it were suggested to her that she should learn to read4 ,which1 think you1 knows most1 the ,theseus1 or any modern professor taken at random8 ,true1 learning must have a great share in the advancement of beauty1 inasmuch as beauty is but knowledge perfected and incarnate--but with the pioneers it is sic vos non vobis2 the grace is not for them1 but for those who come after4 ,science is like offences4 ,it must needs come1 but woe unto that man through whom it comes2 for there cannot be much beauty where there is consciousness of knowledge1 and while knowledge is still new it must in the nature of things involve much consciousness4 ,it is not knowledge1 then1 that is incompatible with beauty2 there cannot be too much knowledge1 but it must have passed through many people who it is to be feared must be both ugly and disagreeable1 before beauty or grace will have anything to say to it2 it must be so diffused throughout a man's whole being that he shall not be aware of it1 or he will bear himself under it constrainedly as one under the law1 and not as one under grace4 ,and grace is best1 for where grace is1 love is not distant4 ,grace6 the old ,pagan ideal whose charm even unlovely ,paul could not withstand1 but1 as the legend tells us1 his soul fainted within him1 his heart misgave him1 and1 standing alone on the seashore at dusk1 he troubled deaf heaven with his bootless cries1 his thin voice pleading for grace after the flesh4 ,the waves came in one after another1 the sea-gulls cried together after their kind1 the wind rustled among the dried canes upon the sandbanks1 and there came a voice from heaven saying1 ,let ,my grace be sufficient for thee4 ,whereon1 failing of the thing itself1 he stole the word and strove to crush its meaning to the measure of his own limitations4 ,but the true grace1 with her groves and high places1 and troops of young men and maidens crowned with flowers1 and singing of love and youth and wine--the true grace he drove out into the wilderness--high up1 it may be1 into ,piora1 and into such-like places4 ,happy they who harboured her in her ill report4 ,it is common to hear men wonder what new faith will be adopted by mankind if disbelief in the ,christian religion should become general4 ,they seem to expect that some new theological or quasi-theological system will arise1 which1 mutatis mutandis1 shall be ,christianity over again4 ,it is a frequent reproach against those who maintain that the supernatural element of ,christianity is without foundation1 that they bring forward no such system of their own4 ,they pull down but cannot build4 ,we sometimes hear even those who have come to the same conclusions as the destroyers say1 that having nothing new to set up1 they will not attack the old4 ,but how can people set up a new superstition1 knowing it to be a superstition8 ,without faith in their own platform1 a faith as intense as that manifested by the early ,christians1 how can they preach8 ,a new superstition will come1 but it is in the very essence of things that its apostles should have no suspicion of its real nature2 that they should no more recognise the common element between the new and the old than the early ,christians recognised it between their faith and ,paganism4 ,if they did1 they would be paralysed4 ,others say that the new fabric may be seen rising on every side1 and that the coming religion is science4 ,certainly its apostles preach it without misgiving1 but it is not on that account less possible that it may prove only to be the coming superstition--like ,christianity1 true to its true votaries1 and1 like ,christianity1 false to those who follow it introspectively4 ,it may well be we shall find we have escaped from one set of taskmasters to fall into the hands of others far more ruthless4 ,the tyranny of the ,church is light in comparison with that which future generations may have to undergo at the hands of the doctrinaires4 ,the ,church did uphold a grace of some sort as the summum bonum1 in comparison with which all so- called earthly knowledge--knowledge1 that is to say1 which had not passed through so many people as to have become living and incarnate--was unimportant4 ,do what we may1 we are still drawn to the unspoken teaching of her less introspective ages with a force which no falsehood could command4 ,her buildings1 her music1 her architecture1 touch us as none other on the whole can do2 when she speaks there are many of us who think that she denies the deeper truths of her own profounder mind1 and unfortunately her tendency is now towards more rather than less introspection4 ,the more she gives way to this--the more she becomes conscious of knowing--the less she will know4 ,but still her ideal is in grace4 ,the so-called man of science1 on the other hand1 seems now generally inclined to make light of all knowledge1 save of the pioneer character4 ,his ideal is in self-conscious knowledge4 ,let us have no more ,lo1 here1 with the professor2 he very rarely knows what he says he knows2 no sooner has he misled the world for a sufficient time with a great flourish of trumpets than he is toppled over by one more plausible than himself4 ,he is but medicine-man1 augur1 priest1 in its latest development2 useful it may be1 but requiring to be well watched by those who value freedom4 ,wait till he has become more powerful1 and note the vagaries which his conceit of knowledge will indulge in4 ,the ,church did not persecute while she was still weak4 ,of course every system has had1 and will have1 its heroes1 but1 as we all very well know1 the heroism of the hero is but remotely due to system2 it is due not to arguments1 nor reasoning1 nor to any consciously recognised perceptions1 but to those deeper sciences which lie far beyond the reach of self-analysis1 and for the study of which there is but one schooling--to have had good forefathers for many generations4 ,above all things let no unwary reader do me the injustice of believing in me4 ,in that ,i write at all ,i am among the damned4 ,if he must believe in anything1 let him believe in the music of ,handel1 the painting of ,giovanni ,bellini1 and in the thirteenth chapter of ,st4 ,paul's ,first ,epistle to the ,corinthians4 ,but to return4 ,whenever we find people knowing that they know this or that1 we have the same story over and over again4 ,they do not yet know it perfectly4 ,we come1 therefore1 to the conclusion that our knowledge and reasonings thereupon1 only become perfect1 assured1 unhesitating1 when they have become automatic1 and are thus exercised without further conscious effort of the mind1 much in the same way as we cannot walk nor read nor write perfectly till we can do so automatically4 ,,application ,,of ,,foregoing ,,chapters ,,to ,,certain ,,habits ,,acquired ,,after ,,birth ,,which ,,are ,,commonly ,,considered ,,instinctive4 7,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,of ,,life ,,and ,,habit47 ,what is true of knowing is also true of willing4 ,the more intensely we will1 the less is our will deliberate and capable of being recognised as will at all4 ,so that it is common to hear men declare under certain circumstances that they had no will1 but were forced into their own action under stress of passion or temptation4 ,but in the more ordinary actions of life1 we observe1 as in walking or breathing1 that we do not will anything utterly and without remnant of hesitation1 till we have lost sight of the fact that we are exercising our will4 ,the question1 therefore1 is forced upon us1 how far this principle extends1 and whether there may not be unheeded examples of its operation which1 if we consider them1 will land us in rather unexpected conclusions4 ,if it be granted that consciousness of knowledge and of volition vanishes when the knowledge and the volition have become intense and perfect1 may it not be possible that many actions which we do without knowing how we do them1 and without any conscious exercise of the will--actions which we certainly could not do if we tried to do them1 nor refrain from doing if for any reason we wished to do so--are done so easily and so unconsciously owing to excess of knowledge or experience rather than deficiency1 we having done them too often1 knowing how to do them too well1 and having too little hesitation as to the method of procedure1 to be capable of following our own action1 without the derangement of such action altogether2 or1 in other cases1 because we have so long settled the question that we have stowed away the whole apparatus with which we work in corners of our system which we cannot now conveniently reach8 ,it may be interesting to see whether we can find any class or classes of actions which link actions which for some time after birth we could not do at all1 and in which our proficiency has reached the stage of unconscious performance obviously through repeated effort and failure1 and through this only1 with actions which we could do as soon as we were born1 and concerning which it would at first sight appear absurd to say that they can have been acquired by any process in the least analogous to what we commonly call experience1 inasmuch as the creature itself which does them has only just begun to exist1 and cannot1 therefore1 in the very nature of things1 have had experience4 ,can we see that actions1 for the acquisition of which experience is such an obvious necessity1 that whenever we see the acquisition we assume the experience1 gradate away imperceptibly into actions which seem1 according to all reasonable analogy1 to necessitate experience--of which1 however1 the time and place are so obscure1 that they are not now commonly supposed to have any connection with bona fide experience at all4 ,eating and drinking appear to be such actions4 ,the new-born child cannot eat1 and cannot drink1 but he can swallow as soon as he is born2 and swallowing appears 7as we may remark in passing7 to have been an earlier faculty of animal life than that of eating with teeth4 ,the ease and unconsciousness with which we eat and drink is clearly attributable to practice2 but a very little practice seems to go a long way--a suspiciously small amount of practice--as though somewhere or at some other time there must have been more practice than we can account for4 ,we can very readily stop eating or drinking1 and can follow our own action without difficulty in either process2 but as regards swallowing1 which is the earlier habit1 we have less power of self-analysis and control3 when we have once committed ourselves beyond a certain point to swallowing1 we must finish doing so1--that is to say1 our control over the operation ceases4 ,also1 a still smaller experience seems necessary for the acquisition of the power to swallow than appeared necessary in the case of eating2 and if we get into a difficulty we choke1 and are more at a loss how to become introspective than we are about eating and drinking4 ,why should a baby be able to swallow--which one would have said was the more complicated process of the two--with so much less practice than it takes him to learn to eat8 ,how comes it that he exhibits in the case of the more difficult operation all the phenomena which ordinarily accompany a more complete mastery and longer practice8 ,analogy points in the direction of thinking that the necessary experience cannot have been wanting1 and that1 too1 not in such a quibbling sort as when people talk about inherited habit or the experience of the race1 which1 without explanation1 is to plain-speaking persons very much the same1 in regard to the individual1 as no experience at all1 but bona fide in the child's own person4 ,breathing1 again1 is an action acquired after birth1 generally with some little hesitation and difficulty1 but still acquired in a time seldom longer1 as ,i am informed1 than ten minutes or a quarter of an hour4 ,for an art which has to be acquired at all1 there seems here1 as in the case of eating1 to be a disproportion between1 on the one hand1 the intricacy of the process performed1 and on the other1 the shortness of the time taken to acquire the practice1 and the ease and unconsciousness with which its exercise is continued from the moment of acquisition4 ,we observe that in later life much less difficult and intricate operations than breathing require much longer practice before they can be mastered to the extent of unconscious performance4 ,we observe also that the phenomena attendant on the learning by an infant to breathe are extremely like those attendant upon the repetition of some performance by one who has done it very often before1 but who requires just a little prompting to set him off1 on getting which1 the whole familiar routine presents itself before him1 and he repeats his task by rote4 ,surely then we are justified in suspecting that there must have been more bona fide personal recollection and experience1 with more effort and failure on the part of the infant itself1 than meet the eye4 ,it should be noticed1 also that our control over breathing is very limited4 ,we can hold our breath a little1 or breathe a little faster for a short time1 but we cannot do this for long1 and after having gone without air for a certain time we must breathe4 ,seeing and hearing require some practice before their free use is mastered1 but not very much4 ,they are so far within our control that we can see more by looking harder1 and hear more by listening attentively--but they are beyond our control in so far as that we must see and hear the greater part of what presents itself to us as near1 and at the same time unfamiliar1 unless we turn away or shut our eyes1 or stop our ears by a mechanical process2 and when we do this it is a sign that we have already involuntarily seen or heard more than we wished4 ,the familiar1 whether sight or sound1 very commonly escapes us4 ,take again the processes of digestion1 the action of the heart1 and the oxygenisation of the blood--processes of extreme intricacy1 done almost entirely unconsciously1 and quite beyond the control of our volition4 ,is it possible that our unconsciousness concerning our own performance of all these processes arises from over-experience8 ,is there anything in digestion or the oxygenisation of the blood different in kind to the rapid unconscious action of a man playing a difficult piece of music on the piano8 ,there may be in degree1 but as a man who sits down to play what he well knows1 plays on when once started1 almost1 as we say1 mechanically1 so1 having eaten his dinner1 he digests it as a matter of course1 unless it has been in some way unfamiliar to him or he to it1 owing to some derangement or occurrence with which he is unfamiliar1 and under which therefore he is at a loss how to comport himself1 as a player would be at a loss how to play with gloves on1 or with gout in his fingers1 or if set to play music upside down4 ,can we show that all the acquired actions of childhood and after-life1 which we now do unconsciously1 or without conscious exercise of the will1 are familiar acts--acts which we have already done a very great number of times8 ,can we also show that there are no acquired actions which we can perform in this automatic manner which were not at one time difficult1 requiring attention1 and liable to repeated failure1 our volition failing to command obedience from the members which should carry its purposes into execution8 ,if so1 analogy will point in the direction of thinking that other acts which we do even more unconsciously may only escape our power of self- examination and control because they are even more familiar--because we have done them oftener2 and we may imagine that if there were a microscope which could show us the minutest atoms of consciousness and volition1 we should find that even the apparently most automatic actions were yet done in due course1 upon a balance of considerations1 and under the deliberate exercise of the will4 ,we should also incline to think that even such an action as the oxygenisation of its blood by an infant of ten minutes' old1 can only be done so well and so unconsciously1 after repeated failures on the part of the infant itself4 ,true1 as has been already implied1 we do not immediately see when the baby could have made the necessary mistakes and acquired that infinite practice without which it could never go through such complex processes satisfactorily2 we have therefore invented the word heredity1 and consider it as accounting for the phenomena2 but a little reflection will show that though this word may be a very good way of stating the difficulty1 it does nothing whatever towards removing it4 #if ,why should heredity enable a creature to dispense with the experience which we see to be necessary in all other cases before difficult operations can be performed successfully8 ,what is this talk that is made about the experience of the race1 as though the experience of one man could profit another who knows nothing about him8 ,if a man eats his dinner1 it nourishes him and not his neighbour2 if he learns a difficult art1 it is he that can do it and not his neighbour4 ,yet1 practically1 we see that the vicarious experience1 which seems so contrary to our common observation1 does nevertheless appear to hold good in the case of creatures and their descendants4 ,is there1 then1 any way of bringing these apparently conflicting phenomena under the operation of one law8 ,is there any way of showing that this experience of the race1 of which so much is said without the least attempt to show in what way it may or does become the experience of the individual1 is in sober seriousness the experience of one single being only1 repeating in a great many different ways certain performances with which it has become exceedingly familiar8 ,it comes to this--that we must either suppose the conditions of experience to differ during the earlier stages of life from those which we observe them to become during the heyday of any existence--and this would appear very gratuitous1 tolerable only as a suggestion because the beginnings of life are so obscure1 that in such twilight we may do pretty much whatever we please without fear of being found out--or that we must suppose continuity of life and sameness between living beings1 whether plants or animals1 and their descendants1 to be far closer than we have hitherto believed2 so that the experience of one person is not enjoyed by his successor1 so much as that the successor is bona fide an elongation of the life of his progenitors1 imbued with their memories1 profiting by their experiences--which are1 in fact1 his own until he leaves their bodies--and only unconscious of the extent of these memories and experiences owing to their vastness and already infinite repetition4 ,certainly it presents itself to us as a singular coincidence-- ,i4 ,that we are most conscious of1 and have most control over1 such habits as speech1 the upright position1 the arts and sciences--which are acquisitions peculiar to the human race1 always acquired after birth1 and not common to ourselves and any ancestor who had not become entirely human4 ,,ii4 ,that we are less conscious of1 and have less control over1 the use of teeth1 swallowing1 breathing1 seeing and hearing--which were acquisitions of our prehuman ancestry1 and for which we had provided ourselves with all the necessary apparatus before we saw light1 but which are still1 geologically speaking1 recent1 or comparatively recent4 ill4 ,that we are most unconscious of1 and have least control over1 our digestion1 which we have in common even with our invertebrate ancestry1 and which is a habit of extreme antiquity4 ,there is something too like method in this for it to be taken as the result of mere chance--chance again being but another illustration of ,nature's love of a contradiction in terms2 for everything is chance1 and nothing is chance4 ,and you may take it that all is chance or nothing chance1 according as you please1 but you must not have half chance and half not chance--which1 however1 in practice is just what you must have4 ,does it not seem as though the older and more confirmed the habit1 the more unquestioning the act of volition1 till1 in the case of the oldest habits1 the practice of succeeding existences has so formulated the procedure1 that1 on being once committed to such and such a line beyond a certain point1 the subsequent course is so clear as to be open to no further doubt1 and admit of no alternative1 till the very power of questioning is gone1 and even the consciousness of volition8 ,and this too upon matters which1 in earlier stages of a man's existence1 admitted of passionate argument and anxious deliberation whether to resolve them thus or thus1 with heroic hazard and experiment1 which on the losing side proved to be vice1 and on the winning virtue4 ,for there was passionate argument once what shape a man's teeth should be1 nor can the colour of his hair be considered as even yet settled1 or likely to be settled for a very long time4 ,it is one against legion when a creature tries to differ from his own past selves4 ,he must yield or die if he wants to differ widely1 so as to lack natural instincts1 such as hunger or thirst1 or not to gratify them4 ,it is more righteous in a man that he should eat strange food1 and that his cheek should so much as lank not1 than that he should starve if the strange food be at his command4 ,his past selves are living in unruly hordes within him at this moment and overmastering him4 ,do this1 this1 this1 which we too have done1 and found our profit in it1 cry the souls of his forefathers within him4 ,faint are the far ones1 coming and going as the sound of bells wafted on to a high mountain2 loud and clear are the near ones1 urgent as an alarm of fire4 ,withhold1 cry some4 ,go on boldly1 cry others4 ,me1 me1 me1 revert hitherward1 my descendant1 shouts one as it were from some high vantage-ground over the heads of the clamorous multitude4 ,nay1 but me1 me1 me1 echoes another2 and our former selves fight within us and wrangle for our possession4 ,have we not here what is commonly called an internal tumult1 when dead pleasures and pains tug within us hither and thither8 ,then may the battle be decided by what people are pleased to call our own experience4 ,our own indeed6 ,what is our own save by mere courtesy of speech8 ,a matter of fashion4 ,sanction sanctifieth and fashion fashioneth4 ,and so with death--the most inexorable of all conventions4 ,however this may be1 we may assume it as an axiom with regard to actions acquired after birth1 that we never do them automatically save as the result of long practice1 and after having thus acquired perfect mastery over the action in question4 ,but given the practice or experience1 and the intricacy of the process to be performed appears to matter very little4 ,there is hardly anything conceivable as being done by man1 which a certain amount of familiarity will not enable him to do1 unintrospectively1 and without conscious effort4 ,the most complex and difficult movements1 writes ,mr4 ,darwin1 can in time be performed without the least effort or consciousness4 ,all the main business of life is done thus unconsciously or semi-unconsciously4 ,for what is the main business of life8 ,we work that we may eat and digest1 rather than eat and digest that we may work2 this1 at any rate1 is the normal state of things2 the more important business then is that which is carried on unconsciously4 ,so again1 the action of the brain1 which goes on prior to our realising the idea in which it results1 is not perceived by the individual4 ,so also all the deeper springs of action and conviction4 ,the residuum with which we fret and worry ourselves is a mere matter of detail1 as the higgling and haggling of the market1 which is not over the bulk of the price1 but over the last halfpenny4 ,shall we say1 then1 that a baby of a day old sucks 7which involves the whole principle of the pump1 and hence a profound practical knowledge of the laws of pneumatics and hydrostatics71 digests1 oxygenises its blood 7millions of years before ,sir ,humphry ,davy discovered oxygen71 sees and hears--all most difficult and complicated operations1 involving an unconscious knowledge of the facts concerning optics and acoustics1 compared with which the conscious discoveries of ,newton sink into utter insignificance8 ,shall we say that a baby can do all these things at once1 doing them so well and so regularly1 without being even able to direct its attention to them1 and without mistake1 and at the same time not know how to do them1 and never have done them before8 ,such an assertion would be a contradiction to the whole experience of mankind4 ,surely the onus probandi must rest with him who makes it4 ,a man may make a lucky hit now and again by what is called a fluke1 but even this must be only a little in advance of his other performances of the same kind4 ,he may multiply seven by eight by a fluke after a little study of the multiplication table1 but he will not be able to extract the cube root of #diac by a fluke1 without long training in arithmetic1 any more than an agricultural labourer would be able to operate successfully for cataract4 ,if1 then1 a grown man cannot perform so simple an operation as that1 we will say1 for cataract1 unless he have been long trained in other similar operations1 and until he has done what comes to the same thing many times over1 with what show of reason can we maintain that one who is so far less capable than a grown man1 can perform such vastly more difficult operations1 without knowing how to do them1 and without ever having done them before8 ,there is no sign of fluke about the circulation of a baby's blood4 ,there may perhaps be some little hesitation about its earliest breathing1 but this1 as a general rule1 soon passes over1 both breathing and circulation1 within an hour after birth1 being as regular and easy as at any time during life4 ,is it reasonable1 then1 to say that the baby does these things without knowing how to do them1 and without ever having done them before1 and continues to do them by a series of lifelong flukes8 ,it would be well if those who feel inclined to hazard such an assertion would find some other instances of intricate processes gone through by people who know nothing about them1 and who never had any practice therein4 ,what is to know how to do a thing8 ,surely to do it4 ,what is proof that we know how to do a thing8 ,surely the fact that we can do it4 ,a man shows that he knows how to throw the boomerang by throwing the boomerang4 ,no amount of talking or writing can get over this2 ipso facto1 that a baby breathes and makes its blood circulate1 it knows how to do so2 and the fact that it does not know its own knowledge is only proof of the perfection of that knowledge1 and of the vast number of past occasions on which it must have been exercised already4 ,as has been said already1 it is less obvious when the baby could have gained its experience1 so as to be able so readily to remember exactly what to do2 but it is more easy to suppose that the necessary occasions cannot have been wanting1 than that the power which we observe1 should have been obtained without practice and memory4 ,if we saw any self-consciousness on the baby's part about its breathing or circulation1 we might suspect that it had had less experience1 or had profited less by its experience1 than its neighbours--exactly in the same manner as we suspect a deficiency of any quality which we see a man inclined to parade4 ,we all become introspective when we find that we do not know our business1 and whenever we are introspective we may generally suspect that we are on the verge of unproficiency4 ,unfortunately1 in the case of sickly children we observe that they sometimes do become conscious of their breathing and circulation1 just as in later life we become conscious that we have a liver or a digestion4 ,in that case there is always something wrong4 ,the baby that becomes aware of its breathing does not know how to breathe and will suffer for his ignorance and incapacity1 exactly in the same way as he will suffer in later life for ignorance and incapacity in any other respect in which his peers are commonly knowing and capable4 ,in the case of inability to breathe1 the punishment is corporal1 breathing being a matter of fashion1 so old and long settled that nature can admit of no departure from the established custom1 and the procedure in case of failure is as much formulated as the fashion itself4 ,in the case of the circulation1 the whole performance has become one so utterly of rote1 that the mere discovery that we could do it at all was considered one of the highest flights of human genius4 ,it has been said a day will come when the ,polar ice shall have accumulated1 till it forms vast continents many thousands of feet above the level of the sea1 all of solid ice4 ,the weight of this mass will1 it is believed1 cause the world to topple over on its axis1 so that the earth will be upset as an ant-heap overturned by a ploughshare4 ,in that day the icebergs will come crunching against our proudest cities1 razing them from off the face of the earth as though they were made of rotten blotting-paper4 ,there is no respect now of ,handel nor of ,shakespeare2 the works of ,rembrandt and ,bellini fossilise at the bottom of the sea4 ,grace1 beauty1 and wit1 all that is precious in music1 literature1 and art--all gone4 ,in the morning there was ,europe4 ,in the evening there are no more populous cities nor busy hum of men1 but a sea of jagged ice1 a lurid sunset1 and the doom of many ages4 ,then shall a scared remnant escape in places1 and settle upon the changed continent when the waters have subsided--a simple people1 busy hunting shellfish on the drying ocean beds1 and with little time for introspection2 yet they can read and write and sum1 for by that time these accomplishments will have become universal1 and will be acquired as easily as we now learn to talk2 but they do so as a matter of course1 and without self-consciousness4 ,also they make the simpler kinds of machinery too easily to be able to follow their own operations--the manner of their own apprenticeship being to them as a buried city4 ,may we not imagine that1 after the lapse of another ten thousand years or so1 some one of them may again become cursed with lust of introspection1 and a second ,harvey may astonish the world by discovering that it can read and write1 and that steam-engines do not grow1 but are made8 ,it may be safely prophesied that he will die a martyr1 and be honoured in the fourth generation4 ,,personal ,,identity4 7,,chapter ,v4 ,,of ,,life ,,and ,,habit47 ,strange difficulties have been raised by some1 says ,bishop ,butler1 concerning personal identity1 or the sameness of living agents as implied in the notion of our existing now and hereafter1 or indeed in any two consecutive moments4 ,but in truth it is not easy to see the strangeness of the difficulty1 if the words either personal or identity are used in any strictness4 ,personality is one of those ideas with which we are so familiar that we have lost sight of the foundations upon which it rests4 ,we regard our personality as a simple definite whole2 as a plain1 palpable1 individual thing1 which can be seen going about the streets or sitting indoors at home2 as something which lasts us our lifetime1 and about the confines of which no doubt can exist in the minds of reasonable people4 ,but in truth this we1 which looks so simple and definite1 is a nebulous and indefinable aggregation of many component parts which war not a little among themselves1 our perception of our existence at all being perhaps due to this very clash of warfare1 as our sense of sound and light is due to the jarring of vibrations4 ,moreover1 as the component parts of our identity change from moment to moment1 our personality becomes a thing dependent upon time present1 which has no logical existence1 but lives only upon the sufferance of times past and future1 slipping out of our hands into the domain of one or other of these two claimants the moment we try to apprehend it4 ,and not only is our personality as fleeting as the present moment1 but the parts which compose it blend some of them so imperceptibly into1 and are so inextricably linked on to1 outside things which clearly form no part of our personality1 that when we try to bring ourselves to book and determine wherein we consist1 or to draw a line as to where we begin or end1 we find ourselves baffled4 ,there is nothing but fusion and confusion4 ,putting theology on one side1 and dealing only with the common sense of mankind1 our body is certainly part of our personality4 ,with the destruction of our bodies1 our personality1 as far as we can follow it1 comes to a full stop2 and with every modification of them it is correspondingly modified4 ,but what are the limits of our bodies8 ,they are composed of parts1 some of them so unessential as to be hardly included in personality at all1 and to be separable from ourselves without perceptible effect1 as hair1 nails1 and daily waste of tissue4 ,again1 other parts are very important1 as our hands1 feet1 arms1 legs1 c41 but still are no essential parts of our self or soul1 which continues to exist1 though in a modified condition1 in spite of their amputation4 ,other parts1 as the brain1 heart1 and blood1 are so essential that they cannot be dispensed with1 yet it is impossible to say that personality consists in any one of them4 ,each one of these component members of our personality is continually dying and being born again1 supported in this process by the food we eat1 the water we drink1 and the air we breathe2 which three things link us on1 and fetter us down1 to the organic and inorganic world about us4 ,for our meat and drink1 though no part of our personality before we eat and drink1 cannot1 after we have done so1 be separated entirely from us without the destruction of our personality altogether1 so far as we can follow it2 and who shall say at what precise moment our food has or has not become part of ourselves8 ,a famished man eats food2 after a short time his whole personality is so palpably affected that we know the food to have entered into him and taken1 as it were1 possession of him2 but who can say at what precise moment it did so8 ,thus we find that we melt away into outside things and are rooted into them as plants into the soil in which they grow1 nor can any man say he consists absolutely in this or that1 nor define himself so certainly as to include neither more nor less than himself2 many undoubted parts of his personality being more separable from it1 and changing it less when so separated1 both to his own senses and those of other people1 than other parts which are strictly speaking no parts at all4 ,a man's clothes1 for example1 as they lie on a chair at night are no part of him1 but when he wears them they would appear to be so1 as being a kind of food which warms him and hatches him1 and the loss of which may kill him of cold4 ,if this be denied1 and a man's clothes be considered as no part of his self1 nevertheless they1 with his money1 and it may perhaps be added his religious opinions1 stamp a man's individuality as strongly as any natural feature can stamp it4 ,change in style of dress1 gain or loss of money1 make a man feel and appear more changed than having his chin shaved or his nails cut4 ,in fact1 as soon as we leave common parlance on one side1 and try for a scientific definition of personality1 we find that there is none possible1 any more than there can be a demonstration of the fact that we exist at all--a demonstration for which1 as for that of a personal ,god1 many have hunted but which none have found4 ,the only solid foundation is1 as in the case of the earth's crust1 pretty near the surface of things2 the deeper we try to go1 the damper1 darker1 and altogether more uncongenial we find it4 ,there is no quagmire of superstition into which we may not be easily lured if we once cut ourselves adrift from those superficial aspects of things1 in which alone our nature permits us to be comforted4 ,common parlance1 however1 settles the difficulty readily enough 7as indeed it settles most others if they show signs of awkwardness7 by the simple process of ignoring it3 we decline1 and very properly1 to go into the question of where personality begins and ends1 but assume it to be known by every one1 and throw the onus of not knowing it upon the over- curious1 who had better think as their neighbours do1 right or wrong1 or there is no knowing into what villany they may not presently fall4 ,assuming1 then1 that every one knows what is meant by the word person 7and such superstitious bases as this are the foundations upon which all action1 whether of man1 beast1 or plant1 is constructed and rendered possible2 for even the corn in the fields grows upon a superstitious basis as to its own existence1 and only turns the earth and moisture into wheat through the conceit of its own ability to do so1 without which faith it were powerless2 and the lichen only grows upon the granite rock by first saying to itself1 ,i think ,i can do it2 so that it would not be able to grow unless it thought it could grow1 and would not think it could grow unless it found itself able to grow1 and thus spends its life arguing most virtuously in a most vicious circle--basing action upon hypothesis1 which hypothesis is in turn based upon action7--assuming that we know what is meant by the word person1 we say that we are one and the same person from birth till death1 so that whatever is done by or happens to any one between birth and death1 is said to happen to or be done by one individual4 ,this in practice is found sufficient for the law courts and the purposes of daily life1 which1 being full of hurry and the pressure of business1 can only tolerate compromise1 or conventional rendering of intricate phenomena4 ,when facts of extreme complexity have to be daily and hourly dealt with by people whose time is money1 they must be simplified1 and treated much as a painter treats them1 drawing them in squarely1 seizing the more important features1 and neglecting all that does not assert itself as too essential to be passed over--hence the slang and cant words of every profession1 and indeed all language2 for language at best is but a kind of patter1 the only way1 it is true1 in many cases1 of expressing our ideas to one another1 but still a very bad way1 and not for one moment comparable to the unspoken speech which we may sometimes have recourse to4 ,the metaphors and facons de parler to which even in the plainest speech we are perpetually recurring 7as1 for example1 in this last two lines1 plain1 perpetually1 and recurring1 are all words based on metaphor1 and hence more or less liable to mislead7 often deceive us1 as though there were nothing more than what we see and say1 and as though words1 instead of being1 as they are1 the creatures of our convenience1 had some claim to be the actual ideas themselves concerning which we are conversing4 ,this is so well expressed in a letter ,i have recently received from a friend1 now in ,new ,zealand1 and certainly not intended by him for publication1 that ,i shall venture to quote the passage1 but should say that ,i do so without his knowledge or permission which ,i should not be able to receive before this book must be completed4 ,words1 words1 words1 he writes1 are the stumbling-blocks in the way of truth4 ,until you think of things as they are1 and not of the words that misrepresent them1 you cannot think rightly4 ,words produce the appearance of hard and fast lines where there are none4 ,words divide2 thus we call this a man1 that an ape1 that a monkey1 while they are all only differentiations of the same thing4 ,to think of a thing they must be got rid of3 they are the clothes that thoughts wear--only the clothes4 ,i say this over and over again1 for there is nothing of more importance4 ,other men's words will stop you at the beginning of an investigation4 ,a man may play with words all his life1 arranging them and rearranging them like dominoes4 ,if ,i could think to you without words you would understand me better4 ,if such remarks as the above hold good at all1 they do so with the words personal identity4 ,the least reflection will show that personal identity in any sort of strictness is an impossibility4 ,the expression is one of the many ways in which we are obliged to scamp our thoughts through pressure of other business which pays us better4 ,for surely all reasonable people will feel that an infant an hour before birth1 when in the eye of the law he has no existence1 and could not be called a peer for another sixty minutes1 though his father were a peer1 and already dead1--surely such an embryo is more personally identical with the baby into which he develops within an hour's time than the born baby is so with itself 7if the expression may be pardoned71 one1 twenty1 or it may be eighty years after birth4 ,there is more sameness of matter2 there are fewer differences of any kind perceptible by a third person2 there is more sense of continuity on the part of the person himself1 and far more of all that goes to make up our sense of sameness of personality between an embryo an hour before birth and the child on being born1 than there is between the child just born and the man of twenty4 ,yet there is no hesitation about admitting sameness of personality between these two last4 ,on the other hand1 if that hazy contradiction in terms1 personal identity1 be once allowed to retreat behind the threshold of the womb1 it has eluded us once for all4 ,what is true of one hour before birth is true of two1 and so on till we get back to the impregnate ovum1 which may fairly claim to have been personally identical with the man of eighty into which it ultimately developed1 in spite of the fact that there is no particle of same matter nor sense of continuity between them1 nor recognised community of instinct1 nor indeed of anything which on a prima facie view of the matter goes to the making up of that which we call identity4 ,there is far more of all these things common to the impregnate ovum and the ovum immediately before impregnation1 or again between the impregnate ovum1 and both the ovum before impregnation and the spermatozoon which impregnated it4 ,nor1 if we admit personal identity between the ovum and the octogenarian1 is there any sufficient reason why we should not admit it between the impregnate ovum and the two factors of which it is composed1 which two factors are but offshoots from two distinct personalities1 of which they are as much part as the apple is of the apple-tree2 so that an impregnate ovum cannot without a violation of first principles be debarred from claiming personal identity with both its parents1 and hence1 by an easy chain of reasoning1 with each of the impregnate ova from which its parents were developed4 ,so that each ovum when impregnate should be considered not as descended from its ancestors1 but as being a continuation of the personality of every ovum in the chain of its ancestry1 every which ovum it actually is as truly as the octogenarian is the same identity with the ovum from which he has been developed4 ,the two cases stand or fall together4 ,this process cannot stop short of the primordial cell1 which again will probably turn out to be but a brief resting-place4 ,we therefore prove each one of us to be actually the primordial cell which never died nor dies1 but has differentiated itself into the life of the world1 all living beings whatever1 being one with it1 and members one of another4 ,to look at the matter for a moment in another light1 it will be admitted that if the primordial cell had been killed before leaving issue1 all its possible descendants would have been killed at one and the same time4 ,it is hard to see how this single fact does not establish at the point1 as it were1 of a logical bayonet1 an identity between any creature and all others that are descended from it4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the fencing 7for it does not deserve the name of serious disputation7 with which ,bishop ,butler meets his opponents is rendered possible by the laxness with which the words identical and identity are ordinarily used4 ,bishop ,butler would not seriously deny that personality undergoes great changes between infancy and old age1 and hence that it must undergo some change from moment to moment4 ,so universally is this recognised1 that it is common to hear it said of such and such a man that he is not at all the person he was1 or of such and such another that he is twice the man he used to be--expressions than which none nearer the truth can well be found4 ,on the other hand1 those whom ,bishop ,butler is intending to confute would be the first to admit that1 though there are many changes between infancy and old age1 yet they come about in any one individual under such circumstances as we are all agreed in considering as the factors of personal identity rather than as hindrances thereto--that is to say that there has been no entire and permanent death on the part of the individual between any two phases of his existence1 and that any one phase has had a lasting though perhaps imperceptible effect upon all succeeding ones4 ,so that no one ever seriously argued in the manner supposed by ,bishop ,butler1 unless with modifications and saving clauses1 to which it does not suit his purpose to call attention4 99 99 99 99 99 ,no doubt it would be more strictly accurate to say you are the now phase of the person ,i met last night1 or you are the being which has been evolved from the being ,i met last night1 than you are the person ,i met last night4 ,but life is too short for the periphrases which would crowd upon us from every quarter1 if we did not set our face against all that is under the surface of things1 unless1 that is to say1 the going beneath the surface is1 for some special chance of profit1 excusable or capable of extenuation4 99 99 99 99 99 ,take again the case of some weeping trees1 whose boughs spring up into fresh trees when they have reached the ground1 who shall say at what time they cease to be members of the parent tree8 ,in the case of cuttings from plants it is easy to elude the difficulty by making a parade of the sharp and sudden act of separation from the parent stock1 but this is only a piece of mental sleight of hand2 the cutting remains as much part of its parent plant as though it had never been severed from it2 it goes on profiting by the experience which it had before it was cut off1 as much as though it had never been cut off at all4 ,this will be more readily seen in the case of worms which have been cut in half4 ,let a worm be cut in half1 and the two halves will become fresh worms2 which of them is the original worm8 ,surely both4 ,perhaps no simpler cage than this could readily be found of the manner in which personality eludes us1 the moment we try to investigate its real nature4 ,there are few ideas which on first consideration appear so simple1 and none which becomes more utterly incapable of limitation or definition as soon as it is examined closely4 ,it has gone the way of species4 ,it is now generally held that species blend or have blended into one another2 so that any possibility of arrangement and apparent subdivision into definite groups1 is due to the suppression by death both of individuals and whole genera1 which1 had they been now existing1 would have linked all living beings by a series of gradations so subtle that little classification could have been attempted4 ,what we have failed to see is that the individual is as much linked onto other individuals as the species is linked on to other species4 ,how it is that the one great personality of life as a whole1 should have split itself up into so many centres of thought and action1 each one of which is wholly1 or at any rate nearly unconscious of its connection with the other members1 instead of having grown up into a huge polyp1 or as it were coral reef or compound animal over the whole world1 which should be conscious but of its own one single existence2 how it is that the daily waste of this creature should be carried on by the conscious death of its individual members1 instead of by the unconscious waste of tissue which goes on in the bodies of each individual 7if indeed the tissue which we waste daily in our own bodies is so unconscious of its birth and death as we suppose72 how1 again1 that the daily repair of this huge creature life should have become decentralised1 and be carried on by conscious reproduction on the part of its component items1 instead of by the unconscious nutrition of the whole from a single centre1 as the nutrition of our own bodies would appear 7though perhaps falsely7 to be carried on2 these are matters upon which ,i dare not speculate here1 but on which some reflections may follow in subsequent chapters4 ,,instinct ,,as ,,inherited ,,memory4 7,,chapter ,,xi4 ,,of ,,life ,,and ,,habit47 ,obviously the memory of a habit or experience will not commonly be transmitted to offspring in that perfection which is called instinct1 till the habit or experience has been repeated in several generations with more or less uniformity2 for otherwise the impression made will not be strong enough to endure through the busy and difficult task of reproduction4 ,this of course involves that the habit shall have attained1 as it were1 equilibrium with the creature's sense of its own needs1 so that it shall have long seemed the best course possible1 leaving upon the whole and under ordinary circumstances little further to be desired1 and hence that it should have been little varied during many generations4 ,we should expect that it would be transmitted in a more or less partial1 varying1 imperfect1 and intelligent condition before equilibrium had been attained2 it would1 however1 continually tend towards equilibrium4 ,when this stage has been reached1 as regards any habit1 the creature will cease trying to improve2 on which the repetition of the habit will become stable1 and hence capable of more unerring transmission--but at the same time improvement will cease2 the habit