Unconscious Memory(Fiscle Part-3) - Samuel Butler (digital e reader TXT) 📗

Turned To Mr. Darwin's

Preface.

 

To My Surprise,  I There Found That What I Had Been Reading Could Not

By Any Possibility Refer To Me,  For The Preface Ran As Follows:-

 

Chapter 4 Pg 51

 

"In The February Number Of A Well-Known German Scientific Journal,

Kosmos,  {39} Dr. Ernest Krause Published A Sketch Of The 'Life Of

Erasmus Darwin,' The Author Of The 'Zoonomia,' 'Botanic Garden,' And

Other Works.  This Article Bears The Title Of A 'Contribution To The

History Of The Descent Theory'; And Dr. Krause Has Kindly Allowed My

Brother Erasmus And Myself To Have A Translation Made Of It For

Publication In This Country."

 

 

 

 

 

Then Came A Note As Follows:-

 

 

 

 

 

"Mr. Dallas Has Undertaken The Translation,  And His Scientific

Reputation,  Together With His Knowledge Of German,  Is A Guarantee For

Its Accuracy."

 

 

 

 

 

I Ought To Have Suspected Inaccuracy Where I Found So Much

Consciousness Of Accuracy,  But I Did Not.  However This May Be,  Mr.

Darwin Pins Himself Down With Every Circumstance Of Preciseness To

Giving Dr. Krause's Article As It Appeared In Kosmos,--The Whole

Article,  And Nothing But The Article.  No One Could Know This Better

Than Mr. Darwin.

 

On The Second Page Of Mr. Darwin's Preface There Is A Small-Type Note

Saying That My Work,  "Evolution,  Old And New," Had Appeared Since The

Publication Of Dr. Krause's Article.  Mr. Darwin Thus Distinctly

Precludes His Readers From Supposing That Any Passage They Might Meet

With Could Have Been Written In Reference To,  Or By The Light Of,  My

Book.  If Anything Appeared Condemnatory Of That Book,  It Was An

Undesigned Coincidence,  And Would Show How Little Worthy Of

Consideration I Must Be When My Opinions Were Refuted In Advance By

One Who Could Have No Bias In Regard To Them.

 

Knowing That If The Article I Was About To Read Appeared In February,

It Must Have Been Published Before My Book,  Which Was Not Out Till

Three Months Later,  I Saw Nothing In Mr. Darwin's Preface To Complain

Of,  And Felt That This Was Only Another Instance Of My Absurd Vanity

Having Led Me To Rush To Conclusions Without Sufficient Grounds,--As

If It Was Likely,  Indeed,  That Mr. Darwin Should Think What I Had

Said Of Sufficient Importance To Be Affected By It.  It Was Plain

Chapter 4 Pg 52

That Some One Besides Myself,  Of Whom I As Yet Knew Nothing,  Had Been

Writing About The Elder Darwin,  And Had Taken Much The Same Line

Concerning Him That I Had Done.  It Was For The Benefit Of This

Person,  Then,  That Dr. Krause's Paragraph Was Intended.  I Returned

To A Becoming Sense Of My Own Insignificance,  And Began To Read What

I Supposed To Be An Accurate Translation Of Dr. Krause's Article As

It Originally Appeared,  Before "Evolution,  Old And New," Was

Published.

 

On Pp. 3 And 4 Of Dr. Krause's Part Of Mr. Darwin's Book (Pp. 133 And

134 Of The Book Itself),  I Detected A Sub-Apologetic Tone Which A

Little Surprised Me,  And A Notice Of The Fact That Coleridge When

Writing On Stillingfleet Had Used The Word "Darwinising."  Mr. R.

Garnett Had Called My Attention To This,  And I Had Mentioned It In

"Evolution,  Old And New," But The Paragraph Only Struck Me As Being A

Little Odd.

 

When I Got A Few Pages Farther On (P. 147 Of Mr. Darwin's Book),  I

Found A Long Quotation From Buffon About Rudimentary Organs,  Which I

Had Quoted In "Evolution,  Old And New."  I Observed That Dr. Krause

Used The Same Edition Of Buffon That I Did,  And Began His Quotation

Two Lines From The Beginning Of Buffon's Paragraph,  Exactly As I Had

Done; Also That He Had Taken His Nominative From The Omitted Part Of

The Sentence Across A Full Stop,  As I Had Myself Taken It.  A Little

Lower I Found A Line Of Buffon's Omitted Which I Had Given,  But I

Found That At That Place I Had Inadvertently Left Two Pair Of

Inverted Commas Which Ought To Have Come Out,  {41} Having Intended To

End My Quotation,  But Changed My Mind And Continued It Without

Erasing The Commas.  It Seemed To Me That These Commas Had Bothered

Dr. Krause,  And Made Him Think It Safer To Leave Something Out,  For

The Line He Omits Is A Very Good One.  I Noticed That He Translated

"Mais Comme Nous Voulons Toujours Tout Rapporter A Un Certain But,"

"But We,  Always Wishing To Refer," &C.,  While I Had It,  "But We,  Ever

On The Look-Out To Refer," &C.; And "Nous Ne Faisons Pas Attention

Que Nous Alterons La Philosophie," "We Fail To See That Thus We

Deprive Philosophy Of Her True Character," Whereas I Had "We Fail To

See That We Thus Rob Philosophy Of Her True Character."  This Last

Was Too Much; And Though It Might Turn Out That Dr. Krause Had Quoted

This Passage Before I Had Done So,  Had Used The Same Edition As I

Had,  Had Begun Two Lines From The Beginning Of A Paragraph As I Had

Done,  And That The Later Resemblances Were Merely Due To Mr. Dallas

Having Compared Dr. Krause's German Translation Of Buffon With My

English,  And Very Properly Made Use Of It When He Thought Fit,  It

Looked Prima Facie More As Though My Quotation Had Been Copied In

English As It Stood,  And Then Altered,  But Not Quite Altered Enough.

