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diff --git a/old/lckc10.txt b/old/lckc10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..93798ae --- /dev/null +++ b/old/lckc10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9086 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Luck or Cunning?, by Samuel Butler +(#11 in our series by Samuel Butler) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Luck or Cunning? + +Author: Samuel Butler + +Release Date: January, 2004 [EBook #4967] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on April 5, 2002] +[Most recently updated: April 5, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, LUCK OR CUNNING? *** + + + + +Transcribed by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk from the +1922 Jonathan Cape edition + + + +LUCK, OR CUNNING AS THE MAIN MEANS OF ORGANIC MODIFICATION + + + + +NOTE + + + +This second edition of Luck, or Cunning? is a reprint of the first +edition, dated 1887, but actually published in November, 1886. The +only alterations of any consequence are in the Index, which has been +enlarged by the incorporation of several entries made by the author +in a copy of the book which came into my possession on the death of +his literary executor, Mr. R. A. Streatfeild. I thank Mr. G. W. +Webb, of the University Library, Cambridge, for the care and skill +with which he has made the necessary alterations; it was a +troublesome job because owing to the re-setting, the pagination was +no longer the same. + +Luck, or Cunning? is the fourth of Butler's evolution books; it was +followed in 1890 by three articles in The Universal Review entitled +"The Deadlock in Darwinism" (republished in The Humour of Homer), +after which he published no more upon that subject. + +In this book, as he says in his Introduction, he insists upon two +main points: (1) the substantial identity between heredity and +memory, and (2) the reintroduction of design into organic +development; and these two points he treats as though they have +something of that physical life with which they are so closely +associated. He was aware that what he had to say was likely to +prove more interesting to future generations than to his immediate +public, "but any book that desires to see out a literary three-score +years and ten must offer something to future generations as well as +to its own." By next year one half of the three-score years and ten +will have passed, and the new generation by their constant enquiries +for the work have already begun to show their appreciation of +Butler's method of treating the subject, and their readiness to +listen to what was addressed to them as well as to their fathers. + +HENRY FESTING JONES. +March, 1920. + + + +AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION + + + +This book, as I have said in my concluding chapter, has turned out +very different from the one I had it in my mind to write when I +began it. It arose out of a conversation with the late Mr. Alfred +Tylor soon after his paper on the growth of trees and protoplasmic +continuity was read before the Linnean Society--that is to say, in +December, 1884--and I proposed to make the theory concerning the +subdivision of organic life into animal and vegetable, which I have +broached in my concluding chapter, the main feature of the book. +One afternoon, on leaving Mr. Tylor's bedside, much touched at the +deep disappointment he evidently felt at being unable to complete +the work he had begun so ably, it occurred to me that it might be +some pleasure to him if I promised to dedicate my own book to him, +and thus, however unworthy it might be, connect it with his name. +It occurred to me, of course, also that the honour to my own book +would be greater than any it could confer, but the time was not one +for balancing considerations nicely, and when I made my suggestion +to Mr. Tylor on the last occasion that I ever saw him, the manner in +which he received it settled the question. If he had lived I should +no doubt have kept more closely to my plan, and should probably +have been furnished by him with much that would have enriched the +book and made it more worthy of his acceptance; but this was not to +be. + +In the course of writing I became more and more convinced that no +progress could be made towards a sounder view of the theory of +descent until people came to understand what the late Mr. Charles +Darwin's theory of natural selection amounted to, and how it was +that it ever came to be propounded. Until the mindless theory of +Charles Darwinian natural selection was finally discredited, and a +mindful theory of evolution was substituted in its place, neither +Mr. Tylor's experiments nor my own theories could stand much chance +of being attended to. I therefore devoted myself mainly, as I had +done in "Evolution Old and New," and in "Unconscious Memory," to +considering whether the view taken by the late Mr. Darwin, or the +one put forward by his three most illustrious predecessors, should +most command our assent. + +The deflection from my original purpose was increased by the +appearance, about a year ago, of Mr. Grant Allen's "Charles Darwin," +which I imagine to have had a very large circulation. So important, +indeed, did I think it not to leave Mr. Allen's statements +unchallenged, that in November last I recast my book completely, +cutting out much that I had written, and practically starting anew. +How far Mr. Tylor would have liked it, or even sanctioned its being +dedicated to him, if he were now living, I cannot, of course, say. +I never heard him speak of the late Mr. Darwin in any but terms of +warm respect, and am by no means sure that he would have been well +pleased at an attempt to connect him with a book so polemical as the +present. On the other hand, a promise made and received as mine +was, cannot be set aside lightly. The understanding was that my +next book was to be dedicated to Mr. Tylor; I have written the best +I could, and indeed never took so much pains with any other; to Mr. +Tylor's memory, therefore, I have most respectfully, and +regretfully, inscribed it. + +Desiring that the responsibility for what has been done should rest +with me, I have avoided saying anything about the book while it was +in progress to any of Mr Tylor's family or representatives. They +know nothing, therefore, of its contents, and if they did, would +probably feel with myself very uncertain how far it is right to use +Mr. Tylor's name in connection with it. I can only trust that, on +the whole, they may think I have done most rightly in adhering to +the letter of my promise. + +October 15, 1886. + + + +CHAPTER I--INTRODUCTION + + + +I shall perhaps best promote the acceptance of the two main points +on which I have been insisting for some years past, I mean, the +substantial identity between heredity and memory, and the +reintroduction of design into organic development, by treating them +as if they had something of that physical life with which they are +so closely connected. Ideas are like plants and animals in this +respect also, as in so many others, that they are more fully +understood when their relations to other ideas of their time, and +the history of their development are known and borne in mind. By +development I do not merely mean their growth in the minds of those +who first advanced them, but that larger development which consists +in their subsequent good or evil fortunes--in their reception, +favourable or otherwise, by those to whom they were presented. This +is to an idea what its surroundings are to an organism, and throws +much the same light upon it that knowledge of the conditions under +which an organism lives throws upon the organism itself. I shall, +therefore, begin this new work with a few remarks about its +predecessors. + +I am aware that what I may say on this head is likely to prove more +interesting to future students of the literature of descent than to +my immediate public, but any book that desires to see out a literary +three-score years and ten must offer something to future generations +as well as to its own. It is a condition of its survival that it +shall do this, and herein lies one of the author's chief +difficulties. If books only lived as long as men and women, we +should know better how to grow them; as matters stand, however, the +author lives for one or two generations, whom he comes in the end to +understand fairly well, while the book, if reasonable pains have +been taken with it, should live more or less usefully for a dozen. +About the greater number of these generations the author is in the +dark; but come what may, some of them are sure to have arrived at +conclusions diametrically opposed to our own upon every subject +connected with art, science, philosophy, and religion; it is plain, +therefore, that if posterity is to be pleased, it can only be at the +cost of repelling some present readers. Unwilling as I am to do +this, I still hold it the lesser of two evils; I will be as brief, +however, as the interests of the opinions I am supporting will +allow. + +In "Life and Habit" I contended that heredity was a mode of memory. +I endeavoured to show that all hereditary traits, whether of mind or +body, are inherited in virtue of, and as a manifestation of, the +same power whereby we are able to remember intelligently what we did +half an hour, yesterday, or a twelvemonth since, and this in no +figurative but in a perfectly real sense. If life be compared to an +equation of a hundred unknown quantities, I followed Professor +Hering of Prague in reducing it to one of ninety-nine only, by +showing two of the supposed unknown quantities to be so closely +allied that they should count as one. I maintained that instinct +was inherited memory, and this without admitting more exceptions and +qualifying clauses than arise, as it were, by way of harmonics from +every proposition, and must be neglected if thought and language are +to be possible. + +I showed that if the view for which I was contending was taken, many +facts which, though familiar, were still without explanation or +connection with our other ideas, would remain no longer isolated, +but be seen at once as joined with the mainland of our most assured +convictions. Among the things thus brought more comfortably home to +us was the principle underlying longevity. It became apparent why +some living beings should live longer than others, and how any race +must be treated whose longevity it is desired to increase. Hitherto +we had known that an elephant was a long-lived animal and a fly +short-lived, but we could give no reason why the one should live +longer than the other; that is to say, it did not follow in +immediate coherence with, or as intimately associated with, any +familiar principle that an animal which is late in the full +development of its reproductive system will tend to live longer than +one which reproduces early. If the theory of "Life and Habit" be +admitted, the fact of a slow-growing animal being in general longer +lived than a quick developer is seen to be connected with, and to +follow as a matter of course from, the fact of our being able to +remember anything at all, and all the well-known traits of memory, +as observed where we can best take note of them, are perceived to be +reproduced with singular fidelity in the development of an animal +from its embryonic stages to maturity. + +Take this view, and the very general sterility of hybrids from being +a CRUX of the theory of descent becomes a stronghold of defence. It +appears as part of the same story as the benefit derived from +judicious, and the mischief from injudicious, crossing; and this, in +its turn, is seen as part of the same story, as the good we get from +change of air and scene when we are overworked. I will not amplify; +but reversion to long-lost, or feral, characteristics, the phenomena +of old age, the fact of the reproductive system being generally the +last to arrive at maturity--few further developments occurring in +any organism after this has been attained--the sterility of many +animals in confinement, the development in both males and females +under certain circumstances of the characteristics of the opposite +sex, the latency of memory, the unconsciousness with which we grow, +and indeed perform all familiar actions, these points, though +hitherto, most of them, so apparently inexplicable that no one even +attempted to explain them, became at once intelligible, if the +contentions of "Life and Habit" were admitted. + +Before I had finished writing this book I fell in with Professor +Mivart's "Genesis of Species," and for the first time understood the +distinction between the Lamarckian and Charles-Darwinian systems of +evolution. This had not, so far as I then knew, been as yet made +clear to us by any of our more prominent writers upon the subject of +descent with modification; the distinction was unknown to the +general public, and indeed is only now beginning to be widely +understood. While reading Mr. Mivart's book, however, I became +aware that I was being faced by two facts, each incontrovertible, +but each, if its leading exponents were to be trusted, incompatible +with the other. + +On the one hand there was descent; we could not read Mr. Darwin's +books and doubt that all, both animals and plants, were descended +from a common source. On the other, there was design; we could not +read Paley and refuse to admit that design, intelligence, adaptation +of means to ends, must have had a large share in the development of +the life we saw around us; it seemed indisputable that the minds and +bodies of all living beings must have come to be what they are +through a wise ordering and administering of their estates. We +could not, therefore, dispense either with descent or with design, +and yet it seemed impossible to keep both, for those who offered