will become fixed1 and be perhaps transmitted at an earlier and earlier age1 till it has reached that date of manifestation which shall be found most agreeable to the other habits of the creature4 ,it will also be manifested1 as a matter of course1 without further consciousness or reflection1 for people cannot be always opening up settled questions2 if they thought a matter all over yesterday they cannot think it all over again to-day1 what they thought then they will think now1 and will act upon their opinion2 and this1 too1 even in spite sometimes of misgiving1 that if they were to think still further they could find a still better course4 ,it is not1 therefore1 to be expected that instinct should show signs of that hesitating and tentative action which results from knowledge that is still so imperfect as to be actively self-conscious2 nor yet that it should grow or vary perceptibly unless under such changed conditions as shall baffle memory1 and present the alternative of either invention--that is to say1 variation--or death4 ,but every instinct must have passed through the laboriously intelligent stages through which human civilisations and mechanical inventions are now passing2 and he who would study the origin of an instinct with its development1 partial transmission1 further growth1 further transmission1 approach to more unreflecting stability1 and finally1 its perfection as an unerring and unerringly transmitted instinct1 must look to laws1 customs1 and machinery as his best instructors4 ,customs and machines are instincts and organs now in process of development2 they will assuredly one day reach the unconscious state of equilibrium which we observe in the structures and instincts of bees and ants1 and an approach to which may be found among some savage nations4 ,we may reflect1 however1 not without pleasure1 that this condition--the true millennium--is still distant4 ,nevertheless the ants and bees seem happy2 perhaps more happy than when so many social questions were in as hot discussion among them as other and not dissimilar ones will one day be amongst ourselves4 ,and this1 as will be apparent1 opens up the whole question of the stability of species1 which we cannot follow further here1 than to say1 that according to the balance of testimony1 many plants and animals do appear to have reached a phase of being from which they are hard to move--that is to say1 they will die sooner than be at the pains of altering their habits--true martyrs to their convictions4 ,such races refuse to see changes in their surroundings as long as they can1 but when compelled to recognise them1 they throw up the game because they cannot and will not1 or will not and cannot1 invent4 ,this is perfectly intelligible1 for a race is nothing but a long-lived individual1 and like any individual1 or tribe of men whom we have yet observed1 will have its special capacities and its special limitations1 though1 as in the case of the individual1 so also with the race1 it is exceedingly hard to say what those limitations are1 and why1 having been able to go so far1 it should go no further4 ,every man and every race is capable of education up to a certain point1 but not to the extent of being made from a sow's ear into a silk purse4 ,the proximate cause of the limitation seems to lie in the absence of the wish to go further2 the presence or absence of the wish will depend upon the nature and surroundings of the individual1 which is simply a way of saying that one can get no further1 but that as the song 7with a slight alteration7 says3-- ,some breeds do1 and some breeds don't1 ,some breeds will1 but this breed won't3 ,i tried very often to see if it would1 ,but it said it really couldn't1 and ,i don't think it could4 99 99 99 99 99 ,m4 ,ribot in his work on ,heredity #aai writes 7p4 #ad73--,the duckling hatched by the hen makes straight for water4 ,in what conceivable way can we account for this1 except on the supposition that the duckling knows perfectly well what it can and what it cannot do with water1 owing to its recollection of what it did when it was still one individuality with its parents1 and hence1 when it was a duckling before8 ,the squirrel1 before it knows anything of winter1 lays up a store of nuts4 ,a bird when hatched in a cage will1 when given its freedom1 build for itself a nest like that of its parents1 out of the same materials1 and of the same shape4 ,if this is not due to memory1 even an imperfect explanation of what else it can be due to1 would1 to quote from ,mr4 ,darwin1 be satisfactory4 ,intelligence gropes about1 tries this way and that1 misses its object1 commits mistakes1 and corrects them4 ,yes4 ,because intelligence is of consciousness1 and consciousness is of attention1 and attention is of uncertainty1 and uncertainty is of ignorance or want of consciousness4 ,intelligence is not yet thoroughly up to its business4 ,instinct advances with a mechanical certainty1 hence comes its unconscious character4 ,it knows nothing either of ends1 or of the means of attaining them3 it implies no comparison1 judgment1 or choice4 ,this is assumption4 ,what is certain is that instinct does not betray signs of self-consciousness as to its own knowledge4 ,it has dismissed reference to first principles1 and is no longer under the law1 but under the grace of a settled conviction4 ,all seems directed by thought4 ,yes2 because all has been in earlier existences directed by thought4 ,without ever arriving at thought4 ,because it has got past thought1 and though directed by thought originally1 is now travelling in exactly the opposite direction4 ,it is not likely to reach thought again1 till people get to know worse and worse how to do things1 the oftener they practise them4 ,and if this phenomenon appear strange1 it must be observed that analogous states occur in ourselves4 ,all that we do from habit--walking1 writing1 or practising a mechanical act1 for instance--all these and many other very complex acts are performed without consciousness4 ,instinct appears stationary4 ,it does not1 like intelligence1 seem to grow and decay1 to gain and to lose4 ,it does not improve4 ,naturally4 ,for improvement can only as a general rule be looked for along the line of latest development1 that is to say1 in matters concerning which the creature is being still consciously exercised4 ,older questions are settled1 and the solution must be accepted as final1 for the question of living at all would be reduced to an absurdity1 if everything decided upon one day was to be undecided again the next2 as with painting or music1 so with life and politics1 let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind1 for decision with wrong will be commonly a better policy than indecision--,i had almost added with right2 and a firm purpose with risk will be better than an infirm one with temporary exemption from disaster4 ,every race has made its great blunders1 to which it has nevertheless adhered1 inasmuch as the corresponding modification of other structures and instincts was found preferable to the revolution which would be caused by a radical change of structure1 with consequent havoc among a legion of vested interests4 ,rudimentary organs are1 as has been often said1 the survivals of these interests--the signs of their peaceful and gradual extinction as living faiths2 they are also instances of the difficulty of breaking through any cant or trick which we have long practised1 and which is not sufficiently troublesome to make it a serious object with us to cure ourselves of the habit4 ,if it does not remain perfectly invariable1 at least it only varies within very narrow limits2 and though this question has been warmly debated in our day and is yet unsettled1 we may yet say that in instinct immutability is the law1 variation the exception4 ,this is quite as it should be4 ,genius will occasionally rise a little above convention1 but with an old convention immutability will be the rule4 ,such1 continues ,m4 ,ribot1 are the admitted characters of instinct4 ,yes2 but are they not also the admitted characters of habitual actions that are due to memory8 99 99 99 99 99 ,m4 ,ribot says a little further on3 ,originally man had considerable trouble in taming the animals which are now domesticated2 and his work would have been in vain had not heredity 7memory7 come to his aid4 ,it may be said that after man has modified a wild animal to his will1 there goes on in its progeny a silent conflict between two heredities 7memories71 the one tending to fix the acquired modifications and the other to preserve the primitive instincts4 ,the latter often get the mastery1 and only after several generations is training sure of victory4 ,but we may see that in either case heredity 7memory7 always asserts its rights4 ,how marvellously is the above passage elucidated and made to fit in with the results of our recognised experience1 by the simple substitution of the word memory for heredity4 99 99 99 99 99 ,i cannot refrain from bringing forward a few more instances of what ,i think must be considered by every reader as hereditary memory4 ,sydney ,smith writes3-- ,sir ,james ,hall hatched some chickens in an oven4 ,within a few minutes after the shell was broken1 a spider was turned loose before this very youthful brood2 the destroyer of flies had hardly proceeded more than a few inches1 before he was descried by one of these oven-born chickens1 and1 at one peck of his bill1 immediately devoured4 ,this certainly was not imitation4 ,a female goat very near delivery died2 ,galen cut out the young kid1 and placed before it a bundle of hay1 a bunch of fruit1 and a pan of milk2 the young kid smelt to them all very attentively1 and then began to lap the milk4 ,this was not imitation4 ,and what is commonly and rightly called instinct1 cannot be explained away under the notion of its being imitation4 7,lecture xvii4 on ,moral ,philosophy47 ,it cannot1 indeed1 be explained away under the notion of its being imitation1 but ,i think it may well be so under that of its being memory4 ,again1 a little further on in the same lecture as that above quoted from1 we find3-- ,ants and beavers lay up magazines4 ,where do they get their knowledge that it will not be so easy to collect food in rainy weather as it is in summer8 ,men and women know these things1 because their grandpapas and grandmammas have told them so4 ,ants hatched from the egg artificially1 or birds hatched in this manner1 have all this knowledge by intuition1 without the smallest communication with any of their relations4 ,now observe what the solitary wasp does2 she digs several holes in the sand1 in each of which she deposits an egg1 though she certainly knows not 787 that an animal is deposited in that egg1 and still less that this animal must be nourished with other animals4 ,she collects a few green flies1 rolls them up neatly in several parcels 7like ,bologna sausages71 and stuffs one parcel into each hole where an egg is deposited4 ,when the wasp worm is hatched1 it finds a store of provision ready made2 and what is most curious1 the quantity allotted to each is exactly sufficient to support it1 till it attains the period of wasphood1 and can provide for itself4 ,this instinct of the parent wasp is the more remarkable as it does not feed upon flesh itself4 ,here the little creature has never seen its parent2 for by the time it is born1 the parent is always eaten by sparrows2 and yet1 without the slightest education1 or previous experience1 it does everything that the parent did before it4 ,now the objectors to the doctrine of instinct may say what they please1 but young tailors have no intuitive method of making pantaloons2 a new-born mercer cannot measure diaper2 nature teaches a cook's daughter nothing about sippets4 ,all these things require with us seven years' apprenticeship2 but insects are like ,moliere's persons of quality--they know everything 7as ,moliere says7 without having learnt anything4 ',les gens de qualite savent tout1 sans avoir rien appris4' ,how completely all difficulty vanishes from the facts so pleasantly told in this passage when we bear in mind the true nature of personal identity1 the ordinary working of memory1 and the vanishing tendency of consciousness concerning what we know exceedingly well4 ,my last instance ,i take from ,m4 ,ribot1 who writes3--,gratiolet1 in his ,anatomie ,comparee du ,systems ,nerveux1 states that an old piece of wolf's skin1 with the hair all worn away1 when set before a little dog1 threw the animal into convulsions of fear by the slight scent attaching to it4 ,the dog had never seen a wolf1 and we can only explain this alarm by the hereditary transmission of certain sentiments1 coupled with a certain perception of the sense of smell4 7,heredity1 p4 #dc47 ,i should prefer to say we can only explain the alarm by supposing that the smell of the wolf's skin--the sense of smell being1 as we all know1 more powerful to recall the ideas that have been associated with it than any other sense--brought up the ideas with which it had been associated in the dog's mind during many previous existences--he on smelling the wolf's skin remembering all about wolves perfectly well4 ,,concluding ,,remarks4 7,,from ,,chapter ,,xv4 ,,of ,,life ,,and ,,habit47 ,here1 then1 ,i leave my case1 though well aware that ,i have crossed the threshold only of my subject4 ,my work is of a tentative character1 put before the public as a sketch or design for a1 possibly1 further endeavour1 in which ,i hope to derive assistance from the criticisms which this present volume may elicit4 #abe ,such as it is1 however1 for the present ,i must leave it4 ,we have seen that we cannot do anything thoroughly till we can do it unconsciously1 and that we cannot do anything unconsciously till we can do it thoroughly2 this at first seems illogical2 but logic and consistency are luxuries for the gods1 and the lower animals1 only4 ,thus a boy cannot really know how to swim till he can swim1 but he cannot swim till he knows how to swim4 ,conscious effort is but the process of rubbing off the rough corners from these two contradictory statements1 till they eventually fit into one another so closely that it is impossible to disjoin them4 ,whenever we see any creature able to go through any complicated and difficult process with little or no effort--whether it be a bird building her nest1 or a hen's egg making itself into a chicken1 or an ovum turning itself into a baby--we may conclude that the creature has done the same thing on a very great number of past occasions4 ,we found the phenomena exhibited by heredity to be so like those of memory1 and to be so inexplicable on any other supposition than that they were modes of memory1 that it was easier to suppose them due to memory in spite of the fact that we cannot remember having recollected1 than to believe that because we cannot so remember1 therefore the phenomena cannot be due to memory4 ,we were thus led to consider personal identity1 in order to see whether there was sufficient reason for denying that the experience1 which we must have clearly gained somewhere1 was gained by us when we were in the persons of our forefathers2 we found1 not without surprise1 that unless we admitted that it might be so gained1 in so far as that we once actually were our remotest ancestor1 we must change our ideas concerning personality altogether4 ,we therefore assumed that the phenomena of heredity1 whether as regards instinct or structure1 were due to memory of past experiences1 accumulated and fused till they had become automatic1 or quasi automatic1 much in the same way as after a long life-- 4 4 4 ,old experience doth attain ,to something like prophetic strain4 ,after dealing with certain phenomena of memory1 but more especially with its abeyance and revival1 we inquired what the principal corresponding phenomena of life and species should be1 on the hypothesis that they were mainly due to memory4 ,i think ,i may say that we found the hypothesis fit in with actual facts in a sufficiently satisfactory manner4 ,we found not a few matters1 as1 for example1 the sterility of hybrids1 the principle underlying longevity1 the phenomena of old age1 and puberty as generally near the end of development1 explain themselves with more completeness than ,i have yet heard of their being explained on any other hypothesis4 ,most indeed of these phenomena have been left hitherto without even an attempt at an explanation4 ,we considered the most important difficulty in the way of instinct as hereditary habit1 namely1 the structure and instincts of neuter insects2 these are very unlike those of their parents1 and cannot1 apparently1 be transmitted to offspring by individuals of the previous generation1 in whom such structure and instincts appeared1 inasmuch as these creatures are sterile4 ,i do not say that the difficulty is wholly removed1 inasmuch as some obscurity must be admitted to remain as to the manner in which the structure of the larva is aborted2 this obscurity is likely to remain till we know more of the early history of civilisation among bees than ,i can find that we know at present2 but ,i believe the difficulty was reduced to such proportions as to make it little likely to be felt in comparison with that of attributing instinct to any other cause than inherited habit1 or memory on the part of offspring1 of habits contracted in the persons of its ancestors4 #abg ,we then inquired what was the great principle underlying variation1 and answered1 with ,lamarck1 that it must be sense of need2 and though not without being haunted by suspicion of a vicious circle1 and also well aware that we were not much nearer the origin of life than when we started1 we still concluded that here was the truest origin of species1 and hence of genera2 and that the accumulation of variations1 which in time amounted to specific and generic differences1 was due to intelligence and memory on the part of the creature varying1 rather than to the operation of what ,mr4 ,darwin has called natural selection4 ,at the same time we admitted that the course of nature is very much as ,mr4 ,darwin has represented it1 in this respect1 in so far as that there is a struggle for existence1 and that the weaker must go to the wall4 ,but we denied that this part of the course of nature would lead to much1 if any1 accumulation of variation1 unless the variation was directed mainly by intelligent sense of need1 with continued personality and memory4 ,we conclude1 therefore1 that the small1 apparently structureless1 impregnate ovum from which we have each one of us sprung1 has a potential recollection of all that has happened to each one of its ancestors prior to the period at which any such ancestor has issued from the bodies of its progenitors--provided1 that is to say1 a sufficiently deep1 or sufficiently often-repeated1 impression has been made to admit of its being remembered at all4 ,each step of normal development will lead the impregnate ovum up to1 and remind it of1 its next ordinary course of action1 in the same way as we1 when we recite a well-known passage1 are led up to each successive sentence by the sentence which has immediately preceded it4 ,and for this reason1 namely1 that as it takes two people to tell a thing--a speaker and a comprehending listener1 without which last1 though much may have been said1 there has been nothing told--so also it takes two people1 as it were1 to remember a thing--the creature remembering1 and the surroundings of the creature at the time it last remembered4 ,hence1 though the ovum immediately after impregnation is instinct with all the memories of both parents1 not one of these memories can normally become active till both the ovum itself1 and its surroundings1 are sufficiently like what they respectively were1 when the occurrence now to be remembered last took place4 ,the memory will then immediately return1 and the creature will do as it did on the last occasion that it was in like case as now4 ,this ensures that similarity of order shall be preserved in all the stages of development in successive generations4 ,life then is the being possessed of memory4 ,we are all the same stuff to start with2 plants and animals only differ from one another because they remember different things2 they grow up in the shapes they bear because these shapes are the embodiments of their ideas concerning their own past history2 they are forms of faith or faiths of form whichever the reader chooses4 ,hence the term ,natural ,history1 as applied to the different plants and animals around us4 ,for surely the study of natural history means only the study of plants and animals themselves1 which1 at the moment of using the words ,natural ,history1 we assume to be the most important part of nature4 ,a living creature well supported by a mass of healthy ancestral memory is a young and growing creature1 free from ache or pain1 and thoroughly acquainted with its business so far1 but with much yet to be reminded of4 ,a creature which finds itself and its surroundings not so unlike those of its parents about the time of their begetting it1 as to be compelled to recognise that it never yet was in any such position1 is a creature in the heyday of life4 ,a creature which begins to be aware of itself is one which is beginning to recognise that the situation is a new one4 ,it is the young and fair1 then1 who are the truly old and truly experienced2 it is they who alone have a trustworthy memory to guide them2 they alone know things as they are1 and it is from them that1 as we grow older1 we must study if we would still cling to truth4 ,the whole charm of youth lies in its advantage over age in respect of experience1 and where this has for some reason failed1 or been misapplied1 the charm is broken4 ,when we say that we are getting old1 we should say rather that we are getting new or young1 and are suffering from inexperience1 which drives us into doing things which we do not understand1 and lands us1 eventually1 in the utter impotence of death4 ,the kingdom of heaven is the kingdom of little children4 ,,selections ,,from ,,evolution1 ,,old ,,and ,,new4 #aca ,,impotence ,,of ,,paley',s ,,conclusion4 ,,the ,,teleology ,,of ,,the ,,evolutionist4 7,,from ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,of ,,evolution1 ,,old ,,and ,,new47 ,if we conceive of ourselves as looking simultaneously upon a real foot1 and upon an admirably constructed artificial one1 placed by the side of it1 the idea of design1 and design by an intelligent living being with a body and soul 7without which1 the use of the word design is delusive71 will present itself strongly to our minds in connection both with the true foot and with the model2 but we find another idea asserting itself with even greater strength1 namely1 that the design of the true foot is infinitely more intricate1 and yet is carried into execution in far more masterly manner than that of the model4 ,we not only feel that there is a wider difference between the ability1 time1 and care which have been lavished on the real foot and upon the model1 than there is between the skill and the time taken to produce ,westminster ,abbey1 and that bestowed upon a gingerbread cake stuck with sugar plums so as to represent it1 but also that these two objects must have been manufactured on different principles4 ,we do not for a moment doubt that the real foot was designed1 but we are so astonished at the dexterity of the designer that we are at a loss for some time to think who could have designed it1 where he can live1 in what manner he studied1 for how long1 and by what processes he carried out his design1 when matured1 into actual practice4 ,until recently it was thought that there was no answer to many of these questions1 more especially to those which bear upon the mode of manufacture4 ,for the last hundred years1 however1 the importance of a study has been recognised which does actually reveal to us in no small degree the processes by which the human foot is manufactured1 so that in our endeavour to lay our hands upon the points of difference between the kind of design with which the foot itself is designed1 and the design of the model1 we turn naturally to the guidance of those who have made this study their specialty2 and a very wide difference does this study1 embryology1 at once reveal to us4 ,writing of the successive changes through which each embryo is forced to pass1 the late ,mr4 ,g4 ,h4 ,lewes says that none of these phases have any adaptation to the future state of the animal1 but are in positive contradiction to it or are simply purposeless2 whereas all show stamped on them the unmistakable characters of ancestral adaptation1 and the progressions of organic evolution4 ,what does the fact imply8 ,there is not a single known example of a complex organism which is not developed out of simpler forms4 ,before it can attain the complex structure which distinguishes it1 there must be an evolution of forms similar to those which distinguish the structure of organisms lower in the series4 ,on the hypothesis of a plan which prearranged the organic world1 nothing could be more unworthy of a supreme intelligence than this inability to construct an organism at once1 without making several previous tentative efforts1 undoing to-day what was so carefully done yesterday1 and repeating for centuries the same tentatives in the same succession4 ,do not let us blink this consideration4 ,there is a traditional phrase much in vogue among the anthropomorphists1 which arose naturally enough from a tendency to take human methods as an explanation of the ,divine--a phrase which becomes a sort of argument--',the ,great ,architect4' ,but if we are to admit the human point of view1 a glance at the facts of embryology must produce very uncomfortable reflections4 ,for what should we say to an architect who was unable1 or being able was obstinately unwilling1 to erect a palace except by first using his materials in the shape of a hut1 then pulling them down and rebuilding them as a cottage1 then adding story to story and room to room1 not with any reference to the ultimate purposes of the palace1 but wholly with reference to the way in which houses were constructed in ancient times8 ,what should we say to the architect who could not form a museum out of bricks and mortar1 but was forced to begin as if going to construct a mansion1 and after proceeding some way in this direction1 altered his plan into a palace1 and that again into a museum8 ,yet this is the sort of succession on which organisms are constructed4 ,the fact has long been familiar2 how has it been reconciled with infinite wisdom8 ,let the following passage answer for a thousand3--',the embryo is nothing like the miniature of the adult4 ,for a long while the body in its entirety and in its details1 presents the strangest of spectacles4 ,day by day and hour by hour1 the aspect of the scene changes1 and this instability is exhibited by the most essential parts no less than by the accessory parts4 ,one would say that nature feels her way1 and only reaches the goal after many times missing the path' 7on dirait que la nature tatonne et ne conduit son oeuvre a bon fin1 qu'apres s'etre souvent trompee74 #acd;a ,the above passage does not1 ,i think1 affect the evidence for design which we adduced in the preceding chapter4 #acd;b ,however strange the process of manufacture may appear1 when the work comes to be turned out the design is too manifest to be doubted4 ,if the reader were to come upon some lawyer's deed which dealt with matters of such unspeakable intricacy that it baffled his imagination to conceive how it could ever have been drafted1 and if in spite of this he were to find the intricacy of the provisions to be made1 exceeded only by the ease and simplicity with which the deed providing for them was found to work in practice2 and after this1 if he were to discover that the deed1 by whomsoever drawn1 had nevertheless been drafted upon principles which at first seemed very foreign to any according to which he was in the habit of drafting deeds himself1 as for example1 that the draftsman had begun to draft a will as a marriage settlement1 and so forth--yet an observer would not1 ,i take it1 do either of two things4 ,he would not in the face of the result deny the design1 making himself judge rather of the method of procedure than of the achievement4 ,nor yet after insisting in the manner of ,paley1 on the wonderful proofs of intention and on the exquisite provisions which were to be found in every syllable--thus leading us up to the highest pitch of expectation--would he present us with such an impotent conclusion as that the designer1 though a living person and a true designer1 was yet immaterial and intangible1 a something1 in fact1 which proves to be a nothing2 an omniscient and omnipotent vacuum4 ,our observer would feel he need not have been at such pains to establish his design if this was to be the upshot of his reasoning4 ,he would therefore admit the design1 and by consequence the designer1 but would probably ask a little time for reflection before he ventured to say who1 or what1 or where the designer was4 ,then gaining some insight into the manner in which the deed had been drawn1 he would conclude that the draftsman was a specialist who had had long practice in this particular kind of work1 but who now worked almost as it might be said automatically and without consciousness1 and found it difficult to depart from a habitual method of procedure4 ,we turn1 then1 on ,paley1 and say to him3 ,we have admitted your design and your designer4 ,where is he8 ,show him to us4 ,if you cannot show him to us as flesh and blood1 show him as flesh and sap2 show him as a living cell2 show him as protoplasm4 ,lower than this we should not fairly go2 it is not in the bond or nexus of our ideas that something utterly inanimate and inorganic should scheme1 design1 contrive1 and elaborate structures which can make mistakes3 it may elaborate low unerring things1 like crystals1 but it cannot elaborate those which have the power to err4 ,nevertheless1 we will commit such abuse with our understandings as to waive this point1 and we will ask you to show him to us as air which1 if it cannot be seen yet can be felt1 weighed1 handled1 transferred from place to place1 be judged by its effects1 and so forth2 or if this may not be1 give us half a grain of hydrogen1 diffused through all space and invested with some of the minor attributes of matter2 or if you cannot do this1 give us an imponderable like electricity1 or even the higher mathematics1 but give us something or throw off the mask and tell us fairly out that it is your paid profession to hoodwink us on this matter if you can1 and that you are but doing your best to earn an honest living4 ,we may fancy ,paley as turning the tables upon us and as saying2 ,but you too have admitted a designer--you too then must mean a designer with a body and soul1 who must be somewhere to be found in space1 and who must live in time4 ,where is this your designer8 ,can you show him more than ,i can8 ,can you lay your finger on him and demonstrate him so that a child shall see him and know him1 and find what was heretofore an isolated idea concerning him1 combine itself instantaneously with the idea of the designer1 we will say1 of the human foot1 so that no power on earth shall henceforth tear those two ideas asunder8 ,surely if you cannot do this1 you too are trifling with words1 and abusing your own mind and that of your reader4 ,where1 then1 is your designer of man8 ,who made him8 ,and where1 again1 is your designer of beasts and birds1 of fishes and of plants8 ,our answer is simple enough2 it is that we can and do point to a living tangible person with flesh1 blood1 eyes1 nose1 ears1 organs1 senses1 dimensions1 who did of his own cunning after infinite proof of every kind of hazard and experiment scheme out and fashion each organ of the human body4 ,this is the person whom we claim as the designer and artificer of that body1 and he is the one of all others the best fitted for the task by his antecedents1 and his practical knowledge of the requirements of the case--for he is man himself4 ,not man1 the individual of any given generation1 but man in the entirety of his existence from the dawn of life onwards to the present moment4 ,in like manner we say that the designer of all organisms is so incorporate with the organisms themselves--so lives1 moves1 and has its being in those organisms1 and is so one with them--they in it1 and it in them--that it is more consistent with reason and the common use of words to see the designer of each living form in the living form itself1 than to look for its designer in some other place or person4 ,thus we have a third alternative presented to us4 ,mr4 ,charles ,darwin and his followers deny design1 as having any appreciable share in the formation of organism at all4 ,paley and the theologians insist on design1 but upon a designer outside the universe and the organism4 ,the third opinion is that suggested in the first instance and carried out to a very high degree of development by ,buffon4 ,it was improved1 and indeed1 made almost perfect by ,dr4 ,erasmus ,darwin1 but too much neglected by him after he had put it forward4 ,it was borrowed1 as ,i think we may say with some confidence1 from ,dr4 ,darwin by ,lamarck1 and was followed up by him ardently thenceforth1 during the remainder of his life1 though somewhat less perfectly comprehended by him than it had been by ,dr4 ,darwin4 ,it is that the design which has designed organisms1 has resided within1 and been embodied in1 the organisms themselves4 ,,failure ,,of ,,the ,,first ,,evolutionists ,,to ,,see ,,their ,,position ,,as ,,teleological4 7,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,of ,,evolution1 ,,old ,,and ,,new47 ,it follows from the doctrine of ,dr4 ,erasmus ,darwin and ,lamarck1 if not from that of ,buffon himself1 that the majority of organs are as purposive to the evolutionist as to the theologian1 and far more intelligibly so4 ,circumstances1 however1 prevented these writers from acknowledging this fact to the world1 and perhaps even to themselves4 ,their crux was1 as it still is to so many evolutionists1 the presence of rudimentary organs1 and the processes of embryological development4 ,they would not admit that rudimentary and therefore useless organs were designed by a ,creator to take their place once and for ever as part of a scheme whose main idea was1 that every animal structure was to serve some useful end in connection with its possessor4 ,this was the doctrine of final causes as then commonly held2 in the face of rudimentary organs it was absurd4 ,buffon was above all things else a plain matter of fact thinker1 who refused to go far beyond the obvious4 ,like all other profound writers1 he was1 if ,i may say so1 profoundly superficial4 ,he felt that the aim of research does not consist in the knowing this or that1 but in the easing of the desire to know or understand more completely--in the peace of mind which passeth all understanding4 ,his was the perfection of a healthy mental organism by which over effort is felt to be as vicious and contemptible as indolence4 ,he knew this too well to know the grounds of his knowledge1 but we smaller people who know it less completely1 can see that such felicitous instinctive tempering together of the two great contradictory principles1 love of effort and love of ease1 has underlain every healthy step of all healthy growth1 whether of vegetable or animal1 from the earliest conceivable time to the present moment4 ,nothing is worth looking at which is seen either too obviously or with too much difficulty4 ,nothing is worth doing or well done which is not done fairly easily1 and some little deficiency of effort is more pardonable than any very perceptible excess1 for virtue has ever erred on the side of self-indulgence rather than of asceticism4 ,according to ,buffon1 then--as also according to ,dr4 ,darwin1 who was just such another practical and genial thinker1 and who was distinctly a pupil of ,buffon1 though a most intelligent and original one--if an organ after a reasonable amount of inspection appeared to be useless1 it was to be called useless without more ado1 and theories were to be ordered out of court if they were troublesome4 ,in like manner1 if animals breed freely inter se before our eyes1 as for example the horse and ass1 the fact was to be noted1 but no animals were to be classed as capable of interbreeding until they had asserted their right to such classification by breeding with tolerable certainty4 ,if1 again1 an animal looked as if it felt1 that is to say1 if it moved about pretty quickly or made a noise1 it must be held to feel2 if it did neither of these things it did not look as if it felt1 and therefore it must be said not to feel4 ,de non apparentibus et non existentibus eadem est lex was one of the chief axioms of their philosophy2 no writers have had a greater horror of mystery or of ideas that have not become so mastered as to be1 or to have been1 superficial4 ,lamarck was one of those men of whom ,i believe it has been said that they have brain upon the brain4 ,he had his theory that an animal could not feel unless it had a nervous system1 and at least a spinal marrow--and that it could not think at all without a brain--all his facts1 therefore1 have to be made to square with this4 ,with ,buffon and ,dr4 ,darwin we feel safe that however wrong they may sometimes be1 their conclusions have always been arrived at on that fairly superficial view of things in which1 as ,i have elsewhere said1 our nature alone permits us to be comforted4 ,to these writers1 then1 the doctrine of final causes for rudimentary organs was a piece of mystification and an absurdity2 no less fatal to any such doctrine were the processes of embryological development4 ,it was plain that the commonly received teleology must be given up2 but the idea of design or purpose was so associated in their minds with theological design that they avoided it altogether4 ,they seem to have forgotten that an internal purpose is as much purpose as an external one2 hence1 unfortunately1 though their whole theory of development is intensely purposive1 it is the fact rather than the name of teleology which has hitherto been insisted upon1 even by the greatest writers on evolution--the name having been most persistently denied even by those who were most insisting on the thing itself4 ,it is easy to understand the difficulty felt by the fathers of evolution when we remember how much had to be seen before the facts could lie well before them4 ,it was necessary to attain1 firstly1 to a perception of the unity of person between parents and offspring in successive generations2 secondly1 it must be seen that an organism's memory 7within the limitations to which all memory is subject7 goes back for generations beyond its birth1 to the first beginnings in fact1 of which we know anything whatever2 thirdly1 the latency of that memory1 as of memory generally1 till the associated ideas are reproduced1 must be brought to bear upon the facts of heredity2 and lastly1 the unconsciousness with which habitual actions come to be performed1 must be assigned as the explanation of the unconsciousness with which we grow and discharge most of our natural functions4 ,buffon was too busy with the fact that animals descended with modification at all1 to go beyond the development and illustration of this great truth4 ,i doubt whether he ever saw more than the first1 and that dimly1 of the four considerations above stated4 ,dr4 ,darwin was the first to point out the first two considerations2 he did so with some clearness1 but can hardly be said to have understood their full importance3 the two latter ideas do not appear to have occurred to him4 ,lamarck had little if any perception of any one of the four4 ,when1 however1 they are firmly seized and brought into their due bearings one upon another1 the facts of heredity become as simple as those of a man making a tobacco pipe1 and rudimentary organs are seen to be essentially of the same character as the little rudimentary protuberance at the bottom of the pipe to which ,i referred in ',erewhon4' #ada ,these organs are now no longer useful1 but they once were so1 and were therefore once purposive1 though not so now4 ,they are the expressions of a bygone usefulness2 sayings1 as it were1 about which there was at one time infinite wrangling1 as to what both the meaning and the expression should best be1 so that they then had living significance in the mouths of those who used them1 though they have become such mere shibboleths and cant formulae to ourselves that we think no more of their meaning than we do of ,julius ,caesar in the month of ,july4 ,they continue to be reproduced through the force of habit1 and through indisposition to get out of any familiar groove of action until it becomes too unpleasant for us to remain in it any longer4 ,it has long been felt that embryology and rudimentary structures indicated community of descent4 ,dr4 ,darwin and ,lamarck insisted on this1 as have all subsequent writers on evolution2 but the explanation why and how the structures come to be repeated--namely1 that they are simply examples of the force of habit--can only be perceived intelligently by those who admit such unity between parents and offspring as that the self-development of the latter can be properly called habitual 7as being a repetition of an act by one and the same individual71 and can only be fully sympathised with by those who recognise that if habit be admitted as the key to the fact at all1 the unconscious manner in which the habit comes to be repeated is only of a piece with all our other observations concerning habit4 ,for the fuller development of the foregoing1 ,i must refer the reader to my work ,life and ,habit4 ,the purposiveness1 which even ,dr4 ,darwin 7and ,lamarck still less7 seems never to have quite recognised in spite of their having insisted so much on what amounts to the same thing1 now comes into full view4 ,it is seen that the organs external to the body1 and those internal to it1 are the second as much as the first1 things which we have made for our own convenience1 and with a prevision that we shall have need of them2 the main difference between the manufacture of these two classes of organs being1 that we have made the one kind so often that we can no longer follow the processes whereby we make them1 while the others are new things which we must make introspectively or not at all1 and which are not yet so incorporate with our vitality as that we should think they grow instead of being manufactured4 ,the manufacture of the tool1 and the manufacture of the living organ prove therefore to be but two species of the same genus1 which1 though widely differentiated1 have descended as it were from one common filament of desire and inventive faculty4 ,the greater or less complexity of the organs goes for very little4 ,it is only a question of the amount of intelligence and voluntary self-adaptation which we must admit1 and this must be settled rather by an appeal to what we find in organism1 and observe concerning it1 than by what we may have imagined a priori4 ,given a small speck of jelly with some power of slightly varying its actions in accordance with slightly varying circumstances and desires--given such a jelly-speck with a power of assimilating other matter1 and thus of reproducing itself1 given also that it should be possessed of a memory and a reproductive system1 and we can show how the whole animal world can have descended it may be from an amoeba without interference from without1 and how every organ in every creature is designed at first roughly and tentatively but finally fashioned with the most consummate perfection1 by the creature which has had need of that organ1 which best knew what it wanted1 and was never satisfied till it had got that which was the best suited to its varying circumstances in their entirety4 ,we can even show how1 if it becomes worth the ,ethiopian's while to try and change his skin1 or the leopard's to change his spots1 they can assuredly change them within a not unreasonable time and adapt their covering to their own will and convenience1 and to that of none other2 thus what is commonly conceived of as direct creation by ,god is moved back to a time and space inconceivable in their remoteness1 while the aim and design so obvious in nature are shown to be still at work around us1 growing ever busier and busier1 and advancing from day to day both in knowledge and power4 ,it was reserved for ,mr4 ,charles ,darwin and for those who have too rashly followed him to deny purpose as having had any share in the development of animal and vegetable organs2 to see no evidence of design in those wonderful provisions which have been the marvel and delight of observers in all ages4 ,the one who has drawn our attention more than perhaps any other living writer to those very marvels of co-adaptation1 is the foremost to maintain that they are the result not of desire and design1 either within the creature or without it1 but of blind chance1 working no whither1 and due but to the accumulation of innumerable lucky accidents4 ,there are men1 writes ,professor ,tyndal in the ,nineteenth ,century for last ,november1 #add and by no means the minority1 who1 however wealthy in regard to facts1 can never rise into the region of principles2 and they are sometimes intolerant of those that can4 ,they are formed to plod meritoriously on in the lower levels of thought2 unpossessed of the pinions necessary to reach the heights1 they cannot realise the mental act--the act of inspiration it might well be called--by which a man of genius1 after long pondering and proving1 reaches a theoretic conception which unravels and illuminates the tangle of centuries of observation and experiment4 ,there are minds1 it may be said in passing1 who1 at the present moment1 stand in this relation to ,mr4 ,darwin4 ,the more rhapsodical parts of the above must go for what they are worth1 but ,i should be sorry to think that what remains conveyed a censure which might fall justly on myself4 ,as ,i read the earlier part of the passage ,i confess that ,i imagined the conclusion was going to be very different from what it proved to be4 ,fresh from the study of the older men and also of ,mr4 ,darwin himself1 ,i failed to see that ,mr4 ,darwin had unravelled and illuminated a tangled skein1 but believed him1 on the contrary1 to have tangled and obscured what his predecessors had made in great part1 if not wholly1 plain4 ,with the older writers1 ,i had felt as though in the hands of men who wished to understand themselves and to make their reader understand them with the smallest possible exertion4 ,the older men1 if not in full daylight1 at any rate saw in what quarter of the sky the dawn was breaking1 and were looking steadily towards it4 ,it is not they who have put their hands over their own eyes and ours1 and who are crying out that there is no light1 but chance and blindness everywhere4 ,,the ,,teleological ,,evolution ,,of ,,organism4 7,,chapter ,v4 ,,of ,,evolution1 ,,old ,,and ,,new47 ,i have stated the foregoing in what ,i take to be an extreme logical development1 in order that the reader may more easily perceive the consequences of those premises which ,i am endeavouring to re-establish4 ,but it must not be supposed that an animal or plant has ever conceived the idea of some organ widely different from any it was yet possessed of1 and has set itself to design it in detail and grow towards it4 ,the small jelly-speck1 which we call the amoeba1 has no organs save what it can extemporise as occasion arises4 ,if it wants to get at anything1 it thrusts out part of its jelly1 which thus serves it as an arm or hand3 when the arm has served its purpose1 it is absorbed into the rest of the jelly1 and has now to do the duty of a stomach by helping to wrap up what it has just purveyed4 ,the small round jelly-speck spreads itself out and envelops its food1 so that the whole creature is now a stomach1 and nothing but a stomach4 ,having digested its food1 it again becomes a jelly-speck1 and is again ready to turn part of itself into hand or foot as its next convenience may dictate4 ,it is not to be believed that such a creature as this1 which is probably just sensitive to light and nothing more1 should be able to form any conception of an eye and set itself to work to grow one1 any more than it is believable that he who first observed the magnifying power of a dew-drop1 or even he who first constructed a rude lens1 should have had any idea in his mind of ,lord ,rosse's telescope with all its parts and appliances4 ,nothing could be well conceived more foreign to experience and common sense4 ,animals and plants have travelled to their present forms as a man has travelled to any one of his own most complicated inventions4 ,slowly1 step by step1 through many blunders and mischances which have worked together for good to those that have persevered in elasticity4 ,they have travelled as man has travelled1 with but little perception of a want till there was also some perception of a power1 and with but little perception of a power till there was a dim sense of want2 want stimulating power1 and power stimulating want2 and both so based upon each other that no one can say which is the true foundation1 but rather that they must be both baseless and1 as it were1 meteoric in mid air4 ,they have seen very little ahead of a present power or need1 and have been then most moral1 when most inclined to pierce a little into futurity1 but also when most obstinately declining to pierce too far1 and busy mainly with the present4 ,they have been so far blindfolded that they could see but for a few steps in front of them1 yet so far free to see that those steps were taken with aim and definitely1 and not in the dark4 ,plus il a su1 says ,buffon1 speaking of man1 plus il a pu1 mais aussi moins il a fait1 moins il a su4 ,this holds good wherever life holds good4 ,wherever there is life there is a moral government of rewards and punishments understood by the amoeba neither better nor worse