This,  In The Face Of The Preface,  Was Incredible; But So Many Points

Had Such An Unpleasant Aspect,  That I Thought It Better To Send For

Kosmos And See What I Could Make Out.

 

At This Time I Knew Not One Word Of German.  On The Same Day,

Therefore,  That I Sent For Kosmos I Began Acquire That Language,  And

In The Fortnight Before Kosmos Came Had Got Far Enough Forward For

All Practical Purposes--That Is To Say,  With The Help Of A

Translation And A Dictionary,  I Could See Whether Or No A German

Chapter 4 Pg 53

Passage Was The Same As What Purported To Be Its Translation.

 

When Kosmos Came I Turned To The End Of The Article To See How The

Sentence About Mental Anachronism And Weakness Of Thought Looked In

German.  I Found Nothing Of The Kind,  The Original Article Ended With

Some Innocent Rhyming Doggerel About Somebody Going On And Exploring

Something With Eagle Eye; But Ten Lines From The End I Found A

Sentence Which Corresponded With One Six Pages From The End Of The

English Translation.  After This There Could Be Little Doubt That The

Whole Of These Last Six English Pages Were Spurious Matter.  What

Little Doubt Remained Was Afterwards Removed By My Finding That They

Had No Place In Any Part Of The Genuine Article.  I Looked For The

Passage About Coleridge's Using The Word "Darwinising"; It Was Not To

Be Found In The German.  I Looked For The Piece I Had Quoted From

Buffon About Rudimentary Organs; But There Was Nothing Of It,  Nor

Indeed Any Reference To Buffon.  It Was Plain,  Therefore,  That The

Article Which Mr. Darwin Had Given Was Not The One He Professed To Be

Giving.  I Read Mr. Darwin's Preface Over Again To See Whether He

Left Himself Any Loophole.  There Was Not A Chink Or Cranny Through

Which Escape Was Possible.  The Only Inference That Could Be Drawn

Was Either That Some One Had Imposed Upon Mr. Darwin,  Or That Mr.

Darwin,  Although It Was Not Possible To Suppose Him Ignorant Of The

Interpolations That Had Been Made,  Nor Of The Obvious Purpose Of The

Concluding Sentence,  Had Nevertheless Palmed Off An Article Which Had

Been Added To And Made To Attack "Evolution,  Old And New," As Though

It Were The Original Article Which Appeared Before That Book Was

Written.  I Could Not And Would Not Believe That Mr. Darwin Had

Condescended To This.  Nevertheless,  I Saw It Was Necessary To Sift

The Whole Matter,  And Began To Compare The German And The English

Articles Paragraph By Paragraph.

 

On The First Page I Found A Passage Omitted From The English,  Which

With Great Labour I Managed To Get Through,  And Can Now Translate As

Follows:-

 

 

 

 

 

"Alexander Von Humboldt Used To Take Pleasure In Recounting How

Powerfully Forster's Pictures Of The South Sea Islands And St.

Pierre's Illustrations Of Nature Had Provoked His Ardour For Travel

And Influenced His Career As A Scientific Investigator.  How Much

More Impressively Must The Works Of Dr. Erasmus Darwin,  With Their

Reiterated Foreshadowing Of A More Lofty Interpretation Of Nature,

Have Affected His Grandson,  Who In His Youth Assuredly Approached

Them With The Devotion Due To The Works Of A Renowned Poet." {43}

 

 

 

 

 

I Then Came Upon A Passage Common To Both German And English,  Which

In Its Turn Was Followed In The English By The Sub-Apologetic

Chapter 4 Pg 54

Paragraph Which I Had Been Struck With On First Reading,  And Which

Was Not In The German,  Its Place Being Taken By A Much Longer Passage

Which Had No Place In The English.  A Little Farther On I Was Amused

At Coming Upon The Following,  And At Finding It Wholly Transformed In

The Supposed Accurate Translation

 

 

 

 

 

"How Must This Early And Penetrating Explanation Of Rudimentary

Organs Have Affected The Grandson When He Read The Poem Of His

Ancestor!  But Indeed The Biological Remarks Of This Accurate

Observer In Regard To Certain Definite Natural Objects Must Have

Produced A Still Deeper Impression Upon Him,  Pointing,  As They Do,  To

Questions Which Hay Attained So Great A Prominence At The Present

Day; Such As,  Why Is Any Creature Anywhere Such As We Actually See It

And Nothing Else?  Why Has Such And Such A Plant Poisonous Juices?

Why Has Such And Such Another Thorns?  Why Have Birds And Fishes

Light-Coloured Breasts And Dark Backs,  And,  Why Does Every Creature

Resemble The One From Which It Sprung?" {44a}

 

 

 

 

 

I Will Not Weary