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

In Cities We So Rarely

See The Dead Body Or Skeleton Of A Cat.  We Can Only Suppose That The

Unconscious Clairvoyance,  Which Is Of Essentially The Same Kind

Whether In Man Or Beast,  Calls Forth Presentiments Of Different

Degrees Of Definiteness,  So That The Cat Is Driven To Withdraw

Herself Through A Mere Instinct Without Knowing Why She Does So,

While In Man A Definite Perception Is Awakened Of The Fact That He Is

About To Die.  Not Only Do People Have Presentiments Concerning Their

Own Death,  But There Are Many Instances On Record In Which They Have

Become Aware Of That Of Those Near And Dear To Them,  The Dying Person

Having Appeared In A Dream To Friend Or Wife Or Husband.  Stories To

This Effect Prevail Among All Nations,  And Unquestionably Contain

Much Truth.  Closely Connected With This Is The Power Of Second

Sight,  Which Existed Formerly In Scotland,  And Still Does So In The

Danish Islands.  This Power Enables Certain People Without Any

Ecstasy,  But Simply Through Their Keener Perception,  To Foresee

Coming Events,  Or To Tell What Is Going On In Foreign Countries On

Matters In Which They Are Deeply Interested,  Such As Deaths,  Battles,

Conflagrations (Swedenborg Foretold The Burning Of Stockholm),  The

Arrival Or The Doings Of Friends Who Are At A Distance.  With Many

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Persons This Clairvoyance Is Confined To A Knowledge Of The Death Of

Their Acquaintances Or Fellow-Townspeople.  There Have Been A Great

Many Instances Of Such Death-Prophetesses,  And,  What Is Most

Important,  Some Cases Have Been Verified In Courts Of Law.  I May

Say,  In Passing,  That This Power Of Second Sight Is Found In Persons

Who Are In Ecstatic States,  In The Spontaneous Or Artificially

Induced Somnambulism Of The Higher Kinds Of Waking Dreams,  As Well As

In Lucid Moments Before Death.  These Prophetic Glimpses,  By Which

The Clairvoyance Of The Unconscious Reveals Itself To Consciousness,

{126} Are Commonly Obscure Because In The Brain They Must Assume A

Form Perceptible By The Senses,  Whereas The Unconscious Idea Can Have

Nothing To Do With Any Form Of Sensual Impression:  It Is For This

Reason That Humours,  Dreams,  And The Hallucinations Of Sick Persons

Can So Easily Have A False Signification Attached To Them.  The

Chances Of Error And Self-Deception That Arise From This Source,  The

Ease With Which People May Be Deceived Intentionally,  And The

Mischief Which,  As A General Rule,  Attends A Knowledge Of The Future,

These Considerations Place Beyond All Doubt The Practical Unwisdom Of

Attempts To Arrive At Certainty Concerning The Future.  This,

However,  Cannot Affect The Weight Which In Theory Should Be Attached

To Phenomena Of This Kind,  And Must Not Prevent Us From Recognising

The Positive Existence Of The Clairvoyance Whose Existence I Am

Maintaining,  Though It Is Often Hidden Under A Chaos Of Madness And

Imposture.

 

The Materialistic And Rationalistic Tendencies Of The Present Day

Lead Most People Either To Deny Facts Of This Kind In Toto,  Or To

Ignore Them,  Inasmuch As They Are Inexplicable From A Materialistic

Standpoint,  And Cannot Be Established By The Inductive Or

Experimental Method--As Though This Last Were Not Equally Impossible

In The Case Of Morals,  Social Science,  And Politics.  A Mind Of Any

Candour Will Only Be Able To Deny The Truths Of This Entire Class Of

Phenomena So Long As It Remains In Ignorance Of The Facts That Have

Been Related Concerning Them; But,  Again,  A Continuance In This

Ignorance Can Only Arise From Unwillingness To Be Convinced.  I Am

Satisfied That Many Of Those Who Deny All Human Power Of Divination

Would Come To Another,  And,  To Say The Least,  More Cautious

Conclusion If They Would Be At The Pains Of Further Investigation;

And I Hold That No One,  Even At The Present Day,  Need Be Ashamed Of

Joining In With An Opinion Which Was Maintained By All The Great

Spirits Of Antiquity Except Epicurus--An Opinion Whose Possible Truth

Hardly One Of Our Best Modern Philosophers Has Ventured To

Contravene,  And Which The Champions Of German Enlightenment Were So

Little Disposed To Relegate To The Domain Of Old Wives' Tales,  That

Goethe Furnishes Us With An Example Of Second Sight That Fell Within

His Own Experience,  And Confirms It Down To Its Minutest Details.

 

Although I Am Far From Believing That The Kind Of Phenomena Above

Referred To Form In Themselves A Proper Foundation For A

Superstructure Of Scientific Demonstration,  I Nevertheless Find Them

Valuable As A Completion And Further Confirmation Of The Series Of

Phenomena Presented To Us By The Clairvoyance Which We Observe In

Human And Animal Instinct.  Even Though They Only Continue This

Series {128} Through The Echo That Is Awakened Within Our

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Consciousness,  They As Powerfully Support The Account Which

Instinctive Actions Give Concerning Their Own Nature,  As They Are

Themselves Supported By The Analogy They Present To The Clairvoyance

Observable In Instinct.  This,  Then,  As Well As My Desire Not To Lose

An Opportunity Of Protesting Against A Modern Prejudice,  Must Stand

As My Reason For Having Allowed Myself To Refer,  In A Scientific

Work,  To A Class Of Phenomena Which Has Fallen At Present Into So

Much Discredit.