than by man4 ,the history of organic development is the history of a moral struggle4 ,as for the origin of a creature able to feel want and power and as to what want and power spring from1 we know nothing as yet1 nor does it seem worth while to go into this question until an understanding has been come to as to whether the interaction of want and power in some low form or forms of life which could assimilate matter1 reproduce themselves1 vary their actions1 and be capable of remembering1 will or will not suffice to explain the development of the varied organs and desires which we see in the higher vertebrates and man4 ,when this question has been settled1 then it will be time to push our inquiries farther back4 ,but given such a low form of life as here postulated1 and there is no force in ,paley's pretended objection to the ,darwinism of his time4 ,give our philosopher1 he says1 appetencies2 give him a portion of living irritable matter 7a nerve or the clipping of a nerve7 to work upon2 give also to his incipient or progressive forms the power of propagating their like in every stage of their alteration2 and if he is to be believed1 he could replenish the world with all the vegetable and animal productions which we now see in it4 #adh ,after meeting this theory with answers which need not detain us1 he continues3-- ,the senses of animals appear to me quite incapable of receiving the explanation of their origin which this theory affords4 ,including under the word 'sense' the organ and the perception1 we have no account of either4 ,how will our philosopher get at vision or make an eye8 ,or1 suppose the eye formed1 would the perception follow8 ,the same of the other senses4 ,and this objection holds its force1 ascribe what you will to the hand of time1 to the power of habit1 to changes too slow to be observed by man1 or brought within any comparison which he is able to make of past things with the present4 ,concede what you please to these arbitrary and unattested superstitions1 how will they help you8 ,here is no inception4 ,no laws1 no course1 no powers of nature which prevail at present1 nor any analogous to these would give commencement to a new sense2 and it is in vain to inquire how that might proceed which would never begin4 ,in answer to this1 let us suppose that some inhabitants of another world were to see a modern philosopher so using a microscope that they should believe it to be a part of the philosopher's own person1 which he could cut off from and join again to himself at pleasure1 and suppose there were a controversy as to how this microscope had originated1 and that one party maintained the man had made it little by little because he wanted it1 while the other declared this to be absurd and impossible2 ,i ask1 would this latter party be justified in arguing that microscopes could never have been perfected by degrees through the preservation of and accumulation of small successive improvements inasmuch as men could not have begun to want to use microscopes until they had had a microscope which should show them that such an instrument would be useful to them1 and that hence there is nothing to account for the beginning of microscopes1 which might indeed make some progress when once originated1 but which could never originate8 ,it might be pointed out to such a reasoner1 firstly1 that as regards any acquired power the various stages in the acquisition of which he might be supposed able to remember1 he would find that logic notwithstanding1 the wish did originate the power1 and yet was originated by it1 both coming up gradually out of something which was not recognisable as either power or wish1 and advancing through vain beating of the air1 to a vague effort1 and from this to definite effort with failure1 and from this to definite effort with success1 and from this to success with little consciousness of effort1 and from this to success with such complete absence of effort that he now acts unconsciously and without power of introspection1 and that1 do what he will1 he can rarely or never draw a sharp dividing line whereat anything shall be said to begin1 though none less certain that there has been a continuity in discontinuity1 and a discontinuity in continuity between it and certain other past things2 moreover1 that his opponents postulated so much beginning of the microscope as that there should be a dew-drop1 even as our evolutionists start with a sense of touch1 of which sense all the others are modifications1 so that not one of them1 but is resolvable into touch by more or less easy stages2 and secondly1 that the question is one of fact and of the more evident deductions therefrom1 and should not be carried back to those remote beginnings where the nature of the facts is so purely a matter of conjecture and inference4 ,no plant or animal1 then1 according to our view1 would be able to conceive more than a very slight improvement on its organisation at a given time1 so clearly as to make the efforts towards it that would result in growth of the required modification2 nor would these efforts be made with any far-sighted perception of what next and next and after1 but only of what next2 while many of the happiest thoughts would come like all other happy thoughts--thoughtlessly2 by a chain of reasoning too swift and subtle for conscious analysis by the individual4 ,some of these modifications would be noticeable1 but the majority would involve no more noticeable difference that can be detected between the length of the shortest day1 and that of the shortest but one4 ,thus a bird whose toes were not webbed1 but who had under force of circumstances little by little in the course of many generations learned to swim1 either from having lived near a lake1 and having learnt the art owing to its fishing habits1 or from wading about in shallow pools by the sea-side at low water and finding itself sometimes a little out of its depth and just managing to scramble over the intermediate yard or so between it and safety--such a bird did not probably conceive the idea of swimming on the water and set itself to learn to do so1 and then conceive the idea of webbed feet and set itself to get webbed feet4 ,the bird found itself in some small difficulty1 out of which it either saw1 or at any rate found that it could extricate itself by striking out vigorously with its feet and extending its toes as far as ever it could2 it thus began to learn the art of swimming and conceived the idea of swimming synchronously1 or nearly so2 or perhaps wishing to get over a yard or two of deep water1 and trying to do so without being at the trouble of rising to fly1 it would splash and struggle its way over the water1 and thus practically swim1 though without much perception of what it had been doing4 ,finding that no harm had come to it1 the bird would do the same again and again2 it would thus presently lose fear1 and would be able to act more calmly2 then it would begin to find out that it could swim a little1 and if its food lay much in the water so that it would be of great advantage to it to be able to alight and rest without being forced to return to land1 it would begin to make a practice of swimming4 ,it would now discover that it could swim the more easily according as its feet presented a more extended surface to the water2 it would therefore keep its toes extended wherever it swam1 and as far as in it lay1 would make the most of whatever skin was already at the base of its toes4 ,after many generations it would become web-footed1 if doing as above described should have been found continuously convenient1 so that the bird should have continuously used the skin about its toes as much as possible in this direction4 ,for there is a margin in every organic structure 7and perhaps more than we imagine in things inorganic also71 which will admit of references1 as it were1 side notes1 and glosses upon the original text4 ,it is on this margin that we may err or wander--the greatness of a mistake depending rather upon the extent of the departure from the original text1 than on the direction that the departure takes4 ,a little error on the bad side is more pardonable1 and less likely to hurt the organism than a too great departure upon the right one4 ,this is a fundamental proposition in any true system of ethics1 the question what is too much or too sudden being decided by much the same higgling as settles the price of butter in a country market1 and being as invisible as the link which connects the last moment of desire with the first of power and performance1 and with the material result achieved4 ,it is on this margin that the fulcrum is to be found1 whereby we obtain the little purchase over our structure1 that enables us to achieve great results if we use it steadily1 with judgment1 and with neither too little effort nor too much4 ,it is by employing this that those who have a fancy to move their ears or toes without moving other organs learn to do so4 ,there is a man at the ,agricultural ,hall now #aec;a playing the violin with his toes1 and playing it1 as ,i am told1 sufficiently well4 ,the eye of the sailor1 the wrist of the conjuror1 the toe of the professional medium1 are all found capable of development to an astonishing degree1 even in a single lifetime2 but in every case success has been attained by the simple process of making the best of whatever power a man has had at any given time1 and by being on the look-out to take advantage of accident1 and even of misfortune4 ,if a man would learn to paint1 he must not theorise concerning art1 nor think much what he would do beforehand1 but he must do something--whatever under the circumstances will come handiest and easiest to him2 and he must do that something as well as he can4 ,this will presently open the door for something else1 and a way will show itself which no conceivable amount of searching would have discovered1 but which yet could never have been discovered by sitting still and taking no pains at all4 ,dans l'animal1 says ,buffon1 il y a moins de jugement que de sentiment4 #aec;b ,it may appear as though this were blowing hot and cold with the same breath1 inasmuch as ,i am insisting that important modifications of structure have been always purposive2 and at the same time am denying that the creature modified has had any far-seeing purpose in the greater part of all those actions which have at length modified both structure and instinct4 ,thus ,i say that a bird learns to swim without having any purpose of learning to swim before it set itself to make those movements which have resulted in its being able to do so4 ,at the same time ,i maintain that it has only learned to swim by trying to swim1 and this involves the very purpose which ,i have just denied4 ,the reconciliation of these two apparently irreconcilable contentions must be found in the consideration that the bird was not the less trying to swim1 merely because it did not know the name we have chosen to give to the art which it was trying to master1 nor yet how great were the resources of that art4 ,a person1 who knew all about swimming1 if from some bank he could watch our supposed bird's first attempt to scramble over a short space of deep water1 would at once declare that the bird was trying to swim--if not actually swimming4 ,provided then that there is a very little perception of1 and prescience concerning1 the means whereby the next desired end may be attained1 it matters not how little in advance that end may be of present desire or faculties2 it is still reached through purpose1 and must be called purposive4 ,again1 no matter how many of these small steps be taken1 nor how absolute was the want of purpose or prescience concerning any but the one being actually taken at any given moment1 this does not bar the result from having been arrived at through design and purpose4 ,if each one of the small steps is purposive the result is purposive1 though there was never purpose extended over more than one1 two1 or perhaps at most three steps at a time4 ,returning to the art of painting for an example1 are we to say that the proficiency which such a student as was supposed above will certainly attain1 is not due to design1 merely because it was not until he had already become three parts excellent that he knew the full purport of all that he had been doing8 ,when he began he had but vague notions of what he would do4 ,he had a wish to learn to represent nature1 but the line into which he has settled down has probably proved very different from that which he proposed to himself originally4 ,because he has taken advantage of his accidents1 is it1 therefore1 one whit the less true that his success is the result of his desires and his design8 ,the ,times pointed out some time ago that the theory which now associates meteors and comets in the most unmistakable manner1 was suggested by one accident1 and confirmed by another4 ,but the writer added well that such accidents happen only to the zealous student of nature's secrets4 ,in the same way the bird that is taking to the habit of swimming1 and of making the most of whatever skin it already has between its toes1 will have doubtless to thank accidents for no small part of its progress2 but they will be such accidents as could never have happened to or been taken advantage of by any creature which was not zealously trying to make the most of itself--and between such accidents as this1 and design1 the line is hard to draw2 for if we go deep enough we shall find that most of our design resolves itself into as it were a shaking of the bag to see what will come out that will suit our purpose1 and yet at the same time that most of our shaking of the bag resolves itself into a design that the bag shall contain only such and such things1 or thereabouts4 ,again1 the fact that animals are no longer conscious of design and purpose in much that they do1 but act unreflectingly1 and as we sometimes say concerning ourselves automatically or mechanically--that they have no idea whatever of the steps1 whereby they have travelled to their present state1 and show no sign of doubt about what must have been at one time the subject of all manner of doubts1 difficulties1 and discussions--that whatever sign of reflection they now exhibit is to be found only in case of some novel feature or difficulty presenting itself2 these facts do not bar that the results achieved should be attributed to an inception in reason1 design and purpose1 no matter how rapidly and as we call it instinctively1 the creatures may now act4 ,for if we look closely at such an invention as the steam engine in its latest and most complicated developments1 about which there can be no dispute but that they are achievements of reason1 purpose and design1 we shall find them present us with examples of all those features the presence of which in the handiwork of animals is too often held to bar reason and purpose from having had any share therein4 ,assuredly such men as the ,marquis of ,worcester and ,captain ,savery had very imperfect ideas as to the upshot of their own action4 ,the simplest steam engine now in use in ,england is probably a marvel of ingenuity as compared with the highest development which appeared possible to these two great men1 while our newest and most highly complicated engines would seem to them more like living beings than machines4 ,many1 again1 of the steps leading to the present development have been due to action which had but little heed of the steam engine1 being the inventions of attendants whose desire was to save themselves the trouble of turning this or that cock1 and who were indifferent to any other end than their own immediate convenience4 ,no step in fact along the whole route was ever taken with much perception of what would be the next step after the one being taken at any given moment4 ,nor do we find that an engine made after any old and well-known pattern is now made with much more consciousness of design than we can suppose a bird's nest to be built with4 ,the greater number of the parts of any such engine1 are made by the gross as it were like screw and nuts1 which are turned out by machinery and in respect of which the labour of design is now no more felt than is the design of him who first invented the wheel4 ,it is only when circumstances require any modification in the article to be manufactured that thought and design will come into play again2 but ,i take it few will deny that if circumstances compel a bird either to give up a nest three-parts built altogether1 or to make some trifling deviation from its ordinary practice1 it will in nine cases out of ten make such deviation as shall show that it had thought the matter over1 and had on the whole concluded to take such and such a course1 that is to say1 that it had reasoned and had acted with such purpose as its reason had dictated4 ,and ,i imagine that this is the utmost that any one can claim even for man's own boasted powers4 ,set the man who has been accustomed to make engines of one type1 to make engines of another type without any intermediate course of training or instruction1 and he will make no better figure with his engines than a thrush would do if commanded by her mate to make a nest like a blackbird4 ,it is vain then to contend that the ease and certainty with which an action is performed1 even though it may have now become matter of such fixed habit that it cannot be suddenly and seriously modified without rendering the whole performance abortive1 is any argument against that action having been an achievement of design and reason in respect of each one of the steps that have led to it2 and if in respect of each one of the steps then as regards the entire action2 for we see our own most reasoned actions become no less easy1 unerring1 automatic1 and unconscious1 than the actions which we call instinctive when they have been repeated a sufficient number of times4 99 99 99 99 99 ,if the foregoing be granted1 and it be admitted that the unconsciousness and seeming automatism with which any action may be performed is no bar to its having a foundation in memory1 reason1 and at one time consciously recognised effort--and this ,i believe to be the chief addition which ,i have ventured to make to the theory of ,buffon and ,dr4 ,erasmus ,darwin--then the wideness of the difference between the ,darwinism of eighty years ago and the ,darwinism of to-day becomes immediately apparent1 and it also becomes apparent1 how important and interesting is the issue which is raised between them4 ,according to the older ,darwinism the lungs are just as purposive as the corkscrew4 ,they1 no less than the corkscrew1 are a piece of mechanism designed and gradually improved upon and perfected by an intelligent creature for the gratification of its own needs4 ,true there are many important differences between mechanism which is part of the body1 and mechanism which is no such part1 but the differences are such as do not affect the fact that in each case the result1 whether1 for example1 lungs or corkscrew1 is due to desire1 invention1 and design4 ,and now ,i will ask one more question1 which may seem1 perhaps1 to have but little importance1 but which ,i find personally interesting4 ,i have been told by a reviewer1 of whom upon the whole ,i have little reason to complain1 that the theory ,i put forward in ,life and ,habit1 and which ,i am now again insisting on1 is pessimism--pure and simple4 ,i have a very vague idea what pessimism means1 but ,i should be sorry to believe that ,i am a pessimist4 ,which1 ,i would ask1 is the pessimist8 ,he who sees love of beauty1 design1 steadfastness of purpose1 intelligence1 courage1 and every quality to which success has assigned the name of worth as having drawn the pattern of every leaf and organ now and in all past time1 or he who sees nothing in the world of nature but a chapter of accidents and of forces interacting blindly8 ,,buffon--,,memoir4 7,,chapter ,,viii4 ,,of ,,evolution1 ,,old ,,and ,,new47 ,buffon1 says ,m4 ,flourens1 was born at ,montbar1 on the #gth of ,september #agjg2 he died in ,paris1 at the ,jardin du ,roi1 on the #afth of ,april #aghh1 aged #ha years4 ,more than fifty of these years1 as he used himself to say1 he had passed at his writing-desk4 ,his father was a councillor of the parliament of ,burgundy4 ,his mother was celebrated for her wit1 and ,buffon cherished her memory4 ,he studied at ,dijon with much eclat1 and shortly after leaving became accidentally acquainted with the ,duke of ,kingston1 a young ,englishman of his own age1 who was travelling abroad with a tutor4 ,the three travelled together in ,france and ,italy1 and ,buffon then passed some months in ,england4 ,returning to ,france1 he translated ,hales's ,vegetable ,statics and ,newton's ,treatise on ,fluxions4 ,he refers to several ,english writers on natural history in the course of his work1 but ,i see he repeated spells the ,english name ,willoughby1 ,willulghby4 ,he was appointed superintendent of the ,jardin du ,roi in #agci1 and from thenceforth devoted himself to science4 ,in #ageb ,buffon married ,mdlle de ,saint ,belin1 whose beauty and charm of manner were extolled by all her contemporaries4 ,one son was born to him1 who entered the army1 became a colonel1 and ,i grieve to say1 was guillotined at the age of twenty-nine1 a few days only before the extinction of the ,reign of ,terror4 ,of this youth1 who inherited the personal comeliness and ability of his father1 little is recorded except the following story4 ,having fallen into the water and been nearly drowned when he was about twelve years old1 he was afterwards accused of having been afraid3 ,i was so little afraid1 he answered1 that though ,i had been offered the hundred years which my grandfather lived1 ,i would have died then and there1 if ,i could have added one year to the life of my father2 then thinking for a minute1 a flush suffused his face and he added1 but ,i should petition for one quarter of an hour in which to exult over the thought of what ,i was about to do4 ,on the scaffold he showed much composure1 smiling half proudly1 half reproachfully1 yet wholly kindly upon the crowd in front of him4 ,citoyens1 he said1 ,je me nomine ,buffon1 and laid his head upon the block4 ,the noblest outcome of the old and decaying order1 overwhelmed in the most hateful birth frenzy of the new4 ,so in those cataclysms and revolutions which take place in our own bodies during their development1 when we seem studying in order to become fishes and suddenly make1 as it were1 different arrangements and resolve on becoming men--so1 doubtless1 many good cells must go1 and their united death cry comes up1 it may be1 in the pain which an infant feels on teething4 ,but to return4 ,the man who could be father of such a son1 and who could retain that son's affection1 as it is well known that ,buffon retained it1 may not perhaps always be strictly accurate1 but it will be as well to pay attention to whatever he may think fit to tell us4 ,these are the only people whom it is worth while to look to and study from4 ,glory1 said ,buffon1 after speaking of the hours during which he had laboured1 glory comes always after labour if she can--and she generally can4 ,but in his case she could not well help herself4 ,he was conspicuous1 says ,m4 ,flourens1 for elevation and force of character1 for a love of greatness and true magnificence in all he did4 ,his great wealth1 his handsome person1 and graceful manners seemed in correspondence with the splendour of his genius1 so that of all the gifts which ,fortune has in it her power to bestow she had denied him nothing4 ,many of his epigrammatic sayings have passed into proverbs3 for example1 that genius is but a supreme capacity for taking pains4 ,another and still more celebrated passage shall be given in its entirety and with its original setting4 ,style1 says ,buffon1 is the only passport to posterity4 ,it is not range of information1 nor mastery of some little known branch of science1 nor yet novelty of matter that will ensure immortality4 ,works that can claim all this will yet die if they are conversant about trivial objects only1 or written without taste1 genius1 and true nobility of mind2 for range of information1 knowledge of details1 novelty of discovery are of a volatile essence and fly off readily into other hands that know better how to treat them4 ,the matter is foreign to the man1 and is not of him2 the manner is the man himself4 #afb ,le style1 c'est l'homme memo4 ,elsewhere he tells us what true style is1 but ,i quote from memory and cannot be sure of the passage4 ,le style1 he says est comme le bonheur2 il vient de la douceur de l'ame4 ,is it possible not to think of the following8-- ,but whether there be prophecies they shall fail2 whether there be tongues they shall cease2 whether there be knowledge it shall vanish away 4 4 4 and now abideth faith1 hope and charity1 these three2 but the greatest of these is charity4 #afc ,,buffon',s ,,method--,,the ,,ironical ,,character ,,of ,,his ,,work4 7,,chapter ,,ix4 ,,of ,,evolution1 ,,old ,,and ,,new47 ,buffon's idea of a method amounts almost to the denial of the possibility of method at all4 ,the true method1 he writes1 is the complete description and exact history of each particular object1 #afd;a and later on he asks1 is it not more simple1 more natural and more true to call an ass an ass1 and a cat a cat1 than to say1 without knowing why1 that an ass is a horse1 and a cat a lynx8 #afd;b ,he admits such divisions as between animals and vegetables1 or between vegetables and minerals1 but that done1 he rejects all others that can be founded on the nature of things themselves4 ,he concludes that one who could see living forms as a whole and without preconceived opinions1 would classify animals according to the relations in which he found himself standing towards them3-- ,those which he finds most necessary and useful to him will occupy the first rank2 thus he will give the precedence among the lower animals to the dog and the horse2 he will next concern himself with those which without being domesticated1 nevertheless occupy the same country and climate as himself1 as for example stags1 hares1 and all wild animals2 nor will it be till after he has familiarised himself with all these that curiosity will lead him to inquire what inhabitants there may be in foreign climates1 such as elephants1 dromedaries1 c4 ,the same will hold good for fishes1 birds1 insects1 shells1 and for all nature's other productions2 he will study them in proportion to the profit which he can draw from them2 he will consider them in that order in which they enter into his daily life2 he will arrange them in his head according to this order1 which is in fact that in which he has become acquainted with them1 and in which it concerns him to think about them1 ,this order--the most natural of all--is the one which ,i have thought it well to follow in this volume4 ,my classification has no more mystery in it than the reader has just seen 4 4 4 it is preferable to the most profound and ingenious that can be conceived1 for there is none of all the classifications which ever have been made or ever can be1 which has not more of an arbitrary character than this has4 ,take it for all in all1 he concludes1 it is more easy1 more agreeable1 and more useful1 to consider things in their relation to ourselves than from any other standpoint4 #afe ,has it not a better effect not only in a treatise on natural history1 but in a picture or any work of art to arrange objects in the order and place in which they are commonly found1 than to force them into association in virtue of some theory of our own8 ,is it not better to let the dog which has toes1 come after the horse which has a single hoof1 in the same way as we see him follow the horse in daily life1 than to follow up the horse by the zebra1 an animal which is little known to us1 and which has no other connection with the horse than the fact that it has a single hoof8 #aff;a ,can we suppose that ,buffon really saw no more connection than this8 ,the writer whom we shall presently find #aff;b declining to admit any essential difference between the skeletons of man and of the horse1 can here see no resemblance between the zebra and the horse1 except that they each have a single hoof4 ,is he to be taken at his word8 ,it is perhaps necessary to tell the reader that ,buffon carried the foregoing scheme into practice as nearly as he could in the first fifteen volumes of his ,natural ,history4 ,he begins with man--and then goes on to the horse1 the ass1 the cow1 sheep1 goat1 pig1 dog1 c4 ,one would be glad to know whether he found it always more easy to know in what order of familiarity this or that animal would stand to the majority of his readers than other classifiers have found it to know whether an individual more resembles one species or another2 probably he never gave the matter a thought after he had gone through the first dozen most familiar animals1 but settled generally down into a classification which becomes more and more specific--as when he treats of the apes and monkeys--till he reaches the birds1 when he openly abandons his original idea1 in deference1 as he says1 to the opinion of le peuple des naturalistes4 ,perhaps the key to this piece of apparent extravagance is to be found in the word mysterieuse4 #aff;c ,buffon wished to raise a standing protest against mystery mongering4 ,or perhaps more probably1 he wished at once to turn to animals under domestication1 so as to insist early on the main object of his work--the plasticity of animal forms4 ,i am inclined to think that a vein of irony pervades the whole or much the greater part of ,buffon's work1 and that he intended to convey one meaning to one set of readers1 and another to another2 indeed1 it is often impossible to believe that he is not writing between his lines for the discerning1 what the undiscerning were not intended to see4 ,it must be remembered that his ,natural ,history has two sides1--a scientific and a popular one4 ,may we not imagine that ,buffon would be unwilling to debar himself from speaking to those who could understand him1 and yet would wish like ,handel and ,shakespeare to address the many1 as well as the few8 ,but the only manner in which these seemingly irreconcilable ends could be attained1 would be by the use of language which should be self-adjusting to the capacity of the reader4 ,so keen an observer can hardly have been blind to the signs of the times which were already close at hand4 ,free- thinker though he was1 he was also a powerful member of the aristocracy1 and little likely to demean himself--for so he would doubtless hold it--by playing the part of ,voltaire or ,rousseau4 ,he would help those who could see to see still further1 but he would not dazzle eyes that were yet imperfect with a light brighter than they could stand4 ,he would therefore impose upon people1 as much as he thought was for their good2 but1 on the other hand1 he would not allow inferior men to mystify them4 ,in the private character of ,buffon1 says ,sir ,william ,jardine in a characteristic passage1 we regret there is not much to praise2 his disposition was kind and benevolent1 and he was generally beloved by his inferiors1 followers1 and dependants1 which were numerous over his extensive property2 he was strictly honourable1 and was an affectionate parent4 ,in early youth he had entered into the pleasures and dissipations of life1 and licentious habits seem to have been retained to the end4 ,but the great blemish in such a mind was his declared infidelity2 it presents one of those exceptions among the persons who have been devoted to the study of nature2 and it is not easy to imagine a mind apparently with such powers1 scarcely acknowledging a ,creator1 and when noticed1 only by an arraignment for what appeared wanting or defective in ,his great works4 ,so openly1 indeed1 was the freedom of his religious opinions expressed1 that the indignation of the ,sorbonne was provoked4 ,he had to enter into an explanation which he in some way rendered satisfactory2 and while he afterwards attended to the outward ordinances of religion1 he considered them as a system of faith for the multitude1 and regarded those most impolitic who most opposed them4 #afh ,this is partly correct and partly not4 ,buffon was a free-thinker1 and as ,i have sufficiently explained1 a decided opponent of the doctrine that rudimentary and therefore useless organs were designed by a ,creator in order to serve some useful end throughout all time to the creature in which they are found4 ,he was not1 surely1 to hide the magnificent conceptions which he had been the first to grasp1 from those who were worthy to receive them2 on the other hand he would not tell the uninstructed what they would interpret as a licence to do whatever they pleased1 inasmuch as there was no ,god4 ,what he did was to point so irresistibly in the right direction1 that a reader of any intelligence should be in no doubt as to the road he ought to take1 and then to contradict himself so flatly as to reassure those who would be shocked by a truth for which they were not yet ready4 ,if ,i am right in the view which ,i have taken of ,buffon's work1 it is not easy to see how he could have formed a finer scheme1 nor have carried it out more finely4 ,i should1 however1 warn the reader to be on his guard against accepting my view too hastily4 ,so far as ,i know ,i stand alone in taking it4 ,neither ,dr4 ,darwin1 nor ,flourens1 nor ,isidore ,geoffroy1 nor ,mr4 ,charles ,darwin see any subrisive humour in ,buffon's pages2 but it must be remembered that ,flourens was a strong opponent of mutability1 and probably paid but little heed to what ,buffon said on this question2 ,isidore ,geoffroy is not a safe guide1 few men indeed less so4 ,mr4 ,charles ,darwin seems to have adopted the one half of ,isidore ,geoffrey's conclusions without verifying either2 and ,dr4 ,erasmus ,darwin1 who has no small share of a very pleasant conscious humour1 yet sometimes rises to such heights of unconscious humour1 that ,buffon's puny labour may well have been invisible to him4 ,dr4 ,darwin wrote a great deal of poetry1 some of which was about the common pump4 ,miss ,seward tells us1 that he illustrated this familiar object with a picture of ,maternal ,beauty administering sustenance to her infant4 ,buffon could not have done anything like this4 ,buffon never1 then1 arraigned the ,creator for what was wanting or defective in ,his works2 on the contrary1 whenever he was led up by an irresistible chain of reasoning to conclusions which should make men recast their ideas concerning the ,deity1 he invariably retreats under cover of an appeal to revelation4 ,naturally enough1 the ,sorbonne objected to an artifice which even ,buffon could not conceal completely4 ,they did not like being undermined2 like ,buffon himself1 they preferred imposing upon the people1 to seeing others do so4 ,buffon made his peace with the ,sorbonne immediately1 and1 perhaps1 from that time forward1 contradicted himself a little more impudently than heretofore4 ,it is probably for the reasons above suggested that ,buffon did not propound a connected scheme of evolution or descent with modification1 but scattered his theory in fragments up and down his work in the prefatory remarks with which he introduces the more striking animals or classes of animals4 ,he never wastes evolutionary matter in the preface to an uninteresting animal2 and the more interesting the animal1 the more evolution will there be commonly found4 ,when he comes to describe the animal more familiarly--and he generally begins a fresh chapter or half chapter when he does so--he writes no more about evolution1 but gives an admirable description1 which no one can fail to enjoy1 and which ,i cannot think is nearly so inaccurate as is commonly supposed4 ,these descriptions are the parts which ,buffon intended for the general reader1 expecting1 doubtless1 and desiring that such a reader should skip the dry parts he had been addressing to the more studious4 ,it is true the descriptions are written ad captandum1 as are all great works1 but they succeed in captivating1 having been composed with all the pains a man of genius and of great perseverance could bestow upon them4 ,if ,i am not mistaken1 he looked to these parts of his work to keep the whole alive till the time should come when the philosophical side of his writings should be understood and appreciated4 ,thus the goat breeds with the sheep1 and may therefore serve as the text for a dissertation on hybridism1 which is accordingly given in the preface to this animal4 ,the presence of rudimentary organs under a pig's hoof suggests an attack upon the doctrine of final causes in so far as it is pretended that every part of every animal or plant was specially designed with a view to the wants of the animal or plant itself1 once and forever throughout all time4 ,the dog with his great variety of breeds gives an opportunity for an article on the formation of breeds and sub- breeds by man's artificial selection4 ,the cat is not honoured with any philosophical reflection1 and comes in for nothing but abuse4 ,the hare suggests the rabbit1 and the rabbit is a rapid breeder1 although the hare is an unusually slow one2 but this is near enough1 so the hare shall serve us for the theme of a discourse on the geometrical ratio of increase and the balance of power which may be observed in nature4 ,when we come to the carnivora1 additional reflections follow upon the necessity for death1 and even for violent death2 this leads to the question whether the creatures that are killed suffer pain2 here1 then1 will be the proper place for considering the sensations of animals generally4 ,perhaps the most pregnant passage concerning evolution is to be found in the preface to the ass1 which is so near the beginning of the work as to be only the second animal of which ,buffon treats after having described man himself4 ,it points strongly in the direction of his having believed all animal forms to have been descended from one single common ancestral type4 ,buffon did not probably choose to take his very first opportunity in order to insist upon matter that should point in this direction2 but the considerations were too important to be deferred long1 and are accordingly put forward under cover of the ass1 his second animal4 ,when we consider the force with which ,buffon's conclusion is led up to2 the obviousness of the conclusion itself when the premises are once admitted2 the impossibility that such a conclusion should be again lost sight of if the reasonableness of its being drawn had been once admitted2 the position in his scheme which is assigned to it by its propounder2 the persistency with which he demonstrates during forty years thereafter that the premises1 which he has declared should establish the conclusion in question1 are indisputable2--when we consider1 too1 that we are dealing with a man of unquestionable genius1 and that the times and circumstances of his life were such as would go far to explain reserve and irony--is it1 ,i would ask1 reasonable to suppose that ,buffon did not in his own mind1 and from the first1 draw the inference to which he leads his reader1 merely because from time to time he tells the reader1 with a shrug of the shoulders1 that he draws no inferences opposed to the ,book of ,genesis8 ,is it not more likely that ,buffon intended his reader to draw his inferences for himself1 and perhaps to value them all the more highly on that account8 ,the passage to which ,i am alluding is as follows3-- ,if from the boundless variety which animated nature presents to us1 we choose the body of some animal or even that of man himself to serve as a model with which to compare the bodies of other organised beings1 we shall find that though all these beings have an individuality of their own1 and are distinguished from one another by differences of which the gradations are infinitely subtle1 there exists at the same time a primitive and general design which we can follow for a long way1 and the departures from which 7degenerations7 are far more gentle than those from mere outward resemblance4 ,for not to mention organs of digestion1 circulation1 and generation1 which are common to all animals1 and without which the animal would cease to be an animal1 and could neither continue to exist nor reproduce itself--there is none the less even in those very parts which constitute the main difference in outward appearance1 a striking resemblance which carries with it irresistibly the idea of a single pattern after which all would appear to have been conceived4 ,the horse1 for example--what can at first sight seem more unlike mankind8 ,yet when we compare man and horse point by point and detail by detail1 is not our wonder excited rather by the points of resemblance than of difference that are to be found between them8 ,take the skeleton of a man2 bend forward the bones in the region of the pelvis1 shorten the thigh bones1 and those of the leg and arm1 lengthen those of the feet and hands1 run the joints together1 lengthen the jaws1 and shorten the frontal bone1 finally1 lengthen the spine1 and the skeleton will now be that of a man no longer1 but will have become that of a horse--for it is easy to imagine that in lengthening the spine and the jaws we shall at the same time have increased the number of the vertebrae1 ribs1 and teeth4 ,it is but in the number of these bones1 which may be considered accessory1 and by the lengthening1 shortening1 or mode of attachment of others1 that the skeleton of the horse differs from that of the human body4 4 4 4 ,we find ribs in man1 in all the quadrupeds1 in birds1 in fishes1 and we may find traces of them as far down as the turtle1 in which they seem still to be sketched out by means of furrows that are to be found beneath the shell4 ,let it be remembered that the foot of the horse1 which seems so different from a man's hand1 is1 nevertheless1 as ,m4 ,daubenton has pointed out1 composed of the same bones1 and that we have at the end of each of our fingers a nail corresponding to the hoof of a horse's foot4 ,judge1 then1 whether this hidden resemblance is not more marvellous than any outward differences--whether this constancy to a single plan of structure which we may follow from man to the quadrupeds1 from the quadrupeds to the cetacea1 from the cetacea to birds1 from birds to reptiles1 from reptiles to fishes--in which all such essential parts as heart1 intestines1 spine are invariably found--whether1 ,i say1 this does not seem to indicate that the ,creator when ,he made them would use but a single main idea1 though at the same time varying it in every conceivable way1 so that man might admire equally the magnificence of the execution and the simplicity of the design4 #agd ,if we regard the matter thus1 not only the ass and the horse1 but even man himself1 the apes1 the quadrupeds1 and all animals might be regarded but as forming members of one and the same family4 ,but are we to conclude that within this vast family which the ,creator has called into existence out of nothing1 there are other and smaller families1 projected as it were by ,nature1 and brought forth by her in the natural course of events and after a long time1 of which some contain but two members1 as the ass and the horse1 others many members1 as the weasel1 martin1 stoat1 ferret1 c41 and that on the same principle there are families of vegetables1 containing ten1 twenty1 or thirty plants1 as the case may be8 ,if such families had any real existence they could have been formed only by crossing1 by the accumulation of successive variations 7variation successive71 and by degeneration from an original type2 but if we once admit that there are families of plants and animals1 so that the ass may be of the family of the horse1 and that the one may only differ from the other through degeneration from a common ancestor1 we might be driven to admit that the ape is of the family of man1 that he is but a degenerate man1 and that he and man have had a common ancestor1 even as the ass and horse have had4 ,it would follow then that every family1 whether animal or vegetable1 had sprung from a single stock1 which after a succession of generations had become higher in the case of some of its descendants and lower in that of others4 ,what inference could be more aptly drawn8 ,but it was not one which ,buffon was going to put before the general public4 ,he had said enough for the discerning1 and continues with what is intended to make the conclusions they should draw even plainer to them1 while it conceals them still more carefully from the general reader4 ,the naturalists who are so ready to establish families among animals and vegetables1 do not seem to have sufficiently considered the consequences which should follow from their premises1 for these would limit direct creation to as small a number of forms as any one might think fit 7reduisoient le produit immediat de la creation1 aun nombre d'individus aussi petit que l'on voudroit74 ,for if it were once shown that we had right grounds for establishing these families2 if the point were once gained that among animals and vegetables there had been1 ,i do not say several species1 but even a single one1 which had been produced in the course of direct descent from another species2 if for example it could be once shown that the ass was but a degeneration from the horse--then there is no further limit to be set to the power of nature1 and we should not be wrong in supposing that with sufficient time she could have evolved all other organised forms from one primordial type 7et l'on n'auroit pas tort de supposer1 que d'un seul etre elle a su tirer avec le temps tous les autres etres organises74 ,buffon now felt that he had sailed as near the wind as was desirable4 ,his next sentence is as follows3-- ,but no6 ,it is certain from revelation that all animals have alike been favoured with the grace of an act of direct creation1 and that the first pair of every species issued full formed from the hands of the ,creator4 #agf ,this might be taken as bona fide1 if it had been written by ,bonnet1 but it is impossible to accept it from ,buffon4 ,it is only those who judge him at second hand1 or by isolated passages1 who can hold that he failed to see the consequences of his own premises4 ,no one could have seen more clearly1 nor have said more lucidly1 what should suffice to show a sympathetic reader the conclusion he ought to come to4 ,even when ironical1 his irony is not the ill-natured irony of one who is merely amusing himself at other people's expense1 but the serious and legitimate irony of one who must either limit the circle of those to whom he appeals1 or must know how to make the same language appeal differently to the different capacities of his readers1 and who trusts to the good sense of the discerning to understand the difficulty of his position and make due allowance for it4 ,the compromise which he thought fit to put before the public was that ,each species has a type of which the principal features are engraved in indelible and eternally permanent characters1 while all accessory touches vary4 #agg;a ,it would be satisfactory to know where an accessory touch is supposed to begin and end4 ,and again3-- ,the essential characteristics of every animal have been conserved without alteration in their most important parts4 4 4 4 ,the individuals of each genus still represent the same forms as they did in the earliest ages1 especially in the case of the larger animals 7so that the generic forms even of the larger animals prove not to be the same1 but only especially the same as in the earliest ages74 #agg;b ,this transparently illogical position is maintained ostensibly from first to last1 much in the same spirit as in the two foregoing passages1 written at intervals of thirteen years4 ,but they are to be read by the light of the earlier one--placed as a lantern to the wary upon the threshold of his work in #agec--to the effect that a single1 well-substantiated case of degeneration would make it conceivable that all living beings were descended from but one common ancestor4 ,if after having led up to this by a remorseless logic1 a man is found five-and- twenty years later still substantiating cases of degeneration1 as he has been substantiating them unceasingly in thirty quartos during the whole interval1 there should be little question how seriously we are to take him when he wishes us to stop short of the conclusions he has told us we ought to draw from the premises that he has made it the business of his life to establish--especially when we know that he has a ,sorbonne to keep a sharp eye upon him4 ,i believe that if the reader will bear in mind the twofold1 serious and ironical1 character of ,buffon's work he will understand it1 and feel an admiration for it which will grow continually greater and greater the more he studies it1 otherwise he will miss the whole point4 ,buffon on one of the early pages of his first volume protested against the introduction of either plaisanterie or equivoque 7p4 #be7 into a serious work4 ,but ,i have observed that there is an unconscious irony in most disclaimers of this nature4 ,when a writer begins by saying that he has an ineradicable tendency to make things clear1 we may infer that we are going to be puzzled2 so when he shows that he is haunted by a sense of the impropriety of allowing humour to intrude into his work1 we may hope to be amused as well as interested4 ,as showing how far the objection to humour which he expressed upon his twenty-fifth page succeeded in carrying him safely over his twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh1 ,i will quote the following1 which begins on page twenty- six3-- ,aldrovandus is the most learned and laborious of all naturalists2 after sixty years of work he has left an immense number of volumes behind him1 which have been printed at various times1 the greater number of them after his death4 ,it would be possible to reduce them to a tenth part if we could rid them of all useless and foreign matter1 and of a prolixity which ,i find almost overwhelming2 were this only done1 his books