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

And Their Action Is

Supplied By Unconscious Idea,  Which,  However,  Is Always Accurately

Prescient,  Inasmuch As It Contains Something Which Is Neither Given

Directly To The Animal Through Sensual Perception,  Nor Can Be Deduced

Inferentially Through The Understanding.

 

Most Wonderful Of All Are The Instincts Connected With The

Continuation Of The Species.  The Males Always Find Out The Females

Of Their Own Kind,  But Certainly Not Solely Through Their Resemblance

To Themselves.  With Many Animals,  As,  For Example,  Parasitic Crabs,

The Sexes So Little Resemble One Another That The Male Would Be More

Likely To Seek A Mate From The Females Of A Thousand Other Species

Than From His Own.  Certain Butterflies Are Polymorphic,  And Not Only

Do The Males And Females Of The Same Species Differ,  But The Females

Present Two Distinct Forms,  One Of Which As A General Rule Mimics The

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Outward Appearance Of A Distant But Highly Valued Species; Yet The

Males Will Pair Only With The Females Of Their Own Kind,  And Not With

The Strangers,  Though These May Be Very Likely Much More Like The

Males Themselves.  Among The Insect Species Of The Strepsiptera,  The

Female Is A Shapeless Worm Which Lives Its Whole Life Long In The

Hind Body Of A Wasp; Its Head,  Which Is Of The Shape Of A Lentil,

Protrudes Between Two Of The Belly Rings Of The Wasp,  The Rest Of The

Body Being Inside.  The Male,  Which Only Lives For A Few Hours,  And

Resembles A Moth,  Nevertheless Recognises His Mate In Spite Of These

Adverse Circumstances,  And Fecundates Her.

 

Before Any Experience Of Parturition,  The Knowledge That It Is

Approaching Drives All Mammals Into Solitude,  And Bids Them Prepare A

Nest For Their Young In A Hole Or In Some Other Place Of Shelter.

The Bird Builds Her Nest As Soon As She Feels The Eggs Coming To

Maturity Within Her.  Snails,  Land-Crabs,  Tree-Frogs,  And Toads,  All

Of Them Ordinarily Dwellers Upon Land,  Now Betake Themselves To The

Water; Sea-Tortoises Go On Shore,  And Many Saltwater Fishes Come Up

Into The Rivers In Order To Lay Their Eggs Where They Can Alone Find

The Requisites For Their Development.  Insects Lay Their Eggs In The

Most Varied Kinds Of Situations,--In Sand,  On Leaves,  Under The Hides

And Horny Substances Of Other Animals; They Often Select The Spot

Where The Larva Will Be Able Most Readily To Find Its Future

Sustenance,  As In Autumn Upon The Trees That Will Open First In The

Coming Spring,  Or In Spring Upon The Blossoms That Will First Bear

Fruit In Autumn,  Or In The Insides Of Those Caterpillars Which Will

Soonest As Chrysalides Provide The Parasitic Larva At Once With Food

And With Protection.  Other Insects Select The Sites From Which They

Will First Get Forwarded To The Destination Best Adapted For Their

Development.  Thus Some Horseflies Lay Their Eggs Upon The Lips Of

Horses Or Upon Parts Where They Are Accustomed To Lick Themselves.

The Eggs Get Conveyed Hence Into The Entrails,  The Proper Place For

Their Development,--And Are Excreted Upon Their Arrival At Maturity.

The Flies That Infest Cattle Know So Well How To Select The Most

Vigorous And Healthiest Beasts,  That Cattle-Dealers And Tanners Place

Entire Dependence Upon Them,  And Prefer Those Beasts And Hides That

Are Most Scarred By Maggots.  This Selection Of The Best Cattle By

The Help Of These Flies Is No Evidence In Support Of The Conclusion

That The Flies Possess The Power Of Making Experiments Consciously

And Of Reflecting Thereupon,  Even Though The Men Whose Trade It Is To

Do This Recognise Them As Their Masters.  The Solitary Wasp Makes A

Hole Several Inches Deep In The Sand,  Lays Her Egg,  And Packs Along

With It A Number Of Green Maggots That Have No Legs,  And Which,  Being

On The Point Of Becoming Chrysalides,  Are Well Nourished And Able To

Go A Long Time Without Food; She Packs These Maggots So Closely

Together That They Cannot Move Nor Turn Into Chrysalides,  And Just

Enough Of Them To Support The Larva Until It Becomes A Chrysalis.  A

Kind Of Bug (Cerceris Bupresticida),  Which Itself Lives Only Upon

Pollen,  Lays Her Eggs In An Underground Cell,  And With Each One Of

Them She Deposits Three Beetles,  Which She Has Lain In Wait For And

Captured When They Were Still Weak Through Having Only Just Left Off

Being Chrysalides.  She Kills These Beetles,  And Appears To Smear

Them With A Fluid Whereby She Preserves Them Fresh And Suitable For

Food.  Many Kinds Of Wasps Open The Cells In Which Their Larvae Are

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Confined When These Must Have Consumed The Provision That Was Left

