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

May Be Considering.  As A Complicated Perception May Arise By Means

Of A Rapid And Superficial Reproduction Of Long And Laboriously

Practised Brain Processes,  So A Germ In The Course Of Its Development

Hurries Through A Series Of Phases,  Hinting At Them Only.  Often And

Long Foreshadowed In Theories Of Varied Characters,  This Conception

Has Only Now Found Correct Exposition From A Naturalist Of Our Own

Time. {81}  For Truth Hides Herself Under Many Disguises From Those

Who Seek Her,  But In The End Stands Unveiled Before The Eyes Of Him

Whom She Has Chosen.

 

Not Only Is There A Reproduction Of Form,  Outward And Inner

Conformation Of Body,  Organs,  And Cells,  But The Habitual Actions Of

The Parent Are Also Reproduced.  The Chicken On Emerging From The

Eggshell Runs Off As Its Mother Ran Off Before It; Yet What An

Extraordinary Complication Of Emotions And Sensations Is Necessary In

Order To Preserve Equilibrium In Running.  Surely The Supposition Of

An Inborn Capacity For The Reproduction Of These Intricate Actions

Can Alone Explain The Facts.  As Habitual Practice Becomes A Second

Nature To The Individual During His Single Lifetime,  So The Often-

Repeated Action Of Each Generation Becomes A Second Nature To The

Race.

 

The Chicken Not Only Displays Great Dexterity In The Performance Of

Movements For The Effecting Of Which It Has An Innate Capacity,  But

It Exhibits Also A Tolerably High Perceptive Power.  It Immediately

Picks Up Any Grain That May Be Thrown To It.  Yet,  In Order To Do

This,  More Is Wanted Than A Mere Visual Perception Of The Grains;

There Must Be An Accurate Apprehension Of The Direction And Distance

Of The Precise Spot In Which Each Grain Is Lying,  And There Must Be

No Less Accuracy In The Adjustment Of The Movements Of The Head And

Of The Whole Body.  The Chicken Cannot Have Gained Experience In

These Respects While It Was Still In The Egg.  It Gained It Rather

From The Thousands Of Thousands Of Beings That Have Lived Before It,

And From Which It Is Directly Descended.

 

The Memory Of Organised Substance Displays Itself Here In The Most

Surprising Fashion.  The Gentle Stimulus Of The Light Proceeding From

The Grain That Affects The Retina Of The Chicken,  {82} Gives Occasion

For The Reproduction Of A Many-Linked Chain Of Sensations,

Perceptions,  And Emotions,  Which Were Never Yet Brought Together In

The Case Of The Individual Before Us.  We Are Accustomed To Regard

These Surprising Performances Of Animals As Manifestations Of What We

Call Instinct,  And The Mysticism Of Natural Philosophy Has Ever Shown

A Predilection For This Theme; But If We Regard Instinct As The

Outcome Of The Memory Or Reproductive Power Of Organised Substance,

And If We Ascribe A Memory To The Race As We Already Ascribe It To

The Individual,  Then Instinct Becomes At Once Intelligible,  And The

Physiologist At The Same Time Finds A Point Of Contact Which Will

Bring It Into Connection With The Great Series Of Facts Indicated

Above As Phenomena Of The Reproductive Faculty.  Here,  Then,  We Have

A Physical Explanation Which Has Not,  Indeed,  Been Given Yet,  But The

Time For Which Appears To Be Rapidly Approaching.

 

When,  In Accordance With Its Instinct,  The Caterpillar Becomes A

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Chrysalis,  Or The Bird Builds Its Nest,  Or The Bee Its Cell,  These

Creatures Act Consciously And Not As Blind Machines.  They Know How

To Vary Their Proceedings Within Certain Limits In Conformity With

Altered Circumstances,  And They Are Thus Liable To Make Mistakes.

They Feel Pleasure When Their Work Advances And Pain If It Is

Hindered; They Learn By The Experience Thus Acquired,  And Build On A

Second Occasion Better Than On The First; But That Even In The Outset

They Hit So Readily Upon The Most Judicious Way Of Achieving Their

Purpose,  And That Their Movements Adapt Themselves So Admirably And

Automatically To The End They Have In View--Surely This Is Owing To

The Inherited Acquisitions Of The Memory Of Their Nerve Substance,

Which Requires But A Touch And It Will Fall At Once To The Most

Appropriate Kind Of Activity,  Thinking Always,  And Directly,  Of

Whatever It Is That May Be Wanted.

 

Man Can Readily Acquire Surprising Kinds Of Dexterity If He Confines

His Attention To Their Acquisition.  Specialisation Is The Mother Of

Proficiency.  He Who Marvels At The Skill With Which The Spider

Weaves Her Web Should Bear In Mind That She Did Not Learn Her Art All

On A Sudden,  But That Innumerable Generations Of Spiders Acquired It

Toilsomely And Step By Step--This Being About All That,  As A General

Rule,  They Did Acquire.  Man Took To Bows And Arrows If His Nets

Failed Him--The Spider Starved.  Thus We See The Body And--What Most

Concerns Us--The Whole Nervous System Of The New-Born Animal

Constructed Beforehand,  And,  As It Were,  Ready Attuned For

Intercourse With The Outside World In Which It Is About To Play Its

Part,  By Means Of Its Tendency To Respond To External Stimuli In The

Same Manner As It Has Often Heretofore Responded In The Persons Of

Its Ancestors.

 

We Naturally Ask Whether The Brain And Nervous System Of The Human

Infant Are Subjected To The Principles We Have Laid Down Above?  Man

Certainly Finds It Difficult To Acquire Arts Of Which The Lower

Animals Are Born Masters; But The Brain Of Man At Birth Is Much

Farther From Its Highest Development Than Is The Brain Of An Animal.