should be regarded as among the best we have on the subject of natural history in its entirety4 ,the plan of his work is good1 his classification distinguished for its good sense1 his dividing lines well marked1 his descriptions sufficiently accurate--monotonous it is true1 but painstaking2 the historical part of his work is less good2 it is often confused and fabulous1 and the author shows too manifestly the credulous tendencies of his mind4 ,while going over his work1 ,i have been struck with that defect1 or rather excess1 which we find in almost all the books of a hundred or a couple of hundred years ago1 and which prevails still among the ,germans--,i mean with that quantity of useless erudition with which they intentionally swell out their works1 and the result of which is that their subject is overlaid with a mass of extraneous matter on which they enlarge with great complacency1 but with no consideration whatever for their readers4 ,they seem1 in fact1 to have forgotten what they have to say in their endeavour to tell us what has been said by other people4 ,i picture to myself a man like ,aldrovandus1 after he has once conceived the design of writing a complete natural history4 ,i see him in his library reading1 one after the other1 ancients1 moderns1 philosophers1 theologians1 jurisconsults1 historians1 travellers1 poets1 and reading with no other end than with that of catching at all words and phrases which can be forced from far or near into some kind of relation with his subject4 ,i see him copying all these passages1 or getting them copied for him1 and arranging them in alphabetical order4 ,he fills many portfolios with all manner of notes1 often taken without either discrimination or research1 and at last sets himself to write with a resolve that not one of all these notes shall remain unused4 ,the result is that when he comes to his account of the cow or of the hen1 he will tell us all that has ever yet been said about cows or hens2 all that the ancients ever thought about them2 all that has ever been imagined concerning their virtues1 characters1 and courage2 every purpose to which they have ever yet been put2 every story of every old woman that he can lay hold of2 all the miracles which certain religions have ascribed to them2 all the superstitions they have given rise to2 all the metaphors and allegories which poets have drawn from them2 the attributes that have been assigned to them2 the representations that have been made of them in hieroglyphics and armorial bearings1 in a word all the histories and all fables in which there was ever yet any mention either of a cow or hen4 ,how much natural history is likely to be found in such a lumber-room8 and how is one to lay one's hand upon the little that there may actually be8 #ahj ,it is hoped that the reader will see ,buffon1 much as ,buffon saw the learned ,aldrovandus4 ,he should see him going into his library1 c41 and quietly chuckling to himself as he wrote such a passage as the one in which we lately found him saying that the larger animals had especially the same generic forms as they had always had4 ,and the reader should probably see ,daubenton chuckling also4 ,,extracts ,,from ,,unconscious ,,memory4 ,,recapitulation ,,and ,,statement ,,of ,,an ,,objection4 7,,chapter ,x4 ,,of ,,unconscious ,,memory47 #aha;a ,the true theory of unconscious action is that of ,professor ,hering1 from whose lecture #aha;b it is no strained conclusion to gather that he holds the action of all living beings1 from the moment of conception to that of fullest development1 to be founded in volition and design1 though these have been so long lost sight of that the work is now carried on1 as it were1 departmentally and in due course according to an official routine which can hardly be departed from4 ,this involves the older ,darwinism and the theory of ,lamarck1 according to which the modification of living forms has been effected mainly through the needs of the living forms themselves1 which vary with varying conditions--the survival of the fittest 7which1 as ,i see ,mr4 ,h4 ,b4 ,baildon has just said1 sometimes comes to mean merely the survival of the survivors #aha;c7 being taken as a matter of course4 ,according to this view of evolution1 there is a remarkable analogy between the development of living organs1 or tools1 and that of those organs or tools external to the body which has been so rapid during the last few thousand years4 ,animals and plants1 according to ,professor ,hering1 are guided throughout their development1 and preserve the due order in each step they take1 through memory of the course they took on past occasions when in the persons of their ancestors4 ,i am afraid ,i have already too often said that if this memory remains for long periods together latent and without effect1 it is because the vibrations of the molecular substance of the body which are its supposed explanation are during these periods too feeble to generate action1 until they are augmented in force through an accession of similar vibrations issuing from exterior objects2 or1 in other words1 until recollection is stimulated by a return of the associated ideas4 ,on this the internal agitation becomes so much enhanced1 that equilibrium is visibly disturbed1 and the action ensues which is proper to the vibrations of the particular substance under the particular conditions4 ,this1 at least1 is what ,i suppose ,professor ,hering to intend4 ,leaving the explanation of memory on one side1 and confining ourselves to the fact of memory only1 a caterpillar on being just hatched is supposed1 according to this theory1 to lose its memory of the time it was in the egg1 and to be stimulated by an intense but unconscious recollection of the action taken by its ancestors when they were first hatched4 ,it is guided in the course it takes by the experience it can thus command4 ,each step it takes recalls a new recollection1 and thus it goes through a development as a performer performs a piece of music1 each bar leading his recollection to the bar that should next follow4 ,in ,life and ,habit will be found examples of the manner in which this view solves a number of difficulties for the explanation of which the leading men of science express themselves at a loss4 ,the following from ,professor ,huxley's recent work upon the crayfish may serve for an example4 ,professor ,huxley writes3-- ,it is a widely received notion that the energies of living matter have a tendency to decline and finally disappear1 and that the death of the body as a whole is a necessary correlate of its life4 ,that all living beings sooner or later perish needs no demonstration1 but it would be difficult to find satisfactory grounds for the belief that they needs must do so4 ,the analogy of a machine1 that sooner or later must be brought to a standstill by the wear and tear of its parts1 does not hold1 inasmuch as the animal mechanism is continually renewed and repaired2 and though it is true that individual components of the body are constantly dying1 yet their places are taken by vigorous successors4 ,a city remains notwithstanding the constant death-rate of its inhabitants2 and such an organism as a crayfish is only a corporate unity1 made up of innumerable partially independent individualities4--,the ,crayfish1 p4 #abg4 ,surely the theory which ,i have indicated above makes the reason plain why no organism can permanently outlive its experience of past lives4 ,the death of such a body corporate as the crayfish is due to the social condition becoming more complex than there is memory of past experience to deal with4 ,hence social disruption1 insubordination1 and decay4 ,the crayfish dies as a state dies1 and all states that we have heard of die sooner or later4 ,there are some savages who have not yet arrived at the conception that death is the necessary end of all living beings1 and who consider even the gentlest death from old age as violent and abnormal2 so ,professor ,huxley seems to find a difficulty in seeing that though a city commonly outlives many generations of its citizens1 yet cities and states are in the end no less mortal than individuals4 ,the city1 he says1 remains4 ,yes1 but not for ever4 ,when ,professor ,huxley can find a city that will last for ever1 he may wonder that a crayfish does not last for ever4 ,i have already here and elsewhere said all that ,i can yet bring forward in support of ,professor ,hering's theory2 it now remains for me to meet the most troublesome objection to it that ,i have been able to think of--an objection which ,i had before me when ,i wrote ,life and ,habit1 but which then as now ,i believe to be unsound4 ,seeing1 however1 that a plausible case can be made out for it1 ,i will state it and refute it here4 ,when ,i say refute it1 ,i do not mean that ,i shall have done with it--for it is plain that it opens up a vaster question in the relations between the so- called organic and inorganic worlds--but that ,i will refute the supposition that it any way militates against ,professor ,hering's theory4 ,why1 it may be asked1 should we go out of our way to invent unconscious memory--the existence of which must at the best remain an inference #ahd--when the observed fact that like antecedents are invariably followed by like consequents should be sufficient for our purpose8 ,why should the fact that a given kind of chrysalis in a given condition will always become a butterfly within a certain time be connected with memory when it is not pretended that memory has anything to do with the invariableness with which oxygen and hydrogen when mixed in certain proportions make water8 ,we assume confidently that if a drop of water were decomposed into its component parts1 and if these were brought together again1 and again decomposed and again brought together any number of times over1 the results would be invariably the same1 whether decomposition or combination1 yet no one will refer the invariableness of the action during each repetition1 to recollection by the gaseous molecules of the course taken when the process was last repeated4 ,on the contrary1 we are assured that molecules in some distant part of the world which had never entered into such and such a known combination themselves1 nor held concert with other molecules that had been so combined1 and which1 therefore1 could have had no experience and no memory1 would none the less act upon one another in that one way in which other like combinations of atoms have acted under like circumstances1 as readily as though they had been combined and separated and recombined again a hundred or a hundred thousand times4 ,it is this assumption1 tacitly made by every man1 beast1 and plant in the universe1 throughout all time and in every action of their lives1 that has made any improvement in action possible--for it is this which lies at the root of the power to profit by experience4 ,i do not exactly know why we make this assumption1 and ,i cannot find out that any one else knows much better than myself1 but ,i do not recommend any one to dispute it4 ,as we admit of no doubt concerning the main result1 so we do not suppose an alternative to lie before any atom of any molecule at any moment during the process of combination4 ,this process is1 in all probability1 an exceedingly complicated one1 involving a multitude of actions and subordinate processes1 which follow one upon the other1 and each one of which has a beginning1 a middle1 and an end1 though they all come to pass in what appears to be an instant of time4 ,yet at no point do we conceive of any atom as swerving ever such a little to right or left of a determined course1 but invest each one of them with so much of the divine attributes as that with it there shall be no variableness neither shadow of turning4 ,we attribute this regularity of action to what we call the necessity of things1 as determined by the nature of the atoms and the circumstances in which they are placed4 ,we say that only one proximate result can ever arise from any given combination4 ,if1 then1 so great uniformity of action as nothing can exceed is manifested by atoms to which no one will impute memory1 why this desire for memory1 as though it were the only way of accounting for regularity of action in living beings8 ,sameness of action may be seen abundantly where there is no room for anything that we can consistently call memory4 ,in these cases we say that it is due to sameness of substance in same circumstances4 ,the most cursory reflection upon our actions will show us that it is no more possible for living action to have more than one set of proximate consequents at any given time than for oxygen and hydrogen when mixed in the proportions proper for the formation of water4 ,why then not recognise this fact1 and ascribe repeated similarity of living action to the reproduction of the necessary antecedents1 with no more sense of connection between the steps in the action1 or memory of similar action taken before1 than we suppose on the part of oxygen and hydrogen molecules between the several occasions on which they may have been disunited and reunited8 ,a boy catches the measles not because he remembers having caught them in the persons of his father and mother1 but because he is a fit soil for a certain kind of seed to grow upon4 ,in like manner he should be said to grow his nose because he is a fit combination for a nose to spring from4 ,dr4 ,x---'s father died of angina pectoris at the age of forty-nine2 so did ,dr4 ,x---4 ,can it be pretended that ,dr4 ,x--- remembered having died of angina pectoris at the age of forty-nine when in the person of his father1 and accordingly1 when he came to be forty-nine years old himself1 died also8 ,for this to hold1 ,dr4 ,x---'s father must have begotten him after he was dead2 for the son could not remember the father's death before it happened4 ,as for the diseases of old age1 so very commonly inherited1 they are developed for the most part not only long after the average age of reproduction1 but at a time when no appreciable amount of memory of any previous existence can remain2 for a man will not have many male ancestors who become parents at over sixty years old1 nor female ancestors who did so at over forty4 ,by our own showing1 therefore1 recollection can have nothing to do with the matter4 ,yet who can doubt that gout is due to inheritance as much as eyes and noses8 ,in what respects do the two things differ so that we should refer the inheritance of eyes and noses to memory1 while denying any connection between memory and gout8 ,we may have a ghost of a pretence for saying that a man grows a nose by rote1 or even that he catches the measles or whooping-cough by rote2 but do we mean to say that he develops the gout by rote in his old age if he comes of a gouty family8 ,if1 then1 rote and red-tape have nothing to do with the one1 why should they with the other8 ,remember also the cases in which aged females develop male characteristics4 ,here are growths1 often of not inconsiderable extent1 which make their appearance during the decay of the body1 and grow with greater and greater vigour in the extreme of old age1 and even for days after death itself4 ,it can hardly be doubted that an especial tendency to develop these characteristics runs as an inheritance in certain families2 here then is perhaps the best case that can be found of a development strictly inherited1 but having clearly nothing whatever to do with memory4 ,why should not all development stand upon the same footing8 ,a friend who had been arguing with me for some time as above1 concluded with the following words3-- ,if you cannot be content with the similar action of similar substances 7living or non-living7 under similar circumstances--if you cannot accept this as an ultimate fact1 but consider it necessary to connect repetition of similar action with memory before you can rest in it and be thankful--be consistent1 and introduce this memory which you find so necessary into the inorganic world also4 ,either say that a chrysalis becomes a butterfly because it is the thing that it is1 and1 being that kind of thing1 must act in such and such a manner and in such a manner only1 so that the act of one generation has no more to do with the act of the next than the fact of cream being churned into butter in a dairy one day has to do with other cream being churnable into butter in the following week--either say this or else develop some mental condition--which ,i have no doubt you will be very well able to do if you feel the want of it--in which you can make out a case for saying that oxygen and hydrogen on being brought together1 and cream on being churned1 are in some way acquainted with1 and mindful of1 action taken by other cream1 and other oxygen and hydrogen on past occasions4 ,i felt inclined to reply that my friend need not twit me with being able to develop a mental organism if ,i felt the need of it1 for his own ingenious attack on my position1 and indeed every action of his life1 was but an example of this omnipresent principle4 ,when he was gone1 however1 ,i thought over what he had been saying4 ,i endeavoured to see how far ,i could get on without volition and memory1 and reasoned as follows3--,a repetition of like antecedents will be certainly followed by a repetition of like consequents1 whether the agents be men and women or chemical substances4 ,if there be two cowards perfectly similar in every respect1 and if they be subjected in a perfectly similar way to two terrifying agents1 which are themselves perfectly similar1 there are few who will not expect a perfect similarity in the running away1 even though ten thousand years intervene between the original combination and its repetition4 #ahi ,here certainly there is no coming into play of memory1 more than in the pan of cream on two successive churning days1 yet the action is similar4 ,a clerk in an office has an hour in the middle of the day for dinner4 ,about half-past twelve he begins to feel hungry2 at one he takes down his hat and leaves the office4 ,he does not yet know the neighbourhood1 and on getting down into the street asks a policeman at the corner which is the best eating-house within easy distance4 ,the policeman tells him of three houses1 one of which is a little farther off than the other two1 but is cheaper4 ,money being a greater object to him than time1 the clerk decides on going to the cheaper house4 ,he goes1 is satisfied1 and returns4 ,next day he wants his dinner at the same hour1 and--it will be said--remembering his satisfaction of yesterday1 will go to the same place as before4 ,but what has his memory to do with it8 ,suppose him to have forgotten all the circumstances of the preceding day from the moment of his beginning to feel hungry onward1 though in other respects sound in mind and body1 and unchanged generally4 ,at half-past twelve he would begin to be hungry2 but his beginning to be hungry cannot be connected with his remembering having begun to be hungry yesterday4 ,he would begin to be hungry just as much whether he remembered or no4 ,at one o'clock he again takes down his hat and leaves the office1 not because he remembers having done so yesterday1 but because he wants his hat to go out with4 ,being again in the street1 and again ignorant of the neighbourhood 7for he remembers nothing of yesterday71 he sees the same policeman at the corner of the street1 and asks him the same question as before2 the policeman gives him the same answer1 and money being still an object to him1 the cheapest eating-house is again selected2 he goes there1 finds the same menu1 makes the same choice for the same reasons1 eats1 is satisfied1 and returns4 ,what similarity of action can be greater than this1 and at the same time more incontrovertible8 ,but it has nothing to do with memory2 on the contrary1 it is just because the clerk has no memory that his action of the second day so exactly resembles that of the first4 ,as long as he has no power of recollecting1 he will day after day repeat the same actions in exactly the same way1 until some external circumstances1 such as his being sent away1 modify the situation4 ,till this or some other modification occurs1 he will day after day go down into the street without knowing where to go2 day after day he will see the same policeman at the corner of the same street1 and 7for we may as well suppose that the policeman has no memory too7 he will ask and be answered1 and ask and be answered1 till he and the policeman die of old age4 ,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 a like manner4 ,allow the clerk ever such a little memory1 and the similarity of action will disappear2 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 dinner4 ,he had no such memory on the first day1 and he has upon the second4 ,some modification of action must ensue upon this modification of the actor1 and this is immediately observable4 ,he wants his dinner1 indeed1 goes down into the street1 and sees the policeman as yesterday1 but he does not ask the policeman2 he remembers what the policeman told him and what he did1 and therefore goes straight to the eating-house without wasting time3 nor does he dine off the same dish two days running1 for he remembers what he had yesterday and likes variety4 ,if1 then1 similarity of action is rather hindered than promoted by memory1 why introduce it into such cases as the repetition of the embryonic processes by successive generations8 ,the embryos of a well-fixed breed1 such as the goose1 are almost as much alike as water is to water1 and by consequence one goose comes to be almost as like another as water to water4 ,why should it not be supposed to become so upon the same grounds--namely1 that it is made of the same stuffs1 and put together in like proportions in the same manner8 ,,on ,,cycles4 7,,chapter ,,xi4 ,,of ,,unconscious ,,memory47 ,the one faith on which all normal living beings consciously or unconsciously act1 is that like antecedents will be followed by like consequents4 ,this is the one true and catholic faith1 undemonstrable1 but except a living being believe which1 without doubt it shall perish everlastingly4 ,in the assurance of this all action is taken4 ,but if this fundamental article is admitted1 it follows that if ever a complete cycle were formed1 so that the whole universe of one instant were to repeat itself absolutely in a subsequent one1 no matter after what interval of time1 then the course of the events between these two moments would go on repeating itself for ever and ever afterwards in due order1 down to the minutest detail1 in an endless series of cycles like a circulating decimal4 ,for the universe comprises everything2 there could therefore be no disturbance from without4 ,once a cycle1 always a cycle4 ,let us suppose the earth of given weight1 moving with given momentum in a given path1 and under given conditions in every respect1 to find itself at any one time conditioned in all these respects as it was conditioned at some past moment2 then it must move exactly in the same path as the one it took when at the beginning of the cycle it has just completed1 and must therefore in the course of time fulfil a second cycle1 and therefore a third1 and so on for ever and ever1 with no more chance of escape than a circulating decimal has1 if the circumstances have been reproduced with perfect accuracy as to draw it into such a whirlpool4 ,we see something very like this actually happen in the yearly revolutions of the planets round the sun4 ,but the relations between1 we will say1 the earth and the sun are not reproduced absolutely4 ,these relations deal only with a small part of the universe1 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 argument4 ,they are liable1 moreover1 to disturbance from events which may or may not actually occur 7as1 for example1 our being struck by a comet1 or the sun's coming within a certain distance of another sun71 but of which1 if they do occur1 no one can foresee the effects4 ,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 another1 nor is there reason for expecting such change within any reasonable time4 ,if there is to be an eternal series of cycles involving the whole universe1 it is plain that not one single atom must be excluded4 ,exclude a single molecule of hydrogen from the ring1 or vary the relative positions of two molecules only1 and the charm is broken2 an element of disturbance has been introduced1 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 destroyed1 but which must inevitably prevent absolute identity of repetition4 ,the movement of the series becomes no longer a cycle1 but spiral1 and convergent or divergent at a greater or less rate according to circumstances4 ,we cannot conceive of all the atoms in the universe standing twice over in absolutely the same relation each one of them to every other4 ,there are too many of them1 and they are too much mixed2 but1 as has been just said1 in the planets and their satellites we do see large groups of atoms whose movements recur with some approach to precision4 ,the same holds good also with certain comets and with the sun himself4 ,the result is that our days and nights and seasons follow one another with nearly perfect regularity from year to year1 and have done so for as long time as we know anything for certain4 ,a vast preponderance of all the action that takes place around us is cyclical action4 ,within the great cycle of the planetary revolution of our own earth1 and as a consequence thereof1 we have the minor cycle of the seasons2 these generate atmospheric cycles4 ,water is evaporated from the ocean and conveyed to mountain-ranges1 where it is cooled1 and whence it returns again to the sea4 ,this cycle of events is being repeated again and again with little appreciable variation4 ,the tides1 and winds in certain latitudes1 go round and round the world with what amounts to continuous regularity4 ,there are storms of wind and rain called cyclones4 ,in the case of these1 the cycle is not very complete1 the movement1 therefore1 is spiral1 and the tendency to recur is comparatively soon lost4 ,it is a common saying that history repeats itself1 so that anarchy will lead to despotism and despotism to anarchy2 every nation can point to instances of men's minds having gone round and round so nearly in a perfect cycle that many revolutions have occurred before the cessation of a tendency to recur4 ,lastly1 in the generation of plants and animals we have1 perhaps1 the most striking and common example of the inevitable tendency of all action to repeat itself when it has once proximately done so4 ,let only one living being have once succeeded in producing a being like itself1 and thus have returned1 so to speak1 upon itself1 and a series of generations must follow of necessity1 unless some matter interfere which had no part in the original combination1 and1 as it may happen1 kill the first reproductive creature or all its descendants within a few generations4 ,if no such mishap occurs as this1 and if the recurrence of the conditions is sufficiently perfect1 a series of generations follows with as much certainty as a series of seasons follows upon the cycle of the relations between the earth and sun4 ,let the first periodically recurring substance--we will say ,a--be able to recur or reproduce itself1 not once only1 but many times over1 as ,a#a1 ,a#b1 c42 let ,a also have consciousness and a sense of self-interest1 which qualities must1 ex hypothesi1 be reproduced in each one of its offspring2 let these get placed in circumstances which differ sufficiently to destroy the cycle in theory without doing so practically--that is to say1 to reduce the rotation to a spiral1 but to a spiral with so little deviation from perfect cycularity as for each revolution to appear practically a cycle1 though after many revolutions the deviation becomes perceptible2 then some such differentiations of animal and vegetable life as we actually see follow as matters of course4 ,a#a and ,a#b have a sense of self-interest as ,a had1 but they are not precisely in circumstances similar to ,a's1 nor1 it may be1 to each other's2 they will therefore act somewhat differently1 and every living being is modified by a change of action4 ,having become modified1 they follow the spirit of ,a's action more essentially in begetting a creature like themselves than in begetting one like ,a2 for the essence of ,a's act was not the reproduction of ,a1 but the reproduction of a creature like the one from which it sprung--that is to say1 a creature bearing traces in its body of the main influences that have worked upon its parent4 ,within the cycle of reproduction there are cycles upon cycles in the life of each individual1 whether animal or plant4 ,observe the action of our lungs and heart1 how regular it is1 and how a cycle having been once established1 it is repeated many millions of times in an individual of average health and longevity4 ,remember also that it is this periodicity--this inevitable tendency of all atoms in combination to repeat any combination which they have once repeated1 unless forcibly prevented from doing so--which alone renders nine-tenths of our mechanical inventions of practical use to us4 ,there is not internal periodicity about a hammer or a saw1 but there is in the steam-engine or watermill when once set in motion4 ,the actions of these machines recur in a regular series1 at regular intervals1 with the unerringness of circulating decimals4 ,when we bear in mind1 then1 the omnipresence of this tendency in the world around us1 the absolute freedom from exception which attends its action1 the manner in which it holds equally good upon the vastest and the smallest scale1 and the completeness of its accord with our ideas of what must inevitably happen when a like combination is placed in circumstances like those in which it was placed before--when we bear in mind all this1 is it possible not to connect the facts together1 and to refer cycles of living generations to the same unalterableness in the action of like matter under like circumstances which makes ,jupiter and ,saturn revolve round the sun1 or the piston of a steam-engine move up and down as long as the steam acts upon it8 ,but who will attribute memory to the hands of a clock1 to a piston-rod1 to air or water in a storm or in course of evaporation1 to the earth and planets in their circuits round the sun1 or to the atoms of the universe1 if they too be moving in a cycle vaster than we can take account of8 #aih;a ,and if not1 why introduce it into the embryonic development of living beings1 when there is not a particle of evidence in support of its actual presence1 when regularity of action can be ensured just as well without it as with it1 and when at the best it is considered as existing under circumstances which it baffles us to conceive1 inasmuch as it is supposed to be exercised without any conscious recollection8 ,surely a memory which is exercised without any consciousness of recollecting is only a periphrasis for the absence of any memory at all4 #aih;b ,,reputation--,,memory ,,at ,,once ,a ,,promoter ,,and ,a ,,disturber ,,of ,,uniformity ,,of ,,action ,,and ,,structure4 7,,chapter ,,xii4 ,,of ,,unconscious ,,memory47 ,to meet the objections in the two foregoing chapters1 ,i need do little more than show that the fact of certain often inherited diseases and developments1 whether of youth or old age1 being obviously not due to a memory on the part of offspring of like diseases and developments in the parents1 does not militate against supposing that embryonic and youthful development generally is due to memory4 ,this is the main part of the objection2 the rest resolves itself into an assertion that there is no evidence in support of instinct and embryonic development being due to memory1 and a contention that the necessity of each particular moment in each particular case is sufficient to account for the facts without the introduction of memory4 ,i will deal with these two last points briefly first4 ,as regards the evidence in support of the theory that instinct and growth are due to a rapid unconscious memory of past experiences and developments in the persons of the ancestors of the living form in which they appear1 ,i must refer my readers to ,life and ,habit1 and to the translation of ,professor ,hering's lecture given in ,chapter ,,vi4 of ,unconscious ,memory4 ,i will only repeat here that a chrysalis1 we will say1 is as much one and the same person with the chrysalis of its preceding generation1 as this last is one and the same person with the egg or caterpillar from which it sprang4 ,you cannot deny personal identity between two successive generations without sooner or later denying it during the successive stages in the single life of what we call one individual2 nor can you admit personal identity through the stages of a long and varied life 7embryonic and post- natal7 without admitting it to endure through an endless series of generations4 ,the personal identity of successive generations being admitted1 the possibility of the second of two generations remembering what happened to it in the first is obvious4 ,the a priori objection1 therefore1 is removed1 and the question becomes one of fact--does the offspring act as if it remembered8 ,the answer to this question is not only that it does so act1 but that it is not possible to account for either its development or its early instinctive actions upon any other hypothesis than that of its remembering1 and remembering exceedingly well4 ,the only alternative is to declare with ,von ,hartmann that a living being may display a vast and varied information concerning all manner of details1 and be able to perform most intricate operations1 independently of experience and practice4 ,once admit knowledge independent of experience1 and farewell to sober sense and reason from that moment4 ,firstly1 then1 we show that offspring has had every facility for remembering2 secondly1 that it shows every appearance of having remembered2 thirdly1 that no other hypothesis except memory can be brought forward1 so as to account for the phenomena of instinct and heredity generally1 which is not easily reducible to an absurdity4 ,beyond this we do not care to go1 and must allow those to differ from us who require further evidence4 ,as regards the argument that the necessity of each moment will account for likeness of result1 without there being any need for introducing memory1 ,i admit that likeness of consequents is due to likeness of antecedents1 and ,i grant this will hold as good with embryos as with oxygen and hydrogen gas2 what will cover the one will cover the other1 for the writs of the laws common to all matter run within the womb as freely as elsewhere2 but admitting that there are combinations into which living beings enter with a faculty called memory which has its effects upon their conduct1 and admitting that such combinations are from time to time repeated 7as we observe in the case of a practised performer playing a piece of music which he has committed to memory71 then ,i maintain that though1 indeed1 the likeness of one performance to its immediate predecessor is due to likeness of the combinations immediately preceding the two performances1 yet memory plays so important a part in both these combinations as to make it a distinguishing feature in them1 and therefore proper to be insisted upon4 ,we do not1 for example1 say that ,herr ,joachim played such and such a sonata without the music1 because he was such and such an arrangement of matter in such and such circumstances1 resembling those under which he played without music on some past occasion4 ,this goes without saying2 we say only that he played the music by heart or by memory1 as he had often played it before4 ,to the objector that a caterpillar becomes a chrysalis not because it remembers and takes the action taken by its fathers and mothers in due course before it1 but because when matter is in such a physical and mental state as to be called caterpillar1 it must perforce assume presently such another physical and mental state as to be called chrysalis1 and that therefore there is no memory in the case--to this objector ,i rejoin that the offspring caterpillar would not have become so like the parent as to make the next or chrysalis stage a matter of necessity1 unless both parent and offspring had been influenced by something that we usually call memory4 ,for it is this very possession of a common memory which has guided the offspring into the path taken by1 and hence to a virtually same condition with1 the parent1 and which guided the parent in its turn to a state virtually identical with a corresponding state in the existence of its own parent4 ,to memory1 therefore1 the most prominent place in the transaction is assigned rightly4 ,to deny that will guided by memory has anything to do with the development of embryos seems like denying that a desire to obstruct has anything to do with the recent conduct of certain members in the ,house of ,commons4 ,what should we think of one who said that the action of these gentlemen had nothing to do with a desire to embarrass the ,government1 but was simply the necessary outcome of the chemical and mechanical forces at work1 which being such and such1 the action which we see is inevitable1 and has therefore nothing to do with wilful obstruction8 ,we should answer that there was doubtless a great deal of chemical and mechanical action in the matter2 perhaps1 for aught we knew or cared1 it was all chemical and mechanical2 but if so1 then a desire to obstruct parliamentary business is involved in certain kinds of chemical and mechanical action1 and that the kinds involving this had preceded the recent proceedings of the members in question4 ,if asked to prove this1 we can get no further than that such action as has been taken has never been seen except as following after and in consequence of a desire to obstruct2 that this is our nomenclature1 and that we can no more be expected to change it than to change our mother tongue at the bidding of a foreigner4 ,a little reflection will convince the reader that he will be unable to deny will and memory to the embryo without at the same time denying their existence everywhere1 and maintaining that they have no place in the acquisition of a habit1 nor indeed in any human action4 ,he will feel that the actions1 and the relation of one action to another which he observes in embryos is such as is never seen except in association with and as a consequence of will and memory4 ,he will therefore say that it is due to will and memory4 ,to say that these are the necessary outcome of certain antecedents is not to destroy them3 granted that they are--a man does not cease to be a man when we reflect that he has had a father and mother1 neither do will and memory cease to be will and memory on the ground that they cannot come causeless4 ,they are manifest minute by minute to the perception of all people who can keep out of lunatic asylums1 and this tribunal1 though not infallible1 is nevertheless our ultimate court of appeal--the final arbitrator in all disputed cases4 ,we must remember that there is no action1 however original or peculiar1 which is not in respect of far the greater number of its details founded upon memory4 ,if a desperate man blows his brains out--an action which he can do once in a lifetime only1 and which none of his ancestors can have done before leaving offspring--still nine hundred and ninety-nine thousandths of the movements necessary to achieve his end consist of habitual movements--movements1 that is to say1 which were once difficult1 but which have been practised and practised by the help of memory until they are now performed automatically4 ,we can no more have an action than a creative effort of the imagination cut off from memory4 ,ideas and actions seem almost to resemble matter and force in respect of the impossibility of originating or destroying them2 nearly all that are1 are memories of other ideas and actions1 transmitted but not created1 disappearing but not perishing4 ,it appears1 then1 that when in ,chapter ,x4 we supposed the clerk who wanted his dinner to forget on a second day the action he had taken the day before1 we still1 without perhaps perceiving it1 supposed him to be guided by memory in all the details of his action1 such as his taking down his hat and going out into the street4 ,we could not1 indeed1 deprive him of all memory without absolutely paralysing his action4 ,nevertheless new ideas1 new faiths1 and new actions do in the course of time come about1 the living expressions of which we may see in the new forms of life which from time to time have arisen and are still arising1 and in the increase of our own knowledge and mechanical inventions4 ,but it is only a very little new that is added at a time1 and that little is generally due to the desire to attain an end which cannot be attained by any of the means for which there exists a perceived precedent in the memory4 ,when this is the case1 either the memory is further ransacked for any forgotten shreds of details a combination of which may serve the desired purpose2 or action is taken in the dark1 which sometimes succeeds and becomes a fertile source of further combinations2 or we are brought to a dead stop4 ,all action is random in respect of any of the minute actions which compose it that are not done in consequence of memory1 real or supposed4 ,so that random1 or action taken in the dark1 or illusion1 lies at the very root of progress4 ,i will now consider the objection that the phenomena of instinct and embryonic development ought not to be ascribed to memory1 inasmuch as certain other phenomena of heredity1 such as gout1 cannot be ascribed to it4 ,those who object in this way forget that our actions fall into two main classes3 those which we have often repeated before by means of a regular series of subordinate actions beginning and ending at a certain tolerably well-defined point--as when ,herr ,joachim plays a sonata in public1 or when we dress or undress ourselves2 and actions the details of which are indeed guided by memory1 but which in their general scope and purpose are new--as when we are being married1 or presented at court4 ,at each point in any action of the first of the two kinds above referred to there is a memory 7conscious or unconscious according to the less or greater number of times the action has been repeated71 not only of the steps in the present and previous performances which have led up to the particular point that may be selected1 but also of the particular point itself2 there is therefore1 at each point in a habitual performance1 a memory at once of like antecedents and of a like present4 ,if the memory1 whether of the antecedent or the present1 were absolutely perfect2 that is to say1 if the vibrations in the nervous system 7or1 if the reader likes it better1 if the molecular change in the particular nerves affected--for molecular change is only a change in the character of the vibrations going on within the molecules--it is nothing else than this7--it the vibrations in the particular nerves affected by any occurrence continued on each fresh repetition of the occurrence in their full original strength and without having been interfered with by any other vibrations2 and if1 again1 the new waves running into the faint old ones from exterior objects and restoring the lapsed molecular state of the nerves to a pristine condition were absolutely identical in character on each repetition of the occurrence with the waves that ran in upon the last occasion1 then there would be no change in the action1 and no modification or improvement could take place4 ,for though indeed the latest performance would always have one memory more than the latest but one to guide it1 yet the memories being identical1 it would not matter how many or how few they were4 ,on any repetition1 however1 the circumstances1 external or internal1 or both1 never are absolutely identical3 there is some slight variation in each individual case1 and some part of this variation is remembered1 with approbation or disapprobation as the case may be4 ,the fact1 therefore1 that on each repetition of the action there is one memory more than on the last but one1 and that this memory is slightly different from its predecessor1 is seen to be an inherent and1 ex hypothesi1 necessarily disturbing factor in all habitual action--and the life of an organism should1 as has been sufficiently insisted on1 be regarded as the habitual action of a single individual1 namely1 of the organism itself1 and of its ancestors4 ,this is the key to accumulation of improvement1 whether in the arts which we assiduously practise during our single life1 or in the structures and instincts of successive generations4 ,the memory does not complete a true circle1 but is1 as it were1 a spiral slightly divergent therefrom4 ,it is no longer a perfectly circulating decimal4 ,where1 on the other hand1 there is no memory of a like present1 where1 in fact1 the memory is not1 so to speak1 spiral1 there is no accumulation of improvement4 ,the effect of any variation is not transmitted1 and is not thus pregnant of still further change4 ,as regards the second of the two classes of actions above referred to--those1 namely which are not recurrent or habitual1 and at no point of which is there a memory of a past present like the one which is present now--there will have been no accumulation of strong and well- knit memory as regards the action as a whole1 but action1 if taken at all1 will be taken upon disjointed fragments of individual actions 7our own and those of other people7 pieced together with a result more or less satisfactory according to circumstances4 ,but it does not follow that the action of two people who have had tolerably similar antecedents and are placed in tolerably similar circumstances should be more unlike each other in this second case than in the first4 ,on the contrary1 nothing is more common than to observe the same kind of people making the same kind of mistake when placed for the first time in the same kind of new circumstances4 ,i did not say that there would be no sameness of action without memory of a like present4 ,there may be sameness of action proceeding from a memory1 conscious or unconscious1 of like antecedents1 and a presence only of like presents without recollection of the same4 ,the sameness of action of like persons placed under like circumstances for the first time1 resembles the sameness of action of inorganic matter under the same combinations4 ,let us for a moment suppose what we call non-living substances to be capable of remembering their antecedents1 and that the changes they undergo are the expressions of their recollections4 ,then ,i admit1 of course1 that there is not memory in any cream1 we will say1 that is about to be churned of the cream of the preceding week1 but the common absence of such memory from each week's cream is an element of sameness between the two4 ,and though no cream can remember having been churned before1 yet all cream in all time has had nearly identical antecedents1 and has therefore nearly the same memories and nearly the same proclivities4 ,thus1 in fact1 the cream of one week is as truly the same as the cream of another2 week from the same cow1 pasture1 c41 as anything is ever the same with anything2 for the having been subjected to like antecedents engenders the closest similarity that we can conceive of1 if the substances were like to start with4 ,same is as same does4 ,the manifest absence of any connecting memory 7or memory of like presents7 from certain of the phenomena of heredity1 such as1 for example1 the diseases of old age1 is now seen to be no valid reason for saying that such other and far more numerous and important phenomena as those of embryonic development are not phenomena of memory4 ,growth and the diseases of old age do indeed1 at first sight1 appear to stand on the same footing4 ,the question1 however1 whether certain results are due to memory or no must be settled not by showing that two combinations1 neither of which can remember the other 7as between each other71 may yet generate like results1 and therefore1 considering the memory theory disposed of for all other cases1 but by the evidence we may be able to adduce in any particular case that the second agent has actually remembered the conduct of the first4 ,such evidence must show firstly that the second agent cannot be supposed able to do what it is plain he can do1 except under the guidance of memory or experience1 and secondly1 that the second agent has had every opportunity of remembering4 ,when the first of these tests fails1 similarity of action on the part of two agents need not be connected with memory of a like present as well as of like antecedents2 when both fail1 similarity of action should be referred to memory of like antecedents only4 ,returning to a parenthesis a few pages back1 in which ,i said that consciousness of memory would be less or greater according to the greater or fewer number of times that the act had been repeated1 it may be observed as a corollary to this1 that the less consciousness of memory the greater the uniformity of action1 and vice versa4 ,for the less consciousness involves the memory's being more perfect1 through a larger number 7generally7 of repetitions of the act that is remembered2 there is therefore a less proportionate difference in respect of the number of recollections of this particular act between the most recent actor and the most recent but one4 ,this is why very old civilisations1 as those of many insects1 and the greater number of now living organisms1 appear to the eye not to change at all4 ,for example1 if an action has been performed only ten times1 we will say by ,a1 ,b1 ,c1 c1 who are similar in all respects1 except that ,a acts without recollection1 ,b with recollection of ,a's action1 ,c with recollection of both ,b's and ,a's1 while ,j remembers the course taken by ,a1 ,b1 ,c1 ,d1 ,e1 ,f1 ,g1 ,h1 and ,i--the possession of a memory by ,b will indeed so change his action1 as compared with ,a's1 that it may well be hardly recognisable4 ,we saw this