us +descent stuck to it that we could have no design, and those, again, +who spoke so wisely and so well about design would not for a moment +hear of descent with modification. + +Each, moreover, had a strong case. Who could reflect upon +rudimentary organs, and grant Paley the kind of design that alone +would content him? And yet who could examine the foot or the eye, +and grant Mr. Darwin his denial of forethought and plan? + +For that Mr. Darwin did deny skill and contrivance in connection +with the greatly preponderating part of organic developments cannot +be and is not now disputed. In the first chapter of "Evolution Old +and New" I brought forward passages to show how completely he and +his followers deny design, but will here quote one of the latest of +the many that have appeared to the same effect since "Evolution Old +and New" was published; it is by Mr. Romanes, and runs as follows:- + +"It is the VERY ESSENCE of the Darwinian hypothesis that it only +seeks to explain the APPARENTLY purposive variations, or variations +of an adaptive kind." {17a} + +The words "apparently purposive" show that those organs in animals +and plants which at first sight seem to have been designed with a +view to the work they have to do--that is to say, with a view to +future function--had not, according to Mr. Darwin, in reality any +connection with, or inception in, effort; effort involves purpose +and design; they had therefore no inception in design, however much +they might present the appearance of being designed; the appearance +was delusive; Mr. Romanes correctly declares it to be "the very +essence" of Mr. Darwin's system to attempt an explanation of these +seemingly purposive variations which shall be compatible with their +having arisen without being in any way connected with intelligence +or design. + +As it is indisputable that Mr. Darwin denied design, so neither can +it be doubted that Paley denied descent with modification. What, +then, were the wrong entries in these two sets of accounts, on the +detection and removal of which they would be found to balance as +they ought? + +Paley's weakest place, as already implied, is in the matter of +rudimentary organs; the almost universal presence in the higher +organisms of useless, and sometimes even troublesome, organs is +fatal to the kind of design he is trying to uphold; granted that +there is design, still it cannot be so final and far-foreseeing as +he wishes to make it out. Mr. Darwin's weak place, on the other +hand, lies, firstly, in the supposition that because rudimentary +organs imply no purpose now, they could never in time past have done +so--that because they had clearly not been designed with an eye to +all circumstances and all time, they never, therefore, could have +been designed with an eye to any time or any circumstances; and, +secondly, in maintaining that "accidental," "fortuitous," +"spontaneous" variations could be accumulated at all except under +conditions that have never been fulfilled yet, and never will be; in +other words, his weak place lay in the contention (for it comes to +this) that there can be sustained accumulation of bodily wealth, +more than of wealth of any other kind, unless sustained experience, +watchfulness, and good sense preside over the accumulation. In +"Life and Habit," following Mr. Mivart, and, as I now find, Mr. +Herbert Spencer, I showed (pp. 279-281) how impossible it was for +variations to accumulate unless they were for the most part +underlain by a sustained general principle; but this subject will be +touched upon more fully later on. + +The accumulation of accidental variations which owed nothing to mind +either in their inception, or their accumulation, the pitchforking, +in fact, of mind out of the universe, or at any rate its exclusion +from all share worth talking about in the process of organic +development, this was the pill Mr. Darwin had given us to swallow; +but so thickly had he gilded it with descent with modification, that +we did as we were told, swallowed it without a murmur, were lavish +in our expressions of gratitude, and, for some twenty years or so, +through the mouths of our leading biologists, ordered design +peremptorily out of court, if she so much as dared to show herself. +Indeed, we have even given life pensions to some of the most notable +of these biologists, I suppose in order to reward them for having +hoodwinked us so much to our satisfaction. + +Happily the old saying, Naturam expellas furca, tamen usque +recurret, still holds true, and the reaction that has been gaining +force for some time will doubtless ere long brush aside the cobwebs +with which those who have a vested interest in Mr. Darwin's +reputation as a philosopher still try to fog our outlook. Professor +Mivart was, as I have said, among the first to awaken us to Mr. +Darwin's denial of design, and to the absurdity involved therein. +He well showed how incredible Mr Darwin's system was found to be, as +soon as it was fully realised, but there he rather left us. He +seemed to say that we must have our descent and our design too, but +he did not show how we were to manage this with rudimentary organs +still staring us in the face. His work rather led up to the clearer +statement of the difficulty than either put it before us in so many +words, or tried to remove it. Nevertheless there can be no doubt +that the "Genesis of Species" gave Natural Selection what will prove +sooner or later to be its death-blow, in spite of the persistence +with which many still declare that it has received no hurt, and the +sixth edition of the" Origin of Species," published in the following +year, bore abundant traces of the fray. Moreover, though Mr. Mivart +gave us no overt aid, he pointed to the source from which help might +come, by expressly saying that his most important objection to Neo- +Darwinism had no force against Lamarck. + +To Lamarck, therefore, I naturally turned, and soon saw that the +theory on which I had been insisting in" Life and Habit" was in +reality an easy corollary on his system, though one which he does +not appear to have caught sight of. I saw also that his denial of +design was only, so to speak, skin deep, and that his system was in +reality teleological, inasmuch as, to use Isidore Geoffroy's words, +it makes the organism design itself. In making variations depend on +changed actions, and these, again, on changed views of life, +efforts, and designs, in consequence of changed conditions of life, +he in effect makes effort, intention, will, all of which involve +design (or at any rate which taken together involve it), underlie +progress in organic development. True, he did not know he was a +teleologist, but he was none the less a teleologist for this. He +was an unconscious teleologist, and as such perhaps more absolutely +an upholder of teleology than Paley himself; but this is neither +here nor there; our concern is not with what people think about +themselves, but with what their reasoning makes it evident that they +really hold. + +How strange the irony that hides us from ourselves! When Isidore +Geoffroy said that according to Lamarck organisms designed +themselves, {20a} and endorsed this, as to a great extent he did, he +still does not appear to have seen that either he or Lamarck were in +reality reintroducing design into organism; he does not appear to +have seen this more than Lamarck himself had seen it, but, on the +contrary, like Lamarck, remained under the impression that he was +opposing teleology or purposiveness. + +Of course in one sense he did oppose it; so do we all, if the word +design be taken to intend a very far-foreseeing of minute details, a +riding out to meet trouble long before it comes, a provision on +academic principles for contingencies that are little likely to +arise. We can see no evidence of any such design as this in nature, +and much everywhere that makes against it. There is no such +improvidence as over providence, and whatever theories we may form +about the origin and development of the universe, we may be sure +that it is not the work of one who is unable to understand how +anything can possibly go right unless he sees to it himself. Nature +works departmentally and by way of leaving details to subordinates. +But though those who see nature thus do indeed deny design of the +prescient-from-all-eternity order, they in no way impugn a method +which is far more in accord with all that we commonly think of as +design. A design which is as incredible as that a ewe should give +birth to a lion becomes of a piece with all that we observe most +frequently if it be regarded rather as an aggregation of many small +steps than as a single large one. This principle is very simple, +but it seems rather difficult to understand. It has taken several +generations before people would admit it as regards organism even +after it was pointed out to them, and those who saw it as regards +organism still failed to understand it as regards design; an +inexorable "Thus far shalt thou go and no farther" barred them from +fruition of the harvest they should have been the first to reap. +The very men who most insisted that specific difference was the +accumulation of differences so minute as to be often hardly, if at +all, perceptible, could not see that the striking and baffling +phenomena of design in connection with organism admitted of exactly +the same solution as the riddle of organic development, and should +be seen not as a result reached per saltum, but as an accumulation +of small steps or leaps in a given direction. It was as though +those who had insisted on the derivation of all forms of the steam- +engine from the common kettle, and who saw that this stands in much +the same relations to the engines, we will say, of the Great Eastern +steamship as the amoeba to man, were to declare that the Great +Eastern engines were not designed at all, on the ground that no one +in the early kettle days had foreseen so great a future development, +and were unable to understand that a piecemeal solvitur ambulando +design is more omnipresent, all-seeing, and all-searching, and hence +more truly in the strictest sense design, than any speculative leap +of fancy, however bold and even at times successful. + +From Lamarck I went on to Buffon and Erasmus Darwin--better men both +of them than Lamarck, and treated by him much as he has himself been +treated by those who have come after him--and found that the system +of these three writers, if considered rightly, and if the corollary +that heredity is only a mode of memory were added, would get us out +of our dilemma as regards descent and design, and enable us to keep +both. We could do this by making the design manifested in organism +more like the only design of which we know anything, and therefore +the only design of which we ought to speak--I mean our own. + +Our own design is tentative, and neither very far-foreseeing nor +very retrospective; it is a little of both, but much of neither; it +is like a comet with a little light in front of the nucleus and a +good deal more behind it, which ere long, however, fades away into +the darkness; it is of a kind that, though a little wise before the +event, is apt to be much wiser after it, and to profit even by +mischance so long as the disaster is not an overwhelming one; +nevertheless, though it is so interwoven with luck, there is no +doubt about its being design; why, then, should the design which +must have attended organic development be other than this? If the +thing that has been is the thing that also shall be, must not the +thing which is be that which also has been? Was there anything in +the phenomena of organic life to militate against such a view of +design as this? Not only was there nothing, but this view made +things plain, as the connecting of heredity and memory had already +done, which till now had been without explanation. Rudimentary +organs were no longer a hindrance to our acceptance of design, they +became weighty arguments in its favour. + +I therefore wrote "Evolution Old and New," with the object partly of +backing up "Life and Habit," and showing the easy rider it admitted, +partly to show how superior the old view of descent had been to Mr. +Darwin's, and partly to reintroduce design into organism. I wrote +"Life and Habit" to show that our mental and bodily acquisitions +were mainly stores of memory: I wrote "Evolution Old and New" to +add that the memory must be a mindful and designing memory. + +I followed up these two books with "Unconscious Memory," the main +object of which was to show how Professor Hering of Prague had +treated the connection between memory and heredity; to show, again, +how substantial was the difference between Von Hartmann and myself +in spite of some little superficial resemblance; to put forward a +suggestion as regards the physics of memory, and to meet the most +plausible objection which I have yet seen brought against "Life and +Habit." + +Since writing these three books I have published nothing on the +connection between heredity and memory, except a few pages of +remarks on Mr. Romanes' "Mental Evolution in Animals" in my book, +{23a} from which I will draw whatever seems to be more properly +placed here. I have collected many facts that make my case +stronger, but am precluded from publishing them by the reflection +that it is strong enough already. I have said enough in "Life and +Habit" to satisfy any who wish to be satisfied, and those who wish +to be dissatisfied would probably fail to see the force of what I +said, no matter how long and seriously I held forth to them; I +believe, therefore, that I shall do well to keep my facts for my own +private reading and for that of my executors. + +I once saw a copy of "Life and Habit" on Mr. Bogue's counter, and +was told by the very obliging shopman that a customer had just +written