With Them.  They Supply Them With More Food,  And Again Close The

Cell.  Ants,  Again,  Hit Always Upon Exactly The Right Moment For

Opening The Cocoons In Which Their Larvae Are Confined And For

Setting Them Free,  The Larva Being Unable To Do This For Itself.  Yet

The Life Of Only A Few Kinds Of Insects Lasts Longer Than A Single

Breeding Season.  What Then Can They Know About The Contents Of Their

Eggs And The Fittest Place For Their Development?  What Can They Know

About The Kind Of Food The Larva Will Want When It Leaves The Egg--A

Food So Different From Their Own?  What,  Again,  Can They Know About

The Quantity Of Food That Will Be Necessary?  How Much Of All This At

Least Can They Know Consciously?  Yet Their Actions,  The Pains They

Take,  And The Importance They Evidently Attach To These Matters,

Prove That They Have A Foreknowledge Of The Future:  This Knowledge

Therefore Can Only Be An Unconscious Clairvoyance.  For Clairvoyance

It Must Certainly Be That Inspires The Will Of An Animal To Open

Cells And Cocoons At The Very Moment That The Larva Is Either Ready

For More Food Or Fit For Leaving The Cocoon.  The Eggs Of The Cuckoo

Do Not Take Only From Two To Three Days To Mature In Her Ovaries,  As

Those Of Most Birds Do,  But Require From Eleven To Twelve; The

Cuckoo,  Therefore,  Cannot Sit Upon Her Own Eggs,  For Her First Egg

Would Be Spoiled Before The Last Was Laid.  She Therefore Lays In

Other Birds' Nests--Of Course Laying Each Egg In A Different Nest.

But In Order That The Birds May Not Perceive Her Egg To Be A Stranger

And Turn It Out Of The Nest,  Not Only Does She Lay An Egg Much

Smaller Than Might Be Expected From A Bird Of Her Size (For She Only

Finds Her Opportunity Among Small Birds),  But,  As Already Said,  She

Imitates The Other Eggs In The Nest She Has Selected With Surprising

Accuracy In Respect Both Of Colour And Marking.  As The Cuckoo

Chooses The Nest Some Days Beforehand,  It May Be Thought,  If The Nest

Is An Open One,  That The Cuckoo Looks Upon The Colour Of The Eggs

Within It While Her Own Is In Process Of Maturing Inside Her,  And

That It Is Thus Her Egg Comes To Assume The Colour Of The Others; But

This Explanation Will Not Hold Good For Nests That Are Made In The

Holes Of Trees,  As That Of Sylvia Phaenicurus,  Or Which Are Oven-

Shaped With A Narrow Entrance,  As With Sylvia Rufa.  In These Cases

The Cuckoo Can Neither Slip In Nor Look In,  And Must Therefore Lay

Her Egg Outside The Nest And Push It Inside With Her Beak; She Can

Therefore Have No Means Of Perceiving Through Her Senses What The

Eggs Already In The Nest Are Like.  If,  Then,  In Spite Of All This,

Her Egg Closely Resembles The Others,  This Can Only Have Come About

Through An Unconscious Clairvoyance Which Directs The Process That

Goes On Within The Ovary In Respect Of Colour And Marking.

 

An Important Argument In Support Of The Existence Of A Clairvoyance

In The Instincts Of Animals Is To Be Found In The Series Of Facts

Which Testify To The Existence Of A Like Clairvoyance,  Under Certain

Circumstances,  Even Among Human Beings,  While The Self-Curative

Instincts Of Children And Of Pregnant Women Have Been Already

Mentioned.  Here,  However,  {124} In Correspondence With The Higher

Stage Of Development Which Human Consciousness Has Attained,  A

Stronger Echo Of The Unconscious Clairvoyance Commonly Resounds

Within Consciousness Itself,  And This Is Represented By A More Or

Less Definite Presentiment Of The Consequences That Will Ensue.  It

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Is Also In Accord With The Greater Independence Of The Human

Intellect That This Kind Of Presentiment Is Not Felt Exclusively

Immediately Before The Carrying Out Of An Action,  But Is Occasionally

Disconnected From The Condition That An Action Has To Be Performed

Immediately,  And Displays Itself Simply As An Idea Independently Of

Conscious Will,  Provided Only That The Matter Concerning Which The

Presentiment Is Felt Is One Which In A High Degree Concerns The Will

Of The Person Who Feels It.  In The Intervals Of An Intermittent

Fever Or Of Other Illness,  It Not Unfrequently Happens That Sick

Persons Can Accurately Foretell The Day Of An Approaching Attack And

How Long It Will Last.  The Same Thing Occurs Almost Invariably In

The Case Of Spontaneous,  And Generally In That Of Artificial,

Somnambulism; Certainly The Pythia,  As Is Well Known,  Used To

Announce The Date Of Her Next Ecstatic State.  In Like Manner The

Curative Instinct Displays Itself In Somnambulists,  And They Have

Been Known To Select Remedies That Have Been No Less Remarkable For

The Success Attending Their Employment Than For The Completeness With

Which They Have Run Counter To Received Professional Opinion.  The

Indication Of Medicinal Remedies Is The Only Use Which Respectable

Electro-Biologists Will Make Of The Half-Sleeping,  Half-Waking

Condition Of Those Whom They Are Influencing.  "People In Perfectly

Sound Health Have Been Known,  Before Childbirth Or At The

Commencement Of An Illness,  To Predict Accurately Their Own

Approaching Death.  The Accomplishment Of Their Predictions Can

Hardly Be Explained As The Result Of Mere Chance,  For If This Were

All,  The Prophecy Should Fail At Least As Often As Not,  Whereas The

Reverse Is Actually The Case.  Many Of These Persons Neither Desire

Death Nor Fear It,  So That The Result Cannot Be Ascribed To

Imagination."  So Writes The Celebrated Physiologist,  Burdach,  From

Whose Chapter On Presentiment In His Work "Bhicke In's Leben" A Great

Part Of My Most Striking Examples Is Taken.  This Presentiment Of

Deaths,  Which Is The Exception Among Men,  Is Quite Common With

Animals,  Even Though They Do Not Know Nor Understand What Death Is.

When They Become Aware That Their End Is Approaching,  They Steal Away

To Outlying And Solitary Places.  This Is Why