in our example of the clerk who asked the policeman the way to the eating-house on one day1 but did not ask him the next1 because he remembered2 but ,c's action will not be so different from ,b's as ,b's from ,a's1 for though ,c will act with a memory of two occasions on which the action has been performed1 while ,b recollects only the original performance by ,a1 yet ,b and ,c both act with the guidance of a memory and experience of some kind1 while ,a acted without any4 ,thus the clerk referred to in ,chapter ,x4 will act on the third day much as he acted on the second--that is to say1 he will see the policeman at the corner of the street1 but will not question him4 ,when the action is repeated by ,j for the tenth time1 the difference between ,j's repetition of it and ,i's will be due solely to the difference between a recollection of nine past performances by ,j against only eight by ,i1 and this is so much proportionately less than the difference between a recollection of two performances and of only one1 that a less modification of action should be expected4 ,at the same time consciousness concerning an action repeated for the tenth time should be less acute than on the first repetition4 ,memory1 therefore1 though tending to disturb similarity of action less and less continually1 must always cause some disturbance4 ,at the same time the possession of a memory on the successive repetitions of an action after the first1 and1 perhaps1 the first two or three1 during which the recollection may be supposed still imperfect1 will tend to ensure uniformity1 for it will be one of the elements of sameness in the agents--they both acting by the light of experience and memory4 ,during the embryonic stages and in childhood we are almost entirely under the guidance of a practised and powerful memory of circumstances which have been often repeated1 not only in detail and piecemeal1 but as a whole1 and under many slightly varying conditions2 thus the performance has become well averaged and matured in its arrangements1 so as to meet all ordinary emergencies4 ,we therefore act with great unconsciousness and vary our performances little4 ,babies are much more alike than persons of middle age4 ,up to the average age at which our ancestors have had children during many generations1 we are still guided in great measure by memory2 but the variations in external circumstances begin to make themselves perceptible in our characters4 ,in middle life we live more and more continually upon the piecing together of details of memory drawn from our personal experience1 that is to say1 upon the memory of our own antecedents2 and this resembles the kind of memory we hypothetically attached to cream a little time ago4 ,it is not surprising1 then1 that a son who has inherited his father's tastes and constitution1 and who lives much as his father had done1 should make the same mistakes as his father did when he reaches his father's age--we will say of seventy--though he cannot possibly remember his father's having made the mistakes4 ,it were to be wished we could1 for then we might know better how to avoid gout1 cancer1 or what not4 ,and it is to be noticed that the developments of old age are generally things we should be glad enough to avoid if we knew how to do so4 ,,conclusion4 7,,chapter ,,xiii4 ,,of ,,unconscious ,,memory47 ,if we observed the resemblance between successive generations to be as close as that between distilled water and distilled water through all time1 and if we observed that perfect unchangeableness in the action of living beings which we see in what we call chemical and mechanical combinations1 we might indeed suspect that memory had as little place among the causes of their action as it can have in anything1 and that each repetition1 whether of a habit or the practice of art1 or of an embryonic process in successive generations1 was as original as the ,origin of ,species itself1 for all that memory had to do with it4 ,i submit1 however1 that in the case of the reproductive forms of life we see just so much variety1 in spite of uniformity1 as is consistent with a repetition involving not only a nearly perfect similarity in the agents and their circumstances1 but also the little departure therefrom that is inevitably involved in the supposition that a memory of like presents as well as of like antecedents 7as distinguished from a memory of like antecedents only7 has played a part in their development--a cyclical memory1 if the expression may be pardoned4 ,there is life infinitely lower and more minute than any which our most powerful microscopes reveal to us1 but let us leave this upon one side and begin with the amoeba4 ,let us suppose that this structureless morsel of protoplasm is1 for all its structurelessness1 composed of an infinite number of living molecules1 each one of them with hopes and fears of its own1 and all dwelling together like ,tekke ,turcomans1 of whom we read that they live for plunder only1 and that each man of them is entirely independent1 acknowledging no constituted authority1 but that some among them exercise a tacit and undefined influence over the others4 ,let us suppose these molecules capable of memory1 both in their capacity as individuals and as societies1 and able to transmit their memories to their descendants from the traditions of the dimmest past to the experiences of their own lifetime4 ,some of these societies will remain simple1 as having had no history1 but to the greater number unfamiliar1 and therefore striking1 incidents will from time to time occur1 which1 when they do not disturb memory so greatly as to kill1 will leave their impression upon it4 ,the body or society will remember these incidents and be modified by them in its conduct1 and therefore more or less in its internal arrangements1 which will tend inevitably to specialisation4 ,this memory of the most striking events of varied lifetimes ,i maintain1 with ,professor ,hering1 to be the differentiating cause1 which1 accumulated in countless generations1 has led up from the amoeba to man4 ,if there had been no such memory1 the amoeba of one generation would have exactly resembled the amoeba of the preceding1 and a perfect cycle would have been established2 the modifying effects of an additional memory in each generation have made the cycle into a spiral1 and into a spiral whose eccentricities1 in the outset hardly perceptible1 is becoming greater and greater with increasing longevity and more complex social and mechanical inventions4 ,we say that the chicken grows the horny tip to its beak with which it ultimately pecks its way out of its shell1 because it remembers having grown it before1 and the use it made of it4 ,we say that it made it on the same principles as a man makes a spade or a hammer1 that is to say1 as the joint result both of desire and experience4 ,when ,i say experience1 ,i mean1 experience not only of what will be wanted1 but also of the details of all the means that must be taken in order to effect this4 ,memory1 therefore1 is supposed to guide the chicken not only in respect of the main design1 but in respect also of every atomic action1 so to speak1 which goes to make up the execution of this design4 ,it is not only the suggestion of a plan which is due to memory1 but1 as ,professor ,hering has so well said1 it is the binding power of memory which alone renders any consolidation or coherence of action possible1 inasmuch as without this no action could have parts subordinate one to another1 yet bearing upon a common end2 no part of an action1 great or small1 could have reference to any other part1 much less to a combination of all the parts2 nothing1 in fact1 but ultimate atoms of actions could ever happen--these bearing the same relation to such an action1 we will say1 as a railway journey from ,london to ,edinburgh as a single molecule of hydrogen to a gallon of water4 ,if asked how it is that the chicken shows no sign of consciousness concerning this design1 nor yet of the steps it is taking to carry it out1 we reply that such unconsciousness is usual in all cases where an action1 and the design which prompts it1 have been repeated exceedingly often4 ,if1 again1 we are asked how we account for the regularity with which each step is taken in its due order1 we answer that this too is characteristic of actions that are done habitually--they being very rarely misplaced in respect of any part4 ,when ,i wrote ,life and ,habit1 ,i had arrived at the conclusion that memory was the most essential characteristic of life1 and went so far as to say1 ,life is that property of matter whereby it can remember--matter which can remember is living4 ,i should perhaps have written1 ,life is the being possessed of a memory--the life of a thing at any moment is the memories which at that moment it retains2 and ,i would modify the words that immediately follow1 namely1 ,matter which cannot remember is dead2 for they imply that there is such a thing as matter which cannot remember anything at all1 and this on fuller consideration ,i do not believe to be the case2 ,i can conceive of no matter which is not able to remember a little1 and which is not living in respect of what it can remember4 ,i do not see how action of any kind 7chemical as much as vital7 is conceivable without the supposition that every atom retains a memory of certain antecedents4 ,i cannot1 however1 at this point1 enter upon the reasons which have compelled me to join the many who are now adopting this conclusion4 ,whether these would be deemed sufficient or no1 at any rate we cannot believe that a system of self-reproducing associations should develop from the simplicity of the amoeba to the complexity of the human body without the presence of that memory which can alone account at once for the resemblances and the differences between successive generations1 for the arising and the accumulation of divergences--for the tendency to differ and the tendency not to differ4 ,at parting1 therefore1 ,i would recommend the reader to see every atom in the universe as living and able to feel and to remember1 but in a humble way4 ,he must have life eternal1 as well as matter eternal2 and the life and the matter must be joined together inseparably as body and soul to one another4 ,thus he will see ,god everywhere1 not as those who repeat phrases conventionally1 but as people who would have their words taken according to their most natural and legitimate meaning2 and he will feel that the main difference between him and many of those who oppose him lies in the fact that whereas both he and they use the same language1 his opponents only half mean what they say1 while he means it entirely4 ,the attempt to get a higher form of a life from a lower one is in accordance with our observation and experience4 ,it is therefore proper to be believed4 ,the attempt to get it from that which has absolutely no life is like trying to get something out of nothing4 ,the millionth part of a farthing put out to interest at ten per cent4 will in five hundred years become over a million pounds1 and so long as we have any millionth of a millionth of the farthing to start with1 our getting as many million pounds as we have a fancy for is only a question of time1 but without the initial millionth of a millionth of a millionth part1 we shall get no increment whatever4 ,a little leaven will leaven the whole lump1 but there must be some leaven4 ,we should endeavour to see the so-called inorganic as living1 in respect of the qualities it has in common with the organic1 rather than the organic as non-living in respect of the qualities it has in common with the inorganic4 ,true1 it would be hard to place one's self on the same moral platform as a stone1 but this is not necessary2 it is enough that we should feel the stone to have a moral platform of its own1 though that platform embraces little more than a profound respect for the laws of gravitation1 chemical affinity1 c4 ,as for the difficulty of conceiving a body as living that has not got a reproductive system--we should remember that neuter insects are living but are believed to have no reproductive system4 ,again1 we should bear in mind that mere assimilation involves all the essentials of reproduction1 and that both air and water possess this power in a very high degree4 ,the essence of a reproductive system1 then1 is found low down in the scheme of nature4 ,at present our leading men of science are in this difficulty2 on the one hand their experiments and their theories alike teach them that spontaneous generation ought not to be accepted2 on the other1 they must have an origin for the life of the living forms1 which1 by their own theory1 have been evolved1 and they can at present get this origin in no other way than by ,deus ex machina method1 which they reject as unproved1 or spontaneous generation of living from non-living matter1 which is no less foreign to their experience4 ,as a general rule1 they prefer the latter alternative4 ,so ,professor ,tyndall1 in his celebrated article 7,nineteenth ,century1 ,november #ahgh71 wrote3-- ,the theory of evolution in its complete form involves the assumption that at some period or other of the earth's history there occurred what would be now called 'spontaneous generation4' #bag ,and so ,professor ,huxley-- ,it is argued that a belief in abiogenesis is a necessary corollary from the doctrine of ,evolution4 ,this may be which ,i submit is equivalent here to is true of the occurrence of abiogenesis at some time4 #bah ,professor ,huxley goes on to say that however this may be1 abiogenesis 7or spontaneous generation7 is not respectable and will not do at all now4 ,there may have been one case once2 this may be winked at1 but it must not occur again4 ,it is enough1 he writes1 that a single particle of living protoplasm should once have appeared on the globe as the result of no matter what agency4 ,in the eyes of a consistent 6 evolutionist any further 6 independent formation of protoplasm would be sheer waste--and the sooner the ,almighty gets to understand that ,he must not make that single act of special creation into a precedent the better for ,him4 ,professor ,huxley1 in fact1 excuses the single case of spontaneous generation which he appears to admit1 because however illegitimate1 it was still only a very little one1 and came off a long time ago in a foreign country4 ,for my own part ,i think it will prove in the end more convenient if we say that there is a low kind of livingness in every atom of matter1 and adopt ,life eternal as no less inevitable a conclusion than matter eternal4 ,it should not be doubted that wherever there is vibration or motion there is life and memory1 and that there is vibration and motion at all times in all things4 ,the reader who takes the above position will find that he can explain the entry of what he calls death among what he calls the living1 whereas he could by no means introduce life into his system if he started without it4 ,death is deducible2 life is not deducible4 ,death is a change of memories2 it is not the destruction of all memory4 ,it is as the liquidation of one company each member of which will presently join a new one1 and retain a trifle even of the old cancelled memory1 by way of greater aptitude for working in concert with other molecules4 ,this is why animals feed on grass and on each other1 and cannot proselytise or convert the rude ground before it has been tutored in the first principles of the higher kinds of association4 ,again1 ,i would recommend the reader to beware of believing anything in this book unless he either likes it1 or feels angry at being told it4 ,if required belief in this or that makes a man angry1 ,i suppose he should1 as a general rule1 swallow it whole then and there upon the spot1 otherwise he may take it or leave it as he likes4 ,i have not gone far for my facts1 nor yet far from them2 all on which ,i rest are as open to the reader as to me4 ,if ,i have sometimes used hard terms1 the probability is that ,i have not understood them1 but have done so by a slip1 as one who has caught a bad habit from the company he has been lately keeping4 ,they should be skipped4 ,do not let the reader be too much cast down by the bad language with which professional scientists obscure the issue1 nor by their seeming to make it their business to fog us under the pretext of removing our difficulties4 ,it is not the ratcatcher's interest to catch all the rats2 and1 as ,handel observed so sensibly1 ,every professional gentleman must do his best for to live4 ,the art of some of our philosophers1 however1 is sufficiently transparent1 and consists too often in saying organism which 4 4 4 must be classified among fishes1 #bbj;a instead of fish and then proclaiming that they have an ineradicable tendency to try to make things clear4 #bbj;b ,if another example is required1 here is the following from an article than which ,i have seen few with which ,i more completely agree1 or which have given me greater pleasure4 ,if our men of science would take to writing in this way1 we should be glad enough to follow them4 ,the passage ,i refer to runs thus3-- ,professor ,huxley speaks of a 'verbal fog by which the question at issue may be hidden2' is there no verbal fog in the statement that the aetiology of crayfishes resolves itself into a gradual evolution in the course of the mesozoic and subsequent epochs of the world's history of these animals from a primitive astacomorphous form8 ,would it be fog or light that would envelop the history of man if we say that the existence of man was explained by the hypothesis of his gradual evolution from a primitive anthropomorphous form8 ,i should call this fog1 not light4 #bbj;c ,especially let him mistrust those who are holding forth about protoplasm1 and maintaining that this is the only living substance4 ,protoplasm may be1 and perhaps is1 the most living part of an organism1 as the most capable of retaining vibrations1 of a certain character1 but this is the utmost that can be claimed for it4 ,i have noticed1 however1 that protoplasm has not been buoyant lately in the scientific market4 ,having mentioned protoplasm1 ,i may ask the reader to note the breakdown of that school of philosophy which divided the ego from the non ego4 ,the protoplasmists1 on the one hand1 are whittling away at ego1 till they have reduced it to a little jelly in certain parts of the body1 and they will whittle away this too presently1 if they go on as they are doing now4 ,others1 again1 are so unifying the ego and the non ego1 that with them there will soon be as little of the non ego left as there is of the ego with their opponents4 ,both1 however1 are so far agreed as that we know not where to draw the line between the two1 and this renders nugatory any system which is founded upon a distinction between them4 ,the truth is1 that all classification whatever1 when we examine its raison d'etre closely1 is found to be arbitrary--to depend on our sense of our own convenience1 and not on any inherent distinction in the nature of the things themselves4 ,strictly speaking1 there is only one thing and one action4 ,the universe1 or ,god1 and the action of the universe as a whole4 ,lastly1 ,i may predict with some certainty that before long we shall find the original ,darwinism of ,dr4 ,erasmus ,darwin 7with an infusion of ,professor ,hering into the bargain7 generally accepted instead of the neo- ,darwinism of to-day1 and that the variations whose accumulation results in species will be recognised as due to the wants and endeavours of the living forms in which they appear1 instead of being ascribed to chance1 or1 in other words1 to unknown causes1 as by ,mr4 ,charles ,darwin's system4 ,we shall have some idyllic young naturalists bringing up ,dr4 ,erasmus ,darwin's note on ,trapa natans #bba and ,lamarck's kindred passage on the descent of ,ranunculus hederaceus from ,ranunculus aquatilis #bbb;a as fresh discoveries1 and be told with much happy simplicity1 that those animals and plants which have felt the need of such a structure have developed it1 while those which have not wanted it have gone without it4 ,thus it will be declared1 every leaf we see around us1 every structure of the minutest insect1 will bear witness to the truth of the great guess of the greatest of naturalists concerning the memory of living matter4 #bbb;b ,i dare say the public will not object to this1 and am very sure that none of the admirers of ,mr4 ,charles ,darwin or ,mr4 ,wallace will protest against it2 but it may be as well to point out that this was not the view of the matter taken by ,mr4 ,wallace in #aheh when he and ,mr4 ,darwin first came forward as preachers of natural selection4 ,at that time ,mr4 ,wallace saw clearly enough the difference between the theory of natural selection and that of ,lamarck4 ,he wrote3-- ,the hypothesis of ,lamarck--that progressive changes in species have been produced by the attempts of animals to increase the development of their own organs and thus modify their structure and habits--has been repeatedly and easily refuted by all writers on the subject of varieties and species1 4 4 4 but the view here developed renders such a hypothesis quite unnecessary 4 4 4 ,the powerful retractile talons of the falcon and the cat tribes have not been produced or increased by the volition of those animals1 4 4 4 neither did the giraffe acquire its long neck by desiring to reach the foliage of the more lofty shrubs1 and constantly stretching its neck for this purpose1 but because any varieties which occurred among its antitypes with a longer neck than usual at once secured a fresh range of pasture over the same ground as their short-necked companions1 and on the first scarcity of food were thereby enabled to outlive them 7italics in original74 #bbc;a ,this is absolutely the neo-,darwin doctrine1 and a denial of the mainly fortuitous character of the variations in animal and vegetable forms cuts at its root4 ,that ,mr4 ,wallace1 after years of reflection1 still adhered to this view1 is proved by his heading a reprint of the paragraph just quoted from #bbc;b with the words ,lamarck's hypothesis very different from that now advanced2 nor do any of his more recent works show that he has modified his opinion4 ,it should be noted that ,mr4 ,wallace does not call his work ,contributions to the ,theory of ,evolution1 but to that of ,natural ,selection4 ,mr4 ,darwin1 with characteristic caution1 only commits himself to saying that ,mr4 ,wallace has arrived at almost 7italics mine7 the same general conclusions as he1 ,mr4 ,darwin1 has done2 #bbc;c but he still1 as in #ahei1 declares that it would be a serious error to suppose that the greater number of instincts have been acquired by habit in one generation and then transmitted by inheritance to succeeding generations1 #bbc;d and he still comprehensively condemns the well-known doctrine of inherited habit1 as advanced by ,lamarck4 #bbd ,as for the statement in the passage quoted from ,mr4 ,wallace1 to the effect that ,lamarck's hypothesis has been repeatedly and easily refuted by all writers on the subject of varieties and species1 it is a very surprising one4 ,i have searched ,evolution literature in vain for any refutation of the ,erasmus ,darwinian system 7for this is what ,lamarck's hypothesis really is71 which need make the defenders of that system at all uneasy4 ,the best attempt at an answer to ,erasmus ,darwin that has yet been made is ,paley's ,natural ,theology1 which was throughout obviously written to meet ,buffon and the ,zoonomia4 ,it is the manner of theologians to say that such and such an objection has been refuted over and over again1 without at the same time telling us when and where2 it is to be regretted that ,mr4 ,wallace has here taken a leaf out of the theologians' book4 ,his statement is one which will not pass muster with those whom public opinion is sure in the end to follow4 ,did ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer1 for example1 repeatedly and easily refute ,lamarck's hypothesis in his brilliant article in the ,leader1 ,march #bj1 #aheb8 ,on the contrary1 that article is expressly directed against those who cavalierly reject the hypothesis of ,lamarck and his followers4 ,this article was written six years before the words last quoted from ,mr4 ,wallace2 how absolutely1 however1 does the word cavalierly apply to them6 ,does ,isidore ,geoffrey1 again1 bear ,mr4 ,wallace's assertion out better8 ,in #ahei--that is to say but a short time after ,mr4 ,wallace had written--he wrote as follows3-- ,such was the language which ,lamarck heard during his protracted old age1 saddened alike by the weight of years and blindness2 this was what people did not hesitate to utter over his grave yet barely closed1 and what indeed they are still saying--commonly too without any knowledge of what ,lamarck maintained1 but merely repeating at secondhand bad caricatures of his teaching4 ,when will the time come when we may see ,lamarck's theory discussed--and1 ,i may as well at once say1 refuted in some important points #bbe;a--with at any rate the respect due to one of the most illustrious masters of our science8 ,and when will this theory1 the hardihood of which has been greatly exaggerated1 become freed from the interpretations and commentaries by the false light of which so many naturalists have followed their opinion concerning it8 ,if its author is to be condemned1 let it be1 at any rate1 not before he has been heard4 #bbe;b ,in #ahgc ,m4 ,martin published his edition of ,lamarck's ,philosophic ,zoologique4 ,he was still able to say1 with1 ,i believe1 perfect truth1 that ,lamarck's theory has never yet had the honour of being discussed seriously4 #bbe;c ,professor ,huxley in his article on ,evolution is no less cavalier than ,mr4 ,wallace4 ,he writes3 #bbe;d-- ,lamarck introduced the conception of the action of an animal on itself as a factor in producing modification4 ,lamarck did nothing of the kind4 ,it was ,buffon and ,dr4 ,darwin who introduced this1 but more especially ,dr4 ,darwin4 ,the accuracy of ,professor ,huxley's statements about the history and literature of evolution is like the direct interference of the ,deity--it vanishes whenever and wherever ,i have occasion to test it4 ,but a little consideration showed 7italics mine7 that though ,lamarck had seized what1 as far as it goes1 is a true cause of modification1 it is a cause the actual effects of which are wholly inadequate to account for any considerable modification in animals1 and which can have no influence whatever in the vegetable world1 c4 ,i should be very glad to come across some of the little consideration which will show this4 ,i have searched for it far and wide1 and have never been able to find it4 ,i think ,professor ,huxley has been exercising some of his ineradicable tendency to try to make things clear in the article on ,evolution1 already so often quoted from4 ,we find him 7p4 #gej7 pooh-poohing ,lamarck1 yet on the next page he says1 ,how far 'natural selection' suffices for the production of species remains to be seen4 ,and this when natural selection was already so nearly of age6 ,why1 to those who know how to read between a philosopher's lines the sentence comes to very nearly the same as a declaration that the writer has no great opinion of natural selection4 ,professor ,huxley continues1 ,few can doubt that1 if not the whole cause1 it is a very important factor in that operation4 ,a philosopher's words should be weighed carefully1 and when ,professor ,huxley says1 few can doubt1 we must remember that he may be including himself among the few whom he considers to have the power of doubting on this matter4 ,he does not say few will1 but few can doubt1 as though it were only the enlightened who would have the power of doing so4 ,certainly nature--for that is what natural selection comes to--is rather an important factor in the operation1 but we do not gain much by being told so4 ,if however1 ,professor ,huxley neither believes in the origin of species1 through sense of need on the part of animals themselves1 nor yet in natural selection1 we should be glad to know what he does believe in4 ,the battle is one of greater importance than appears at first sight4 ,it is a battle between teleology and non-teleology1 between the purposiveness and the non-purposiveness of the organs in animal and vegetable bodies4 ,according to ,erasmus ,darwin1 ,lamarck1 and ,paley1 organs are purposive2 according to ,mr4 ,darwin and his followers1 they are not purposive4 ,but the main arguments against the system of ,dr4 ,erasmus ,darwin are arguments which1 so far as they have any weight1 tell against evolution generally4 ,now that these have been disposed of1 and the prejudice against evolution has been overcome1 it will be seen that there is nothing to be said against the system of ,erasmus ,darwin and ,lamarck which does not tell with far greater force against that of ,mr4 ,charles ,darwin and ,mr4 ,wallace4 ,,remarks ,,on ,,mr4 ,,romanes' ,,mental ,,evolution ,,in ,,animals4 #bbh;a ,i have said on page #if of this book that the word heredity may be a very good way of stating the difficulty which meets us when we observe the reappearance of like characteristics1 whether of body or mind1 in successive generations1 but that it does nothing whatever towards removing it4 ,it is here that ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer1 the late ,mr4 ,g4 ,h4 ,lewes1 and ,mr4 ,romanes fail4 ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer does indeed go so far in one place as to call instinct organised memory1 #bbh;b and ,mr4 ,g4 ,h4 ,lewes attributes many instincts to what he calls the lapsing of intelligence4 #bbh;c ,so does ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer1 #bbh;d whom ,mr4 ,romanes should have known that ,mr4 ,lewis was following4 ,mr4 ,romanes1 in his recent work1 ,mental ,evolution in ,animals 7,november1 #ahhc71 endorses this1 and frequently uses such expressions as the lifetime of the species1 #bbh;e hereditary experience1 #bbh;f and hereditary memory and instinct1 #bbh;g but none of these writers 7and indeed no writer that ,i know of except ,professor ,hering of ,prague1 for a translation of whose address on this subject ,i must refer the reader to my book ,unconscious ,memory7 has shown a comprehension of the fact that these expressions are unexplained so long as heredity1 whereby they explain them1 is unexplained2 and none of them sees the importance of emphasizing ,memory1 and making it as it were the keystone of the system4 ,mr4 ,spencer may very well call instinct organised memory if he means that offspring can remember--within the limitations to which all memory is subject--what happened to it while it was yet in the person or persons of its parent or parents2 but if he does not mean this1 his use of the word memory1 his talk about the experience of the race1 and other expressions of kindred nature1 are delusive4 ,if he does mean this1 it is a pity he has nowhere said so4 ,professor ,hering does mean this1 and makes it clear that he does so4 ,he does not catch the ball and let it slip through his fingers again1 but holds it firmly4 ,it is to memory1 he says1 that we owe almost all that we have or are2 our ideas and conceptions are its work2 our every thought and movement are derived from this source4 ,memory connects the countless phenomena of our existence into a single whole1 and as our bodies would be scattered into the dust of their component atoms if they were not held together by the cohesion of matter1 so our consciousness would be broken up into as many moments as we had lived seconds1 but for the binding and unifying force of ,memory4 #bbi ,and he proceeds to show that ,memory persists between generations exactly as it does between the various stages in the life of the individual4 ,if ,i could find any such passage as the one ,i have just quoted1 in ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer's1 ,mr4 ,lewes's1 or ,mr4 ,romanes' works1 ,i should be only too glad to quote it1 but ,i know of nothing comparable to it for definiteness of idea1 thoroughness and consistency4 ,no reader indeed can rise from a perusal of ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer's1 or ,mr4 ,g4 ,h4 ,lewes'1 work with an adequate--if indeed with any--impression that the phenomena of heredity are in fact phenomena of memory2 that heredity1 whether as regards body or mind1 is only possible because each generation is linked on to and made one with its predecessor by the possession of a common and abiding memory1 in as far as bodily existence was common--that is to say1 until the substance of the one left the substance of the other2 and that this memory is exactly of the same general character as that which enables us to remember what we did half an hour ago--strong under the same circumstances as those under which this familiar kind of memory is strong1 and weak under those under which it is weak4 ,mr4 ,spencer and ,mr4 ,lewes have even less conception of the connection between heredity and memory than ,dr4 ,erasmus ,darwin had at the close of the last century4 #bcj ,mr4 ,lewes' position was briefly this4 ,he denied that there could be any knowledge independent of experience1 but he could not help seeing that young animals come into the world furnished with many organs which they use with great dexterity at a very early age4 ,this looks as if they are acting on knowledge acquired independently of experience4 ,no1 says ,mr4 ,lewes1 not so4 ,they are born with the organs--,i cannot tell how or why1 but heredity explains all that1 and having once got the organs1 the objects that come into contact with them in daily life naturally produce the same effect as on the parents1 just as oxygen coming into contact with the right quantity of hydrogen will make water2 hence even the first time the offspring come into contact with any given object they act as their parents did4 ,the idea of the young having got their experience in a past generation does not seem to have even crossed his mind4 ,what marvel is there1 he asks1 that constant conditions acting upon structures which are similar should produce similar results8 ,it is in this sense that the paradox of ,leibnitz is true1 and we can be said 'to acquire an innate idea2' only the idea is not acquired independently of experience1 but through the process of experience similar to that which originally produced it4 #bca;a ,the impression left upon me is that he is all at sea for want of the clue with which ,professor ,hering would have furnished him1 and that had that clue been presented to him a dozen years or so earlier than it was he would have adopted it4 ,as regards ,mr4 ,romanes the case is different4 ,his recent work1 ,mental ,evolution in ,animals1 #bca;b shows that he is well aware of the direction which modern opinion is taking1 and in several places he so writes as to warrant me in claiming his authority in support of the views which ,i have been insisting on for several years past4 ,thus ,mr4 ,romanes says that the analogies between the memory with which we are familiar in daily life and hereditary memory are so numerous and precise as to justify us in considering them to be of essentially the same kind4 #bcb;a ,again he says that although the memory of milk shown by new-born infants is at all events in large part hereditary1 it is none the less memory of a certain kind4 #bcb;b ,two lines lower down he writes of hereditary memory or instinct1 thereby implying that instinct is hereditary memory4 ,it makes no essential difference1 he says1 whether the past sensation was actually experienced by the individual itself1 or bequeathed it1 so to speak1 by its ancestors4 #bcb;c ,for it makes no essential difference whether the nervous changes 4 4 4 were occasioned during the lifetime of the individual or during that of the species1 and afterwards impressed by heredity on the individual4 ,lower down on the same page he writes3-- ,as showing how close is the connection between hereditary memory and instinct1 c4 ,and on the following page3-- ,and this shows how closely the phenomena of hereditary memory are related to those of individual memory3 at this stage 4 4 4 it is practically impossible to disentangle the effects of hereditary memory from those of the individual4 ,again3-- ,another point which we have here to consider is the part which heredity has played in forming the perceptive faculty of the individual prior to its own experience4 ,we have already seen that heredity plays an important part in forming memory of ancestral experiences1 and thus it is that many animals come into the world with their power of perception already largely developed4 4 4 4 ,the wealth of ready-formed information1 and therefore of ready-made powers of perception1 with which many newly-born or newly-hatched animals are provided1 is so great and so precise that it scarcely requires to be supplemented by the subsequent experience of the individual4 #bcc;a ,again3-- ,instincts probably owe their origin and development to one or other of two principles4 ,i4 ,the first mode of origin consists in natural selection or survival of the fittest1 continuously preserving actions1 c4 c4 4 4 4 ,,ii4 ,the second mode of origin is as follows3--,by the effects of habit in successive generations1 actions which were originally intelligent become as it were stereotyped into permanent instincts4 ,just as in the lifetime of the individual adjustive actions which were originally intelligent may by frequent repetition become automatic1 so in the lifetime of species actions originally intelligent may by frequent repetition and heredity so write their effects on the nervous system that the latter is prepared1 even before individual experience1 to perform adjustive actions mechanically which in previous generations were performed intelligently4 ,this mode of origin of instincts has been appropriately called 7by ,lewes--see ,problems of ,life and ,mind #bcc;b7 the 'lapsing of intelligence4' #bcc;c ,later on3-- ,that 'practice makes perfect' is a matter1 as ,i have previously said1 of daily observation4 ,whether we regard a juggler1 a pianist1 or a billiard-player1 a child learning his lesson or an actor his part by frequently repeating it1 or a thousand other illustrations of the same process1 we see at once that there is truth in the cynical definition of a man as a 'bundle of habits4' ,and the same of course is true of animals4 #bcd;a ,from this ,mr4 ,romanes goes on to show that automatic actions and conscious habits may be inherited1 #bcd;b and in the course of doing this contends that instincts may be lost by disuse1 and conversely that they may be acquired as instincts by the hereditary transmission of ancestral experience4 #bcd;c ,on another page ,mr4 ,romanes says3-- ,let us now turn to the second of these two assumptions1 viz41 that some at least among migratory birds must possess1 by inheritance alone1 a very precise knowledge of the particular direction to be pursued4 ,it is without question an astonishing fact that a young cuckoo should be prompted to leave its foster parents at a particular season of the year1 and without any guide to show the course previously taken by its own parents1 but this is a fact which must be met by any theory of instinct which aims at being complete4 ,now upon our own theory it can only be met by taking it to be due to inherited memory4 #bcd;d ,mr4 ,romanes says in a note that this theory was first advanced by ,canon ,kingsley in ,nature1 ,january #ah1 #ahfg1 a piece of information which ,i learn for the first time2 otherwise1 as ,i need hardly say1 ,i should have called attention to it in my own books on evolution4 ,nature did not begin to appear till the end of #ahfi1 and ,i can find no communication from ,canon ,kingsley bearing upon hereditary memory in any number of ,nature prior to the date of ,canon ,kingsley's death2 but no doubt ,mr4 ,romanes has only made a slip in his reference4 ,mr4 ,romanes also says that the theory connecting instinct with inherited memory has since been independently 'suggested' by many writers4 ,a little lower ,mr4 ,romanes says3 ,of what kind1 then1 is the inherited memory on which the young cuckoo 7if not also other migratory birds7 depends8 ,we can only answer1 of the same kind1 whatever this may be1 as that upon which the old bird depends4 #bce ,i have given above most of the more marked passages which ,i have been able to find in ,mr4 ,romanes' book which attribute instinct to memory1 and which admit that there is no fundamental difference between the kind of memory with which we are all familiar and hereditary memory as transmitted from one generation to another4 ,but throughout his work there are passages which suggest1 though less obviously1 the same inference4 ,the passages ,i have quoted show that ,mr4 ,romanes is upholding the same opinions as ,professor ,hering's and my own1 but their effect and tendency is more plain here than in ,mr4 ,romanes' own book1 where they are overlaid by nearly #djj long pages of matter which is not always easy of comprehension4 ,the late ,mr4 ,darwin himself1 indeed--whose mantle seems to have fallen more especially and particularly on ,mr4 ,romanes--could not contradict himself more hopelessly than ,mr4 ,romanes often does4 ,indeed in one of the very passages ,i have quoted in order to show that ,mr4 ,romanes accepts the phenomena of heredity as phenomena of memory1 he speaks of heredity as playing an important part in forming memory of ancestral experiences2 so that whereas ,i want him to say that the phenomena of heredity are due to memory1 he will have it that the memory is due to the heredity1 #bcf;a which seems to me absurd4 ,over and over again ,mr4 ,romanes insists that it is heredity which does this or that4 ,thus it is heredity with natural selection which adapt the anatomical plan of the ganglia4 #bcf;b ,it is heredity which impresses nervous changes on the individual4 #bcf;c ,in the lifetime of species actions originally intelligent may by frequent repetition and heredity1 c4 #bcf;d2 but he nowhere tells us what heredity is any more than ,messrs4 ,herbert ,spencer1 ,darwin1 and ,lewes have done4 ,this1 however1 is1 exactly what ,professor ,hering1 whom ,i have unwittingly followed1 does4 ,he resolves all phenomena of heredity1 whether in respect of body or mind1 into phenomena of memory4 ,he says in effect1 ,a man grows his body as he does1 and a bird makes her nest as she does1 because both man and bird remember having grown body and made nest as they now do1 or very nearly so1 on innumerable past occasions4 ,he thus reduces life from an equation of say #ajj unknown quantities to one of #ii only by showing that heredity and memory1 two of the original #ajj unknown quantities1 are in reality part of one and the same thing4 ,that he is right ,mr4 ,romanes seems to me to admit1 though in a very unsatisfactory way4 ,,remarks ,,on ,,mr4 ,,romanes' ,,mental ,,evolution ,,in ,,animals--7continued74 ,i will give examples of my meaning4 ,mr4 ,romanes says on an early page1 ,the most fundamental principle of mental operation is that of memory1 for this is the conditio sine qua non of all mental life 7page #ce74 ,i do not understand ,mr4 ,romanes to hold that there is any living being which has no mind at all1 and ,i do understand him to admit that development of body and mind are closely interdependent4 ,if then1 the most fundamental principle of mind is memory1 it follows that memory enters also as a fundamental principle into development of body4 ,for mind and body are so closely connected that nothing can enter largely into the one without correspondingly affecting the other4 ,on a later page1 indeed1 ,mr4 ,romanes speaks point-blank of the new-born child as embodying the results of a great mass of hereditary experience 7p4 #gg71 so that what he is driving at can be collected by those who take trouble1 but is not seen until we call up from our own knowledge matter whose relevancy does not appear on the face of it1 and until we connect passages many pages asunder1 the first of which may easily be forgotten before we reach the second4 ,there can be no doubt1 however1 that ,mr4 ,romanes does in reality1 like ,professor ,hering and myself1 regard development1 whether of mind or body1 as due to memory1 for it is nonsense indeed to talk about hereditary experience or hereditary memory if anything else is intended4 ,i have said above that on page #aac of his recent work ,mr4 ,romanes declares the analogies between the memory with which we are familiar in daily life1 and hereditary memory1 to be so numerous and precise as to justify us in considering them as of one and the same kind4 ,this is certainly his meaning1 but1 with the exception of the words within inverted commas1 it is not his language4 ,his own words are these3-- ,profound1 however1 as our ignorance unquestionably is concerning the physical substratum of memory1 ,i think we are at least justified in regarding this substratum as the same both in ganglionic or organic1 and in conscious or psychological memory1 seeing that the analogies between them are so numerous and precise4 ,consciousness is but an adjunct which arises when the physical processes1 owing to infrequency of repetition1 complexity of operation1 or other causes1 involve what ,i have before called ganglionic friction4 ,i submit that ,i have correctly translated ,mr4 ,romanes' meaning1 and also that we have a right to complain of his not saying what he has to say in words which will involve less ganglionic friction on the part of the reader4 ,another example may be found on p4 #dc of ,mr4 ,romanes' book4 ,lastly1 he writes1 just as innumerable special mechanisms of muscular co-ordinations are found to be inherited1 innumerable special associations of ideas are found to be the same1 and in one case as in the other the strength of the organically imposed connection is found to bear a direct proportion to the frequency with which in the history of the species it has occurred4 ,mr4 ,romanes is here intending what the reader will find insisted on on p4 #ih of the present volume2 but how difficult he has made what could have been said intelligibly enough1 if there had been nothing but the reader's comfort to be considered4 ,unfortunately that seems to have been by no means the only thing of which ,mr4 ,romanes was thinking1 or why1 after implying and even saying over and over again that instinct is inherited habit due to inherited memory1 should he turn sharply round on p4 #big and praise ,mr4 ,darwin for trying to snuff out the well-known doctrine of inherited habit as advanced by ,lamarck8 ,the answer is not far to seek4 ,it is because ,mr4 ,romanes did not merely want to tell us all about instinct1 but wanted also1 if ,i may use a homely metaphor1 to hunt with the hounds and run with the hare at one and the same time4 ,i remember saying that if the late ,mr4 ,darwin had told us what the earlier evolutionists said1 why they said it1 wherein he differed from them1 and in what way he proposed to set them straight1 he would have taken a course at once more agreeable with usual practice1 and more likely to remove misconception from his own mind and from those of his readers4 #bci ,this ,i have no doubt was one of the passages which made ,mr4 ,romanes so angry with me4 ,i can find no better words to apply to ,mr4 ,romanes himself4 ,he knows perfectly well what others have written about the connection between heredity and memory1 and he knows no less well that so far as he is intelligible at all he is taking the same view that they have taken4 ,if he had begun by saying what they had said and had then improved on it1 ,i for one should have been only too glad to be improved upon4 ,mr4 ,romanes has spoiled his book just because this plain old-fashioned method of procedure was not good enough for him4 ,one-half the obscurity which makes his meaning so hard to apprehend is due to exactly the same cause as that which has ruined so much of the late ,mr4 ,darwin's work--,i mean to a desire to appear to be differing altogether from others with whom he knew himself after all to be in substantial agreement4 ,he adopts1 but 7probably quite unconsciously7 in his anxiety to avoid appearing to adopt1 he obscures what he is adopting4 ,here1 for example1 is ,mr4 ,romanes' definition of instinct3-- ,instinct is reflex action into which there is imported the element of consciousness4 ,the term is therefore a generic one1 comprising all those faculties of mind which are concerned in conscious and adaptive action1 antecedent to individual experience1 without necessary knowledge of the relation between means employed and ends attained1 but similarly performed under similar and frequently recurring circumstances by all the individuals of the same species4 #bdj ,if ,mr1 ,romanes would have been content to build frankly upon ,professor ,hering's foundation1 the soundness of which he has elsewhere abundantly admitted1 he might have said-- ,instinct is knowledge or habit acquired in past generations--the new generation remembering what happened to it before it parted company with the old4 ,then he might have added as a rider-- ,if a habit is acquired as a new one1 during any given lifetime1 it is not an instinct4 ,if having been acquired in one lifetime it is transmitted to offspring1 it is an instinct in the offspring though it was not an instinct in the parent4 ,if the habit is transmitted partially1 it must be considered as partly instinctive and partly acquired4 ,this is easy2 it tells people how they may test any action so as to know what they ought to call it2 it leaves well alone by avoiding all such debatable matters as reflex action1 consciousness1 intelligence1 purpose1 knowledge of purpose1 c42 it both introduces the feature of inheritance which is the one mainly distinguishing instinctive from so-called intelligent actions1 and shows the manner in which these last pass into the first1 that is to say1 by way of memory and habitual repetition2 finally it points the fact that the new generation is not to be looked upon as a new thing1 but 7as ,dr4 ,erasmus ,darwin long since said #bda7 as a branch or elongation of the one immediately preceding