something in it which I might like to see. I said of course +I should like to see, and immediately taking the book read the +following--which it occurs to me that I am not justified in +publishing. What was written ran thus:- + +"As a reminder of our pleasant hours on the broad Atlantic, will Mr. +-- please accept this book (which I think contains more truth, and +less evidence of it, than any other I have met with) from his friend +-- ?" + +I presume the gentleman had met with the Bible--a work which lays +itself open to a somewhat similar comment. I was gratified, +however, at what I had read, and take this opportunity of thanking +the writer, an American, for having liked my book. It was so plain +he had been relieved at not finding the case smothered to death in +the weight of its own evidences, that I resolved not to forget the +lesson his words had taught me. + +The only writer in connection with "Life and Habit" to whom I am +anxious to reply is Mr. Herbert Spencer, but before doing this I +will conclude the present chapter with a consideration of some +general complaints that have been so often brought against me that +it may be worth while to notice them. + +These general criticisms have resolved themselves mainly into two. + +Firstly, it is said that I ought not to write about biology on the +ground of my past career, which my critics declare to have been +purely literary. I wish I might indulge a reasonable hope of one +day becoming a literary man; the expression is not a good one, but +there is no other in such common use, and this must excuse it; if a +man can be properly called literary, he must have acquired the habit +of reading accurately, thinking attentively, and expressing himself +clearly. He must have endeavoured in all sorts of ways to enlarge +the range of his sympathies so as to be able to put himself easily +en rapport with those whom he is studying, and those whom he is +addressing. If he cannot speak with tongues himself, he is the +interpreter of those who can--without whom they might as well be +silent. I wish I could see more signs of literary culture among my +scientific opponents; I should find their books much more easy and +agreeable reading if I could; and then they tell me to satirise the +follies and abuses of the age, just as if it was not this that I was +doing in writing about themselves. + +What, I wonder, would they say if I were to declare that they ought +not to write books at all, on the ground that their past career has +been too purely scientific to entitle them to a hearing? They would +reply with justice that I should not bring vague general +condemnations, but should quote examples of their bad writing. I +imagine that I have done this more than once as regards a good many +of them, and I dare say I may do it again in the course of this +book; but though I must own to thinking that the greater number of +our scientific men write abominably, I should not bring this against +them if I believed them to be doing their best to help us; many such +men we happily have, and doubtless always shall have, but they are +not those who push to the fore, and it is these last who are most +angry with me for writing on the subjects I have chosen. They +constantly tell me that I am not a man of science; no one knows this +better than I do, and I am quite used to being told it, but I am not +used to being confronted with the mistakes that I have made in +matters of fact, and trust that this experience is one which I may +continue to spare no pains in trying to avoid. + +Nevertheless I again freely grant that I am not a man of science. I +have never said I was. I was educated for the Church. I was once +inside the Linnean Society's rooms, but have no present wish to go +there again; though not a man of science, however, I have never +affected indifference to the facts and arguments which men of +science have made it their business to lay before us; on the +contrary, I have given the greater part of my time to their +consideration for several years past. I should not, however, say +this unless led to do so by regard to the interests of theories +which I believe to be as nearly important as any theories can be +which do not directly involve money or bodily convenience. + +The second complaint against me is to the effect that I have made no +original experiments, but have taken all my facts at second hand. +This is true, but I do not see what it has to do with the question. +If the facts are sound, how can it matter whether A or B collected +them? If Professor Huxley, for example, has made a series of +valuable original observations (not that I know of his having done +so), why am I to make them over again? What are fact-collectors +worth if the fact co-ordinators may not rely upon them? It seems to +me that no one need do more than go to the best sources for his +facts, and tell his readers where he got them. If I had had +occasion for more facts I daresay I should have taken the necessary +steps to get hold of them, but there was no difficulty on this +score; every text-book supplied me with all, and more than all, I +wanted; my complaint was that the facts which Mr. Darwin supplied +would not bear the construction he tried to put upon them; I tried, +therefore, to make them bear another which seemed at once more sound +and more commodious; rightly or wrongly I set up as a builder, not +as a burner of bricks, and the complaint so often brought against me +of not having made experiments is about as reasonable as complaint +against an architect on the score of his not having quarried with +his own hands a single one of the stones which he has used in +building. Let my opponents show that the facts which they and I use +in common are unsound, or that I have misapplied them, and I will +gladly learn my mistake, but this has hardly, to my knowledge, been +attempted. To me it seems that the chief difference between myself +and some of my opponents lies in this, that I take my facts from +them with acknowledgment, and they take their theories from me-- +without. + +One word more and I have done. I should like to say that I do not +return to the connection between memory and heredity under the +impression that I shall do myself much good by doing so. My own +share in the matter was very small. The theory that heredity is +only a mode of memory is not mine, but Professor Hering's. He wrote +in 1870, and I not till 1877. I should be only too glad if he would +take his theory and follow it up himself; assuredly he could do so +much better than I can; but with the exception of his one not +lengthy address published some fifteen or sixteen years ago he has +said nothing upon the subject, so far at least as I have been able +to ascertain; I tried hard to draw him in 1880, but could get +nothing out of him. If, again, any of our more influential writers, +not a few of whom evidently think on this matter much as I do, would +eschew ambiguities and tell us what they mean in plain language, I +would let the matter rest in their abler hands, but of this there +does not seem much chance at present. + +I wish there was, for in spite of the interest I have felt in +working the theory out and the information I have been able to +collect while doing so, I must confess that I have found it somewhat +of a white elephant. It has got me into the hottest of hot water, +made a literary Ishmael of me, lost me friends whom I have been +sorry to lose, cost me a good deal of money, done everything to me, +in fact, which a good theory ought not to do. Still, as it seems to +have taken up with me, and no one else is inclined to treat it +fairly, I shall continue to report its developments from time to +time as long as life and health are spared me. Moreover, Ishmaels +are not without their uses, and they are not a drug in the market +just now. + +I may now go on to Mr. Spencer. + + + +CHAPTER II--MR. HERBERT SPENCER + + + +Mr. Herbert Spencer wrote to the Athenaeum (April 5, 1884), and +quoted certain passages from the 1855 edition of his "Principles of +Psychology," "the meanings and implications" from which he contended +were sufficiently clear. The passages he quoted were as follows:- + +Though it is manifest that reflex and instinctive sequences are not +determined by the experiences of the INDIVIDUAL organism manifesting +them, yet there still remains the hypothesis that they are +determined by the experiences of the RACE of organisms forming its +ancestry, which by infinite repetition in countless successive +generations have established these sequences as organic relations +(p. 526). + +The modified nervous tendencies produced by such new habits of life +are also bequeathed (p. 526). + +That is to say, the tendencies to certain combinations of psychical +changes have become organic (p. 527). + +The doctrine that the connections among our ideas are determined by +experience must, in consistency, be extended not only to all the +connections established by the accumulated experiences of every +individual, but to all those established by the accumulated +experiences of every race (p. 529). + +Here, then, we have one of the simpler forms of instinct which, +under the requisite conditions, must necessarily be established by +accumulated experiences (p. 547). + +And manifestly, if the organisation of inner relations, in +correspondence with outer relations, results from a continual +registration of experiences, &c. (p. 551). + +On the one hand, Instinct may be regarded as a kind of organised +memory; on the other hand, Memory may be regarded as a kind of +incipient instinct (pp. 555-6). + +Memory, then, pertains to all that class of psychical states which +are in process of being organised. It continues so long as the +organising of them continues; and disappears when the organisation +of them is complete. In the advance of the correspondence, each +more complex class of phenomena which the organism acquires the +power of recognising is responded to at first irregularly and +uncertainly; and there is then a weak remembrance of the relations. +By multiplication of experiences this remembrance becomes stronger, +and the response more certain. By further multiplication of +experiences the internal relations are at last automatically +organised in correspondence with the external ones; and so conscious +memory passes into unconscious or organic memory. At the same time, +a new and still more complex order of experiences is thus rendered +appreciable; the relations they present occupy the memory in place +of the simpler one; they become gradually organised; and, like the +previous ones, are succeeded by others more complex still (p. 563). + +Just as we saw that the establishment of those compound reflex +actions which we call instincts is comprehensible on the principle +that inner relations are, by perpetual repetition, organised into +correspondence with outer relations; so the establishment of those +consolidated, those indissoluble, those instinctive mental relations +constituting our ideas of Space and Time, is comprehensible on the +same principle (p. 579). + + +In a book published a few weeks before Mr. Spencer's letter appeared +{29a} I had said that though Mr. Spencer at times closely approached +Professor Hering and "Life and Habit," he had nevertheless nowhere +shown that he considered memory and heredity to be parts of the same +story and parcel of one another. In his letter to the Athenaeum, +indeed, he does not profess to have upheld this view, except "by +implications;" nor yet, though in the course of the six or seven +years that had elapsed since "Life and Habit" was published I had +brought out more than one book to support my earlier one, had he +said anything during those years to lead me to suppose that I was +trespassing upon ground already taken by himself. Nor, again, had +he said anything which enabled me to appeal to his authority--which +I should have been only too glad to do; at last, however, he wrote, +as I have said, to the Athenaeum a letter which, indeed, made no +express claim, and nowhere mentioned myself, but "the meanings and +implications" from which were this time as clear as could be +desired, and amount to an order to Professor Hering and myself to +stand aside. + +The question is, whether the passages quoted by Mr. Spencer, or any +others that can be found in his works, show that he regarded +heredity in all its manifestations as a mode of memory. I submit +that this conception is not derivable from Mr. Spencer's writings, +and that even the passages in which he approaches it most closely +are unintelligible till read by the light of Professor Hering's +address and of "Life and Habit." + +True, Mr. Spencer made abundant use of such expressions as "the +experience of the race," "accumulated experiences," and others like +them, but he did not explain--and it was here the difficulty lay-- +how a race could have any experience at all. We know what we mean +when we say that an individual has had experience; we mean that he +is the same person now (in the common use of the words), on the +occasion of some present action, as the one who performed a like +action at some past time or times, and that he remembers how he +acted before, so as to be able to turn his past action to account, +gaining in proficiency through practice. Continued personality and +memory are the elements that constitute experience; where these are +present there may, and commonly will, be experience; where they are +absent the word "experience" cannot properly be used. + +Formerly we used to see an individual as one, and a race as many. +We now see that though this is true as far as it goes, it is by no +means the whole truth, and that in certain important respects it is +the race that is one, and the individual many. We all admit and +understand this readily enough now, but it was not understood when +Mr. Spencer