 

I Will Conclude With A Few Words Upon A Special Kind Of Instinct

Which Has A Very Instructive Bearing Upon The Subject Generally,  And

Shows How Impossible It Is To Evade The Supposition Of An Unconscious

Clairvoyance On The Part Of Instinct.  In The Examples Adduced

Hitherto,  The Action Of Each Individual Has Been Done On The

Individual's Own Behalf,  Except In The Case Of Instincts Connected

With The Continuation Of The Species,  Where The Action Benefits

Others--That Is To Say,  The Offspring Of The Creature Performing It.

 

We Must Now Examine The Cases In Which A Solidarity Of Instinct Is

Found To Exist Between Several Individuals,  So That,  On The One Hand,

The Action Of Each Redounds To The Common Welfare,  And,  On The Other,

It Becomes Possible For A Useful Purpose To Be Achieved Through The

Harmonious Association Of Individual Workers.  This Community Of

Instinct Exists Also Among The Higher Animals,  But Here It Is Harder

To Distinguish From Associations Originating Through Conscious Will,

Inasmuch As Speech Supplies The Means Of A More Perfect

Intercommunication Of Aim And Plan.  We Shall,  However,  Definitely

Recognise {129} This General Effect Of A Universal Instinct In The

Origin Of Speech And In The Great Political And Social Movements In

The History Of The World.  Here We Are Concerned Only With The

Simplest And Most Definite Examples That Can Be Found Anywhere,  And

Therefore We Will Deal In Preference With The Lower Animals,  Among

Which,  In The Absence Of Voice,  The Means Of Communicating Thought,

Mimicry,  And Physiognomy,  Are So Imperfect That The Harmony And

Interconnection Of The Individual Actions Cannot In Its Main Points

Be Ascribed To An Understanding Arrived At Through Speech.  Huber

Observed That When A New Comb Was Being Constructed A Number Of The

Largest Working-Bees,  That Were Full Of Honey,  Took No Part In The

Ordinary Business Of The Others,  But Remained Perfectly Aloof.

Twenty-Four Hours Afterwards Small Plates Of Wax Had Formed Under

Their Bellies.  The Bee Drew These Off With Her Hind-Feet,  Masticated

Them,  And Made Them Into A Band.  The Small Plates Of Wax Thus

Prepared Were Then Glued To The Roof Of The Hive One On The Top Of

The Other.  When One Of The Bees Of This Kind Had Used Up Her Plates

Of Wax,  Another Followed Her And Carried The Same Work Forward In The

Same Way.  A Thin Rough Vertical Wall,  Half A Line In Thickness And

Fastened To The Sides Of The Hive,  Was Thus Constructed.  On This,

One Of The Smaller Working-Bees Whose Belly Was Empty Came,  And After

Surveying The Wall,  Made A Flat Half-Oval Excavation In The Middle Of

One Of Its Sides; She Piled Up The Wax Thus Excavated Round The Edge

Of The Excavation.  After A Short Time She Was Relieved By Another

Like Herself,  Till More Than Twenty Followed One Another In This Way.

Meanwhile Another Bee Began To Make A Similar Hollow On The Other

Side Of The Wall,  But Corresponding Only With The Rim Of The

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Excavation On This Side.  Presently Another Bee Began A Second Hollow

Upon The Same Side,  Each Bee Being Continually Relieved By Others.

Other Bees Kept Coming Up And Bringing Under Their Bellies Plates Of

Wax,  With Which They Heightened The Edge Of The Small Wall Of Wax.

In This,  New Bees Were Constantly Excavating The Ground For More

Cells,  While Others Proceeded By Degrees To Bring Those Already Begun

Into A Perfectly Symmetrical Shape,  And At The Same Time Continued

Building Up The Prismatic Walls Between Them.  Thus The Bees Worked

On Opposite Sides Of The Wall Of Wax,  Always On The Same Plan And In

The Closest Correspondence With Those Upon The Other Side,  Until

Eventually The Cells On Both Sides Were Completed In All Their

Wonderful Regularity And Harmony Of Arrangement,  Not Merely As

Regards Those Standing Side By Side,  But Also As Regards Those Which

Were Upon The Other Side Of Their Pyramidal Base.

 

Let The Reader Consider How Animals That Are Accustomed To Confer

Together,  By Speech Or Otherwise,  Concerning Designs Which They May

Be Pursuing In Common,  Will Wrangle With Thousandfold Diversity Of

Opinion; Let Him Reflect How Often Something Has To Be Undone,

Destroyed,  And Done Over Again; How At One Time Too Many Hands Come

Forward,  And At Another Too Few; What Running To And Fro There Is

Before Each Has Found His Right Place; How Often Too Many,  And Again

Too Few,  Present Themselves For A Relief Gang; And How We Find All

This In The Concerted Works Of Men,  Who Stand So Far Higher Than Bees

In The Scale Of Organisation.  We See Nothing Of The Kind Among Bees.

A Survey Of Their Operations Leaves Rather The Impression Upon Us As

Though An Invisible Master-Builder Had Prearranged A Scheme Of Action

For The Entire Community,  And Had Impressed It Upon Each Individual

Member,  As Though Each Class Of Workers Had Learnt Their Appointed

Work By Heart,  Knew Their Places And The Numbers In Which They Should

Relieve Each Other,  And Were Informed Instantaneously By A Secret

Signal Of The Moment When Their Action Was Wanted.  This,  However,  Is

Exactly The Manner In Which An Instinct Works; And As The Intention

Of The Entire Community Is Instinctively Present In The Unconscious

Clairvoyance {131a} Of Each Individual Bee,  So The Possession Of This

Common Instinct Impels Each One Of Them To The Discharge Of Her

Special Duties When The Right Moment Has Arrived.  It