it4 ,but then to have said this would have made it too plain that ,mr4 ,romanes was following some one else4 ,mr4 ,romanes should remember that no one would mind how much he took if he would only take it well4 ,but this is what those who take without due acknowledgment never do4 ,in ,mr4 ,darwin's case it is hardly possible to exaggerate the waste of time1 money1 and trouble that has been caused by his not having been content to appear as descending with modification like other people from those who went before him4 ,it will take years to get the evolution theory out of the mess in which ,mr4 ,darwin has left it4 ,he was heir to a discredited truth2 he left behind him an accredited fallacy4 ,mr4 ,romanes1 if he is not stopped in time1 will get the theory connecting heredity and memory into just such another muddle as ,mr4 ,darwin has got ,evolution1 for surely the writer who can talk about heredity being able to work up the faculty of homing into the instinct of migration1 #bdb;a or of the principle of 7natural7 selection combining with that of lapsing intelligence to the formation of a joint result1 #bdb;b is little likely to depart from the usual methods of scientific procedure with advantage either to himself or any one else4 ,fortunately ,mr4 ,romanes is not ,mr4 ,darwin1 and though he has certainly got ,mr4 ,darwin's mantle1 and got it very much too1 it will not on ,mr4 ,romanes' shoulders hide a good deal that people were not going to observe too closely while ,mr4 ,darwin wore it4 ,,remarks ,,on ,,mr4 ,,romanes' ,,mental ,,evolution ,,in ,,animals--7concluded74 ,i gather that in the end the late ,mr4 ,darwin himself admitted the soundness of the view which the reader will have found insisted upon in the extracts from my earlier books given in this volume4 ,mr4 ,romanes quotes a letter written by ,mr4 ,darwin in the last year of his life1 in which he speaks of an intelligent action gradually becoming instinctive1 i4e41 memory transmitted from one generation to another4 #bdc;a ,briefly1 the stages of ,mr4 ,darwin's opinion upon the subject of hereditary memory are as follows3-- #ahei4 ,it would be the most serious error to suppose that the greater number of instincts have been acquired by habit in one generation and transmitted by inheritance to succeeding generations4 #bdc;b ,and this more especially applies to the instincts of many ants4 #ahgf4 ,it would be a serious error to suppose c41 as before4 #bdc;c #ahha4 ,we should remember what a mass of inherited knowledge is crowded into the minute brain of a worker ant4 #bdc;d #ahha or #ahhb4 ,speaking of a given habitual action ,mr4 ,darwin writes3--,it does not seem to me at all incredible that this action and why this more than any other habitual action8 should then become instinctive3 i4e41 memory transmitted from one generation to another4 #bdd;a ,and yet in #ahci or thereabouts1 ,mr4 ,darwin had pretty nearly grasped the conception from which until the last year or two of his life he so fatally strayed2 for in his contribution to the volumes giving an account of the voyages of the ,adventure and ,beagle1 he wrote3 ,nature by making habit omnipotent and its effects hereditary1 has fitted the ,fuegian for the climate and productions of his country 7p4 #bcg74 ,what is the secret of the long departure from the simple common-sense view of the matter which he took when he was a young man8 ,i imagine simply what ,i have referred to in the preceding chapter1--over-anxiety to appear to be differing from his grandfather1 ,dr4 ,erasmus ,darwin1 and ,lamarck4 ,i believe ,i may say that ,mr4 ,darwin before he died not only admitted the connection between memory and heredity1 but came also to see that he must readmit that design in organism which he had so many years opposed4 ,for in the preface to ,hermann ,muller's ,fertilisation of ,flowers1 #bdd;b which bears a date only a very few weeks prior to ,mr4 ,darwin's death1 ,i find him saying3--,design in nature has for a long time deeply interested many men1 and though the subject must now be looked at from a somewhat different point of view from what was formerly the case1 it is not on that account rendered less interesting4 ,this is mused forth as a general gnome1 and may mean anything or nothing3 the writer of the letterpress under the hieroglyph in ,old ,moore's ,almanac could not be more guarded2 but ,i think ,i know what it does mean4 ,i cannot of course be sure2 ,mr4 ,darwin did not probably intend that ,i should2 but ,i assume with confidence that whether there is design in organism or no1 there is at any rate design in this passage of ,mr4 ,darwin's4 ,this1 we may be sure1 is not a fortuitous variation2 and moreover it is introduced for some reason which made ,mr4 ,darwin think it worth while to go out of his way to introduce it4 ,it has no fitness in its connection with ,hermann ,muller's book1 for what little ,hermann ,muller says about teleology at all is to condemn it2 why then should ,mr4 ,darwin muse here of all places in the world about the interest attaching to design in organism8 ,neither has the passage any connection with the rest of the preface4 ,there is not another word about design1 and even here ,mr4 ,darwin seems mainly anxious to face both ways1 and pat design as it were on the head while not committing himself to any proposition which could be disputed4 ,the explanation is sufficiently obvious4 ,mr4 ,darwin wanted to hedge4 ,he saw that the design which his works had been mainly instrumental in pitchforking out of organisms no less manifestly designed than a burglar's jemmy is designed1 had nevertheless found its way back again1 and that though1 as ,i insisted in ,evolution1 ,old and ,new1 and ,unconscious ,memory1 it must now be placed within the organism instead of outside it1 as was formerly the case1 it was not on that account any the less--design1 as well as interesting4 ,i should like to have seen ,mr4 ,darwin say this more explicitly4 ,indeed ,i should have liked to have seen ,mr4 ,darwin say anything at all about the meaning of which there could be no mistake1 and without contradicting himself elsewhere2 but this was not ,mr4 ,darwin's manner4 ,in passing ,i will give another example of ,mr4 ,darwin's manner when he did not quite dare even to hedge4 ,it is to be found in the preface which he wrote to ,professor ,weismann's ,studies in the ,theory of ,descent1 published in #ahhb4 ,several distinguished naturalists1 says ,mr4 ,darwin1 maintain with much confidence that organic beings tend to vary and to rise in the scale1 independently of the conditions to which they and their progenitors have been exposed2 whilst others maintain that all variation is due to such exposure1 though the manner in which the environment acts is as yet quite unknown4 ,at the present time there is hardly any question in biology of more importance than this of the nature and causes of variability1 and the reader will find in the present work an able discussion on the whole subject which will probably lead him to pause before he admits the existence of an innate tendency to perfectibility--or towards1 being able to be perfected4 ,i could find no able discussion upon the whole subject in ,professor ,weismann's book4 ,there was a little something here and there1 but not much4 ,mr ,herbert ,spencer has not in his more recent works said anything which enables me to appeal to his authority4 ,i imagine that if he had got hold of the idea that heredity was only a mode of memory before #ahgj1 when he published the second edition of his ,principles of ,psychology1 he would have gladly adopted it1 for he seems continually groping after it1 and aware of it as near him1 though he is never able to grasp it4 ,he probably failed to grasp it because ,lamarck had failed4 ,he could not adopt it in his edition of #ahhj1 for this is evidently printed from stereos taken from the #ahgj edition1 and no considerable alteration was therefore possible4 ,the late ,mr4 ,g4 ,h4 ,lewes did not get hold of the memory theory1 probably because neither ,mr4 ,spencer nor any of the well-known ,german philosophers had done so4 ,mr4 ,romanes1 as ,i think ,i have shown1 actually has adopted it1 but he does not say where he got it from4 ,i suppose from reading ,canon ,kingsley in ,nature some years before ,nature began to exist1 or 7for has not the mantle of ,mr4 ,darwin fallen upon him87 he has thought it all out independently2 but however ,mr4 ,romanes may have reached his conclusion1 he must have done so comparatively recently1 for when he reviewed my book1 ,unconscious ,memory1 #bdg he scoffed at the very theory which he is now adopting4 ,of the view that there is thus a race memory1 as there is an individual memory1 and that the expression of the former constitutes the phenomena of heredity--for it is thus ,mr4 ,romanes with fair accuracy describes the theory ,i was supporting--he wrote3 ,now this view1 in which ,mr4 ,butler was anticipated by ,prof4 ,hering1 is interesting if advanced merely as an illustration2 but to imagine that it maintains any truth of profound significance1 or that it can possibly be fraught with any benefit to science1 is simply absurd4 ,the most cursory thought is enough to show1 c4 c4 ,we can understand1 he continued1 in some measure how an alteration in brain structure when once made should be permanent1 4 4 4 but we cannot understand how this alteration is transmitted to progeny through structures so unlike the brain as are the products of the generative glands4 ,and we merely stultify ourselves if we suppose that the problem is brought any nearer to a solution by asserting that a future individual while still in the germ has already participated1 say in the cerebral alterations of its parents1 c4 ,mr4 ,romanes could find no measure of abuse strong enough for me1--as any reader may see who feels curious enough to turn to ,mr4 ,romanes' article in ,nature already referred to4 ,as for ,evolution1 ,old and ,new1 he said ,i had written it in the hope of gaining some notoriety by deserving and perhaps receiving a contemptuous refutation from ,mr4 ,darwin4 #bdh;a ,in my reply to ,mr4 ,romanes ,i said1 ,i will not characterise this accusation in the terms which it merits4 #bdh;b ,mr4 ,romanes1 in the following number of ,nature1 withdrew his accusation and immediately added1 ,i was induced to advance it because it seemed the only rational motive that could have led to the publication of such a book4 ,again ,i will not characterise such a withdrawal in the terms it merits1 but ,i may say in passing that if ,mr4 ,romanes thinks the motive he assigned to me a rational one1 his view of what is rational and mine differ4 ,it does not commend itself as rational to me1 that a man should spend a good deal of money and two or three years of work in the hope of deserving a contemptuous refutation from any one--not even from ,mr4 ,darwin4 ,but then ,mr4 ,romanes has written such a lot about reason and intelligence4 ,the reply to ,evolution1 ,old and ,new1 which ,i actually did get from ,mr4 ,darwin1 was one which ,i do not see advertised among ,mr4 ,darwin's other works now1 and which ,i venture to say never will be advertised among them again--not at least until it has been altered4 ,i have seen no reason to leave off advertising ,evolution1 ,old and ,new1 and ,unconscious ,memory4 ,i have never that ,i know of seen ,mr4 ,romanes1 but am told that he is still young4 ,i can find no publication of his indexed in the ,british ,museum ,catalogue earlier than #ahgd1 and then it was only about ,christian ,prayer4 ,mr4 ,romanes was good enough to advise me to turn painter or homoeopathist2 #bdi as he has introduced the subject1 and considering how many years ,i am his senior1 ,i might be justified 7if it could be any pleasure to me to do so7 in suggesting to him too what ,i should imagine most likely to tend to his advancement in life2 but there are examples so bad that even those who have no wish to be any better than their neighbours may yet decline to follow them1 and ,i think ,mr4 ,romanes' is one of these4 ,i will not therefore find him a profession4 ,but leaving this matter on one side1 the point ,i wish to insist on is that ,mr4 ,romanes is saying almost in my own words what less than three years ago he was very angry with me for saying4 ,i do not think that under these circumstances much explanation is necessary as to the reasons which have led ,mr4 ,romanes to fight so shy of any reference to ,life and ,habit1 ,evolution1 ,old and ,new1 and ,unconscious ,memory--works in which1 if ,i may venture to say so1 the theory connecting the phenomena of heredity with memory has been not only suggested1 but so far established that even ,mr4 ,romanes has been led to think the matter over independently and to arrive at the same general conclusion as myself4 ,curiously enough1 ,mr4 ,grant ,allen too has come to much the same conclusions as myself1 after having attacked me1 though not so fiercely1 as ,mr4 ,romanes has done4 ,in #ahgi he said in the ,examiner 7,may #ag7 that the teleological view put forward in ,evolution1 ,old and ,new1 was just the sort of mystical nonsense from which he had hoped ,mr4 ,darwin had for ever saved us4 ,and so in the ,academy on the same day he said that no one-sided argument 7referring to ,evolution1 ,old and ,new7 could ever deprive ,mr4 ,darwin of the place which he had eternally won in the history of human thought by his magnificent achievement4 ,a few years1 and ,mr4 ,allen entertains a very different opinion of ,mr4 ,darwin's magnificent achievement4 ,there are only two conceivable ways1 he writes1 in which any increment of brain power can ever have arisen in any individual4 ,the one is the ,darwinian way1 by 'spontaneous variation1' that is to say by variation due to minute physical circumstances affecting the individual in the germ4 ,the other is the ,spencerian way1 by functional increment1 that is to say by the effect of increased use and constant exposure to varying circumstances during conscious life4 #bej ,mr4 ,allen must know very well1 or if he does not he has no excuse at any rate for not knowing1 that the theory according to which increase of brain power or any other bodily or mental power is due to use1 is no more ,mr4 ,spencer's than the theory of gravitation is1 except in so far as that ,mr4 ,spencer has adopted it4 ,it is the theory which every one except ,mr4 ,allen associates with ,erasmus ,darwin and ,lamarck1 but more especially 7and on the whole ,i suppose justly7 with ,lamarck4 ,i venture to think1 continues ,mr4 ,allen1 that the first way ,mr4 ,darwin's1 if we look it clearly in the face1 will be seen to be practically unthinkable2 and that we have therefore no alternative but to accept the second4 ,these writers go round so quickly and so completely that there is no keeping pace with them4 ,as to ,materialism1 he writes presently1 surely it is more profoundly materialistic to suppose that mere physical causes operating on the germ can determine minute physical and material changes in the brain1 which will in turn make the individuality what it is to be1 than to suppose that all brains are what they are in virtue of antecedent function4 ,the one creed makes the man depend mainly upon the accidents of molecular physics in a colliding germ cell and sperm cell2 the other makes him depend mainly upon the doings and gains of his ancestors as modified and altered by himself4 ,here is a sentence taken almost at random from the body of the article3-- ,we are always seeing something which adds to our total stock of memories2 we are always learning and doing something new4 ,the vast majority of these experiences are similar in kind to those already passed through by our ancestors3 they add nothing to the inheritance of the race4 4 4 4 ,though they leave physical traces on the individual1 they do not so far affect the underlying organisation of the brain as to make the development of after-brains somewhat different from previous ones4 ,but there are certain functional activities which do tend so to alter the development of after-brains2 certain novel or sustained activities which apparently result in the production of new correlated brain elements or brain connections hereditarily transmissible as increased potentialities of similar activity in the offspring4 ,of ,natural ,selection ,mr4 ,allen writes much1 as ,professor ,mivart and others have been writing for many years past4 ,it seems to me1 he says1 easy to understand how survival of the fittest may result in progress starting from such functionally produced gains1 but impossible to understand how it could result in progress if it had to start in mere accidental structural increments due to spontaneous variation alone4 #beb;a ,mr4 ,allen may say this now1 but until lately he has been among the first to scold any one else who said so4 ,and this is how the article concludes3-- ,the first hypothesis 7,mr ,darwin's7 is one that throws no light upon any of the facts4 ,the second hypothesis 7which ,mr4 ,allen is pleased to call ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer's7 is one that explains them all with transparent lucidity4 #beb;b ,so that ,mr4 ,darwin1 according to ,mr4 ,allen1 is clean out of it4 ,truly when ,mr4 ,allen makes stepping-stones of his dead selves1 he jumps upon them to some tune4 ,but then ,mr4 ,darwin is dead now4 ,i have not heard of his having given ,mr4 ,allen any manuscripts as he gave ,mr4 ,romanes4 ,i hope ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer will not give him any4 ,if ,i was ,mr4 ,spencer and found my admirers crowning me with ,lamarck's laurels1 ,i think ,i should have something to say to them4 ,what are we to think of a writer who declares that the theory that specific and generic changes are due to use and disuse explains all the facts with transparent lucidity8 ,lamarck's hypothesis is no doubt a great help and a great step toward ,professor ,hering's2 it makes a known cause underlie variations1 and thus is free from those fatal objections which ,professor ,mivart and others have brought against the theory of ,messrs4 ,darwin and ,wallace2 but how does the theory that use develops an organism explain why offspring repeat the organism at all8 ,how does the ,lamarckian hypothesis explain the sterility of hybrids1 for example8 ,the sterility of hybrids has been always considered one of the great cruces in connection with any theory of ,evolution4 ,how again does it explain reversion to long-lost characters and the resumption of feral characteristics8 the phenomena of old age8 the principle that underlies longevity8 the reason why the reproductive system is generally the last to arrive at maturity1 and why few further developments take place in any organism after this has been fully developed8 the sterility of many animals under captivity8 the development in both males and females1 under certain circumstances1 of the characteristics of the opposite sex8 the latency of memory8 the unconsciousness with which we develop1 and with which instinctive actions are performed8 ,how does any theory advanced either by ,lamarck1 ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer1 or ,mr4 ,darwin explain1 or indeed throw light upon these facts until supplemented with the explanation given of them in ,life and ,habit--for which ,i must refer the reader to that work itself8 ,people may say what they like about the experience of the race1 #bed;a the registration of experiences continued for numberless generations1 #bed;b infinity of experiences1 #bed;c lapsed intelligence1 c41 but until they make ,memory1 in the most uncompromising sense of the word1 the key to all the phenomena of ,heredity1 they will get little help to the better understanding of the difficulties above adverted to4 ,add this to the theory of ,buffon1 ,erasmus ,darwin1 and ,lamarck1 and the points which ,i have above alluded to receive a good deal of lucidity4 ,but to return to ,mr4 ,romanes3 however much he and ,mr4 ,allen may differ about the merits of ,mr4 ,darwin1 they were at any rate not long since cordially agreed in vilipending my unhappy self1 and are now saying very much what ,i have been saying for some years past4 ,i do not deny that they are capable witnesses4 ,they will generally see a thing when a certain number of other people have come to do so4 ,i submit that1 no matter how grudgingly they give their evidence1 the tendency of that evidence is sufficiently clear to show that the opinions put forward in ,life and ,habit1 ,evolution1 ,old and ,new1 and ,unconscious ,memory1 deserve the attention of the reader4 ,i may perhaps deal with ,mr4 ,romanes' recent work more fully in the sequel to ,life and ,habit on which ,i am now engaged4 ,for the present it is enough to say that if he does not mean what ,professor ,hering and1 longo intervallo1 myself do1 he should not talk about habit or experience as between successive generations1 and that if he does mean what we do--which ,i suppose he does--he should have said so much more clearly and consistently than he has4 ,,postscript4 ,this afternoon 7,march #g1 #ahhd71 the copies of this book being ready for issue1 ,i see ,mr4 ,romanes' letter to the ,athenaeum of this day1 and get this postscript pasted into the book after binding4 ,mr4 ,romanes corrects his reference to the passage in which he says that ,canon ,kingsley first advanced the theory that instinct is inherited memory 7,m4 ,e4 in ,animals1 p4 #bif74 ,canon ,kingsley's words are to be found in ,fraser1 ,june1 #ahfg1 and are as follows3-- ,yon wood-wren has had enough to make him sad1 if only he recollects it1 and if he can recollect his road from ,morocco hither he maybe recollects likewise what happened on the road3 the long weary journey up the ,portuguese coast1 and through the gap between the ,pyrenees and the ,jaysquivel1 and up the ,landes of ,bordeaux1 and through ,brittany1 flitting by night and hiding and feeding as he could by day2 and how his mates flew against the lighthouses and were killed by hundreds1 and how he essayed the ,british ,channel and was blown back1 shrivelled up by bitter blasts2 and how he felt1 nevertheless1 that 'that was water he must cross1' he knew not why2 but something told him that his mother had done it before him1 and he was flesh of her flesh1 life of her life1 and had inherited her instinct 7as we call hereditary memory in order to avoid the trouble of finding out what it is and how it comes74 ,a duty was laid on him to go back to the place where he was bred1 and now it is done1 and he is weary and sad and lonely1 c4 c4 ,this is a very interesting passage1 and ,i am glad to quote it2 but it hardly amounts to advancing the theory that instinct is inherited memory4 ,observing ,mr4 ,romanes' words closely1 ,i see he only says that ,canon ,kingsley was the first to advance the theory that many hundred miles of landscape scenery can constitute an object of inherited memory2 but as he proceeds to say that this has since been independently suggested by several writers1 it is plain he intends to convey the idea that ,canon ,kingsley advanced the theory that instinct generally is inherited memory1 which indeed his words do2 but it is hardly credible that he should have left them where he did if he had realized their importance4 ,mr4 ,romanes proceeds to inform me personally that the reference to ,nature in his proof originally indicated another writer who had independently advanced the same theory as that of ,canon ,kingsley4 ,after this ,i have a right to ask him to tell me who the writer is1 and where ,i shall find what he said4 ,i ask this1 and at my earliest opportunity will do my best to give this writer1 too1 the credit he doubtless deserves4 ,i have never professed to be the originator of the theory connecting heredity with memory4 ,i knew ,i knew so little that ,i was in great trepidation when ,i wrote all the earlier chapters of ,life and ,habit4 ,i put them paradoxically1 because ,i did not dare to put them otherwise4 ,as the book went on1 ,i saw ,i was on firm ground1 and the paradox was dropped4 ,when ,i found what ,professor ,hering had done1 ,i put him forward as best ,i could at once4 ,i then learned ,german1 and translated him1 giving his words in full in ,unconscious ,memory2 since then ,i have always spoken of the theory as ,professor ,hering's4 ,mr4 ,romanes says that the theory in question forms the backbone of all the previous literature on instinct by the above-named writers 7not to mention their numerous followers7 and is by all of them elaborately stated as clearly as any theory can be stated in words4 ,few except ,mr4 ,romanes will say this4 ,i grant it ought to have formed the backbone of all previous literature on instinct by the above-named writers1 but when ,i wrote ,life and ,habit it was not understood to form it4 ,if it had been1 ,i should not have found it necessary to come before the public this fourth time during the last seven years to insist upon it4 ,of course the theory is not new--it was in the air and bound to come2 but when it came1 it came through ,professor ,hering of ,prague1 and not through those who1 great as are the services they have rendered1 still did not render this particular one of making memory the keystone of their system4 ,mr4 ,romanes now says3 ,why1 of course1 that's what they were meaning all the time4 ,perhaps they were1 but they did not say so1 and others--conspicuously ,mr4 ,romanes himself--did not understand them to be meaning what he now discovers that they meant4 ,when ,mr4 ,romanes attacked me in ,nature1 ,january #bg1 #ahha1 he said ,i had been anticipated by ,professor ,hering1 but he evidently did not understand that any one else had anticipated me2 and far from holding1 as he now does1 that the theory in question forms the backbone of all the previous writers on instinct1 and is by all of them elaborately stated as clearly as any theory can be stated in words1 he said 7in a passage already quoted7 that it was interesting1 if advanced merely as an illustration1 but to imagine that it maintains any truth of profound significance1 or that it can possibly be fraught with any benefit to science1 is absurd4 ,considering how recently ,mr4 ,romanes wrote the words just quoted1 he has soon forgotten them4 ,i do not1 as ,i have said already1 and never did1 claim to have originated the theory ,i put forward in ,life and ,habit4 ,i thought it out independently1 but ,i knew it must have occurred to many1 and had probably been worked out by many1 before myself4 ,my claim is to have brought it perhaps into fuller light1 and to have dwelt on its importance1 bearings1 and developments with some persistence1 and to have done so without much recognition or encouragement1 till lately4 ,of men of science1 ,mr4 ,a4 ,r4 ,wallace and ,professor ,mivart gave me encouragement1 but no one else has done so4 ,i sometimes saw1 as in the ,duke of ,argyll's case1 and in ,mr4 ,romanes' own1 that men were writing at me1 or borrowing from me1 but with the two exceptions already made1 and that also of the ,bishop of ,carlisle1 not one of the literary and scientific notables of the day so much as mentioned my name while making use of my work4 ,a few words more1 and ,i will bring these remarks to a close1 ,mr4 ,romanes says ,i represent the phenomena of memory as occurring throughout the inorganic world4 ,this implies that ,i attribute all the phenomena of memory as we see them in animals to such things as stones and gases4 ,mr4 ,romanes knows very well that ,i have never said anything which could warrant his attempting to put the absurdity into my mouth which he here tries to do4 ,the reader who wishes to see what ,i do maintain upon this subject will find it on pp4 #baf-bah of the present volume4 ,,extracts ,,from ,,alps ,,and ,,sanctuaries ,,op ,,piedmont ,,and ,,the ,,canton ,,ticino4 ,,dalpe1 ,,prato1 ,,rossura4 7,,from ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,of ,,alps ,,and ,,sanctuaries47 #bee ,talking of legs1 as ,i went through the main street of ,dalpe an old lady of about sixty-five stopped me1 and told me that while gathering her winter store of firewood she had had the misfortune to hurt her leg4 ,i was very sorry1 but ,i failed to satisfy her2 the more ,i sympathised in general terms1 the more ,i felt that something further was expected of me4 ,i went on trying to do the civil thing1 when the old lady cut me short by saying it would be much better if ,i were to see the leg at once2 so she showed it me in the street1 and there1 sure enough1 close to the groin there was a swelling4 ,again ,i said how sorry ,i was1 and added that perhaps she ought to show it to a medical man4 ,but aren't you a medical man8 said she in an alarmed manner4 ,certainly not1 ma'am1 replied ,i4 ,then why did you let me show you my leg8 said she indignantly1 and pulling her clothes down1 the poor old woman began to hobble off2 presently two others joined her1 and ,i heard hearty peals of laughter as she recounted her story4 ,a stranger visiting these out-of- the-way villages is almost certain to be mistaken for a doctor4 ,what business1 they say to themselves1 can any one else have there1 and who in his senses would dream of visiting them for pleasure8 ,this old lady had rushed to the usual conclusion1 and had been trying to get a little advice gratis4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the little objects looking like sentry-boxes that go all round ,prato ,church contain rough modern frescoes representing1 if ,i remember rightly1 the events attendant upon the crucifixion4 ,these are on a small scale what the chapels on the sacred mountain of ,varallo are on a large one4 ,small single oratories are scattered about all over the ,canton ,ticino1 and indeed everywhere in ,north ,italy1 by the road-side1 at all halting- places1 and especially at the crest of any more marked ascent1 where the tired wayfarer1 probably heavy laden1 might be inclined to say a naughty word or two if not checked4 ,the people like them1 and miss them when they come to ,england4 ,they sometimes do what the lower animals do in confinement when precluded from habits they are accustomed to1 and put up with strange makeshifts by way of substitute4 ,i once saw a poor ,ticinese woman kneeling in prayer before a dentist's show-case in the ,hampstead ,road2 she doubtless mistook the teeth for the relics of some saint4 ,i am afraid she was a little like a hen sitting upon a chalk egg1 but she seemed quite contented4 ,which of us1 indeed1 does not sit contentedly enough upon chalk eggs at times8 ,and what would life be but for the power to do so8 ,we do not sufficiently realise the part which illusion has played in our development4 ,one of the prime requisites for evolution is a certain power for adaptation to varying circumstances1 that is to say1 of plasticity1 bodily and mental4 ,but the power of adaptation is mainly dependent on the power of thinking certain new things sufficiently like certain others to which we have been accustomed for us not to be too much incommoded by the change--upon the power1 in fact1 of mistaking the new for the old4 ,the power of fusing ideas 7and through ideas1 structures7 depends upon the power of confusing them2 the power to confuse ideas that are not very unlike1 and that are presented to us in immediate sequence1 is mainly due to the fact of the impetus1 so to speak1 which the mind has upon it4 ,it is this which bars association from sticking to the letter of its bond2 for we are in a hurry to jump to a conclusion on the first show of plausible pretext1 and cut association's statement of claim short by taking it as read before we have got through half of it4 ,we get it into our notes1 in fact1 as ,mr4 ,justice ,stareleigh did in ,pickwick1 and having got it once in1 we are not going to get it out again4 ,this breeds fusion and confusion1 and from this there come new developments4 ,so powerful is the impetus which the mind has continually upon it that we always1 ,i believe1 make an effort to see every new object as a repetition of the object last before us4 ,objects are so varied and present themselves so rapidly1 that as a general rule we renounce this effort too promptly to notice it1 but it is always there1 and as ,i have just said1 it is because of it that we are able to mistake1 and hence to evolve new mental and bodily developments4 ,where the effort is successful1 there is illusion2 where nearly successful but not quite1 there is a shock and a sense of being puzzled--more or less1 as the case may be2 where it so obviously impossible as not to be pursued1 there is no perception of the effort at all4 ,mr4 ,locke has been greatly praised for his essay upon human understanding4 ,an essay on human misunderstanding should be no less interesting and important4 ,illusion to a small extent is one of the main causes1 if indeed it is not the main cause1 of progress1 but it must be upon a small scale4 ,all abortive speculation1 whether commercial or philosophical1 is based upon it1 and much as we may abuse such speculation1 we are1 all of us1 its debtors4 99 99 99 99 99 ,i know few things more touching in their way than the porch of ,rossura ,church3 it is dated early in the last century1 and is absolutely without ornament2 the flight of steps inside it lead up to the level of the floor of the church4 ,one lovely summer ,sunday morning passing the church betimes1 ,i saw the people kneeling upon these steps1 the church within being crammed4 ,in the darker light of the porch1 they told out against the sky that showed through the open arch beyond them2 far away the eye rested on the mountains--deep blue1 save where the snow still lingered4 ,i never saw anything more beautiful--and these forsooth are the people whom so many of us think to better by distributing tracts about ,protestantism among them6 ,i liked the porch almost best under an aspect which it no longer presents4 ,one summer an opening was made in the west wall1 which was afterwards closed because the wind blew through it too much and made the church too cold4 ,while it was open1 one could sit on the church steps and look down through it on to the bottom of the ,ticino valley2 and through the windows one could see the slopes about ,dalpe and ,cornone4 ,between the two windows there is a picture of austere old ,s4 ,carlo ,borromeo with his hands joined in prayer4 ,it was at ,rossura that ,i made the acquaintance of a word which ,i have since found very largely used throughout ,north ,italy4 ,it is pronounced chow pure and simple1 but is written1 if written at all1 ciau or ciao1 the a being kept very broad4 ,i believe the word is derived from schiavo1 a slave1 which became corrupted into schiao1 and ciao4 ,it is used with two meanings1 both of which1 however1 are deducible from the word slave4 ,in its first and more common use it is simply a salute1 either on greeting or taking leave1 and means1 ,i am your very obedient servant4 ,thus1 if one has been talking to a small child1 its mother will tell it to say chow before it goes away1 and will then nod her head and say chow herself4 ,the other use is a kind of pious expletive1 intending ,i must endure it1 ,i am the slave of a higher power4 ,it was in this sense ,i first heard it at ,rossura4 ,a woman was washing at a fountain while ,i was eating my lunch4 ,she said she had lost her daughter in ,paris a few weeks earlier4 ,she was a beautiful woman1 said the bereaved mother1 but--chow4 ,she had great talents--chow4 ,i had her educated by the nuns of ,bellinzona--chow4 ,her knowledge of geography was consummate--chow1 chow1 c4 ,here chow means pazienza1 ,i have done and said all that ,i can1 and must now bear it as best ,i may4 ,i tried to comfort her1 but could do nothing1 till at last it occurred to me to say chow too4 ,i did so1 and was astonished at the soothing effect it had upon her4 ,how subtle are the laws that govern consolation6 ,i suppose they must ultimately be connected with reproduction--the consoling idea being a kind of small cross which re-generates or re- creates the sufferer4 ,it is important1 therefore1 that the new ideas with which the old are to be crossed should differ from these last sufficiently to divert the attention1 and yet not so much as to cause a painful shock4 ,there should be a little shock1 or there will be no variation in the new ideas that are generated1 but they will resemble those that preceded them1 and grief will be continued2 there must not be too great a shock or there will be no illusion--no confusion and fusion between the new set of ideas and the old1 and in consequence there will be no result at all1 or1 if any1 an increase in mental discord4 ,we know very little1 however1 upon this subject1 and are continually shown to be at fault by finding an unexpectedly small cross produce a wide diversion of the mental images1 while in other cases a wide one will produce hardly any result4 ,sometimes again1 a cross which we should have said was much too wide will have an excellent effect4 ,i did not anticipate1 for example1 that my saying chow would have done much for the poor woman who had lost her daughter3 the cross did not seem wide enough3 she was already1 as ,i thought1 saturated with chow4 ,i can only account for the effect my application of it produced by supposing the word to have derived some element of strangeness and novelty as coming from a foreigner--just as land which will give a poor crop1 if planted with sets from potatoes that have been grown for three or four years on this same soil1 will yet yield excellently if similar sets be brought from twenty miles off4 ,for the potato1 so far as ,i have studied it1 is a good-tempered1 frivolous plant1 easily amused and easily bored1 and one1 moreover1 which if bored1 yawns horribly4 ,i may say in passing that the tempers of plants have not been sufficiently studied2 and what little opinion we have formed about their dispositions is for the most part ill formed4 ,the sulkiest tree that ,i know is the silver beech4 ,it never forgives a scratch4--,there is a tree in ,kensington gardens a little off the west side of the ,serpentine with names cut upon it as long ago as #agag and #agcf1 which the tree is as little able to forgive and forget as though the injury had been done not ten years since4 ,and the tree is not an aged tree either4 ,,calonico4 7,,from ,,chapter ,v4 ,,of ,,alps ,,and ,,sanctuaries47 ,our inventions increase in geometrical ratio4 ,they are like living beings1 each one of which may become parent of a dozen others--some good and some ne'er-do-weels2 but they differ from animals and vegetables inasmuch as they not only increase in a geometrical ratio1 but the period of their gestation decreases in geometrical ratio also4 ,take this matter of ,alpine roads for example4 ,for how many millions of years was there no approach to a road over the ,st4 ,gothard1 save the untutored watercourses of the ,ticino and the ,reuss1 and the track of the bouquetin or the chamois8 ,for how many more ages after this was there not a mere shepherd's or huntsman's path by the river-side--without so much as a log thrown over so as to form a rude bridge8 ,no one would probably have ever thought of making a bridge out of his own unaided imagination1 more than any monkey that we know of has done so4 ,but an avalanche or a flood once swept a pine into position and left it there2 on this a genius1 who was doubtless thought to be doing something very infamous1 ventured to make use of it4 ,another time a pine was found nearly across the stream1 but not quite2 and not quite1 again1 in the place where it was wanted4 ,a second genius1 to the horror of his fellow-tribesmen--who declared that this time the world really would come to an end--shifted the pine a few feet so as to bring it across the stream and into the place where it was wanted4 ,this man was the inventor of bridges--his family repudiated him1 and he came to a bad end4 ,from this to cutting down the pine and bringing it from some distance is an easy step4 ,to avoid detail1 let us come to the old ,roman horse-road over the ,alps4 ,the time between the shepherd's path and the ,roman road is probably short in comparison with that between the mere chamois track and the first thing that can be called a path of men4 ,from the ,roman we go on to the mediaeval road with more frequent stone bridges1 and from the mediaeval to the ,napoleonic carriage-road4 ,the close of the last century and the first quarter of this present one was the great era for the making of carriage-roads4 ,fifty years have hardly passed1 and here we are already in the age of tunnelling and railroads4 ,the first period1 from the chamois track to the foot road1 was one of millions of years2 the second1 from the first foot road to the ,roman military way1 was one of many thousands2 the third1 from the ,roman to the mediaeval1 was perhaps a thousand2 from the mediaeval to the ,napoleonic1 five hundred2 from the ,napoleonic to the railroad1 fifty4 ,what will come next we know not1 but it should come within twenty years1 and will probably have something to do with electricity4 ,it follows by an easy process of reasoning that after another couple of hundred years or so1 great sweeping changes should be made several times in an hour1 or indeed in a second1 or fraction of a second1 till they pass unnoticed as the revolutions we undergo in the embryonic stages1 or are felt simply as vibrations4 ,this would undoubtedly be the case but for the existence of a friction which interferes between theory and practice4 ,this friction is caused partly by the disturbance of vested interests which every invention involves1 and which will be found intolerable when men become millionaires and paupers alternately once a fortnight--living one week in a palace and the next in a workhouse1 and having perpetually to be sold up1 and then to buy a new house and refurnish1 c4--so that artificial means for stopping inventions will be adopted2 and partly by the fact that though all inventions breed in geometrical ratio1 yet some multiply more rapidly than others1 and the backwardness of one art will impede the forwardness of another4 ,at any rate1 so far as ,i can see1 the present is about the only comfortable time for a man to live in1 that either ever has been or ever will be4 ,the past was too slow1 and the future will be much too fast4 ,the fact is 7but it is so obvious that ,i am ashamed to say anything about it7 that science is rapidly reducing time and space to a very undifferentiated condition4 ,take lamb3 we can get lamb all the year round4 ,this is perpetual spring2 but perpetual spring is no spring at all2 it is not a season2 there are no more seasons1 and being no seasons1 there is no time4 ,take rhubarb1 again4 ,rhubarb to the philosopher is the beginning of autumn1 if indeed the philosopher can see anything as the beginning of anything4 ,if any one asks why1 ,i suppose the philosopher would say that rhubarb is the beginning of the fruit season1 which is clearly autumnal1 according to our present classification4 ,from rhubarb to the green gooseberry the step is so small as to require no bridging--with one's eyes shut1 and plenty of cream and sugar1 they are almost indistinguishable--but the gooseberry is quite an autumnal fruit1 and only a little earlier than apples and plums1 which last are almost winter2 clearly1 therefore1 for scientific purposes rhubarb is autumnal4 ,as soon as we can find gradations1 or a sufficient number of uniting links between two things1 they become united or made one thing1 and any classification of them must be illusory4 ,classification is only possible where there is a shock given to the senses by reason of a perceived difference1 which1 if it is considerable1 can be expressed in words4 ,when the world was younger and less experienced1 people were shocked at what appeared great differences between living forms2 but species1 whether of animals or plants1 are now seen to be so united1 either inferentially or by actual finding of the links1 that all classification is felt to be arbitrary4 ,the seasons are like species--they were at one time thought to be clearly marked1 and capable of being classified with some approach to satisfaction4 ,it is now seen that they blend either in the present or the past insensibly into one another1 much as ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer shows us that geology and astronomy blend into one another1 #bfe and cannot be classified except by cutting ,gordian knots in a way which none but plain sensible people can tolerate4 ,strictly speaking1 there is only one place1 one time1 one action1 and one individual or thing2 of this thing or individual each one of us is a part4 ,it is perplexing1 but it is philosophy2 and modern philosophy1 like modern music1 is nothing if it is not perplexing4 ,a simple verification of the autumnal character of rhubarb may1 at first sight1 appear to be found in ,covent ,garden ,market1 where we can actually see the rhubarb towards the end of ,october4 ,but this way of looking at the matter argues a fatal ineptitude for the pursuit of true philosophy4 ,it would be the most serious error to regard the rhubarb that will appear in ,covent ,garden ,market next ,october as belonging to the autumn then supposed to be current4 ,practically1 no doubt1 it does so1 but theoretically it must be considered as the first-fruits of the autumn 7if any7 of the following year1 which begins before the preceding summer 7or1 perhaps1 more strictly1 the preceding summer but one--and hence1 but any number71 has well ended4 ,whether this1 however1 is so or no1 the rhubarb can be seen in ,covent ,garden1 and ,i am afraid it must be admitted that to the philosophically minded there lurks within it a theory of evolution1 and even ,pantheism1 as surely as ,theism was lurking in ,bishop ,berkeley's tar-water4 ,to return1 however1 to ,calonico4 ,the curato was very kind to me4 ,we had long talks together4 ,i could see it pained him that ,i was not a ,catholic4 ,he could never quite get over this1 but he was very good and tolerant4 ,he was anxious to be assured that ,i was not one of those ,english who went about distributing tracts1 and trying to convert people4 ,this of course was the last thing ,i should have wished to do2 and when ,i told him so1 he viewed me with sorrow but henceforth without alarm4 ,all the time ,i was with him ,i felt how much ,i wished ,i could be a ,catholic in ,catholic countries1 and a ,protestant in ,protestant ones4 ,surely there are some things which like politics are too serious to be taken quite seriously4 ,surtout point de zele is not the saying of a cynic1 but the conclusion of a sensible man2 and the more deep our feeling is about any matter1 the more occasion have we to be on our guard against zele in this particular respect4 ,there is but one step from the earnest to the intense4 ,when ,st4 ,paul told us to be all things to all men he let in the thin end of the wedge1 nor did he mark it to say how far it was to be driven4 ,i have ,italian friends whom ,i greatly value1 and who tell me they think ,i flirt just a trifle too much with il partito nero1 when ,i am in ,italy1 for they know that in the main ,i think as they do4 ,these people1 they say1 make themselves very agreeable to you1 and show you their smooth side2 we1 who see more of them1 know their rough one4 ,knuckle under to them1 and they will perhaps condescend to patronise you2 have any individuality of your own1 and they know neither scruple nor remorse in their attempts to get you out of their way4 ',il prete' they say1 with a significant look1 'e sempre prete4' ,for the future let us have professors and men of science instead of priests4 ,i smile to myself at this last1 and reply1 that ,i am a foreigner come among them for recreation1 and anxious to keep clear of their internal discords4 ,i do not wish to cut myself off from one side of their national character--a side which1 in some respects1 is no less interesting than the one with which ,i suppose ,i am on the whole more sympathetic4 ,if ,i were an ,italian1 ,i should feel bound to take a side2 as it is1 ,i wish to leave all quarrelling behind me1 having as much of that in ,england as suffices to keep me in good health and temper4 ,in old times people gave their spiritual and intellectual sop to ,nemesis4 ,even when most positive1 they admitted a percentage of doubt4 ,mr4 ,tennyson has said well1 ,there lives more doubt--,i quote from memory--in honest faith1 believe me1 than in half the systems of philosophy1 or words to that effect4 ,the victor had a slave at his ear during his triumph2 the slaves during the ,roman ,saturnalia1 dressed in their masters' clothes1 sat at meat with them1 told them of their faults1 and blacked their faces for them4 ,they made their masters wait upon them4 ,in the ages of faith1 an ass dressed in sacerdotal robes was gravely conducted to the cathedral choir at a certain season1 and mass was said before him1 and hymns chanted discordantly4 ,the elder ,d',israeli1 from whom ,i am quoting1 writes3 ,on other occasions1 they put burnt old shoes to fume in the censors3 ran about the church leaping1 singing1 dancing1 and playing at dice upon the altar1 while a boy bishop or pope of fools burlesqued the divine service2 and later on he says3 ,so late as #afde1 a pupil of ,gassendi1 writing to his master what he himself witnessed at ,aix on the ,feast of ,innocents1 says--',i have seen in some monasteries in this province extravagances solemnised which pagans would not have practised4 ,neither the clergy nor the guardians indeed go to the choir on this day1 but all is given up to the lay brethren1 the cabbage-cutters1 errand boys1 cooks1 scullions1 and gardeners2 in a word1 all the menials fill their places in the church1 and insist that they perform the offices proper for the day4 ,they dress themselves with all the sacerdotal ornaments1 but torn to rags1 or wear them inside out3 they hold in their hands the books reversed or sideways1 which they pretend to read with large spectacles without glasses1 and to which they fix the rinds of scooped oranges 4 4 4 6 particularly while dangling the censers they keep shaking them in derision1 and letting the ashes fly about their heads and faces1 one against