wrote the passages he adduced in the letter to the +Athenaeum above referred to. In the then state of our ideas a race +was only a succession of individuals, each one of them new persons, +and as such incapable of profiting by the experience of its +predecessors except in the very limited number of cases where oral +teaching, or, as in recent times, writing, was possible. The thread +of life was, as I have elsewhere said, remorselessly shorn between +each successive generation, and the importance of the physical and +psychical connection between parents and offspring had been quite, +or nearly quite, lost sight of. It seems strange how this could +ever have been allowed to come about, but it should be remembered +that the Church in the Middle Ages would strongly discourage +attempts to emphasize a connection that would raise troublesome +questions as to who in a future state was to be responsible for +what; and, after all, for nine purposes of life out of ten the +generally received opinion that each person is himself and nobody +else is on many grounds the most convenient. Every now and then, +however, there comes a tenth purpose, for which the continued +personality side of the connection between successive generations is +as convenient as the new personality side is for the remaining nine, +and these tenth purposes--some of which are not unimportant--are +obscured and fulfilled amiss owing to the completeness with which +the more commonly needed conception has overgrown the other. + +Neither view is more true than the other, but the one was wanted +every hour and minute of the day, and was therefore kept, so to +speak, in stock, and in one of the most accessible places of our +mental storehouse, while the other was so seldom asked for that it +became not worth while to keep it. By-and-by it was found so +troublesome to send out for it, and so hard to come by even then, +that people left off selling it at all, and if any one wanted it he +must think it out at home as best he could; this was troublesome, so +by common consent the world decided no longer to busy itself with +the continued personality of successive generations--which was all +very well until it also decided to busy itself with the theory of +descent with modification. On the introduction of a foe so inimical +to many of our pre-existing ideas the balance of power among them +was upset, and a readjustment became necessary, which is still far +from having attained the next settlement that seems likely to be +reasonably permanent. + +To change the illustration, the ordinary view is true for seven +places of decimals, and this commonly is enough; occasions, however, +have now arisen when the error caused by neglect of the omitted +places is appreciably disturbing, and we must have three or four +more. Mr. Spencer showed no more signs of seeing that he must +supply these, and make personal identity continue between successive +generations before talking about inherited (as opposed to post-natal +and educational) experience, than others had done before him; the +race with him, as with every one else till recently, was not one +long individual living indeed in pulsations, so to speak, but no +more losing continued personality by living in successive +generations, than an individual loses it by living in consecutive +days; a race was simply a succession of individuals, each one of +which was held to be an entirely new person, and was regarded +exclusively, or very nearly so, from this point of view. + +When I wrote "Life and Habit" I knew that the words "experience of +the race" sounded familiar, and were going about in magazines and +newspapers, but I did not know where they came from; if I had, I +should have given their source. To me they conveyed no meaning, and +vexed me as an attempt to make me take stones instead of bread, and +to palm off an illustration upon me as though it were an +explanation. When I had worked the matter out in my own way, I saw +that the illustration, with certain additions, would become an +explanation, but I saw also that neither he who had adduced it nor +any one else could have seen how right he was, till much had been +said which had not, so far as 1 knew, been said yet, and which +undoubtedly would have been said if people had seen their way to +saying it. + +"What is this talk," I wrote, "which is made about the experience of +the race, as though the experience of one man could profit another +who knows nothing about him? If a man eats his dinner it nourishes +him and not his neighbour; if he learns a difficult art it is he +that can do it and not his neighbour" ("Life and Habit," p. 49). + +When I wrote thus in 1877, it was not generally seen that though the +father is not nourished by the dinners that the son eats, yet the +son was fed when the father ate before he begot him. + +"Is there any way," I continued, "of showing that this experience of +the race about which so much is said without the least attempt to +show in what way it may, or does, become the experience of the +individual, is in sober seriousness the experience of one single +being only, who repeats on a great many different occasions, and in +slightly different ways, certain performances with which he has +already become exceedingly familiar?" + +I felt, as every one else must have felt who reflected upon the +expression in question, that it was fallacious till this was done. +When I first began to write "Life and Habit" I did not believe it +could be done, but when I had gone right up to the end, as it were, +of my cu de sac, I saw the path which led straight to the point I +had despaired of reaching--I mean I saw that personality could not +be broken as between generations, without also breaking it between +the years, days, and moments of a man's life. What differentiates +"Life and Habit" from the "Principles of Psychology" is the +prominence given to continued personal identity, and hence to bona +fide memory, as between successive generations; but surely this +makes the two books differ widely. + +Ideas can be changed to almost any extent in almost any direction, +if the change is brought about gradually and in accordance with the +rules of all development. As in music we may take almost any +possible discord with pleasing effect if we have prepared and +resolved it rightly, so our ideas will outlive and outgrow almost +any modification which is approached and quitted in such a way as to +fuse the old and new harmoniously. Words are to ideas what the +fairy invisible cloak was to the prince who wore it--only that the +prince was seen till he put on the cloak, whereas ideas are unseen +until they don the robe of words which reveals them to us; the +words, however, and the ideas, should be such as fit each other and +stick to one another in our minds as soon as they are brought +together, or the ideas will fly off, and leave the words void of +that spirit by the aid of which alone they can become transmuted +into physical action and shape material things with their own +impress. Whether a discord is too violent or no, depends on what we +have been accustomed to, and on how widely the new differs from the +old, but in no case can we fuse and assimilate more than a very +little new at a time without exhausting our tempering power--and +hence presently our temper. + +Mr. Spencer appears to have forgotten that though de minimis non +curat lex,--though all the laws fail when applied to trifles,--yet +too sudden a change in the manner in which our ideas are associated +is as cataclysmic and subversive of healthy evolution as are +material convulsions, or too violent revolutions in politics. This +must always be the case, for change is essentially miraculous, and +the only lawful home of the miracle is in the microscopically small. +Here, indeed, miracles were in the beginning, are now, and ever +shall be, but we are deadened if they are required of us on a scale +which is visible to the naked eye. If we are told to work them our +hands fall nerveless down; if, come what may, we must do or die, we +are more likely to die than to succeed in doing. If we are required +to believe them--which only means to fuse them with our other ideas- +-we either take the law into our own hands, and our minds being in +the dark fuse something easier of assimilation, and say we have +fused the miracle; or if we play more fairly and insist on our minds +swallowing and assimilating it, we weaken our judgments, and pro +tanto kill our souls. If we stick out beyond a certain point we go +mad, as fanatics, or at the best make Coleridges of ourselves; and +yet upon a small scale these same miracles are the breath and +essence of life; to cease to work them is to die. And by miracle I +do not merely mean something new, strange, and not very easy of +comprehension--I mean something which violates every canon of +thought which in the palpable world we are accustomed to respect; +something as alien to, and inconceivable by, us as contradiction in +terms, the destructibility of force or matter, or the creation of +something out of nothing. This, which when writ large maddens and +kills, writ small is our meat and drink; it attends each minutest +and most impalpable detail of the ceaseless fusion and diffusion in +which change appears to us as consisting, and which we recognise as +growth and decay, or as life and death. + +Claude Bernard says, Rien ne nait, rien ne se cree, tout se +continue. La nature ne nous offre le spectacle d'aucune creation, +elle est d'une eternelle continuation; {35a} but surely he is +insisting upon one side of the truth only, to the neglect of another +which is just as real, and just as important; he might have said, +Rien ne se continue, tout nait, tout se cree. La nature ne nous +offre le spectacle d'aucune continuation. Elle est d'une eternelle +creation; for change is no less patent a fact than continuity, and, +indeed, the two stand or fall together. True, discontinuity, where +development is normal, is on a very small scale, but this is only +the difference between looking at distances on a small instead of a +large map; we cannot have even the smallest change without a small +partial corresponding discontinuity; on a small scale--too small, +indeed, for us to cognise--these breaks in continuity, each one of +which must, so far as our understanding goes, rank as a creation, +are as essential a factor of the phenomena we see around us, as is +the other factor that they shall normally be on too small a scale +for us to find it out. Creations, then, there must be, but they +must be so small that practically they are no creations. We must +have a continuity in discontinuity, and a discontinuity in +continuity; that is to say, we can only conceive the help of change +at all by the help of flat contradiction in terms. It comes, +therefore, to this, that if we are to think fluently and +harmoniously upon any subject into which change enters (and there is +no conceivable subject into which it does not), we must begin by +flying in the face of every rule that professors of the art of +thinking have drawn up for our instruction. These rules may be good +enough as servants, but we have let them become the worst of +masters, forgetting that philosophy is made for man, not man for +philosophy. Logic has been the true Tower of Babel, which we have +thought to build so that we might climb up into the heavens, and +have no more miracle, but see God and live--nor has confusion of +tongues failed to follow on our presumption. Truly St. Paul said +well that the just shall live by faith; and the question "By what +faith?" is a detail of minor moment, for there are as many faiths as +species, whether of plants or animals, and each of them is in its +own way both living and saving. + +All, then, whether fusion or diffusion, whether of ideas or things, +is miraculous. It is the two in one, and at the same time one in +two, which is only two and two making five put before us in another +shape; yet this fusion--so easy to think so long as it is not +thought about, and so unthinkable if we try to think it--is, as it +were, the matrix from which our more thinkable thought is taken; it +is the cloud gathering in the unseen world from which the waters of +life descend in an impalpable dew. Granted that all, whether fusion +or diffusion, whether of ideas or things, is, if we dwell upon it +and take it seriously, an outrage upon our understandings which +common sense alone enables us to brook; granted that it carries with +it a distinctly miraculous element which should vitiate the whole +process ab initio, still, if we have faith we can so work these +miracles as Orpheus-like to charm denizens of the unseen world into +the seen again--provided we do not look back, and provided also we +do not try to charm half a dozen Eurydices at a time. To think is +to fuse and diffuse ideas, and to fuse and diffuse ideas is to feed. +We can all feed, and by consequence within reasonable limits we can +fuse ideas; or we can fuse ideas, and by consequence within +reasonable limits we can feed; we know not which comes first, the +food or the ideas, but we must not overtax our strength; the moment +we do this we taste of death. + +It is in the closest connection with this that we must chew our food +fine before we can digest it, and that the same food given in large +lumps will choke and kill which in small pieces feeds us; or, again, +that that which is impotent as a pellet may be potent as a gas. +Food is very thoughtful: through thought it comes, and back through +thought it shall return; the process of its conversion and +comprehension within our own system is mental as well as physical, +and here, as everywhere else with mind and evolution, there must be +a cross, but not too wide a cross--that is to say, there must be a +miracle, but not upon a large scale. Granted that no one can draw a +clear line and define the limits within which a miracle is healthy +working and beyond which it is unwholesome, any more than he can +prescribe the exact degree of fineness to which we must comminute +our food; granted, again, that some can do more than others, and +that at all times all men sport, so to speak, and surpass +themselves, still we know as a general rule near enough, and find +that the strongest can do but very little at a time, and, to return +to Mr. Spencer, the fusion of two such hitherto unassociated ideas +as race and experience was a miracle beyond our strength. + +Assuredly when Mr. Spencer wrote the passages he quoted in the +letter to the Athenaeum above referred to, we were not in the habit +of thinking of any one as able to remember things that had happened +before he had been born or thought of. This notion will still +strike many of my non-readers as harsh and strained; no such +discord, therefore, should have been taken unprepared, and when +taken it should have been resolved with pomp and circumstance. Mr +Spencer, however, though he took it continually, never either +prepared it or resolved it at all, but by using the words +"experience of the race" sprang this seeming paradox upon us, with +the result that his words were barren. They were barren because +they were incoherent; they were incoherent because they were +approached and quitted too suddenly. While we were realising +"experience" our minds excluded "race," inasmuch as experience was +an idea we had been accustomed hitherto to connect only with the +individual; while realising the idea "race," for the same reason, we +as a matter of course excluded experience. We were required to fuse +two ideas that were alien to one another, without having had those +other ideas presented to us which would alone flux them. The +absence of these--which indeed were not immediately ready to hand, +or Mr. Spencer would have doubtless grasped them--made nonsense of +the whole thing; we saw the ideas propped up as two cards one +against the other, on one of Mr. Spencer's pages, only to find that +they had fallen asunder before we had turned over to the next, so we +put down his book resentfully, as written by one who did not know +what to do with his meaning even if he had one, or bore it meekly +while he chastised us with scorpions, as Mr. Darwin had done with +whips, according to our temperaments. + +I may say, in passing, that the barrenness of incoherent ideas, and +the sterility of widely distant species and genera of animals and +plants, are one in principle--the sterility of hybrids being just as +much due to inability to fuse widely unlike and unfamiliar ideas +into a coherent whole, as barrenness of ideas is, and, indeed, +resolving itself ultimately into neither more nor less than +barrenness of ideas--that is to say, into inability to think at all, +or at any rate to think as their neighbours do. + +If Mr. Spencer had made it clear that the generations of any race +are bona fide united by a common personality, and that in virtue of +being so united each generation remembers (within, of course, the +limits to which all memory is subject) what happened to it while +still in the persons of its progenitors--then his order to Professor +Hering and myself should be immediately obeyed; but this was just +what was at once most wanted, and least done by Mr. Spencer. Even +in the passages given above--passages collected by Mr. Spencer +himself--this point is altogether ignored; make it clear as +Professor Hering made it--put continued personality and memory in +the foreground as Professor Hering did, instead of leaving them to +be discovered "by implications," and then such expressions as +"accumulated experiences" and "experience of the race" become +luminous; till this had been done they were Vox et praeterea nihil. + +To sum up briefly. The passages quoted by Mr. Spencer from his +"Principles of Psychology" can hardly be called clear, even now that +Professor Hering and others have thrown light upon them. If, +indeed, they had been clear Mr. Spencer would probably have seen +what they necesitated, and found the way of meeting the difficulties +of the case which occurred to Professor Hering and myself. Till we +wrote, very few writers had even suggested this. The idea that +offspring was only "an elongation or branch proceeding from its +parents" had scintillated in the ingenious brain of Dr. Erasmus +Darwin, and in that of the designer of Jesse tree windows, but it +had kindled no fire; it now turns out that Canon Kingsley had once +called instinct inherited memory, {40a} but the idea, if born alive +at all, died on the page on which it saw light: Professor Ray +Lankester, again called attention to Professor Hering's address +(Nature, July 13, 1876), but no discussion followed, and the matter +dropped without having produced visible effect. As for offspring +remembering in any legitimate sense of the words what it had done, +and what had happened to it, before it was born, no such notion was +understood to have been gravely mooted till very recently. I doubt +whether Mr. Spencer and Mr. Romanes would accept this even now, when +it is put thus undisguisedly; but this is what Professor Hering and +I mean, and it is the only thing that should be meant, by those who +speak of instinct as inherited memory. Mr Spencer cannot maintain +that these two startling novelties went without saying "by +implication" from the use of such expressions as "accumulated +experiences" or "experience of the race." + + + +CHAPTER III--MR. HERBERT SPENCER (continued) + + + +Whether they ought to have gone or not, they did not go. + +When "Life and Habit" was first published no one considered Mr. +Spencer to be maintaining the phenomena of heredity to be in reality +phenomena of memory. When, for example, Professor Ray Lankester +first called attention to Professor Hering's address, he did not +understand Mr. Spencer to be intending this. "Professor Hering," he +wrote (Nature, July 13, 1876), "helps us to a comprehensive view of +the nature of heredity and adaptation, by giving us the word +'memory,' conscious or unconscious, for the continuity of Mr. +Spencer's polar forces or polarities of physiological units." He +evidently found the prominence given to memory a help to him which +he had not derived from reading Mr. Spencer's works. + +When, again, he attacked me in the Athenaeum (March 29, 1884), he +spoke of my "tardy recognition" of the fact that Professor Hering +had preceded me "in treating all manifestations of heredity as a +form of memory." Professor Lankester's words could have no force if +he held that any other writer, and much less so well known a writer +as Mr. Spencer, had preceded me in putting forward the theory in +question. + +When Mr. Romanes reviewed "Unconscious Memory" in Nature (January +27, 1881) the notion of a "race-memory," to use his own words, was +still so new to him that he declared it "simply absurd" to suppose +that it could "possibly be fraught with any benefit to science," and +with him too it was Professor Hering who had anticipated me in the +matter, not Mr. Spencer. + +In his "Mental Evolution in Animals" (p. 296) he said that Canon +Kingsley, writing in 1867, was the first to advance the theory that +instinct is inherited memory; he could not have said this if Mr. +Spencer had been understood to have been upholding this view for the +last thirty years. + +Mr. A. R. Wallace reviewed "Life and Habit" in Nature (March 27, +1879), but he did not find the line I had taken a familiar one, as +he surely must have done if it had followed easily by implication +from Mr. Spencer's works. He called it "an ingenious and +paradoxical explanation" which was evidently new to him. He +concluded by saying that "it might yet afford a clue to some of the +deepest mysteries of the organic world." + +Professor Mivart, when he reviewed my books on Evolution in the +American Catholic Quarterly Review (July 1881), said, "Mr Butler is +not only perfectly logical and consistent in the startling +consequences he deduces from his principles, but," &c. Professor +Mivart could not have found my consequences startling if they had +already been insisted upon for many years by one of the best-known +writers of the day. + +The reviewer of "Evolution Old and New" in the Saturday Review +(March 31, 1879), of whom all I can venture to say is that he or she +is a person whose name carries weight in matters connected with +biology, though he (for brevity) was in the humour for seeing +everything objectionable in me that could be seen, still saw no Mr. +Spencer in me. He said--"Mr Butler's own particular contribution to +the terminology of Evolution is the phrase two or three times +repeated with some emphasis" (I repeated it not two or three times +only, but whenever and wherever I could venture to do so without +wearying the reader beyond endurance) "oneness of personality +between parents and offspring." The writer proceeded to reprobate +this in language upon which a Huxley could hardly improve, but as he +declares himself unable to discover what it means, it may be +presumed that the idea of continued personality between successive +generations was new to him. + +When Dr. Francis Darwin called on me a day or two before "Life and +Habit" went to the press, he said the theory which had pleased him +more than any he had seen for some time was one which referred all +life to memory; {44a} he doubtless intended "which referred all the +phenomena of heredity to memory." He then mentioned Professor Ray +Lankester's article in Nature, of which I had not heard, but he said +nothing about Mr. Spencer, and spoke of the idea as one which had +been quite new to him. + +The above names comprise (excluding Mr. Spencer himself) perhaps +those of the best-known writers on evolution that can be mentioned +as now before the public; it is curious that Mr Spencer should be +the only one of them to see any substantial resemblance between the +"Principles of Psychology" and Professor Hering's address and "Life +and Habit." + +I ought, perhaps, to say that Mr. Romanes, writing to the Athenaeum +(March 8, 1884), took a different view of the value of the theory of +inherited memory to the one he took in 1881. + +In 1881 he said it was "simply absurd" to suppose it could "possibly +be fraught with any benefit to science" or "reveal any truth of +profound significance;" in 1884 he said of the same theory, that "it +formed the backbone of all the previous literature upon instinct" by +Darwin, Spencer, Lewes, Fiske, and Spalding, "not to mention their +numerous followers, and is by all of them elaborately stated as +clearly as any theory can be stated in words." + +Few except Mr. Romanes will say this. I grant it ought to "have +formed the backbone," &c., and ought "to have been elaborately +stated," &c., but when I wrote "Life and Habit" neither Mr Romanes +nor any one else understood it to have been even glanced at by more +than a very few, and as for having been "elaborately stated," it had +been stated by Professor Hering as elaborately as it could be stated +within the limits of an address of only twenty-two pages, but with +this exception it had never been stated at all. It is not too much +to say that "Life and Habit," when it first came out, was considered +so startling a paradox that people would not believe in my desire to +be taken seriously, or at any rate were able to pretend that they +thought I was not writing seriously. + +Mr. Romanes knows this just as well as all must do who keep an eye +on evolution; he himself, indeed, had said (Nature, January 27, +1881) that so long as I "aimed only at entertaining" my "readers by +such works as 'Erewhon' and 'Life and Habit'" (as though these books +were of kindred character) I was in my proper sphere. It would be +doing too little credit to Mr. Romanes' intelligence to suppose him +not to have known when he said this that "Life and Habit" was +written as seriously as my subsequent books on evolution, but it +suited him at the moment to join those who professed to consider it +another book of paradoxes such as, I suppose, "Erewhon" had been, so +he classed the two together. He could not have done this unless +enough people thought, or said they thought, the books akin, to give +colour to his doing so. + +One alone of all my reviewers has, to my knowledge, brought Mr. +Spencer against me. This was a writer in the St. James's Gazette +(December 2, 1880). I challenged him in a letter which appeared +(December 8, 1880), and said, "I would ask your reviewer to be kind +enough to refer your readers to those passages of Mr. Spencer's +"Principles of Psychology" which in any direct intelligible way +refer the phenomena of instinct and heredity generally, to memory on +the part of offspring of the action it bona fide took in the persons +of its forefathers." The reviewer made no reply, and I concluded, +as I have since found correctly, that he could not find the +passages. + +True, in his "Principles of Psychology" (vol. ii. p. 195) Mr. +Spencer says that we have only to expand the doctrine that all +intelligence is acquired through experience "so as to make it +include with the experience of each individual the experiences of +all ancestral individuals," &c. This is all very good, but it is +much the same as saying, "We have only got to stand on our heads and +we shall be able to do so and so." We did not see our way to +standing on our heads, and Mr. Spencer did not help us; we had been +accustomed, as I am afraid I must have said usque ad nauseam +already, to lose sight of the physical connection existing between +parents and offspring; we understood from the marriage service that +husband and wife were in a sense one flesh, but not that parents and +children were so also; and without this conception of the matter, +which in its way is