It Not Only Grows For A Longer Time,  But It Becomes Stronger Than

That Of Other Living Beings.  The Brain Of Man May Be Said To Be

Exceptionally Young At Birth.  The Lower Animal Is Born Precocious,

And Acts Precociously; It Resembles Those Infant Prodigies Whose

Brain,  As It Were,  Is Born Old Into The World,  But Who,  In Spite Of,

Or Rather In Addition To,  Their Rich Endowment At Birth,  In After

Life Develop As Much Mental Power As Others Who Were Less Splendidly

Furnished To Start With,  But Born With Greater Freshness Of Youth.

Man's Brain,  And Indeed His Whole Body,  Affords Greater Scope For

Individuality,  Inasmuch As A Relatively Greater Part Of It Is Of

Post-Natal Growth.  It Develops Under The Influence Of Impressions

Made By The Environment Upon Its Senses,  And Thus Makes Its

Acquisitions In A More Special And Individual Manner,  Whereas The

Animal Receives Them Ready Made,  And Of A More Final,  Stereotyped

Character.

 

Nevertheless,  It Is Plain We Must Ascribe Both To The Brain And Body

Of The New-Born Infant A Far-Reaching Power Of Remembering Or

Reproducing Things Which Have Already Come To Their Development

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Thousands Of Times Over In The Persons Of Its Ancestors.  It Is In

Virtue Of This That It Acquires Proficiency In The Actions Necessary

For Its Existence--So Far As It Was Not Already At Birth Proficient

In Them--Much More Quickly And Easily Than Would Be Otherwise

Possible; But What We Call Instinct In The Case Of Animals Takes In

Man The Looser Form Of Aptitude,  Talent,  And Genius. {84}  Granted

That Certain Ideas Are Not Innate,  Yet The Fact Of Their Taking Form

So Easily And Certainly From Out Of The Chaos Of His Sensations,  Is

Due Not To His Own Labour,  But To That Of The Brain Substance Of The

Thousands Of Thousands Of Generations From Whom He Is Descended.

Theories Concerning The Development Of Individual Consciousness Which

Deny Heredity Or The Power Of Transmission,  And Insist Upon An

Entirely Fresh Start For Every Human Soul,  As Though The Infinite

Number Of Generations That Have Gone Before Us Might As Well Have

Never Lived For All The Effect They Have Had Upon Ourselves,--Such

Theories Will Contradict The Facts Of Our Daily Experience At Every

Touch And Turn.

 

The Brain Processes And Phenomena Of Consciousness Which Ennoble Man

In The Eyes Of His Fellows Have Had A Less Ancient History Than Those

Connected With His Physical Needs.  Hunger And The Reproductive

Instinct Affected The Oldest And Simplest Forms Of The Organic World.

It Is In Respect Of These Instincts,  Therefore,  And Of The Means To

Gratify Them,  That The Memory Of Organised Substance Is Strongest--

The Impulses And Instincts That Arise Hence Having Still Paramount

Power Over The Minds Of Men.  The Spiritual Life Has Been Superadded

Slowly; Its Most Splendid Outcome Belongs To The Latest Epoch In The

History Of Organised Matter,  Nor Has Any Very Great Length Of Time

Elapsed Since The Nervous System Was First Crowned With The Glory Of

A Large And Well-Developed Brain.

 

Oral Tradition And Written History Have Been Called The Memory Of

Man,  And This Is Not Without Its Truth.  But There Is Another And A

Living Memory In The Innate Reproductive Power Of Brain Substance,

And Without This Both Writings And Oral Tradition Would Be Without

Significance To Posterity.  The Most Sublime Ideas,  Though Never So

Immortalised In Speech Or Letters,  Are Yet Nothing For Heads That Are

Out Of Harmony With Them; They Must Be Not Only Heard,  But

Reproduced; And Both Speech And Writing Would Be In Vain Were There

Not An Inheritance Of Inward And Outward Brain Development,  Growing

In Correspondence With The Inheritance Of Ideas That Are Handed Down

From Age To Age,  And Did Not An Enhanced Capacity For Their

Reproduction On The Part Of Each Succeeding Generation Accompany The

Thoughts That Have Been Preserved In Writing.  Man's Conscious Memory

Comes To An End At Death,  But The Unconscious Memory Of Nature Is

True And Ineradicable:  Whoever Succeeds In Stamping Upon Her The

Impress Of His Work,  She Will Remember Him To The End Of Time.

 

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Introduction To A Translation Of The Chapter Upon Instinct In Von

Hartmann's "Philosophy Of The Unconscious."

 

I Am Afraid My Readers Will Find The Chapter On Instinct From Von

Hartmann's "Philosophy Of The Unconscious," Which Will Now Follow,  As

Distasteful To Read As I Did To Translate,  And Would Gladly Have

Spared It Them If I Could.  At Present,  The Works Of Mr. Sully,  Who

Has Treated Of The "Philosophy Of The Unconscious" Both In The

Westminster Review (Vol. Xlix. N.S.) And In His Work "Pessimism," Are

The Best Source To Which English Readers Can Have Recourse For

Information Concerning Von Hartmann.  Giving Him All Credit For The

Pains He Has Taken With An Ungrateful,  If Not Impossible Subject,  I

Think That A Sufficient Sample Of Von Hartmann's Own Words Will Be A

Useful Adjunct To Mr. Sully's Work,  And May Perhaps Save Some Readers

Trouble By Resolving Them To Look