the other4 ,in this equipage they neither sing hymns nor psalms nor masses1 but mumble a certain gibberish as shrill and squeaking as a herd of pigs whipped on to market4 ,the nonsense verses they chant are singularly barbarous3-- ',haec est clara dies1 clararum clara dierum1 ,haec est festa dies festarum festa dierum4' #bfi ,faith was far more assured in the times when the spiritual saturnalia were allowed than now4 ,the irreverence which was not dangerous then1 is now intolerable4 ,it is a bad sign for a man's peace in his own convictions when he cannot stand turning the canvas of his life occasionally upside down1 or reversing it in a mirror1 as painters do with their pictures that they may judge the better concerning them4 ,i would persuade all ,jews1 ,mohammedans1 ,comtists1 and freethinkers to turn high ,anglicans1 or better still1 downright ,catholics for a week in every year1 and ,i would send people like ,mr4 ,gladstone to attend ,mr4 ,bradlaugh's lectures in the forenoon1 and the ,grecian pantomime in the evening1 two or three times every winter4 ,i should perhaps tell them that the ,grecian pantomime has nothing to do with ,greek plays4 ,they little know how much more keenly they would relish their normal opinions during the rest of the year for the little spiritual outing which ,i would prescribe for them1 which1 after all1 is but another phase of the wise saying--,surtout point de zele4 ,st4 ,paul attempted an obviously hopeless task 7as the ,church of ,rome very well understands7 when he tried to put down seasonarianism4 ,people must and will go to church to be a little better1 to the theatre to be a little naughtier1 to the ,royal ,institution to be a little more scientific1 than they are in actual life4 ,it is only by pulsations of goodness1 naughtiness1 and whatever else we affect that we can get on at all4 ,i grant that when in his office1 a man should be exact and precise1 but our holidays are our garden1 and too much precision here is a mistake4 ,surely truces1 without even an arriere pensee of difference of opinion1 between those who are compelled to take widely different sides during the greater part of their lives1 must be of infinite service to those who can enter on them4 ,there are few merely spiritual pleasures comparable to that derived from the temporary laying down of a quarrel1 even though we may know that it must be renewed shortly4 ,it is a great grief to me that there is no place where ,i can go among ,mr4 ,darwin1 ,professors ,huxley1 ,tyndal1 and ,ray ,lankester1 ,miss ,buckley1 ,mr4 ,romanes1 ,mr4 ,grant ,allen and others whom ,i cannot call to mind at this moment1 as ,i can go among the ,italian priests4 ,i remember in one monastery 7but this was not in the ,canton ,ticino7 the novice taught me how to make sacramental wafers1 and ,i played him ,handel on the organ as well as ,i could4 ,i told him that ,handel was a ,catholic2 he said he could tell that by his music at once4 ,there is no chance of getting among our scientists in this way4 ,some friends say ,i was telling a lie when ,i told the novice ,handel was a ,catholic1 and ought not to have done so4 ,i make it a rule to swallow a few gnats a day1 lest ,i should come to strain at them1 and so bolt camels2 but the whole question of lying is difficult4 ,what is lying8 ,turning for moral guidance to my cousins the lower animals1 whose unsophisticated nature proclaims what ,god has taught them with a directness we may sometimes study1 ,i find the plover lying when she lures us from her young ones under the fiction of a broken wing4 ,is ,god angry1 think you1 with this pretty deviation from the letter of strict accuracy8 or was it not ,he who whispered to her to tell the falsehood--to tell it with a circumstance1 without conscientious scruple1 not once only1 but to make a practice of it so as to be a plausible1 habitual1 and professional liar for some six weeks or so in the year8 ,i imagine so4 ,when ,i was young ,i used to read in good books that it was ,god who taught the bird to make her nest1 and if so ,he probably taught each species the other domestic arrangements best suited to it4 ,or did the nest-building information come from ,god1 and was there an evil one among the birds also who taught them at any rate to steer clear of priggishness8 ,think of the spider again--an ugly creature1 but ,i suppose ,god likes it4 ,what a mean and odious lie is that web which naturalists extol as such a marvel of ingenuity6 ,once on a summer afternoon in a far country ,i met one of those orchids who make it their business to imitate a fly with their petals4 ,this lie they dispose so cunningly that real flies1 thinking the honey is being already plundered1 pass them without molesting them4 ,watching intently and keeping very still1 methought ,i heard this orchid speaking to the offspring which she felt within her1 though ,i saw them not4 ,my children1 she exclaimed1 ,i must soon leave you2 think upon the fly1 my loved ones1 for this is truth2 cling to this great thought in your passage through life1 for it is the one thing needful2 once lose sight of it and you are lost6 ,over and over again she sang this burden in a small still voice1 and so ,i left her4 ,then straightway ,i came upon some butterflies whose profession it was to pretend to believe in all manner of vital truths which in their inner practice they rejected2 thus1 asserting themselves to be certain other and hateful butterflies which no bird will eat by reason of their abominable smell1 these cunning ones conceal their own sweetness1 and live long in the land and see good days4 ,no3 lying is so deeply rooted in nature that we may expel it with a fork1 and yet it will always come back again3 it is like the poor1 we must have it always with us4 ,we must all eat a peck of moral dirt before we die4 ,all depends upon who it is that is lying4 ,one man may steal a horse when another may not look over a hedge4 ,the good man who tells no lies wittingly to himself and is never unkindly1 may lie and lie and lie whenever he chooses to other people1 and he will not be false to any man3 his lies become truths as they pass into the hearers' ear4 ,if a man deceives himself and is unkind1 the truth is not in him2 it turns to falsehood while yet in his mouth1 like the quails in the ,wilderness of ,sinai4 ,how this is so or why1 ,i know not1 but that the ,lord hath mercy on whom ,he will have mercy and whom ,he willeth ,he hardeneth4 ,my ,italian friends are doubtless in the main right about the priests1 but there are many exceptions1 as they themselves gladly admit4 ,for my own part ,i have found the curato in the small subalpine villages of ,north ,italy to be more often than not a kindly excellent man to whom ,i am attracted by sympathies deeper than any mere superficial differences of opinion can counteract4 ,with monks1 however1 as a general rule1 ,i am less able to get on3 nevertheless ,i have received much courtesy at the hands of some4 ,my young friend the novice was delightful--only it was so sad to think of the future that is before him4 ,he wanted to know all about ,england1 and when ,i told him it was an island1 clasped his hands and said1 ,oh che ,providenza6 ,he told me how the other young men of his own age plagued him as he trudged his rounds high up among the most distant hamlets begging alms for the poor4 ,be a good fellow1 they would say to him1 drop all this nonsense and come back to us1 and we will never plague you again4 ,then he would turn upon them and put their words from him4 ,of course my sympathies were with the other young men rather than with him1 but it was impossible not to be sorry for the manner in which he had been humbugged from the day of his birth1 till he was now incapable of seeing things from any other standpoint than that of authority4 ,what he said to me about knowing that ,handel was a ,catholic by his music1 put me in mind of what another good ,catholic once said to me about a picture4 ,he was a ,frenchman and very nice1 but a devot1 and anxious to convert me4 ,he paid a few days' visit to ,london1 so ,i showed him the ,national ,gallery4 ,while there ,i pointed out to him ,sebastian del ,piombo's picture of the raising of ,lazarus as one of the supposed masterpieces of our collection4 ,he had the proper orthodox fit of admiration over it1 and then we went through the other rooms4 ,after a while we found ourselves before ,west's picture of ,christ healing the ,sick4 ,my ,french friend did not1 ,i suppose1 examine it very carefully1 at any rate he believed he was again before the raising of ,lazarus by ,sebastian del ,piombo2 he paused before it1 and had his fit of admiration over again3 then turning to me he said1 ,ah6 you would understand this picture better if you were a ,catholic4 ,i did not tell him of his mistake4 ,,piora4 7,,from ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,of ,,alps ,,and ,,sanctuaries47 #bge ,an excursion which may be very well made from ,faido is to the ,val ,piora1 which ,i have already more than once mentioned4 ,there is a large hotel here which has been opened some years1 but has not hitherto proved the success which it was hoped it would be4 ,i have stayed there two or three times and found it very comfortable2 doubtless1 now that ,signer ,lombardi of the ,hotel ,prosa has taken it1 it will become a more popular place of resort4 ,i took a trap from ,faido to ,ambri1 and thence walked over to ,quinto2 here the path begins to ascend1 and after an hour ,ronco is reached4 ,there is a house at ,ronco where refreshments and excellent ,faido beer can be had4 ,the old lady who keeps the house would make a perfect ,fate2 ,i saw her sitting at her window spinning1 and looking down over the ,ticino valley as though it were the world and she were spinning its destiny4 ,she had a somewhat stern expression1 thin lips1 iron-grey eyes1 and an aquiline nose2 her scanty locks straggled from under the handkerchief which she wore round her head4 ,her employment and the wistful far-away look she cast upon the expanse below made a very fine ensemble4 ,she would have afforded1 as ,sir ,walter ,scott says1 a study for a ,rembrandt1 had that celebrated painter existed at the period1 #bgf but she must have been a smart-looking1 handsome girl once4 ,she brightened up in conversation4 ,i talked about ,piora1 which ,i already knew1 and the ,lago ,tom1 the highest of the three lakes4 ,she said she knew the ,lago ,tom4 ,i said laughingly1 ,oh1 ,i have no doubt you do4 ,we've had many a good day at the ,lago ,tom1 ,i know4 ,she looked down at once4 ,in spite of her nearly eighty years she was active as a woman of forty1 and altogether she was a very grand old lady4 ,her house is scrupulously clean4 ,while ,i watched her spinning1 ,i thought of what must so often occur to summer visitors4 ,i mean what sort of a look-out the old woman must have in winter1 when the wind roars and whistles1 and the snow drives down the valley with a fury of which we in ,england can have little conception4 ,what a place to see a snowstorm from6 and what a place from which to survey the landscape next morning after the storm is over and the air is calm and brilliant4 ,there are such mornings3 ,i saw one once1 but ,i was at the bottom of the valley and not high up1 as at ,ronco4 ,ronco would take a little sun even in midwinter1 but at the bottom of the valley there is no sun for weeks and weeks together2 all is in deep shadow below1 though the upper hill-sides may be seen to have the sun upon them4 ,i walked once on a frosty winter's morning from ,airolo to ,giornico1 and can call to mind nothing in its way more beautiful3 everything was locked in frost--there was not a watershed but was sheeted and coated with ice3 the road was hard as granite--all was quiet1 and seen as through a dark but incredibly transparent medium4 ,near ,piotta ,i met the whole village dragging a large tree2 there were many men and women dragging at it1 but they had to pull hard1 and they were silent2 as ,i passed them ,i thought what comely1 well-begotten people they were4 ,then1 looking up1 there was a sky1 cloudless and of the deepest blue1 against which the snow-clad mountains stood out splendidly4 ,no one will regret a walk in these valleys during the depth of winter4 ,but ,i should have liked to have looked down from the sun into the sunlessness1 as the old ,fate woman at ,ronco can do when she sits in winter at her window2 or again1 ,i should like to see how things would look from this same window on a leaden morning in midwinter after snow has fallen heavily and the sky is murky and much darker than the earth4 ,when the storm is at its height1 the snow must search and search and search even through the double windows with which the houses are protected4 ,it must rest upon the frames of the pictures of saints1 and of the sisters grab1 and of the last hours of ,count ,ugolino1 which adorn the walls of the parlour4 ,no wonder there is a ,s4 ,maria della ,neve1--a ,st4 ,mary of the ,snow2 but ,i do wonder that she has not been painted4 ,i said this to an ,italian once1 and he said the reason was probably this--that ,st4 ,mary of the ,snow was not developed till long after ,italian art had begun to decline4 ,i suppose in another hundred years or so we shall have a ,st4 ,maria delle ,ferrovie--a ,st4 ,mary of the ,railways4 ,from ,ronco the path keeps level and then descends a little so as to cross the stream that comes down from ,piora4 ,this is near the village of ,altanca1 the church of which looks remarkably well from here4 ,then there is an hour and a half's rapid ascent1 and at last all on a sudden one finds oneself on the ,lago ,ritom1 close to the hotel4 ,the lake is about a mile1 or a mile and a half1 long1 and half a mile broad4 ,it is #fjjj feet above the sea1 very deep at the lower end1 and does not freeze where the stream issues from it1 so that the magnificent trout with which it abounds can get air and live through the winter4 ,in many other lakes1 as1 for example1 the ,lago di ,tremorgio1 they cannot do this1 and hence perish1 though the lakes have been repeatedly stocked4 ,the trout in the ,lago ,ritom are said to be the finest in the world1 and certainly ,i know none so fine myself4 ,they grow to be as large as moderate-sized salmon1 and have a deep-red flesh1 very firm and full of flavour4 ,i had two cutlets off one for breakfast1 and should have said they were salmon unless ,i had known otherwise4 ,in winter1 when the lake is frozen over1 the people bring their hay from the farther ,lake of ,cadagna in sledges across the ,lake ,ritom4 ,here1 again1 winter must be worth seeing1 but on a rough snowy day ,piora must be an awful place4 ,there are a few stunted pines near the hotel1 but the hillsides are for the most part bare and green4 ,piora in fact is a fine breezy open upland valley of singular beauty1 and with a sweet atmosphere of cow about it2 it is rich in rhododendrons and all manner of ,alpine flowers1 just a trifle bleak1 but as bracing as the ,engadine itself4 ,the first night ,i was ever in ,piora there was a brilliant moon1 and the unruffled surface of the lake took the reflection of the mountains4 ,i could see the cattle a mile off1 and hear the tinkling of their bells which danced multitudinously before the ear as fire-flies come and go before the eyes2 for all through a fine summer's night the cattle will feed as though it were day4 ,a little above the lake ,i came upon a man in a cave before a furnace1 burning lime1 and he sat looking into the fire with his back to the moonlight4 ,he was a quiet moody man1 and ,i am afraid ,i bored him1 for ,i could get hardly anything out of him but ,oh altro--polite but not communicative4 ,so after a while ,i left him with his face burnished as with gold from the fire1 and his back silver with the moonbeams2 behind him were the pastures and the reflections in the lake and the mountains and the distant ringing of the cowbells4 ,then ,i wandered on till ,i came to the chapel of ,s4 ,carlo2 and in a few minutes found myself on the ,lugo di ,cadagna4 ,here ,i heard that there were people1 and the people were not so much asleep as the simple peasantry of these upland valleys are expected to be by nine o'clock in the evening4 ,for now was the time when they had moved up from ,ronco1 ,altanca1 and other villages in some numbers to cut the hay1 and were living for a fortnight or three weeks in the chalets upon the ,lago di ,cadagna4 ,as ,i have said1 there is a chapel1 but ,i doubt whether it is attended during this season with the regularity with which the parish churches of ,ronco1 ,altanca1 c41 are attended during the rest of the year4 ,the young people1 ,i am sure1 like these annual visits to the high places1 and will be hardly weaned from them4 ,happily the hay will be always there1 and will have to be cut by some one1 and the old people will send the young ones4 ,as ,i was thinking of these things1 ,i found myself going off into a doze1 and thought the burnished man from the furnace came up and sat beside me1 and laid his hand upon my shoulder4 ,then ,i saw the green slopes that rise all round the lake were much higher than ,i had thought2 they went up thousands of feet1 and there were pine forests upon them1 while two large glaciers came down in streams that ended in a precipice of ice1 falling sheer into the lake4 ,the edges of the mountains against the sky were rugged and full of clefts1 through which ,i saw thick clouds of dust being blown by the wind as though from the other side of the mountains4 ,and as ,i looked1 ,i saw that this was not dust1 but people coming in crowds from the other side1 but so small as to be visible at first only as dust4 ,and the people became musicians1 and the mountainous amphitheatre a huge orchestra1 and the glaciers were two noble armies of women-singers in white robes1 ranged tier above tier behind each other1 and the pines became orchestral players1 while the thick dust-like cloud of chorus-singers kept pouring in through the clefts in the precipices in inconceivable numbers4 ,when ,i turned my telescope upon them ,i saw they were crowded up to the extreme edge of the mountains1 so that ,i could see underneath the soles of their boots as their legs dangled in the air4 ,in the midst of all1 a precipice that rose from out of the glaciers shaped itself suddenly into an organ1 and there was one whose face ,i well knew sitting at the keyboard1 smiling and pluming himself like a bird as he thundered forth a giant fugue by way of overture4 ,i heard the great pedal notes in the bass stalk majestically up and down1 as the rays of the ,aurora that go about upon the face of the heavens off the coast of ,labrador4 ,then presently the people rose and sang the chorus ,venus ,laughing from the ,skies2 but ere the sound had well died away1 ,i awoke1 and all was changed2 a light fleecy cloud had filled the whole basin1 but ,i still thought ,i heard a sound of music1 and a scampering-off of great crowds from the part where the precipices should be4 ,after that ,i heard no more but a little singing from the chalets1 and turned homewards4 ,when ,i got to the chapel of ,s4 ,carlo1 ,i was in the moonlight again1 and when near the hotel1 ,i passed the man at the mouth of the furnace with the moon still gleaming upon his back1 and the fire upon his face1 and he was very grave and quiet4 ,s4 ,,michele ,,and ,,monte ,,pirchiriano4 7,,extracts ,,from ,,chapters ,,vii4 ,,and ,x4 ,,of ,,alps ,,and ,,sanctuaries47 ,the history of the sanctuary of ,s4 ,michele is briefly as follows3-- ,at the close of the tenth century1 when ,otho ,,iii4 was ,emperor of ,germany1 a certain ,hugh de ,montboissier1 a noble of ,auvergne1 commonly called ,hugh the ,unsewn 7lo sdruscito71 was commanded by the ,pope to found a monastery in expiation of some grave offence4 ,he chose for his site the summit of the ,monte ,pirchiriano in the valley of ,susa1 being attracted partly by the fame of a church already built there by a recluse of ,ravenna1 ,giovanni ,vincenzo by name1 and partly by the striking nature of the situation4 ,hugh de ,montboissier1 when returning from ,rome to ,france with ,isengarde his wife1 would1 as a matter of course1 pass through the valley of ,susa4 ,the two--perhaps when stopping to dine at ,s4 ,ambrogio--would look up and observe the church founded by ,giovannia ,vincenzo3 they had got to build a monastery somewhere2 it would very likely1 therefore1 occur to them that they could not perpetuate their names better than by choosing this site1 which was on a much-travelled road1 and on which a fine building would show to advantage4 ,if my view is correct1 we have here an illustration of a fact which is continually observable--namely1 that all things which come to much1 whether they be books1 buildings1 pictures1 music1 or living beings1 are begotten of others of their own kind4 ,it is always the most successful1 like ,handel and ,shakespeare1 who owe most to their forerunners1 in spite of the modifications with which their works descend4 ,giovanni ,vincenzo had built his church about the year #ihg4 ,it is maintained by some that he had been bishop of ,ravenna1 but ,clareta gives sufficient reason for thinking otherwise4 ,in the ,cronaca ,clusina it is said that he had for some years previously lived as a recluse on the ,monte ,caprasio1 to the north of the present ,monte ,pirchiriano2 but that one night he had a vision1 in which he saw the summit of ,monte ,pirchiriano enveloped in heaven-descended flames1 and on this founded a church there1 and dedicated it to ,s4 ,michael4 ,this is the origin of the name ,pirchiriano1 which means ,greek text1 or the ,lord's fire4 ,avogadro is among those who make ,giovanni ,bishop1 or rather ,archbishop1 of ,ravenna1 and gives the following account of the circumstances which led to his resigning his diocese and going to live at the top of the inhospitable ,monte ,caprasio4 ,it seems there had been a confirmation at ,ravenna1 during which he had accidentally forgotten to confirm the child of a certain widow4 ,the child1 being in weakly health1 died before ,giovanni could repair his oversight1 and this preyed upon his mind4 ,in answer1 however1 to his earnest prayers1 it pleased the ,almighty to give him power to raise the dead child to life again2 this he did1 and having immediately performed the rite of confirmation1 restored the boy to his overjoyed mother4 ,he now became so much revered that he began to be alarmed lest pride should obtain dominion over him2 he felt1 therefore1 that his only course was to resign his diocese1 and go and live the life of a recluse on the top of some high mountain4 ,it is said that he suffered agonies of doubt as to whether it was not selfish of him to take such care of his own eternal welfare1 at the expense of that of his flock1 whom no successor could so well guide and guard from evil2 but in the end he took a reasonable view of the matter1 and concluded that his first duty was to secure his own spiritual position4 ,nothing short of the top of a very uncomfortable mountain could do this1 so he at once resigned his bishopric and chose ,monte ,caprasio as on the whole the most comfortable uncomfortable mountain he could find4 ,the latter part of the story will seem strange to ,englishmen4 ,we can hardly fancy the ,archbishop of ,canterbury or ,york resigning his diocese and settling down quietly on the top of ,scafell or ,cader ,idris to secure his eternal welfare4 ,they would hardly do so even on the top of ,primrose ,hill4 ,but nine hundred years ago human nature was not the same as now-a- days4 99 99 99 99 99 ,comparing our own clergy with the best ,north ,italian and ,ticinese priests1 ,i should say there was little to choose between them4 ,the latter are in a logically stronger position1 and this gives them greater courage in their opinions2 the former have the advantage in respect of money1 and the more varied knowledge of the world which money will command4 ,when ,i say ,catholics have logically the advantage over ,protestants1 ,i mean that starting from premises which both sides admit1 a merely logical ,protestant will find himself driven to the ,church of ,rome4 ,most men as they grow older will1 ,i think1 feel this1 and they will see in it the explanation of the comparatively narrow area over which the ,reformation extended1 and of the gain which ,catholicism has made of late years here in ,england4 ,on the other hand1 reasonable people will look with distrust upon too much reason4 ,the foundations of action lie deeper than reason can reach4 ,they rest on faith--for there is no absolutely certain incontrovertible premise which can be laid by man1 any more than there is any investment for money or security in the daily affairs of life which is absolutely unimpeachable4 ,the ,funds are not absolutely safe2 a volcano might break out under the ,bank of ,england4 ,a railway journey is not absolutely safe2 one person at least in several millions gets killed4 ,we invest our money upon faith1 mainly4 ,we choose our doctor upon faith1 for how little independent judgment can we form concerning his capacity8 ,we choose schools for our children chiefly upon faith4 ,the most important things a man has are his body1 his soul1 and his money4 ,it is generally better for him to commit these interests to the care of others of whom he can know little1 rather than be his own medical man1 or invest his money on his own judgment2 and this is nothing else than making a faith which lies deeper than reason can reach1 the basis of our action in those respects which touch us most nearly4 ,on the other hand1 as good a case could be made out for placing reason as the foundation1 inasmuch as it would be easy to show that a faith1 to be worth anything1 must be a reasonable one--one1 that is to say1 which is based upon reason4 ,the fact is that faith and reason are like function and organ1 desire and power1 or demand and supply2 it is impossible to say which comes first3 they come up hand in hand1 and are so small when we can first descry them1 that it is impossible to say which we first caught sight of4 ,all we can now see is that each has a tendency continually to outstrip the other by a little1 but by a very little only4 ,strictly they are not two things1 but two aspects of one thing2 for convenience' sake1 however1 we classify them separately4 ,it follows1 therefore--but whether it follows or no1 it is certainly true--that neither faith alone nor reason alone is a sufficient guide3 a man's safety lies neither in faith nor reason1 but in temper--in the power of fusing faith and reason1 even when they appear most mutually destructive4 ,that we all feel temper to be the first thing is plain from the fact that when we see two men quarrelling we seldom even try to weigh their arguments--we look instinctively at the tone or spirit or temper which the two display and give our verdict accordingly4 ,a man of temper will be certain in spite of uncertainty1 and at the same time uncertain in spite of certainty2 reasonable in spite of his resting mainly upon faith rather than reason1 and full of faith even when appealing most strongly to reason4 ,if it is asked1 ,in what should a man have faith8 ,to what faith should he turn when reason has led him to a conclusion which he distrusts8 the answer is1 ,to the current feeling among those whom he most looks up to--looking upon himself with suspicion if he is either among the foremost or the laggers4 ,in the rough1 homely common sense of the community to which we belong we have as firm ground as can be got4 ,this1 though not absolutely infallible1 is secure enough for practical purposes4 ,as ,i have said1 ,catholic priests have rather a fascination for me--when they are not ,englishmen4 ,i should say that the best ,north ,italian priests are more openly tolerant than our ,english clergy generally are4 ,i remember picking up one who was walking along a road1 and giving him a lift in my trap4 ,of course we fell to talking1 and it came out that ,i was a member of the ,church of ,england4 ,ebbene1 ,caro ,signore1 said he when we shook hands at parting2 mi rincresce che lei non crede come io1 ma in questi tempi non possiamo avere tutti i medesimi principii4 #bhg 99 99 99 99 99 ,the one thing1 he said1 which shocked him with the ,english1 was the manner in which they went about distributing tracts upon the ,continent4 ,i said no one could deplore the practice more profoundly than myself1 but that there were stupid and conceited people in every country1 who would insist upon thrusting their opinions upon people who did not want them4 ,he replied that the ,italians travelled not a little in ,england1 but that he was sure not one of them would dream of offering ,catholic tracts to people1 for example1 in the streets of ,london4 ,certainly ,i have never seen an ,italian to be guilty of such rudeness4 ,it seems to me that it is not only toleration that is a duty2 we ought to go beyond this now2 we should conform1 when we are among a sufficient number of those who would not understand our refusal to do so2 any other course is to attach too much importance at once to our own opinions and to those of our opponents4 ,by all means let a man stand by his convictions when the occasion requires1 but let him reserve his strength1 unless it is imperatively called for4 ,do not let him exaggerate trifles1 and let him remember that everything is a trifle in comparison with the not giving offence to a large number of kindly1 simple-minded people4 ,evolution1 as we all know1 is the great doctrine of modern times2 the very essence of evolution consists in the not shocking anything too violently1 but enabling it to mistake a new action for an old one1 without making believe too much4 ,one day when ,i was eating my lunch near a fountain1 there came up a moody1 meditative hen1 crooning plaintively after her wont4 ,i threw her a crumb of bread while she was still a good way off1 and then threw more1 getting her to come a little closer and a little closer each time2 at last she actually took a piece from my hand4 ,she did not quite like it1 but she did it4 ,a very little at a time1 this is the evolution principle2 and if we wish those who differ from us to understand us1 it is the only method to proceed upon4 ,i have sometimes thought that some of my friends among the priests have been treating me as ,i treated the meditative hen4 ,but what of that8 ,they will not kill and eat me1 nor take my eggs4 ,whatever1 therefore1 promotes a more friendly feeling between us must be pure gain4 99 99 99 99 99 ,sometimes priests say things1 as a matter of course1 which would make any ,english clergyman's hair stand on end4 ,at one town there is a remarkable fourteenth-century bridge1 commonly known as ,the ,devil's ,bridge4 ,i was sketching near this when a jolly old priest with a red nose came up and began a conversation with me4 ,he was evidently a popular character1 for every one who passed greeted him4 ,he told me that the devil did not really build the bridge4 ,i said ,i presumed not1 for he was not in the habit of spending his time so well4 ,i wish he had built it1 said my friend2 for then perhaps he would build us some more4 ,or we might even get a church out of him1 said ,i1 a little slyly4 ,ha1 ha1 ha6 we will convert him1 and make a good ,christian of him in the end4 ,when will our ,protestantism1 or ,rationalism1 or whatever it may be1 sit as lightly upon ourselves8 ,another time ,i had the following dialogue with an old ,piedmontese priest who lived in a castle which ,i asked permission to go over3-- ,vous etes ,anglais1 monsieur8 said he in ,french4 ,oui1 monsieur4 ,vous etes ,catholique8 ,monsieur1 je suis de la religion de mes ancetres4 ,pardon1 monsieur1 vos ancetres etaient ,catholiques jusqu'au temps de ,henri ,huit4 ,mais il y a trois cents ans depuis le temps de ,henri ,huit4 ,eh bien2 chacun a ses convictions2 vous ne parlez pas contre la religion8 ,jamais1 jamais1 monsieur1 j'ai un respect enorme pour l'eglise ,catholique4 ,monsieur1 faites comme chez vous2 allez ou vous voulez2 vous trouverez toutes les portes ouvertes4 ,amusez vous bien4 ,,considerations ,,on ,,the ,,decline ,,of ,,italian ,,art4 7,,from ,,chapter ,,xiii4 ,,of ,,alps ,,and ,,sanctuaries47 ,those who know the ,italians will see no sign of decay about them4 ,they are the quickest-witted people in the world1 and at the same time have much more of the old ,roman steadiness than they are generally credited with4 ,not only is there no sign of degeneration1 but1 as regards practical matters1 there is every sign of health and vigorous development4 ,the ,north ,italians are more like ,englishmen1 both in body1 and mind1 than any other people whom ,i know2 ,i am continually meeting ,italians whom ,i should take for ,englishmen if ,i did not know their nationality4 ,they have all our strong points1 but they have more grace and elasticity of mind than we have4 ,priggishness is the sin which doth most easily beset middle-class1 and so- called educated ,englishmen2 we call it purity and culture1 but it does not much matter what we call it4 ,it is the almost inevitable outcome of a university education1 and will last as long as ,oxford and ,cambridge do1 but not much longer4 ,lord ,beaconsfield sent ,lothair to ,oxford2 it is with great pleasure that ,i see he did not send ,endymion4 ,my friend ,jones called my attention to this1 and we noted that the growth observable throughout ,lord ,beaconsfield's life was continued to the end4 ,he was one of those who1 no matter how long he lived1 would have been always growing3 this is what makes his later novels so much better than those of ,thackeray or ,dickens4 ,there was something of the child about him to the last4 ,earnestness was his greatest danger1 but if he did not quite overcome it 7as who indeed can8 ,it is the last enemy that shall be subdued71 he managed to veil it with a fair amount of success4 ,as for ,endymion1 of course if ,lord ,beaconsfield had thought ,oxford would be good for him1 he could1 as ,jones pointed out to me1 just as well have killed ,mr4 ,ferrars a year or two later4 ,we feel satisfied1 therefore1 that ,endymion's exclusion from a university was carefully considered1 and are glad4 ,i will not say that priggishness is absolutely unknown among the ,north ,italians2 sometimes one comes upon a young ,italian who wants to learn ,german1 but not often4 ,priggism1 or whatever the substantive is1 is as essentially a ,teutonic vice as holiness is a ,semitic characteristic2 and if an ,italian happens to be a prig1 he will1 like ,tacitus1 invariably show a hankering after ,german institutions4 ,the idea1 however1 that the ,italians were ever a finer people than they are now1 will not pass muster with those who knew them4 ,at the same time1 there can be no doubt that modern ,italian art is in many respects as bad as it was once good4 ,i will confine myself to painting only4 ,the modern ,italian painters1 with very few exceptions1 paint as badly as we do1 or even worse1 and their motives are as poor as is their painting4 ,at an exhibition of modern ,italian pictures1 ,i generally feel that there is hardly a picture on the walls but is a sham--that is to say1 painted not from love of this particular subject and an irresistible desire to paint it1 but from a wish to paint an academy picture1 and win money or applause4 ,the last rays of the sunset of genuine art are to be found in the votive pictures at ,locarno or ,oropa1 and in many a wayside chapel4 ,in these1 religious art still lingers as a living language1 however rudely spoken4 ,in these alone is the story told1 not as in the ,latin and ,greek verses of the scholar1 who thinks he has succeeded best when he has most concealed his natural manner of expressing himself1 but by one who knows what he wants to say1 and says it in his mother-tongue1 shortly1 and without caring whether or not his words are in accordance with academic rules4 ,i regret to see photography being introduced for votive purposes1 and also to detect in some places a disposition on the part of the authorities to be a little ashamed of these pictures and to place them rather out of sight4 ,the question is1 how has the falling-off in ,italian painting been caused8 ,and by doing what may we again get ,bellinis and ,andrea ,mantegnas as in old time8 ,the fault does not lie in any want of raw material3 nor yet does it lie in want of taking pains4 ,the modern ,italian painter frets himself to the full as much as his predecessor did--if the truth were known1 probably a great deal more4 ,i am sure ,titian did not take much pains after he was more than about twenty years old4 ,it does not lie in want of schooling or art education4 ,for the last three hundred years1 ever since the ,caraccis opened their academy at ,bologna1 there has been no lack of art education in ,italy4 ,curiously enough1 the date of the opening of the ,bolognese ,academy coincides as nearly as may be with the complete decadence of ,italian painting4 ,the academic system trains boys to study other people's works rather than nature1 and1 as ,leonardo da ,vinci so well says1 it makes them nature's grandchildren and not her children4 ,this ,i believe is at any rate half the secret of the whole matter4 ,if half-a-dozen young ,italians could be got together with a taste for drawing2 if they had power to add to their number2 if they were allowed to see paintings and drawings done up to the year ,a4,d4 #aeaj1 and votive pictures and the comic papers2 if they were left with no other assistance than this1 absolutely free to please themselves1 and could be persuaded not to try and please any one else1 ,i believe that in fifty years we should have all that was ever done repeated with fresh naivete1 and as much more delightfully than even by the best old masters1 as these are more delightful than anything we know of in classic painting4 ,the young plants keep growing up abundantly every day--look at ,bastianini1 dead not ten years since--but they are browsed down by the academies4 ,i remember there came out a book many years ago with the title1 ,what becomes of all the clever little children8 ,i never saw the book1 but the title is pertinent4 ,any man who can write1 can draw to a not inconsiderable extent4 ,look at the ,bayeux tapestry2 yet ,matilda probably never had a drawing lesson in her life4 ,see how well prisoner after prisoner in the ,tower of ,london has cut out this or that in the stone of his prison wall1 without1 in all probability1 having ever tried his hand at drawing before4 ,look at my friend ,jones1 who has several illustrations in this book4 #bid ,the first year he went abroad with me he could hardly draw at all4 ,he was no year away from ,england more than three weeks4 ,how did he learn8 ,on the old principle1 if ,i am not mistaken4 ,the old principle was for a man to be doing something which he was pretty strongly bent on doing1 and to get a much younger one to help him4 ,the younger paid nothing for instruction1 but the elder took the work1 as long as the relation of master and pupil existed between them4 ,i1 then1 was mailing illustrations for this book1 and got ,jones to help me4 ,i let him see what ,i was doing1 and derive an idea of the sort of thing ,i wanted1 and then left him alone--beyond giving him the same kind of small criticism that ,i expected from himself--but ,i appropriated his work4 ,that is the way to teach1 and the result was that in an incredibly short time ,jones could draw4 ,the taking the work is a sine qua non4 ,if ,i had not been going to have his work1 ,jones1 in spite of all his quickness1 would probably have been rather slower in learning to draw4 ,being paid in money is nothing like so good4 ,this is the system of apprenticeship versus the academic system4 ,the academic system consists in giving people the rules for doing things4 ,the apprenticeship system consists in letting them do it1 with just a trifle of supervision4 ,for all a rhetorician's rules1 says my great namesake1 teach nothing but1 to name his tools2 and academic rules generally are much the same as the rhetorician's4 ,some men can pass through academies unscathed1 but they are very few1 and in the main the academic influence is a baleful one1 whether exerted in a university or a school4 ,while young men at universities are being prepared for their entry into life1 their rivals have already entered it4 ,the most university and examination ridden people in the world are the ,chinese1 and they are the least progressive4 ,men should learn to draw as they learn conveyancing3 they should go into a painter's studio and paint on his pictures4 ,i am told that half the conveyances in the country are drawn by pupils2 there is no more mystery about painting than about conveyancing--not half in fact1 ,i should think1 so much4 ,one may ask1 ,how can the beginner paint1 or draw conveyances1 till he has learnt how to do so8 ,the answer is1 ,how can he learn1 without at any rate trying to do8 ,it is the old story1 organ and function1 power and desire1 demand and supply1 faith and reason1 etc41 the most virtuous action and interaction in the most vicious circle conceivable4 ,if the beginner likes his subject1 he will try3 if he tries1 he will soon succeed in doing something which shall open a door4 ,it does not matter what a man does2 so long as he does it with the attention which affection engenders1 he will come to see his way to something else4 ,after long waiting he will certainly find one door open1 and go through it4 ,he will say to himself that he can never find another4 ,he has found this1 more by luck than cunning1 but now he is done4 ,yet by and by he will see that there is one more small unimportant door which he had overlooked1 and he proceeds through this too4 ,if he remains now for a long while and sees no other1 do not let him fret2 doors are like the kingdom of heaven1 they come not by observation1 least of all do they come by forcing3 let him just go on doing what comes nearest1 but doing it attentively1 and a great wide door will one day spring into existence where there had been no sign of one but a little time previously4 ,only let him be always doing something1 and let him cross himself now and again1 for belief in the wondrous efficacy of crosses and crossing is the corner-stone of the creed of the evolutionists4 ,then after years--but not probably till after a great many--doors will open up all around1 so many and so wide that the difficulty will not be to find a door1 but rather to obtain the means of even hurriedly surveying a portion of those that stand invitingly open4 ,i know that just as good a case can be made out for the other side4 ,it may be said as truly that unless a student is incessantly on the watch for doors he will never see them1 and that unless he is incessantly pressing forward to the kingdom of heaven he will never find it--so that the kingdom does come by observation4 ,it is with this as with everything else--there must be a harmonious fusing of two principles which are in flat contradiction to one another4 ,the question of whether it is better to abide quiet and take advantage of opportunities that come1 or to go farther afield in search of them1 is one of the oldest which living beings have had to deal with4 ,it was on this that the first great schism or heresy arose in what was heretofore the catholic faith of protoplasm4 ,the schism still lasts1 and has resulted in two great sects--animals and plants4 ,the opinion that it is better to go in search of prey is formulated in animals2 the other--that it is better on the whole to stay at home and profit by what comes--in plants4 ,some intermediate forms still record to us the long struggle during which the schism was not yet complete4 ,if ,i may be pardoned for pursuing this digression further1 ,i would say that it is the plants and not we who are the heretics4 ,there can be no question about this2 we are perfectly justified1 therefore1 in devouring them4 ,ours is the original and orthodox belief1 for protoplasm is much more animal than vegetable2 it is much more true to say that plants have descended from animals than animals from plants4 ,nevertheless1 like many other heretics1 plants have thriven very fairly well4 ,there are a great many of them1 and as regards beauty1 if not wit--of a limited kind indeed1 but still wit--it is hard to say that the animal kingdom has the advantage4 ,the views of plants are sadly narrow2 all dissenters are narrow-minded2 but within their own bounds they know the details of their business sufficiently well--as well as though they kept the most nicely- balanced system of accounts to show them their position4 ,they are eaten1 it is true2 to eat them is our intolerant and bigoted way of trying to convert them3 eating is only a violent mode of proselytising or converting2 and we do convert them--to good animal substance1 of our own way of thinking4 ,if we have had no trouble with them1 we say they have agreed with us2 if we have been unable to make them see things from our points of view1 we say they disagree with us1 and avoid being on more than distant terms with them for the future4 ,if we have helped ourselves to too much1 we say we have got more than we can manage4 ,but then1 animals are eaten too4 ,they convert one another1 almost as much as they convert plants4 ,and an animal is no sooner dead than a plant will convert it back again4 ,it is obvious1 however1 that no schism could have been so long successful1 without having a good deal to say for itself4 ,neither party has been quite consistent4 ,who ever is or can be8 ,every extreme--every opinion carried to its logical end--will prove to be an absurdity4 ,plants throw out roots and boughs and leaves3 this is a kind of locomotion2 and as ,dr4 ,erasmus ,darwin long since pointed out1 they do sometimes approach nearly to what may be called travelling2 a man of consistent character will never look at a bough1 a root1 or a tendril without regarding it as a melancholy and unprincipled compromise4 ,on the other hand1 many animals are sessile1 and some singularly successful genera1 as spiders1 are in the main liers-in-wait4 ,it may appear1 however1 on the whole1 like reopening a settled question to uphold the principle of being busy and attentive over a small area1 rather than going to and fro over a larger one1 for a mammal like man1 but ,i think most readers will be with me in thinking that1 at any rate as regards art and literature1 it is he who does his small immediate work most carefully who will find doors open most certainly to him1 that will conduct him into the richest chambers4 ,many years ago1 in ,new ,zealand1 ,i used sometimes to accompany a dray and team of bullocks who would have to be turned loose at night that they might feed4 ,there were no hedges or fences then1 so sometimes ,i could not find my team in the morning1 and had no clue to the direction in which they had gone4 ,at first ,i used to try and throw my soul into the bullocks' souls1 so as to divine if possible what they would be likely to have done1 and would then ride off ten miles in the wrong direction4 ,people used in those days to lose their bullocks sometimes for a week or fortnight--when they perhaps were all the time hiding in a gully hard by the place where they were turned out4 ,after some time ,i changed my tactics4 ,on losing my bullocks ,i would go to the nearest accommodation house1 and stand drinks4 ,some one would ere long1 as a general rule1 turn up who had seen the bullocks4 ,this case does not go quite on all fours with what ,i have been saying above1 inasmuch as ,i was not very industrious in my limited area2 but the standing drinks and inquiring was being as industrious as the circumstances would allow4 ,to return1 universities and academies are an obstacle to the finding of doors in later life2 partly because they push their young men too fast through doorways that the universities have provided1 and so discourage the habit of being on the look-out for others2 and partly because they do not take pains enough to make sure that their doors are bona fide ones4 ,if1 to change the metaphor1 an academy has taken a bad shilling1 it is seldom very scrupulous about trying to pass it on4 ,it will stick to it that the shilling is a good one as long as the police will let it4 ,i was very happy at ,cambridge2 when ,i left it ,i thought ,i never again could be so happy anywhere else2 ,i shall ever retain a most kindly recollection both of ,cambridge and of the school where ,i passed my boyhood2 but ,i feel1 as ,i think most others must in middle life1 that ,i have spent as much of my maturer years in unlearning as in learning4 ,the proper course is for a boy to begin the practical business of life many years earlier than he now commonly does4 ,he should begin at the very bottom of a profession2 if possible of one which his family has pursued before him--for the professions will assuredly one day become hereditary4 ,the ideal railway director will have begun at fourteen as a railway porter4 ,he need not be a porter for more than a week or ten days1 any more than he need have been a tadpole more than a short time2 but he should take a turn in practice1 though briefly1 at each of the lower branches in the profession4 ,the painter should do just the same4 ,he should begin by setting his employer's palette and cleaning his brushes4 ,as for the good side of universities1 the proper preservative of this is to be found in the club4 ,if1 then1 we are to have a renaissance of art1 there must be a complete standing aloof from the academic system4 ,that system has had time enough4 ,where and who are its men8 ,can it point to one painter who can hold his own with the men of1 say1 from #adej to #aeej8 ,academies will bring out men who can paint hair very like hair1 and eyes very like eyes1 but this is not enough4 ,this is grammar and deportment2 we want wit and a kindly nature1 and these cannot be got from academies4 ,as far as mere technique is concerned1 almost every one now can paint as well as is in the least desirable4 ,the same mutatis mutandis holds good with writing as with painting4 ,we want less word-painting and fine phrases1 and more observation at first-hand4 ,let us have a periodical illustrated by people