just as true as the more commonly received one, +we could not extend the experience of parents to offspring. It was +not in the bond or nexus of our ideas to consider experience as +appertaining to more than a single individual in the common +acceptance of the term; these two ideas were so closely bound +together that wherever the one went the other went perforce. Here, +indeed, in the very passage of Mr. Spencer's just referred to, the +race is throughout regarded as "a series of individuals"--without an +attempt to call attention to that other view, in virtue of which we +are able to extend to many an idea we had been accustomed to confine +to one. + +In his chapter on Memory, Mr. Spencer certainly approaches the +Heringian view. He says, "On the one hand, Instinct may be regarded +as a kind of organised memory; on the other, Memory may be regarded +as a kind of incipient instinct" ("Principles of Psychology," ed. 2, +vol. i. p. 445). Here the ball has fallen into his hands, but if he +had got firm hold of it he could not have written, "Instinct MAY BE +regarded as A KIND OF, &c.;" to us there is neither "may be regarded +as" nor "kind of" about it; we require, "Instinct is inherited +memory," with an explanation making it intelligible how memory can +come to be inherited at all. I do not like, again, calling memory +"a kind of incipient instinct;" as Mr. Spencer puts them the words +have a pleasant antithesis, but "instinct is inherited memory" +covers all the ground, and to say that memory is inherited instinct +is surplusage. + +Nor does he stick to it long when he says that "instinct is a kind +of organised memory," for two pages later he says that memory, to be +memory at all, must be tolerably conscious or deliberate; he, +therefore (vol. i. p. 447), denies that there can be such a thing as +unconscious memory; but without this it is impossible for us to see +instinct as the "kind of organised memory" which he has just been +calling it, inasmuch as instinct is notably undeliberate and +unreflecting. + +A few pages farther on (vol. i. p. 452) he finds himself driven to +unconscious memory after all, and says that "conscious memory passes +into unconscious or organic memory." Having admitted unconscious +memory, he declares (vol. i. p. 450) that "as fast as those +connections among psychical states, which we form in memory, grow by +constant repetition automatic--they CEASE TO BE PART OF MEMORY," or, +in other words, he again denies that there can be an unconscious +memory. + +Mr. Spencer doubtless saw that he was involved in contradiction in +terms, and having always understood that contradictions in terms +were very dreadful things--which, of course, under some +circumstances they are--thought it well so to express himself that +his readers should be more likely to push on than dwell on what was +before them at the moment. I should be the last to complain of him +merely on the ground that he could not escape contradiction in +terms: who can? When facts conflict, contradict one another, melt +into one another as the colours of the spectrum so insensibly that +none can say where one begins and the other ends, contradictions in +terms become first fruits of thought and speech. They are the basis +of intellectual consciousness, in the same way that a physical +obstacle is the basis of physical sensation. No opposition, no +sensation, applies as much to the psychical as to the physical +kingdom, as soon as these two have got well above the horizon of our +thoughts and can be seen as two. No contradiction, no +consciousness; no cross, no crown; contradictions are the very small +deadlocks without which there is no going; going is our sense of a +succession of small impediments or deadlocks; it is a succession of +cutting Gordian knots, which on a small scale please or pain as the +case may be; on a larger, give an ecstasy of pleasure, or shock to +the extreme of endurance; and on a still larger, kill whether they +be on the right side or the wrong. Nature, as I said in "Life and +Habit," hates that any principle should breed hermaphroditically, +but will give to each an helpmeet for it which shall cross it and be +the undoing of it; and in the undoing, do; and in the doing, undo, +and so ad infinitum. Cross-fertilisation is just as necessary for +continued fertility of ideas as for that of organic life, and the +attempt to frown this or that down merely on the ground that it +involves contradiction in terms, without at the same time showing +that the contradiction is on a larger scale than healthy thought can +stomach, argues either small sense or small sincerity on the part of +those who make it. The contradictions employed by Mr. Spencer are +objectionable, not on the ground of their being contradictions at +all, but on the ground of their being blinked, and used +unintelligently. + +But though it is not possible for any one to get a clear conception +of Mr. Spencer's meaning, we may say with more confidence what it +was that he did not mean. He did not mean to make memory the +keystone of his system; he has none of that sense of the unifying, +binding force of memory which Professor Hering has so well +expressed, nor does he show any signs of perceiving the far-reaching +consequences that ensue if the phenomena of heredity are considered +as phenomena of memory. Thus, when he is dealing with the phenomena +of old age (vol. i. p. 538, ed. 2) he does not ascribe them to lapse +and failure of memory, nor surmise the principle underlying +longevity. He never mentions memory in connection with heredity +without presently saying something which makes us involuntarily +think of a man missing an easy catch at cricket; it is only rarely, +however, that he connects the two at all. I have only been able to +find the word "inherited" or any derivative of the verb "to inherit" +in connection with memory once in all the 1300 long pages of the +"Principles of Psychology." It occurs in vol ii. p. 200, 2d ed., +where the words stand, "Memory, inherited or acquired." I submit +that this was unintelligible when Mr. Spencer wrote it, for want of +an explanation which he never gave; I submit, also, that he could +not have left it unexplained, nor yet as an unrepeated expression +not introduced till late in his work, if he had had any idea of its +pregnancy. + +At any rate, whether he intended to imply what he now implies that +he intended to imply (for Mr. Spencer, like the late Mr. Darwin, is +fond of qualifying phrases), I have shown that those most able and +willing to understand him did not take him to mean what he now +appears anxious to have it supposed that he meant. Surely, +moreover, if he had meant it he would have spoken sooner, when he +saw his meaning had been missed. I can, however, have no hesitation +in saying that if I had known the "Principles of Psychology" +earlier, as well as I know the work now, I should have used it +largely. + +It may be interesting, before we leave Mr. Spencer, to see whether +he even now assigns to continued personality and memory the place +assigned to it by Professor Hering and myself. I will therefore +give the concluding words of the letter to the Athenaeum already +referred to, in which he tells us to stand aside. He writes "I +still hold that inheritance of functionally produced modifications +is the chief factor throughout the higher stages of organic +evolution, bodily as well as mental (see 'Principles of Biology,' i. +166), while I recognise the truth that throughout the lower stages +survival of the fittest is the chief factor, and in the lowest the +almost exclusive factor." + +This is the same confused and confusing utterance which Mr. Spencer +has been giving us any time this thirty years. According to him the +fact that variations can be inherited and accumulated has less to do +with the first development of organic life, than the fact that if a +square organism happens to get into a square hole, it will live +longer and more happily than a square organism which happens to get +into a round one; he declares "the survival of the fittest"--and +this is nothing but the fact that those who "fit" best into their +surroundings will live longest and most comfortably--to have more to +do with the development of the amoeba into, we will say, a mollusc +than heredity itself. True, "inheritance of functionally produced +modifications" is allowed to be the chief factor throughout the +"higher stages of organic evolution," but it has very little to do +in the lower; in these "the almost exclusive factor" is not +heredity, or inheritance, but "survival of the fittest." + +Of course we know that Mr. Spencer does not believe this; of course, +also, all who are fairly well up in the history of the development +theory will see why Mr. Spencer has attempted to draw this +distinction between the "factors" of the development of the higher +and lower forms of life; but no matter how or why Mr. Spencer has +been led to say what he has, he has no business to have said it. +What can we think of a writer who, after so many years of writing +upon his subject, in a passage in which he should make his meaning +doubly clear, inasmuch as he is claiming ground taken by other +writers, declares that though hereditary use and disuse, or, to use +his own words, "the inheritance of functionally produced +modifications," is indeed very important in connection with the +development of the higher forms of life, yet heredity itself has +little or nothing to do with that of the lower? Variations, whether +produced functionally or not, can only be perpetuated and +accumulated because they can be inherited;--and this applies just as +much to the lower as to the higher forms of life; the question which +Professor Hering and I have tried to answer is, "How comes it that +anything can be inherited at all? In virtue of what power is it +that offspring can repeat and improve upon the performances of their +parents?" Our answer was, "Because in a very valid sense, though +not perhaps in the most usually understood, there is continued +personality and an abiding memory between successive generations." +How does Mr. Spencer's confession of faith touch this? If any +meaning can be extracted from his words, he is no more supporting +this view now than he was when he wrote the passages he has adduced +to show that he was supporting it thirty years ago; but after all no +coherent meaning can be got out of Mr. Spencer's letter--except, of +course, that Professor Hering and myself are to stand aside. I have +abundantly shown that I am very ready to do this in favour of +Professor Hering, but see no reason for admitting Mr. Spencer's +claim to have been among the forestallers of "Life and Habit." + + + +CHAPTER IV {52a}--Mr. Romanes' "Mental Evolution in Animals" + + + +Without raising the unprofitable question how Mr. Romanes, in spite +of the indifference with which he treated the theory of Inherited +Memory in 1881, came, in 1883, to be sufficiently imbued with a +sense of its importance, I still cannot afford to dispense with the +weight of his authority, and in this chapter will show how closely +he not infrequently approaches the Heringian position. + +Thus, he says that the analogies between the memory with which we +are familiar in daily life and hereditary memory "are so numerous +and precise" as to justify us in considering them to be of +essentially the same kind. {52b} + +Again, he says that although the memory of milk shown by new-born +infants is "at all events in large part hereditary, it is none the +less memory" of a certain kind. {52c} + +Two lines lower down he writes of "hereditary memory or instinct," +thereby implying that instinct is "hereditary memory." "It makes no +essential difference," he says, "whether the past sensation was +actually experienced by the individual itself, or bequeathed it, so +to speak, by its ancestors. {52d} For it makes no essential +difference whether the nervous changes . . . were occasioned during +the life-time of the individual or during that of the species, and +afterwards impressed by heredity on the individual." + +Lower down on the same page he writes:- + +"As showing how close is the connection between hereditary memory +and instinct," &c. + +And on the following page:- + +"And this shows how closely the phenomena of hereditary memory are +related to those of individual memory: at this stage . . . it is +practically impossible to disentangle the effects of hereditary +memory from those of the individual." + +Again:- + +"Another point which we have here to consider is the part which +heredity has played in forming the perceptive faculty of the +individual prior to its own experience. We have already seen that +heredity plays an important part in forming memory of ancestral +experiences, and thus it is that many animals come into the world +with their power of perception already largely developed. The +wealth of ready-formed information, and therefore of ready-made +powers of perception, with which many newly-born or newly-hatched +animals are provided, is so great and so precise that it scarcely +requires to be supplemented by the subsequent experience of the +individual." {53a} + +Again:- + +"Instincts probably owe their origin and development to one or other +of the two principles. + +"I. The first mode of origin consists in natural selection or +survival of the fittest, continuously preserving actions, &c. &c. + +"II. The second mode of origin is as follows:- By the effects of +habit in successive generations, actions which were originally +intelligent become as it were stereotyped into permanent instincts. +Just as in the lifetime of the individual adjustive actions which +were originally intelligent may by frequent repetition become +automatic, so in the lifetime of species actions originally +intelligent may by frequent repetition and heredity so write their +effects