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

For The

Supposition Of Such An Elaborate Mental Mechanism--The Presence Of An

Unconscious Purpose Being Sufficient To Explain The Facts.  The

Purpose Of The Bird,  For Example,  That Has Laid Her Eggs Is Constant,

And Consists In The Desire To Bring Her Young To Maturity.  When The

Temperature Of The Air Is Insufficient To Effect This,  She Sits Upon

Her Eggs,  And Only Intermits Her Sittings In The Warmest Countries;

The Mammal,  On The Other Hand,  Attains The Fulfilment Of Its

Instinctive Purpose Without Any Co-Operation On Its Own Part.  In

Warm Climates Many Birds Only Sit By Night,  And Small Exotic Birds

That Have Built In Aviaries Kept At A High Temperature Sit Little

Upon Their Eggs Or Not At All.  How Inconceivable Is The Supposition

Of A Mechanism That Impels The Bird To Sit As Soon As The Temperature

Falls Below A Certain Height!  How Clear And Simple,  On The Other

Hand,  Is The View That There Is An Unconscious Purpose Constraining

The Volition Of The Bird To The Use Of The Fitting Means,  Of Which

Process,  However,  Only The Last Link,  That Is To Say,  The Will

Immediately Preceding The Action Falls Within The Consciousness Of

The Bird!

 

In South Africa The Sparrow Surrounds Her Nest With Thorns As A

Defence Against Apes And Serpents.  The Eggs Of The Cuckoo,  As

Regards Size,  Colour,  And Marking,  Invariably Resemble Those Of The

Birds In Whose Nests She Lays.  Sylvia Ruja,  For Example,  Lays A

White Egg With Violet Spots; Sylvia Hippolais,  A Red One With Black

Spots; Regulus Ignicapellus,  A Cloudy Red; But The Cuckoo's Egg Is In

Each Case So Deceptive An Imitation Of Its Model,  That It Can Hardly

Be Distinguished Except By The Structure Of Its Shell.

 

Huber Contrived That His Bees Should Be Unable To Build In Their

Usual Instinctive Manner,  Beginning From Above And Working Downwards;

On This They Began Building From Below,  And Again Horizontally.  The

Outermost Cells That Spring From The Top Of The Hive Or Abut Against

Its Sides Are Not Hexagonal,  But Pentagonal,  So As To Gain In

Strength,  Being Attached With One Base Instead Of Two Sides.  In

Autumn Bees Lengthen Their Existing Honey Cells If These Are

Insufficient,  But In The Ensuing Spring They Again Shorten Them In

Order To Get Greater Roadway Between The Combs.  When The Full Combs

Have Become Too Heavy,  They Strengthen The Walls Of The Uppermost Or

Bearing Cells By Thickening Them With Wax And Propolis.  If Larvae Of

Working Bees Are Introduced Into The Cells Set Apart For Drones,  The

Working Bees Will Cover These Cells With The Flat Lids Usual For This

Kind Of Larvae,  And Not With The Round Ones That Are Proper For

Drones.  In Autumn,  As A General Rule,  Bees Kill Their Drones,  But

They Refrain From Doing This When They Have Lost Their Queen,  And

Keep Them To Fertilise The Young Queen,  Who Will Be Developed From

Larvae That Would Otherwise Have Become Working Bees.  Huber Observed

That They Defend The Entrance Of Their Hive Against The Inroads Of

The Sphinx Moth By Means Of Skilful Constructions Made Of Wax And

Propolis.  They Only Introduce Propolis When They Want It For The

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Execution Of Repairs,  Or For Some Other Special Purpose.  Spiders And

Caterpillars Also Display Marvellous Dexterity In The Repair Of Their

Webs If They Have Been Damaged,  And This Requires Powers Perfectly

Distinct From Those Requisite For The Construction Of A New One.

 

The Above Examples Might Be Multiplied Indefinitely,  But They Are

Sufficient To Establish The Fact That Instincts Are Not Capacities

Rolled,  As It Were,  Off A Reel Mechanically,  According To An

Invariable System,  But That They Adapt Themselves Most Closely To The

Circumstances Of Each Case,  And Are Capable Of Such Great

Modification And Variation That At Times They Almost Appear To Cease

To Be Instinctive.

 

Many Will,  Indeed,  Ascribe These Modifications To Conscious

Deliberation On The Part Of The Animals Themselves,  And It Is

Impossible To Deny That In The Case Of The More Intellectually Gifted

Animals There May Be Such A Thing As A Combination Of Instinctive

Faculty And Conscious Reflection.  I Think,  However,  The Examples

Already Cited Are Enough To Show That Often Where The Normal And The

Abnormal Action Springs From The Same Source,  Without Any

Complication With Conscious Deliberation,  They Are Either Both

Instinctive Or Both Deliberative. {99}  Or Is That Which Prompts The

Bee To Build Hexagonal Prisms In The Middle Of Her Comb Something Of

An Actually Distinct Character From That Which Impels Her To Build

Pentagonal Ones At The Sides?  Are There Two Separate Kinds Of Thing,

One Of Which Induces Birds Under Certain Circumstances To Sit Upon

Their Eggs,  While Another Leads Them Under Certain Other

Circumstances To Refrain From Doing So?  And Does This Hold Good Also

With Bees When They At One Time Kill Their Brethren Without Mercy And

At Another Grant Them Their Lives?  Or With Birds When They Construct

The Kind Of Nest Peculiar To Their Race,  And,  Again,  Any Special

Provision Which They May Think Fit Under Certain Circumstances To

Take?  If It Is Once Granted That The Normal And The Abnormal

Manifestations Of Instinct--And They Are Often Incapable Of Being

Distinguished--Spring From A Single Source,  Then The Objection That

The Modification Is Due To Conscious Knowledge Will Be Found To Be A

Suicidal One Later On,  So Far As It Is Directed Against Instinct

Generally.  It May Be Sufficient Here To Point Out,  In Anticipation

Of Remarks That Will Be Found In Later Chapters,  That Instinct And

The Power Of Organic Development Involve The Same Essential

Principle,  Though Operating Under Different Circumstances--The Two

Melting Into One Another Without Any Definite Boundary Between Them.