who cannot draw1 and written by people who cannot write 7perhaps1 however1 after all1 we have some71 but who look and think for themselves1 and express themselves just as they please1--and this we certainly have not4 ,every contributor should be at once turned out if he or she is generally believed to have tried to do something which he or she did not care about trying to do1 and anything should be admitted which is the outcome of a genuine liking4 ,people are always good company when they are doing what they really enjoy4 ,a cat is good company when it is purring1 or a dog when it is wagging its tail4 ,the sketching-clubs up and down the country might form the nucleus of such a society1 provided all professional men were rigorously excluded4 ,as for the old masters1 the better plan would be never even to look at one of them1 and to consign ,raffaelle1 along with ,plato1 ,marcus ,aurelius ,antoninus1 ,dante1 ,goethe1 and two others1 neither of them ,englishmen1 to limbo1 as the ,seven ,humbugs of ,christendom4 ,while we are about it1 let us leave off talking about art for art's sake4 ,who is art1 that it should have a sake8 ,a work of art should be produced for the pleasure it gives the producer1 and the pleasure he thinks it will give to a few of whom he is fond2 but neither money nor people whom he does not know personally should be thought of4 ,of course such a society as ,i have proposed would not remain incorrupt long4 ,everything that grows1 holds in perfection but a little moment4 ,the members would try to imitate professional men in spite of their rules1 or1 if they escaped this and after a while got to paint well1 they would become dogmatic1 and a rebellion against their authority would be as necessary ere long as it was against that of their predecessors3 but the balance on the whole would be to the good4 ,professional men should be excluded1 if for no other reason yet for this1 that they know too much for the beginner to be en rapport with them4 ,it is the beginner who can help the beginner1 as it is the child who is the most instructive companion for another child4 ,the beginner can understand the beginner1 but the cross between him and the proficient performer is too wide for fertility4 ,it savours of impatience1 and is in flat contradiction to the first principles of biology4 ,it does a beginner positive harm to look at the masterpieces of the great executionists1 such as ,rembrandt or ,turner4 ,if one is climbing a very high mountain which will tax all one's strength1 nothing fatigues so much as casting upward glances to the top2 nothing encourages so much as casting downward glances4 ,the top seems never to draw nearer2 the parts that we have passed retreat rapidly4 ,let a water-colour student go and see the drawing by ,turner in the basement of our ,national ,gallery1 dated #aghg4 ,this is the sort of thing for him1 not to copy1 but to look at for a minute or two now and again4 ,it will show him nothing about painting1 but it may serve to teach him not to overtax his strength1 and will prove to him that the greatest masters in painting1 as in everything else1 begin by doing work which is no way superior to that of their neighbours4 ,a collection of the earliest known works of the greatest men would be much more useful to the student than any number of their maturer works1 for it would show him that he need not worry himself because his work does not look clever1 or as silly people say1 show power4 ,the secrets of success are affection for the pursuit chosen1 a flat refusal to be hurried or to pass anything as understood which is not understood1 and an obstinacy of character which shall make the student's friends find it less trouble to let him have his own way than to bend him into theirs4 ,our schools and academies or universities are covertly but essentially radical institutions1 and abhorrent to the genius of ,conservatism4 ,their sin is the true radical sin of being in too great a hurry1 and the natural result has followed1 they waste far more time than they save4 ,but it must be remembered that this proposition like every other wants tempering with a slight infusion of its direct opposite4 ,i said in an early part of this book that the best test to know whether or no one likes a picture is to ask oneself whether one would like to look at it if one was quite sure one was alone4 ,the best test for a painter as to whether he likes painting his picture is to ask himself whether he should like to paint it if he was quite sure that no one except himself1 and the few of whom he was very fond1 would ever see it4 ,if he can answer this question in the affirmative1 he is all right2 if he cannot1 he is all wrong4 ,i must reserve other remarks upon this subject for another occasion4 ,,sanctuaries ,,of ,,oropa ,,and ,,graglia4 7,,from ,,chapters ,,xv4 ,,and ,,xvi4 ,,of ,,alps ,,and ,,sanctuaries47 ,the morning after our arrival at ,biella1 we took the daily diligence for ,oropa1 leaving ,biella at eight o'clock4 ,before we were clear of the town we could see the long line of the hospice1 and the chapels dotted about near it1 high up in a valley at some distance off2 presently we were shown another fine building some eight or nine miles away1 which we were told was the sanctuary of ,graglia4 ,about this time the pictures and statuettes of the ,madonna began to change their hue and to become black--for the sacred image of ,oropa being black1 all the ,madonnas in her immediate neighbourhood are of the same complexion4 ,underneath some of them is written1 ,nigra sum sed sum formosa1 which1 as a rule1 was more true as regards the first epithet than the second4 ,it was not market-day1 but streams of people were coming to the town4 ,many of them were pilgrims returning from the sanctuary1 but more were bringing the produce of their farms or the work of their hands for sale4 ,we had to face a steady stream of chairs1 which were coming to town in baskets upon women's heads4 ,each basket contained twelve chairs1 though whether it is correct to say that the basket contained the chairs--when the chairs were all1 so to say1 froth running over the top of the basket--is a point ,i cannot settle4 ,certainly we had never seen anything like so many chairs before1 and felt almost as though we had surprised nature in the laboratory wherefrom she turns out the chair-supply of the world4 ,the road continued through a succession of villages almost running into one another for a long way after ,biella was passed1 but everywhere we noticed the same air of busy thriving industry which we had seen in ,biella itself4 ,we noted also that a preponderance of the people had light hair1 while that of the children was frequently nearly white1 as though the infusion of ,german blood was here stronger even than usual4 ,though so thickly peopled1 the country was of great beauty4 ,near at hand were the most exquisite pastures close shaven after their second mowing1 gay with autumnal crocuses1 and shaded with stately chestnuts2 beyond were rugged mountains1 in a combe on one of which we saw ,oropa itself now gradually nearing2 behind1 and below1 many villages1 with vineyards and terraces cultivated to the highest perfection2 farther on1 ,biella already distant1 and beyond this a big stare1 as an ,american might say1 over the plains of ,lombardy from ,turin to ,milan1 with the ,apennines from ,genoa to ,bologna hemming the horizon4 ,on the road immediately before us1 we still faced the same steady stream of chairs flowing ever ,biella-ward4 ,after a couple of hours the houses became more rare2 we got above the sources of the chair-stream2 bits of rough rock began to jut out from the pasture2 here and there the rhododendron began to shew itself by the roadside2 the chestnuts left off along a line as level as though cut with a knife2 stone-roofed cascine began to abound1 with goats and cattle feeding near them2 the booths of the religious trinket-mongers increased2 the blind1 halt1 and maimed became more importunate1 and the foot-passengers were more entirely composed of those whose object was1 or had been1 a visit to the sanctuary itself4 ,the numbers of these pilgrims--generally in their ,sunday's best1 and often comprising the greater part of a family--were so great1 though there was no special festa1 as to testify to the popularity of the institution4 ,they generally walked barefoot1 and carried their shoes and stockings2 their baggage consisted of a few spare clothes1 a little food1 and a pot or pan or two to cook with4 ,many of them looked very tired1 and had evidently tramped from long distances--indeed1 we saw costumes belonging to valleys which could not be less than two or three days distant4 ,they were almost invariably quiet1 respectable1 and decently clad1 sometimes a little merry1 but never noisy1 and none of them tipsy4 ,as we travelled along the road1 we must have fallen in with several hundreds of these pilgrims coming and going2 nor is this likely to be an extravagant estimate1 seeing that the hospice can make up more than five thousand beds4 ,by eleven we were at the sanctuary itself4 ,fancy a quiet upland valley1 the floor of which is about the same height as the top of ,snowdon1 shut in by lofty mountains upon three sides1 while on the fourth the eye wanders at will over the plains below4 ,fancy finding a level space in such a valley watered by a beautiful mountain stream1 and nearly filled by a pile of collegiate buildings1 not less important than those1 we will say1 of ,trinity ,college1 ,cambridge4 ,true1 ,oropa is not in the least like ,trinity1 except that one of its courts is large1 grassy1 has a chapel and a fountain in it1 and rooms all round it2 but ,i do not know how better to give a rough description of ,oropa than by comparing it with one of our largest ,english colleges4 ,the buildings consist of two main courts4 ,the first comprises a couple of modern wings1 connected by the magnificent facade of what is now the second or inner court4 ,this facade dates from about the middle of the seventeenth century2 its lowest storey is formed by an open colonnade1 and the whole stands upon a raised terrace from which a noble flight of steps descends into the outer court4 ,ascending the steps and passing under the colonnade1 we find ourselves in the second or inner court1 which is a complete quadrangle1 and is1 so at least we were told1 of rather older date than the facade4 ,this is the quadrangle which gives its collegiate character to ,oropa4 ,it is surrounded by cloisters on three sides1 on to which the rooms in which the pilgrims are lodged open--those at least that are on the ground-floor1 but there are three storeys4 ,the chapel1 which was dedicated in the year #afjj1 juts out into the court upon the north-east side4 ,on the north-west and south-west sides are entrances through which one may pass to the open country4 ,the grass at the time of our visit was for the most part covered with sheets spread out to dry4 ,they looked very nice1 and1 dried on such grass1 and in such an air1 they must be delicious to sleep on4 ,there is1 indeed1 rather an appearance as though it were a perpetual washing-day at ,oropa1 but this is not to be wondered at considering the numbers of comers and goers2 besides1 people in ,italy do not make so much fuss about trifles as we do4 ,if they want to wash their sheets and dry them1 they do not send them to ,ealing1 but lay them out in the first place that comes handy1 and nobody's bones are broken4 ,on the east side of the main block of buildings there is a grassy slope adorned with chapels that contain figures illustrating scenes in the history of the ,virgin4 ,these figures are of terra-cotta1 for the most part life-size1 and painted up to nature4 ,in some cases1 if ,i remember rightly1 they have hemp or flax for hair1 as at ,varallo1 and throughout realism is aimed at as far as possible1 not only in the figures1 but in the accessories4 ,we have very little of the same kind in ,england4 ,in the ,tower of ,london there is an effigy of ,queen ,elizabeth going to the city to give thanks for the defeat of the ,spanish ,armada4 ,this looks as if it might have been the work of some one of the ,valsesian sculptors4 ,there are also the figures that strike the quarters of ,sir ,john ,bennett's city clock in ,cheapside4 ,the automatic movements of these last-named figures would have struck the originators of the ,varallo chapels with envy4 ,they aimed at realism so closely that they would assuredly have had recourse to clockwork in some one or two of their chapels2 ,i cannot doubt1 for example1 that they would have eagerly welcomed the idea of making the cock crow to ,peter by a cuckoo-clock arrangement1 if it had been presented to them4 ,this opens up the whole question of realism versus conventionalism in art--a subject much too large to be treated here4 ,as ,i have said1 the founders of these ,italian chapels aimed at realism4 ,each chapel was intended as an illustration1 and the desire was to bring the whole scene more vividly before the faithful by combining the picture1 the statue1 and the effect of a scene upon the stage in a single work of art4 ,the attempt would be an ambitious one though made once only in a neighbourhood1 but in most of the places in ,north ,italy where anything of the kind has been done1 the people have not been content with a single illustration2 it has been their scheme to take a mountain as though it had been a book or wall and cover it with illustrations4 ,in some cases--as at ,orta1 whose ,sacro ,monte is perhaps the most beautiful of all as regards the site itself--the failure is complete1 but in some of the chapels at ,varese and in many of those at ,varallo1 great works have been produced which have not yet attracted as much attention as they deserve4 ,it may be doubted1 indeed1 whether there is a more remarkable work of art in ,north ,italy than the crucifixion chapel at ,varallo1 where the twenty-five statues1 as well as the frescoes behind them1 are 7with the exception of the figure of ,christ1 which has been removed7 by ,gaudenzio ,ferrari4 ,it is to be wished that some one of these chapels--both chapel and sculptures--were reproduced at ,south ,kensington4 ,varallo1 which is undoubtedly the most interesting sanctuary in ,north ,italy1 has forty-four of these illustrative chapels2 ,varese1 fifteen2 ,orta1 eighteen2 and ,oropa1 seventeen4 ,no one is allowed to enter them1 except when repairs are needed2 but when these are going on1 as is constantly the case1 it is curious to look through the grating into the somewhat darkened interior1 and to see a living figure or two among the statues2 a little motion on the part of a single figure seems to communicate itself to the rest and make them all more animated4 ,if the living figure does not move much1 it is easy at first to mistake it for a terra-cotta one4 ,at ,orta1 some years since1 looking one evening into a chapel when the light was fading1 ,i was surprised to see a saint whom ,i had not seen before2 he had no glory except what shone from a very red nose2 he was smoking a short pipe1 and was painting the ,virgin ,mary's face4 ,the touch was a finishing one1 put on with deliberation1 slowly1 so that it was two or three seconds before ,i discovered that the interloper was no saint4 ,the figures in the chapels at ,oropa are not as good as the best of those at ,varallo1 but some of them are very nice notwithstanding4 ,we liked the seventh chapel the best--the one which illustrates the sojourn of the ,virgin ,mary in the ,temple4 ,it contains forty-four figures1 and represents the ,virgin on the point of completing her education as head girl at a high-toned academy for young gentlewomen4 ,all the young ladies are at work making mitres for the bishop1 or working slippers in ,berlin wool for the new curate1 but the ,virgin sits on a dais above the others on the same platform with the venerable lady-principal1 who is having passages read out to her from some standard ,hebrew writer4 ,the statues are the work of a local sculptor1 named ,aureggio1 who lived at the end of the seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth century4 ,the highest chapel must be a couple of hundred feet above the main buildings1 and from near it there is an excellent bird's-eye view of the sanctuary and the small plain behind2 descending on to this last1 we entered the quadrangle from the north-west side1 and visited the chapel in which the sacred image of the ,madonna is contained4 ,we did not see the image itself1 which is only exposed to public view on great occasions4 ,it is believed to have been carved by ,st4 ,luke the ,evangelist4 ,it is said that at one time there was actually an inscription on the image in ,greek characters1 of which the translation is1 ,eusebius4 ,a token of respect and affection from his sincere friend1 ,luke2 but this being written in chalk or pencil only1 has been worn off1 and is known by tradition only4 ,i must ask the reader to content himself with the following account of it which ,i take from ,marocco's work upon ,oropa3-- ,that this statue of the ,virgin is indeed by ,st4 ,luke is attested by ,st4 ,eusebius1 a man of eminent piety1 and no less enlightened than truthful1 and the store which he set by it is proved by his shrinking from no discomforts in his carriage of it from a distant country1 and by his anxiety to put it in a place of great security4 ,his desire1 indeed1 was to keep it in the spot which was most near and dear to him1 so that he might extract from it the higher incitement to devotion1 and more sensible comfort in the midst of his austerities and apostolic labours4 ,this truth is further confirmed by the quality of the wood from which the statue is carved1 which is commonly believed to be cedar2 by the ,eastern character of the work2 by the resemblance both of the lineament and the colour to those of other statues by ,st4 ,luke2 by the tradition of the neighbourhood1 which extends in an unbroken and well- assured line to the time of ,st4 ,eusebius himself2 by the miracles that have been worked here by its presence1 and elsewhere by its invocation1 or even by indirect contact with it2 by the miracles1 lastly1 which are inherent in the image itself1 #caa and which endure to this day1 such as is its immunity from all worm and from the decay which would naturally have occurred in it through time and damp--more especially in the feet1 through the rubbing of religious objects against them4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the authenticity of this image is so certainly and clearly established1 that all supposition to the contrary becomes inexplicable and absurd4 ,such1 for example1 is a hypothesis that it should not be attributed to the ,evangelist1 but to another ,luke1 also called ',saint1' and a ,florentine by birth4 ,this painter lived in the eleventh century--that is to say1 about seven centuries after the image of ,oropa had been known and venerated6 ,this is indeed an anachronism4 ,other difficulties drawn either from the ancient discipline of the ,church or from ,st4 ,luke the ,evangelist's profession1 which was that of a physician1 vanish at once when it is borne in mind--firstly1 that the cult of holy images1 and especially of that of the most blessed ,virgin1 is of extreme antiquity in the ,church1 and of apostolic origin1 as is proved by ecclesiastical writers and monuments found in the catacombs which date1 as far back as the first century 7see among other authorities1 ,nicolas1 ,la ,vergine vivente nella ,chiesa1 lib4 iii4 cap4 iii4 section #b72 secondly1 that as the medical profession does not exclude that of artists1 ,st4 ,luke may have been both artist and physician2 that he did actually handle both the brush and the scalpel is established by respectable and very old traditions1 to say nothing of other arguments which can be found in impartial and learned writers upon such matters4 ,i will only give one more extract4 ,it runs3-- ,in #ahee a celebrated ,roman portrait-painter1 after having carefully inspected the image of the ,virgin ,mary at ,oropa1 declared it to be certainly a work of the first century of our era4 #cac ,i once saw a common cheap china copy of this ,madonna announced as to be given away with two pounds of tea1 in a shop near ,hatton ,garden4 ,the church in which the sacred image is kept is interesting from the pilgrims who at all times frequent it1 and from the collection of votive pictures which adorn its walls4 ,except the votive pictures and the pilgrims the church contains little of interest1 and ,i will pass on to the constitution and objects of the establishment4 ,the objects are--#a4 ,gratuitous lodging to all comers for a space of from three to nine days as the rector may think fit4 #b4 ,a school4 #c4 ,help to the sick and poor4 ,it is governed by a president and six members1 who form a committee4 ,four members are chosen by the communal council1 and two by the cathedral chapter of ,biella4 ,at the hospice itself there reside a director1 with his assistant1 a surveyor to keep the fabric in repair1 a rector or dean with six priests1 called cappellani1 and a medical man4 ,the government of the laundry1 so runs the statute on this head1 and analogous domestic services are entrusted to a competent number of ladies of sound constitution and good conduct1 who live together in the hospice under the direction of an inspectress1 and are called daughters of ,oropa4 ,the bye-laws of the establishment are conceived in a kindly1 genial spirit1 which in great measure accounts for its unmistakable popularity4 ,we understood that the poorer visitors1 as a general rule1 avail themselves of the gratuitous lodging1 without making any present when they leave1 but in spite of this it is quite clear that they are wanted to come1 and come they accordingly do4 ,it is sometimes difficult to lay one's hands upon the exact passages which convey an impression1 but as we read the bye-laws which are posted up in the cloisters1 we found ourselves continually smiling at the manner in which almost anything that looked like a prohibition could be removed with the consent of the director4 ,there is no rule whatever about visitors attending the church2 all that is required of them is that they do not interfere with those who do4 ,they must not play games of chance1 or noisy games2 they must not make much noise of any sort after ten o'clock at night 7which corresponds about with midnight in ,england74 ,they should not draw upon the walls of their rooms1 nor cut the furniture4 ,they should also keep their rooms clean1 and not cook in those that are more expensively furnished4 ,this is about all that they must not do1 except fee the servants1 which is most especially and particularly forbidden4 ,if any one infringes these rules1 he is to be admonished1 and in case of grave infraction or continued misdemeanor he may be expelled and not readmitted4 ,visitors who are lodged in the better-furnished apartments can be waited upon if they apply at the office2 the charge is twopence for cleaning a room1 making the bed1 bringing water1 c4 ,if there is more than one bed in a room1 a penny must be paid for every bed over the first4 ,boots can be cleaned for a penny1 shoes for a halfpenny4 ,for carrying wood1 c41 either a halfpenny or a penny will be exacted according to the time taken4 ,payment for these services must not be made to the servant1 but at the office4 ,the gates close at ten o'clock at night1 and open at sunrise1 but if any visitor wishes to make ,alpine excursions1 or has any other sufficient reason1 he should let the director know4 ,families occupying many rooms must--when the hospice is very crowded1 and when they have had due notice--manage to pack themselves into a smaller compass4 ,no one can have rooms kept for him4 ,it is to be strictly first come1 first served4 ,no one must sublet his room4 ,visitors must not go away without giving up the key of their room4 ,candles and wood may be bought at a fixed price4 ,any one wishing to give anything to the support of the hospice must do so only to the director1 the official who appoints the apartments1 the dean or the cappellani1 or to the inspectress of the daughters of ,oropa1 but they must have a receipt for even the smallest sum2 alms-boxes1 however1 are placed here and there into which the smaller offerings may be dropped 7we imagine this means anything under a franc74 ,the poor will be fed as well as housed for three days gratuitously--provided their health does not require a longer stay2 but they must not beg on the premises of the hospice2 professional beggars will be at once handed over to the mendicity society in ,biella1 or even perhaps to prison4 ,the poor for whom a hydropathic course is recommended1 can have it under the regulations made by the committee--that is to say1 if there is a vacant place4 ,there are trattorie and cafes at the hospice1 where refreshments may be obtained both good and cheap4 ,meat is to be sold there at the prices current in ,biella2 bread at two centimes the chilogramma more1 to pay for the cost of carriage4 ,such are the bye-laws of this remarkable institution4 ,few except the very rich are so under-worked that two or three days of change and rest are not at times a boon to them1 while the mere knowledge that there is a place where repose can be had cheaply and pleasantly is itself a source of strength4 ,here1 so long as the visitor wishes to be merely housed1 no questions are asked2 no one is refused admittance1 except for some obviously sufficient reason2 it is like getting a reading ticket for the ,british ,museum1 there is practically but one test--that is to say1 desire on the part of the visitor--the coming proves the desire1 and this suffices4 ,a family1 we will say1 has just gathered its first harvest2 the heat on the plains is intense1 and the malaria from the rice- grounds little less than pestilential2 what1 then1 can be nicer than to lock up the house and go for three days to the bracing mountain air of ,oropa8 ,so at daybreak off they all start trudging1 it may be1 their thirty or forty miles1 and reaching ,oropa by nightfall4 ,if there is a weakly one among them1 some arrangement is sure to be practicable whereby he or she can be helped to follow more leisurely1 and can remain longer at the hospice4 ,once arrived1 they generally1 it is true1 go the round of the chapels1 and make some slight show of pilgrimage1 but the main part of their time is spent in doing absolutely nothing4 ,it is sufficient amusement to them to sit on the steps1 or lie about under the shadow of the trees1 and neither say anything nor do anything1 but simply breathe1 and look at the sky and at each other4 ,we saw scores of such people just resting instinctively in a kind of blissful waking dream4 ,others saunter along the walks which have been cut in the woods that surround the hospice1 or if they have been pent up in a town and have a fancy for climbing1 there are mountain excursions1 for the making of which the hospice affords excellent headquarters1 and which are looked upon with every favour by the authorities4 ,it must be remembered also that the accommodation provided at ,oropa is much better than what the people are1 for the most part1 accustomed to in their own homes1 and the beds are softer1 more often beaten up1 and cleaner than those they have left behind them4 ,besides1 they have sheets--and beautifully clean sheets4 ,those who know the sort of place in which an ,italian peasant is commonly content to sleep1 will understand how much he must enjoy a really clean and comfortable bed1 especially when he has not got to pay for it4 ,sleep1 in the circumstances of comfort which most readers will be accustomed to1 is a more expensive thing than is commonly supposed4 ,if we sleep eight hours in a ,london hotel we shall have to pay from #d;d4 to #f;d4 an hour1 or from #a;d4 to #a4e;d4 for every fifteen minutes we lie in bed2 nor is it reasonable to believe that the charge is excessive when we consider the vast amount of competition which exists4 ,there is many a man the expenses of whose daily meat1 drink1 and clothing are less than what an accountant would show us we1 many of us1 lay out nightly upon our sleep4 ,the cost of really comfortable sleep-necessaries cannot1 of course1 be nearly so great at ,oropa as in a ,london hotel1 but they are enough to put them beyond the reach of the peasant under ordinary circumstances1 and he relishes them all the more when he can get them4 ,but why1 it may be asked1 should the peasant have these things if he cannot afford to pay for them2 and why should he not pay for them if he can afford to do so8 ,if such places as ,oropa were common1 would not lazy vagabonds spend their lives in going the rounds of them1 c41 c48 ,doubtless if there were many ,oropas1 they would do more harm than good1 but there are some things which answer perfectly well as rarities or on a small scale1 out of which all the virtue would depart if they were common or on a larger one2 and certainly the impression left upon our minds by ,oropa was that its effects were excellent4 ,granted the sound rule to be that a man should pay for what he has1 or go without it2 in practice1 however1 it is found impossible to carry this rule out strictly4 ,why does the nation give ,a4 ,b41 for instance1 and all comers a large1 comfortable1 well-ventilated1 warm room to sit in1 with chair1 table1 reading-desk1 c41 all more commodious than what he may have at home1 without making him pay a sixpence for it directly from year's end to year's end8 ,the three or nine days' visit to ,oropa is a trifle in comparison with what we can all of us obtain in ,london if we care about it enough to take a very small amount of trouble4 ,true1 one cannot sleep in the reading-room of the ,british ,museum--not all night1 at least--but by day one can make a home of it for years together except during cleaning times1 and then it is hard if one cannot get into the ,national ,gallery or ,south ,kensington1 and be warm1 quiet1 and entertained without paying for it4 ,it will be said that it is for the national interest that people should have access to treasuries of art or knowledge1 and therefore it is worth the nation's while to pay for placing the means of doing so at their disposal2 granted1 but is not a good bed one of the great ends of knowledge1 whereto it must work1 if it is to be accounted knowledge at all8 and it is not worth a nation's while that her children should now and again have practical experience of a higher state of things than the one they are accustomed to1 and a few days' rest and change of scene and air1 even though she may from time to time have to pay something in order to enable them to do so8 ,there can be few books which do an averagely- educated ,englishman so much good1 as the glimpse of comfort which he gets by sleeping in a good bed in a well-appointed room does to an ,italian peasant2 such a glimpse gives him an idea of higher potentialities in connection with himself1 and nerves him to exertions which he would not otherwise make4 ,on the whole1 therefore1 we concluded that if the ,british ,museum reading-room was in good economy1 ,oropa was so also2 at any rate1 it seemed to be making a large number of very nice people quietly happy--and it is hard to say more than this in favour of any place or institution4 ,the idea of any sudden change is as repulsive to us as it will be to the greater number of my readers2 but if asked whether we thought our ,english universities would do most good in their present condition as places of so-called education1 or if they were turned into ,oropas1 and all the educational part of the story totally suppressed1 we inclined to think they would be more popular and more useful in this latter capacity4 ,we thought also that ,oxford and ,cambridge were just the places1 and contained all the appliances and endowments almost ready made for constituting two splendid and truly imperial cities of recreation--universities in deed as well as in name4 ,nevertheless we should not venture to propose any further actual reform during the present generation than to carry the principle which is already admitted as regards the ,m4,a4 a degree a trifle further1 and to make the ,b4,a4 degree a mere matter of lapse of time and fees--leaving the little go1 and whatever corresponds to it at ,oxford1 as the final examination4 ,this would be enough for the present4 ,there is another sanctuary about three hours' walk over the mountain behind ,oropa1 at ,andorno1 and dedicated to ,st4 ,john4 ,we were prevented by the weather from visiting it1 but understand that its objects are much the same as those of the institution ,i have just described4 ,i will now proceed to the third sanctuary for which the neighbourhood of ,biella is renowned4 99 99 99 99 99 ,at ,graglia ,i was shown all over the rooms in which strangers are lodged1 and found them not only comfortable but luxurious--decidedly more so than those of ,oropa2 there was the same cleanliness everywhere which ,i had noticed in the restaurant4 ,as one stands at the windows or on the balconies and looks down to the tops of the chestnuts1 and over these to the plains1 one feels almost as if one could fly out of the window like a bird2 for the slope of the hills is so rapid that one has a sense of being already suspended in mid-air4 ,i thought ,i observed a desire to attract ,english visitors in the pictures which ,i saw in the bedrooms4 ,thus there was ,a view of the ,black-lead ,mine in ,cumberland1 a coloured ,english print of the end of the last century or the beginning of this1 after1 ,i think1 ,loutherbourg1 and in several rooms there were ,english engravings after ,martin4 ,the ,english will not1 ,i think1 regret if they yield to these attractions4 ,they will find the air cool1 shady walks1 good food1 and reasonable prices4 ,their rooms will not be charged for1 but they will do well to give the same as they would have paid at a hotel4 ,i saw in one room one of those flippant1 frivolous1 ,lorenzo de' ,medici matchboxes on which there was a gaudily-coloured nymph in high-heeled boots and tights1 smoking a cigarette4 ,feeling that ,i was in a sanctuary1 ,i was a little surprised that such a matchbox should have been tolerated4 ,i suppose it had been left behind by some guest4 ,i should myself select a matchbox with the ,nativity or the ,flight into ,egypt upon it1 if ,i were going to stay a week or so at ,graglia4 ,i do not think ,i can have looked surprised or scandalised1 but the worthy official who was with me could just see that there was something on my mind4 ,do you want a match8 said he1 immediately reaching me the box4 ,i helped myself1 and the matter dropped4 ,there were many fewer people at ,graglia than at ,oropa1 and they were richer4 ,i did not see any poor about1 but ,i may have been there during a slack time4 ,an impression was left upon me1 though ,i cannot say whether it was well or ill founded1 as though there were a tacit understanding between the establishments at ,oropa and ,graglia that the one was to adapt itself to the poorer1 and the other to the richer classes of society2 and this not from any sordid motive1 but from a recognition of the fact that any great amount of intermixture between the poor and the rich is not found satisfactory to either one or the other4 ,any wide difference in fortune does practically amount to a specific difference1 which renders the members of either species more or less suspicious of those of the other1 and seldom fertile inter se4 ,the well-to-do working-man can help his poorer friends better than we can4 ,if an educated man has money to spare1 he will apply it better in helping poor educated people than those who are more strictly called the poor4 ,as long as the world is progressing1 wide class distinctions are inevitable2 their discontinuance will be a sign that equilibrium has been reached4 ,then human civilisation will become as stationary as that of ants and bees4 ,some may say it will be very sad when this is so2 others1 that it will be a good thing2 in truth1 it is good either way1 for progress and equilibrium have each of them advantages and disadvantages which make it impossible to assign superiority to either2 but in both cases the good greatly overbalances the evil2 for in both the great majority will be fairly well contented1 and would hate to live under any other system4 ,equilibrium1 if it is ever reached1 will be attained very slowly1 and the importance of any change in a system depends entirely upon the rate at which it is made4 ,no amount of change shocks--or1 in other words1 is important--if it is made sufficiently slowly1 while hardly any change is too small to shock if it is made suddenly4 ,we may go down a ladder of ten thousand feet in height if we do so step by step1 while a sudden fall of six or seven feet may kill us4 ,the importance1 therefore1 does not lie in the change1 but in the abruptness of its introduction4 ,nothing is absolutely important or absolutely unimportant2 absolutely good1 or absolutely bad4 ,this is not what we like to contemplate4 ,the instinct of those whose religion and culture are on the surface only is to conceive that they have found1 or can find1 an absolute and eternal standard1 about which they can be as earnest as they choose4 ,they would have even the pains of hell eternal if they could4 ,if there had been any means discoverable by which they could torment themselves beyond endurance1 we may be sure they would long since have found it out2 but fortunately there is a stronger power which bars them inexorably from their desire1 and which has ensured that intolerable pain shall last only for a very little while4 ,for either the circumstances or the sufferer will change after no long time4 ,if the circumstances are intolerable1 the sufferer dies3 if they are not intolerable1 he becomes accustomed to them1 and will cease to feel them grievously4 ,no matter what the burden1 there always has been1 and always must be1 a way for us also to escape4 ,a ,,psalm ,,of ,,montreal4 ,the ,city of ,montreal is one of the most rising and1 in many respects1 most agreeable on the ,american continent1 but its inhabitants are as yet too busy with commerce to care greatly about the masterpieces of old ,greek ,art4 ,a cast of one of these masterpieces--the finest of the several statues of ,discoboli1 or ,quoit-throwers--was found by the present writer in the ,montreal ,museum of ,natural ,history2 it was1 however1 banished from public view1 to a room where were all manner of skins1 plants1 snakes1 insects1 c41 and in the middle of these1 an old man1 stuffing an owl4 ,the dialogue--perhaps true1 perhaps imaginary1 perhaps a little of one and a little of the other--between the writer and this old man gave rise to the lines that follow4 ,stowed away in a ,montreal lumber-room1 ,the ,discobolus standeth1 and turneth his face to the wall2 ,dusty1 cobweb-covered1 maimed1 and set at naught1 ,beauty crieth in an attic1 and no man regardeth4 ,o ,god6 ,o ,montreal6 ,beautiful by night and day1 beautiful in summer and winter1 ,whole or maimed1 always and alike beautiful1-- ,he preacheth gospel of grace to the skins of owls1 ,and to one who seasoneth the skins of ,canadian owls4 ,o ,god6 ,o ,montreal6 ,when ,i saw him1 ,i was wroth1 and ,i said1 ,o ,discobolus6 ,beautiful ,discobolus1 a ,prince both among gods and men1 ,what doest thou here1 how camest thou here1 ,discobolus1 ,preaching gospel in vain to the skins of owls8 ,o ,god6 ,o ,montreal6 ,and ,i turned to the man of skins1 and said unto him1 ,oh6 thou man of skins1 ,wherefore hast thou done thus1 to shame the beauty of the ,discobolus8 ,but the ,lord had hardened the heart of the man of skins1 ,and he answered1 ,my brother-in-law is haberdasher to ,mr4 ,spurgeon4 ,o ,god6 ,o ,montreal6 ,the ,discobolus is put here because he is vulgar1-- ,he hath neither vest nor pants with which to cover his limbs2 ,i1 sir1 am a person of most respectable connections1-- ,my brother-in-law is haberdasher to ,mr4 ,spurgeon4 ,o ,god6 ,o ,montreal6 ,then ,i said1 ,o brother-in law to ,mr4 ,spurgeon's haberdasher6 ,who seasonest also the skins of ,canadian owls1 ,thou callest 'trousers' 'pants1' whereas ,i call them 'trousers1' ,therefore thou art in hell-fire1 and may the ,lord pity thee6 ,o ,god6 ,o ,montreal6 ,preferrest thou the gospel of ,montreal to the gospel of ,hellas1 ,the gospel of thy connection with ,mr4 ,spurgeon's haberdashery to the gospel of the ,discobolus8 ,yet none the less blasphemed he beauty1 saying1 ,the ,discobolus hath no gospel1-- ,but my brother-in-law is haberdasher to ,mr4 ,spurgeon4 ,o ,god6 ,o ,montreal6 ,,printed ,,by ,,ballantyne1 ,,hanson ,,and ,,co4 ,,edinburgh ,,and ,,london4 ,works by the same ,author4 ,sixth ,edition4 ,crown #hvo1 ,cloth1 #fs4 ,,erewhon2 or1 ,,over ,,the ,,range4 ,op4 #a4 ,a ,,work ,,of ,,satire ,,and ,,imagination4 ,second ,edition4 ,demy #hvo1 ,cloth1 #gs4 #f;d4 ,,the ,,fair ,,haven4 ,op4 #b4 ,a work in ,defence of the ,miraculous ,element in our ,lord's ,ministry on earth1 both as against ,rationalistic ,impugners and certain ,orthodox ,defenders4 ,written under the pseudonym of ,,john ,,pickard ,,owen1 with a ,memoir by his supposed brother1 ,,william ,,bickersteth ,,owen4 ,second ,edition4 ,crown #hvo1 ,cloth1 #gs4 #f;d4 ,,life ,,and ,,habit4 ,op4 #c4 ,,an ,,essay ,,after ,a ,,completer ,,view ,,of ,,evolution4 ,second ,edition1 with ,appendix and ,index4 ,crown #hvo1 ,cloth1 #ajs4 #f;d4 ,,evolution1 ,,old ,,and ,,new4 ,op4 #d4 ,a ,comparison of the theories of ,buffon1 ,dr4 ,erasmus ,darwin1 and ,lamarck1 with that of the late ,mr4 ,charles ,darwin1 with copious extracts from the works of the three first-named writers4 ,crown #hvo1 ,cloth1 #gs4 #f;d4 ,,unconscious ,,memory4 ,op4 #e4 ,a ,comparison between the theory of ,dr4 ,ewald ,hering1 ,professor of ,physiology at the ,university of ,prague1 and the ,philosophy of the ,unconscious of ,dr4 ,edward ,von ,hartmann1 with translations from both these authors1 and preliminary chapters bearing on ,life and ,habit1 ,evolution1 ,old and ,new1 and ,mr4 ,charles ,darwin's edition of ,dr4 ,krause's ,erasmus ,darwin4 ,pott ,quarto1 ,cloth1 #bas4 ,,alps ,,and ,,sanctuaries ,,of ,,piedmont ,,and ,,the ,,canton ,,ticino4 ,op4 #f4 ,profusely ,illustrated by ,charles ,gogin1 ,h4 ,f4 ,jones1 and the ,author4 ,footnotes3 iii ,see page #bcd of this book4 #a ,the first edition of ,erewhon was published in the spring of #ahgb4 #dg ,the myth above alluded to exists in ,erewhon with changed names and considerable modifications4 ,i have taken the liberty of referring to the story as familiar to ourselves4 #dh ,the first edition of the ,fair ,haven was published ,april #ahgc4 #fh ,the first edition of ,life and ,habit was published in ,december1 #ahgg4 #if ,see page #bbh of this book1 ,remarks on ,mr4 ,romanes' ',mental ,evolution in ,animals4' #aai ,kegan ,paul1 #ahge4 #abe ,it is now 7,january #ahhd7 more than six years since ,life and ,habit was published1 but ,i have come across nothing which makes me wish to alter it to any material extent4 #abg ,it must be remembered that the late ,mr4 ,c4 ,darwin expressly denied that instinct and inherited habit are generally to be connected4--,see ,mr4 ,darwin's ,origin of ,species1 end of chapter viii41 where he expresses his surprise that no one has hitherto adduced the instincts of neuter insects against the well-known doctrine of inherited habit as advanced by ,lamarck4 ,mr4 ,romanes1 in his ,mental ,evolution in ,animals 7,november1 #ahhc71 refers to this passage of ,mr4 ,darwin's1 and endorses it with approbation 7p4 #big74 #aca ,evolution1 ,old and ,new1 was published in ,may1 #ahgi4 #acd;a ,quatrefages1 ,metamorphoses de l',homme et des ,animaux1 #ahfb1 p4 #db2 ,g4 ,h4 ,lewes1 ,physical ,basis of ,mind1 #ahgg1 p4 #hc4 #acd;b ,i have been unable1 through want of space1 to give this chapter here4 #ada ,page #baj1 first edition4 #add #ahgh4 #adh ,nat4 ,theol4 ch4 xxiii4 #aec;a #ahgh4 #aec;b ,oiseaux1 vol4 i4 p4 #e4 #afb ,discours de ,reception a l',academie ,francaise4 #afc ,i ,cor4 xiii4 #h1 #ac4 #afd;a ,tom4 i4 p4 #bd1 #agdi4 #afd;b ,tom4 i4 p4 #dj1 #agdi4 #afe ,vol4 i4 p4 #cd1 #agdi4 #aff;a ,tom4 i4 p4 #cf4 #aff;b ,see p4 #agc4 #aff;c ,tom4 i4 p4 #cc4 #afh ,the ,naturalist's ,library1 vol4 ii4 p4 #bc4 ,edinburgh1 #ahdc4 #agd ,tom4 iv4 p4 #cha1 #agec4 #agf ,tom4 iv4 p4 #chc1 #agec 7this was the first volume on the lower animals74 #agg;a ,tom xiii4 p4 #agfe4 #agg;b ,sup4 tom4 v4 p4 #bg1 #aggh4 #ahj ,tom4 i4 p4 #bh1 #agdi4 #aha;a ,unconscious ,memory was published ,december1 #ahhj4 #aha;b ,see ,unconscious ,memory1 chap4 vi4 #aha;c ,the ,spirit of ,nature1 p4 #ci4 ,j4 ,a4 ,churchill ,co4 #ahhj4 #ahd ,i have put these words into the mouth of my supposed objector1 and shall put others like them1 because they are characteristic2 but nothing can become so well known as to escape being an inference4 #ahi ,erewhon1 chap1 xxiii4 #aih;a ,it must be remembered that this passage is put as if in the mouth of an objector4 #aih;b ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer denies that there can be memory without a tolerably deliberate succession of psychical states4 #aih;c ,so that practically he denies that there can be any such thing as unconscious memory4 ,nevertheless a few pages later on he says that conscious memory passes into unconscious or organic memory4 #aih;d ,it is plain1 therefore1 that he could after all find no expression better suited for his purpose4 ,mr4 ,romanes is1 ,i think1 right in setting aside ,mr4 ,spencer's limitation of memory to conscious memory4 ,he writes1 ,because ,i have so often seen the sun shine that my memory of it as shining has become automatic1 ,i see no reason why my memory of this fact1 simply on account of its perfection1 should be called no memory4 #aih;e #aih;c ,principles of ,psychology1 ,i41 #ddg4 #aih;d ,ibid1 p4 #deb4 #aih;e ,mental ,evolution in ,animals1 p4 #acj #bag ,nineteenth ,century1 ,nov4 #ahgh1 p4 #hbf4 #bah ,encyclopedia ,britannica1 ,art4 ,biology1 #ith ed41 ,vol4 #c1 p4 #fhi4 #bbj;a ,professor ,huxley1 ,encycl4 ,brit41 #ith ed41 ,art4 ,evolution1 p4 #gej4 #bbj;b ,hume1 by ,professor ,huxley1 p4 #de4 #bbj;c ,the ,philosophy of ,crayfishes1 by the ,right ,rev4 the ,lord ,bishop of ,carlisle4 ,nineteenth ,century for ,october #ahhj1 p4 #fcf4 #bba ,les ,amours des ,plantes1 p4 #cfj4 ,paris1 #ahjj4 #bbb;a ,philosophie ,zoologique1 tom4 i4 p4 #bca4 ,ed4 ,m4 ,martin4 ,paris1 #ahgc4 #bbb;b ,those who read the three following chapters will see that these words1 written in #ahhj1 have come out near the truth in #ahhd4 #bbc;a ,journal of the ,proceedings of the ,linnean ,society4 ,williams ,norgate4 #aheh1 p4 #fa4 #bbc;b ,contributions to the ,theory of ,natural ,selection1 #b;d ed41 #ahga1 p4 #da4 #bbc;c ,origin of ,species1 p4 ,i1 ed4 #ahgb4 #bbc;d ,origin of ,species1 #fth ed41 p4 #bjf4 ,i ought in fairness to ,mr ,darwin to say that he does not hold the error to be quite as serious as he once did4 ,it is now a serious error only2 in #ahei it was most serious error4--,origin of ,species1 #ast ed41 p4 #bji4 #bbd ,origin of ,species1 #ast ed41 p4 #bdb2 #fth ed41 p4 #bcc4 #bbe;a ,i never could find what these particular points were4 #bbe;b ,isidore ,geoffrey1 ,hist4 ,nat4 ,gen41 tom4 ii4 p4 #djg1 #ahei4 #bbe;c ,m4 ,martin's edition of the ,philosophie ,zoologique 7,paris1 #ahgc71 ,introduction1 p4 vi4 #bbe;d ,encyclopaedia ,britannica1 #ith ed41 p4 #gej4 #bbh;a ,kegan ,paul ,co41 #ahhc4 #bbh;b ,principles of ,psychology1 ,vol4 ,i4 p4 #dde4 #bbh;c ,ibid4 ,i4 #def4 #bbh;d ,problems of ,life and ,mind1 first series1 ,vol4 ,i41 #crd ed4 #ahgd1 p4 #ada1 and ,problem ,i4 #ba4 #bbh;e p4 #cc4 #bbh;f p4 #gg4 #bbh;g p4 #aae4 #bbi ,translation of ,professor ,hering's address on ,memory as an ,organised ,function of ,matter1 ,unconscious ,memory1 p4 #aaf4 #bcj ,see ,zoonomia1 ,vol4 ,i4 p4 #dhd4 #bca;a ,problems of ,life and ,mind1 ,i4 pp4 #bci1 #bdj3 #ahgd4 #bca;b ,kegan ,paul4 ,november1 #ahhc4 #bcb;a ,mental ,evolution in ,animals1 p4 #aac4 #bcb;b ,ibid4 p4 #aae4 #bcb;c ,ibid4 p4 #aaf4 ,kegan ,paul4 ,nov4 #ahhc4 #bcc;a ,mental ,evolution in ,animals1 p4 #aca4 ,kegan ,paul4 ,nov4 #ahhc4 #bcc;b ,vol4 ,i41 #crd ed4 #ahgd1 p4 #ada1 and ,problem ,i4 #ba4 #bcc;c ,mental ,evolution in ,animals1 pp4 #agg1 #agh4 ,nov4 #ahhc4 #bcd;a ,mental ,evolution in ,animals1 p4 #aic4 #bcd;b ,ibid1 p4 #aie4 #bcd;c ,ibid1 p4 #bif4 ,nov4 #ahhc4 #bcd;d ,ibid4 p4 #aib4 ,nov4 #ahhc4 #bce ,mental ,evolution in ,animals1 p4 #bif4 ,nov4 #ahhc4 #bcf;a ,see page #bbh4 #bcf;b ,mental ,evolution in ,animals1 p4 #cc4 ,nov4 #ahhc4 #bcf;c ,ibid1 p4 #aaf4 #bcf;d ,ibid4 p4 #agh4 #bci ,evolution1 ,old and ,new1 pp4 #ceg1 #ceh4 #bdj ,mental ,evolution in ,animals1 p4 #aei4 ,kegan ,paul ,co41 #ahhc4 #bda ,zoonomia1 ,vol4 ,i4 p4 #dhd4 #bdb;a ,mental ,evolution in ,animals1 p4 #big4 ,kegan ,paul ,co41 #ahhc4 #bdb;b ,ibid4 p4 #bja4 #bdc;a ,mental ,evolution in ,animals1 p4 #cja4 ,november1 #ahhc4 #bdc;b ,origin of ,species1 ,ed4 ,i4 p4 #bji4 #bdc;c ,ibid1 ,ed4 ,,vi4 #ahgf1 p4 #bjf4 #bdc;d ,formation of ,vegetable ,mould1 c41 p4 #ih4 #bdd;a ,quoted by ,mr4 ,romanes as written in the last year of ,mr4 ,darwin's life4 #bdd;b ,macmillan1 #ahhc4 #bdg ,nature1 ,jan4 #bg1 #ahha4 #bdh;a ,nature1 ,jan4 #bg1 #ahha4 #bdh;b ,ibid41 ,feb4 #c1 #ahha4 #bdi ,nature1 ,jan4 #bg1 #ahha4 #bej ,mind1 ,october1 #ahhc4 #beb;a ,mind for ,october #ahhc1 p4 #dih4 #beb;b ,ibid1 p4 #eje1 ,october #ahhc4 #bed;a ,principles of ,psychology1 ,i4 #dbb4 #bed;b ,ibid4 ,i4 #dbd4 #bed;c ,ibid4 ,i4 #dbd4 #bee ,the first edition of ,alps and ,sanctuaries was published ,dec4 #ahhb4 #bfe ,princ4 of ,psych41 ed4 #c1 ,vol4 ,i41 p4 #acf1 #ahhj4 #bfi ,curiosities of ,literature1 ,lond4 #ahff1 ,routledge ,co41 p4 #bgb4 #bge ,see p4 #hg of this vol4 #bgf ,ivanhoe1 chap xxiii41 near the beginning4 #bhg ,well1 my dear sir1 ,i am sorry you do not think as ,i do1 but in these days we cannot all of us start with the same principles4 #bid ,for these ,i must refer the reader to ,alps and ,sanctuaries itself4 #caa ,dalle meraviglie finalmente che sono inerenti al simulacro stesso4--,cenni storico artistici intorno al santuario di ,oropa4 7,prof4 ,maurizio1 ,marocco4 ,turin1 ,milan1 #ahff1 p4 #cbi47 #cac ,marocco1 p4 #cca4