on the nervous system that the latter is prepared, even +before individual experience, to perform adjustive actions +mechanically which in previous generations were performed +intelligently. This mode of origin of instincts has been +appropriately called (by Lewes--see "Problems of Life and Mind" +{54a}) the 'lapsing of intelligence.'" {54b} + +I may say in passing that in spite of the great stress laid by Mr. +Romanes both in his "Mental Evolution in Animals" and in his letters +to the Athenaeum in March 1884, on Natural Selection as an +originator and developer of instinct, he very soon afterwards let +the Natural Selection part of the story go as completely without +saying as I do myself, or as Mr. Darwin did during the later years +of his life. Writing to Nature, April 10, 1884, he said: "To deny +THAT EXPERIENCE IN THE COURSE OF SUCCESSIVE GENERATIONS IS THE +SOURCE OF INSTINCT, is not to meet by way of argument the enormous +mass of evidence which goes to prove THAT THIS IS THE CASE." Here, +then, instinct is referred, without reservation, to "experience in +successive generations," and this is nonsense unless explained as +Professor Hering and I explain it. Mr. Romanes' words, in fact, +amount to an unqualified acceptance of the chapter "Instinct as +Inherited Memory" given in "Life and Habit," of which Mr. Romanes in +March 1884 wrote in terms which it is not necessary to repeat. + +Later on:- + +"That 'practice makes perfect' is a matter, as I have previously +said, of daily observation. Whether we regard a juggler, a pianist, +or a billiard-player, a child learning his lesson or an actor his +part by frequently repeating it, or a thousand other illustrations +of the same process, we see at once that there is truth in the +cynical definition of a man as a 'bundle of habits.' And the same, +of course, is true of animals." {55a} + +From this Mr. Romanes goes on to show "that automatic actions and +conscious habits may be inherited," {55b} and in the course of doing +this contends that "instincts may be lost by disuse, and conversely +that they may be acquired as instincts by the hereditary +transmission of ancestral experience." + +On another page Mr. Romanes says:- + +"Let us now turn to the second of these two assumptions, viz., that +some at least among migratory birds must possess, by inheritance +alone, a very precise knowledge of the particular direction to be +pursued. It is without question an astonishing fact that a young +cuckoo should be prompted to leave its foster parents at a +particular season of the year, and without any guide to show the +course previously taken by its own parents, but this is a fact which +must be met by any theory of instinct which aims at being complete. +Now upon our own theory it can only be met by taking it to be due to +inherited memory." + +A little lower Mr. Romanes says: "Of what kind, then, is the +inherited memory on which the young cuckoo (if not also other +migratory birds) depends? We can only answer, of the same kind, +whatever this may be, as that upon which the old bird depends." +{55c} + +I have given above most of the more marked passages which I have +been able to find in Mr. Romanes' book which attribute instinct to +memory, and which admit that there is no fundamental difference +between the kind of memory with which we are all familiar and +hereditary memory as transmitted from one generation to another. + +But throughout his work there are passages which suggest, though +less obviously, the same inference. + +The passages I have quoted show that Mr. Romanes is upholding the +same opinions as Professor Hering's and my own, but their effect and +tendency is more plain here than in Mr Romanes' own book, where they +are overlaid by nearly 400 long pages of matter which is not always +easy of comprehension. + +Moreover, at the same time that I claim the weight of Mr. Romanes' +authority, I am bound to admit that I do not find his support +satisfactory. The late Mr. Darwin himself--whose mantle seems to +have fallen more especially and particularly on Mr. Romanes--could +not contradict himself more hopelessly than Mr. Romanes often does. +Indeed in one of the very passages I have quoted in order to show +that Mr. Romanes accepts the phenomena of heredity as phenomena of +memory, he speaks of "heredity as playing an important part IN +FORMING MEMORY of ancestral experiences;" so that, whereas I want +him to say that the phenomena of heredity are due to memory, he will +have it that the memory is due to the heredity, which seems to me +absurd. + +Over and over again Mr. Romanes insists that it is heredity which +does this or that. Thus it is "HEREDITY WITH NATURAL SELECTION +WHICH ADAPT the anatomical plan of the ganglia." {56a} It is +heredity which impresses nervous changes on the individual. {56b} +"In the lifetime of species actions originally intelligent may by +frequent repetition and heredity," &c.; {56c} but he nowhere tells +us what heredity is any more than Messrs. Herbert Spencer, Darwin, +and Lewes have done. This, however, is exactly what Professor +Hering, whom I have unwittingly followed, does. He resolves all +phenomena of heredity, whether in respect of body or mind, into +phenomena of memory. He says in effect, "A man grows his body as he +does, and a bird makes her nest as she does, because both man and +bird remember having grown body and made nest as they now do, or +very nearly so, on innumerable past occasions." He thus, as I have +said on an earlier page, reduces life from an equation of say 100 +unknown quantities to one of 99 only by showing that heredity and +memory, two of the original 100 unknown quantities, are in reality +part of one and the same thing. + +That he is right Mr. Romanes seems to me to admit, though in a very +unsatisfactory way. + +What, for example, can be more unsatisfactory than the following?-- +Mr. Romanes says that the most fundamental principle of mental +operation is that of memory, and that this "is the conditio sine qua +non of all mental life" (page 35). + +I do not understand Mr. Romanes to hold that there is any living +being which has no mind at all, and I do understand him to admit +that development of body and mind are closely interdependent. + +If, then, "the most fundamental principle" of mind is memory, it +follows that memory enters also as a fundamental principle into +development of body. For mind and body are so closely connected +that nothing can enter largely into the one without correspondingly +affecting the other. + +On a later page Mr. Romanes speaks point-blank of the new-born child +as "EMBODYING the results of a great mass of HEREDITARY EXPERIENCE" +(p. 77), so that what he is driving at can be collected by those who +take trouble, but is not seen until we call up from our own +knowledge matter whose relevancy does not appear on the face of it, +and until we connect passages many pages asunder, the first of which +may easily be forgotten before we reach the second. There can be no +doubt, however, that Mr. Romanes does in reality, like Professor +Hering and myself, regard development, whether of mind or body, as +due to memory, for it is now pretty generally seen to be nonsense to +talk about "hereditary experience" or "hereditary memory" if +anything else is intended. + +I have said above that on page 113 of his recent work Mr. Romanes +declares the analogies between the memory with which we are familiar +in daily life, and hereditary memory, to be "so numerous and +precise" as to justify us in considering them as of one and the same +kind. + +This is certainly his meaning, but, with the exception of the words +within inverted commas, it is not his language. His own words are +these:- + +"Profound, however, as our ignorance unquestionably is concerning +the physical substratum of memory, I think we are at least justified +in regarding this substratum as the same both in ganglionic or +organic, and in the conscious or psychological memory, seeing that +the analogies between them are so numerous and precise. +Consciousness is but an adjunct which arises when the physical +processes, owing to infrequency of repetition, complexity of +operation, or other causes, involve what I have before called +ganglionic friction." + +I submit that I have correctly translated Mr. Romanes' meaning, and +also that we have a right to complain of his not saying what he has +to say in words which will involve less "ganglionic friction" on the +part of the reader. + +Another example may be found on p. 43 of Mr. Romanes' book. +"Lastly," he writes, "just as innumerable special mechanisms of +muscular co-ordinations are found to be inherited, innumerable +special associations of ideas are found to be the same, and in one +case as in the other the strength of the organically imposed +connection is found to bear a direct proportion to the frequency +with which in the history of the species it has occurred." + +Mr. Romanes is here intending what the reader will find insisted on +on p. 51 of "Life and Habit;" but how difficult he has made what +could have been said intelligibly enough, if there had been nothing +but the reader's comfort to be considered. Unfortunately that seems +to have been by no means the only thing of which Mr. Romanes was +thinking, or why, after implying and even saying over and over again +that instinct is inherited habit due to inherited memory, should he +turn sharply round on p. 297 and praise Mr. Darwin for trying to +snuff out "the well-known doctrine of inherited habit as advanced by +Lamarck"? The answer is not far to seek. It is because Mr. Romanes +did not merely want to tell us all about instinct, but wanted also, +if I may use a homely metaphor, to hunt with the hounds and run with +the hare at one and the same time. + +I remember saying that if the late Mr. Darwin "had told us what the +earlier evolutionists said, why they said it, wherein he differed +from them, and in what way he proposed to set them straight, he +would have taken a course at once more agreeable with usual +practice, and more likely to remove misconception from his own mind +and from those of his readers." {59a} This I have no doubt was one +of the passages which made Mr. Romanes so angry with me. I can find +no better words to apply to Mr. Romanes himself. He knows perfectly +well what others have written about the connection between heredity +and memory, and he knows no less well that so far as he is +intelligible at all he is taking the same view that they have taken. +If he had begun by saying what they had said, and had then improved +on it, I for one should have been only too glad to be improved upon. + +Mr. Romanes has spoiled his book just because this plain old- +fashioned method of procedure was not good enough for him. One-half +the obscurity which makes his meaning so hard to apprehend is due to +exactly the same cause as that which has ruined so much of the late +Mr. Darwin's work--I mean to a desire to appear to be differing +altogether from others with whom he knew himself after all to be in +substantial agreement. He adopts, but (probably quite +unconsciously) in his anxiety to avoid appearing to adopt, he +obscures what he is adopting. + +Here, for example, is Mr. Romanes' definition of instinct:- + +"Instinct is reflex action into which there is imported the element +of consciousness. The term is therefore a generic one, comprising +all those faculties of mind which are concerned in conscious and +adaptive action, antecedent to individual experience, without +necessary knowledge of the relation between means employed and ends +attained, but similarly performed under similar and frequently +recurring circumstances by all the individuals of the same species." +{60a} + +If Mr. Romanes would have been content to build frankly upon +Professor Hering's foundation, the soundness of which he has +elsewhere abundantly admitted, he might have said - + +"Instinct is knowledge or habit acquired in past generations--the +new generation remembering what happened to it before it parted +company with the old. More briefly, Instinct is inherited memory." +Then he might have added a rider - + +"If a habit is acquired as a new one, during any given lifetime, it +is not an instinct. If having been acquired in one lifetime it is +transmitted to offspring, it is an instinct in the offspring, though +it was not an instinct in the parent. If the habit is transmitted +partially, it must be considered as partly instinctive and partly +acquired." + +This is easy; it tells people how they may test any action so as to +know what they ought to call it; it leaves well alone by avoiding +all such debatable matters as reflex action, consciousness, +intelligence, purpose, knowledge of purpose. &c.; it both introduces +the feature of inheritance which is the one mainly distinguishing +instinctive from so-called intelligent actions, and shows the manner +in which these last pass into the first, that is to say, by way of +memory and habitual repetition; finally it points the fact that the +new generation is not to be looked upon as a new thing, but (as Dr. +Erasmus Darwin long since said {61a}) as "a branch or elongation" of +the one immediately preceding it. + +In Mr. Darwin's case it is hardly possible to exaggerate the waste +of time, money and trouble that has been caused, by his not having +been content to appear as descending with modification like other +people from those who went before him. It will take years to get +the evolution theory out of the mess in which Mr. Darwin has left +it. He was heir to a discredited truth; he left behind him an +accredited fallacy. Mr. Romanes, if he is not stopped in time, will +get the theory connecting heredity and memory into just such another +muddle as Mr. Darwin has got evolution, for surely the writer who +can talk about "HEREDITY BEING ABLE TO WORK UP the faculty of