Here,  Then,  We Have Conclusive Proof That Instinct Does Not Depend

Upon Organisation Of Body Or Brain,  But That,  More Truly,  The

Organisation Is Due To The Nature And Manner Of The Instinct.

 

On The Other Hand,  We Must Now Return To A Closer Consideration Of

The Conception Of A Psychical Mechanism. {100}  And Here We Find That

This Mechanism,  In Spite Of Its Explaining So Much,  Is Itself So

Obscure That We Can Hardly Form Any Idea Concerning It.  The Motive

Enters The Mind By Way Of A Conscious Sensual Impression; This Is The

First Link Of The Process; The Last Link {101} Appears As The

Conscious Motive Of An Action.  Both,  However,  Are Entirely Unlike,

And Neither Has Anything To Do With Ordinary Motivation,  Which

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Consists Exclusively In The Desire That Springs From A Conception

Either Of Pleasure Or Dislike--The Former Prompting To The Attainment

Of Any Object,  The Latter To Its Avoidance.  In The Case Of Instinct,

Pleasure Is For The Most Part A Concomitant Phenomenon; But It Is Not

So Always,  As We Have Already Seen,  Inasmuch As The Consummation And

Highest Moral Development Of Instinct Displays Itself In Self-

Sacrifice.

 

The True Problem,  However,  Lies Far Deeper Than This.  For Every

Conception Of A Pleasure Proves That We Have Experienced This

Pleasure Already.  But It Follows From This,  That When The Pleasure

Was First Felt There Must Have Been Will Present,  In The

Gratification Of Which Will The Pleasure Consisted; The Question,

Therefore,  Arises,  Whence Did The Will Come Before The Pleasure That

Would Follow On Its Gratification Was Known,  And Before Bodily Pain,

As,  For Example,  Of Hunger,  Rendered Relief Imperative?  Yet We May

See That Even Though An Animal Has Grown Up Apart From Any Others Of

Its Kind,  It Will Yet None The Less Manifest The Instinctive Impulses

Of Its Race,  Though Experience Can Have Taught It Nothing Whatever

Concerning The Pleasure That Will Ensue Upon Their Gratification.  As

Regards Instinct,  Therefore,  There Must Be A Causal Connection

Between The Motivating Sensual Conception And The Will To Perform The

Instinctive Action,  And The Pleasure Of The Subsequent Gratification

Has Nothing To Do With The Matter.  We Know By The Experience Of Our

Own Instincts That This Causal Connection Does Not Lie Within Our

Consciousness; {102a} Therefore,  If It Is To Be A Mechanism Of Any

Kind,  It Can Only Be Either An Unconscious Mechanical Induction And

Metamorphosis Of The Vibrations Of The Conceived Motive Into The

Vibrations Of The Conscious Action In The Brain,  Or An Unconscious

Spiritual Mechanism.

 

In The First Case,  It Is Surely Strange That This Process Should Go

On Unconsciously,  Though It Is So Powerful In Its Effects That The

Will Resulting From It Overpowers Every Other Consideration,  Every

Other Kind Of Will,  And That Vibrations Of This Kind,  When Set Up In

The Brain,  Become Always Consciously Perceived; Nor Is It Easy To

Conceive In What Way This Metamorphosis Can Take Place So That The

Constant Purpose Can Be Attained Under Varying Circumstances By The

Resulting Will In Modes That Vary With Variation Of The Special

Features Of Each Individual Case.

 

But If We Take The Other Alternative,  And Suppose An Unconscious

Mental Mechanism,  We Cannot Legitimately Conceive Of The Process

Going On In This As Other Than What Prevails In All Mental Mechanism,

Namely,  Than As By Way Of Idea And Will.  We Are,  Therefore,

Compelled To Imagine A Causal Connection Between The Consciously

Recognised Motive And The Will To Do The Instinctive Action,  Through

Unconscious Idea And Will; Nor Do I Know How This Connection Can Be

Conceived As Being Brought About More Simply Than Through A Conceived

And Willed Purpose. {102b}  Arrived At This Point,  However,  We Have

Attained The Logical Mechanism Peculiar To And Inseparable From All

Mind,  And Find Unconscious Purpose To Be An Indispensable Link In

Every Instinctive Action.  With This,  Therefore,  The Conception Of A

Mental Mechanism,  Dead And Predestined From Without,  Has Disappeared,

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And Has Become Transformed Into The Spiritual Life Inseparable From

Logic,  So That We Have Reached The Sole Remaining Requirement For The

Conception Of An Actual Instinct,  Which Proves To Be A Conscious

Willing Of The Means Towards An Unconsciously Willed Purpose.  This

Conception Explains Clearly And Without Violence All The Problems

Which Instinct Presents To Us; Or More Truly,  All That Was

Problematical About Instinct Disappears When Its True Nature Has Been

Thus Declared.  If This Work Were Confined To The Consideration Of

Instinct Alone,  The Conception Of An Unconscious Activity Of Mind

Might Excite Opposition,  Inasmuch As It Is One With Which Our

Educated Public Is Not Yet Familiar; But In A Work Like The Present,

Every Chapter Of Which Adduces Fresh Facts In Support Of The

Existence Of Such An Activity And Of Its Remarkable Consequences,  The

Novelty Of The Theory Should Be Taken No Farther Into Consideration.

 

Though I So Confidently Deny That Instinct Is