homing +into the instinct of migration," {61b} or of "the principle of +(natural) selection combining with that of lapsing intelligence to +the formation of a joint result," {61c} is little likely to depart +from the usual methods of scientific procedure with advantage either +to himself or any one else. Fortunately Mr. Romanes is not Mr. +Darwin, and though he has certainly got Mr. Darwin's mantle, and got +it very much too, it will not on Mr. Romanes' shoulders hide a good +deal that people were not going to observe too closely while Mr. +Darwin wore it. + +I ought to say that the late Mr. Darwin appears himself eventually +to have admitted the soundness of the theory connecting heredity and +memory. Mr. Romanes quotes a letter written by Mr. Darwin in the +last year of his life, in which he speaks of an intelligent action +gradually becoming "INSTINCTIVE, I.E., MEMORY TRANSMITTED FROM ONE +GENERATION TO ANOTHER." {62a} + +Briefly, the stages of Mr. Darwin's opinion upon the subject of +hereditary memory are as follows:- + +1859. "It would be THE MOST SERIOUS ERROR to suppose that the +greater number of instincts have been acquired by habit in one +generation and transmitted by inheritance to succeeding +generations." {62b} And this more especially applies to the +instincts of many ants. + +1876. "It would be a SERIOUS ERROR to suppose," &c., as before. +{62c} + +1881. "We should remember WHAT A MASS OF INHERITED KNOWLEDGE is +crowded into the minute brain of a worker ant." {62d} + +1881 or 1882. Speaking of a given habitual action Mr. Darwin +writes: "It does not seem to me at all incredible that this action +[and why this more than any other habitual action?] should then +become instinctive:" i.e., MEMORY TRANSMITTED FROM ONE GENERATION TO +ANOTHER. {62e} + +And yet in 1839, or thereabouts, Mr. Darwin had pretty nearly +grasped the conception from which until the last year or two of his +life he so fatally strayed; for in his contribution to the volumes +giving an account of the voyages of the Adventure and Beagle, he +wrote: "Nature by making habit omnipotent and its effects +hereditary, has fitted the Fuegian for the climate and productions +of his country" (p. 237). + +What is the secret of the long departure from the simple common- +sense view of the matter which he took when he was a young man? I +imagine simply what I have referred to in the preceding chapter, +over-anxiety to appear to be differing from his grandfather, Dr. +Erasmus Darwin, and Lamarck. + +I believe I may say that Mr. Darwin before he died not only admitted +the connection between memory and heredity, but came also to see +that he must readmit that design in organism which he had so many +years opposed. For in the preface to Hermann Muller's +"Fertilisation of Flowers," {63a} which bears a date only a very few +weeks prior to Mr. Darwin's death, I find him saying:- "Design in +nature has for a long time deeply interested many men, and though +the subject must now be looked at from a somewhat different point of +view from what was formerly the case, it is not on that account +rendered less interesting." This is mused forth as a general gnome, +and may mean anything or nothing: the writer of the letterpress +under the hieroglyph in Old Moore's Almanac could not be more +guarded; but I think I know what it does mean. + +I cannot, of course, be sure; Mr. Darwin did not probably intend +that I should; but I assume with confidence that whether there is +design in organism or no, there is at any rate design in this +passage of Mr. Darwin's. This, we may be sure, is not a fortuitous +variation; and, moreover, it is introduced for some reason which +made Mr. Darwin think it worth while to go out of his way to +introduce it. It has no fitness in its connection with Hermann +Muller's book, for what little Hermann Muller says about teleology +at all is to condemn it; why, then, should Mr. Darwin muse here of +all places in the world about the interest attaching to design in +organism? Neither has the passage any connection with the rest of +the preface. There is not another word about design, and even here +Mr. Darwin seems mainly anxious to face both ways, and pat design as +it were on the head while not committing himself to any proposition +which could be disputed. + +The explanation is sufficiently obvious. Mr Darwin wanted to hedge. +He saw that the design which his works had been mainly instrumental +in pitchforking out of organisms no less manifestly designed than a +burglar's jemmy is designed, had nevertheless found its way back +again, and that though, as I insisted in "Evolution Old and New," +and "Unconscious Memory," it must now be placed within the organism +instead of outside it, as "was formerly the case," it was not on +that account any the less--design, as well as interesting. + +I should like to have seen Mr. Darwin say this more explicitly. +Indeed I should have liked to have seen Mr. Darwin say anything at +all about the meaning of which there could be no mistake, and +without contradicting himself elsewhere; but this was not Mr. +Darwin's manner. + +In passing I will give another example of Mr Darwin's manner when he +did not quite dare even to hedge. It is to be found in the preface +which he wrote to Professor Weismann's "Studies in the Theory of +Descent," published in 1881. + +"Several distinguished naturalists," says Mr. Darwin, "maintain with +much confidence that organic beings tend to vary and to rise in the +scale, independently of the conditions to which they and their +progenitors have been exposed; whilst others maintain that all +variation is due to such exposure, though the manner in which the +environment acts is as yet quite unknown. At the present time there +is hardly any question in biology of more importance than this of +the nature and causes of variability; and the reader will find in +the present work an able discussion on the whole subject, which will +probably lead him to pause before he admits the existence of an +innate tendency to perfectibility"--or towards BEING ABLE TO BE +PERFECTED. + +I could find no able discussion upon the whole subject in Professor +Weismann's book. There was a little something here and there, but +not much. + +It may be expected that I should say something here about Mr. +Romanes' latest contribution to biology--I mean his theory of +physiological selection, of which the two first instalments have +appeared in Nature just as these pages are leaving my hands, and +many months since the foregoing, and most of the following chapters +were written. I admit to feeling a certain sense of thankfulness +that they did not appear earlier; as it is, my book is too far +advanced to be capable of further embryonic change, and this must be +my excuse for saying less about Mr. Romanes' theory than I might +perhaps otherwise do. I cordially, however, agree with the Times, +which says that "Mr. George Romanes appears to be the biological +investigator on whom the mantle of Mr. Darwin has most conspicuously +descended" (August 16, 1886). Mr. Romanes is just the person whom +the late Mr. Darwin would select to carry on his work, and Mr. +Darwin was just the kind of person towards whom Mr. Romanes would +find himself instinctively attracted. + +The Times continues--"The position which Mr. Romanes takes up is the +result of his perception shared by many evolutionists, that the +theory of natural selection is not really a theory of the origin of +species. . . ." What, then, becomes of Mr. Darwin's most famous +work, which was written expressly to establish natural selection as +the main means of organic modification? "The new factor which Mr. +Romanes suggests," continues the Times, "is that at a certain stage +of development of varieties in a state of nature a change takes +place in their reproductive systems, rendering those which differ in +some particulars mutually infertile, and thus the formation of new +permanent species takes place without the swamping effect of free +intercrossing. . . . How his theory can be properly termed one of +selection he fails to make clear. If correct, it is a law or +principle of operation rather than a process of selection. It has +been objected to Mr. Romanes' theory that it is the re-statement of +a fact. This objection is less important than the lack of facts in +support of the theory." The Times, however, implies it as its +opinion that the required facts will be forthcoming by and by, and +that when they have been found Mr. Romanes' suggestion will +constitute "the most important addition to the theory of evolution +since the publication of the 'Origin of Species.'" Considering that +the Times has just implied the main thesis of the "Origin of +Species" to be one which does not stand examination, this is rather +a doubtful compliment. + +Neither Mr. Romanes nor the writer in the Times appears to perceive +that the results which may or may not be supposed to ensue on choice +depend upon what it is that is supposed to be chosen from; they do +not appear to see that though the expression natural selection must +be always more or less objectionable, as too highly charged with +metaphor for purposes of science, there is nevertheless a natural +selection which is open to no other objection than this, and which, +when its metaphorical character is borne well in mind, may be used +without serious risk of error, whereas natural selection from +variations that are mainly fortuitous is chimerical as well as +metaphorical. Both writers speak of natural selection as though +there could not possibly be any selection in the course of nature, +or natural survival, of any but accidental variations. Thus Mr. +Romanes says: {66a} "The swamping effect of free inter-crossing +upon an individual variation constitutes perhaps the most formidable +difficulty with which THE THEORY OF NATURAL SELECTION is beset." +And the writer of the article in the Times above referred to says: +"In truth THE THEORY OF NATURAL SELECTION presents many facts and +results which increase rather than diminish the difficulty of +accounting for the existence of species." The assertion made in +each case is true if the Charles-Darwinian selection from fortuitous +variations is intended, but it does not hold good if the selection +is supposed to be made from variations under which there lies a +general principle of wide and abiding application. It is not likely +that a man of Mr. Romanes' antecedents should not be perfectly awake +to considerations so obvious as the foregoing, and I am afraid I am +inclined to consider his whole suggestion as only an attempt upon +the part of the wearer of Mr. Darwin's mantle to carry on Mr. +Darwin's work in Mr. Darwin's spirit. + +I have seen Professor Hering's theory adopted recently more +unreservedly by Dr. Creighton in his "Illustrations of Unconscious +Memory in Disease." {67a} Dr. Creighton avowedly bases his system +on Professor Hering's address, and endorses it; it is with much +pleasure that I have seen him lend the weight of his authority to +the theory that each cell and organ has an individual memory. In +"Life and Habit" I expressed a hope that the opinions it upheld +would be found useful by medical men, and am therefore the more glad +to see that this has proved to be the case. I may perhaps be +pardoned if I quote the passage in" Life and Habit" to which I am +referring. It runs:- + +"Mutatis mutandis, the above would seem to hold as truly about +medicine as about politics. We cannot reason with our cells, for +they know so much more" (of course I mean "about their own +business") "than we do, that they cannot understand us;--but though +we cannot reason with them, we can find out what they have been most +accustomed to, and what, therefore, they are most likely to expect; +we can see that they get this as far as it is in our power to give +it them, and may then generally leave the rest to them, only bearing +in mind that they will rebel equally against too sudden a change of +treatment and no change at all" (p. 305). + +Dr. Creighton insists chiefly on the importance of change, which-- +though I did not notice his saying so--he would doubtless see as a +mode of cross-fertilisation, fraught in all respects with the same +advantages as this, and requiring the same precautions against +abuse; he would not, however, I am sure, deny that there could be no +fertility of good results if too wide a cross were attempted, so +that I may claim the weight of his authority as supporting both the +theory of an unconscious memory in general, and the particular +application of it to medicine which I had ventured to suggest. + +"Has the word 'memory,'" he asks, "a real application to unconscious +organic phenomena, or do we use it outside its ancient limits only +in a figure of speech?" + +"If I had thought," he continues later, "that unconscious memory was +no more than a metaphor, and the detailed application of it to these +various forms of disease merely allegorical, I should still have +judged it not unprofitable to represent a somewhat hackneyed class +of maladies in the light of a parable. None of our faculties is +more familiar to us in its workings than the memory, and there is +hardly any force or power in nature which every one knows so well as +the force of habit. To say that a neurotic subject is like a person +with a retentive memory, or that a diathesis gradually acquired is +like an over-mastering habit, is at all events to make comparisons +with things that we all understand. + +"For reasons given chiefly in the first chapter, I conclude that +retentiveness, with reproduction, is a single undivided faculty +throughout the whole of our life, whether mental or bodily, +conscious or unconscious; and I claim the description of a certain +class of maladies according to the phraseology of memory and habit +as a real description and not a figurative." (p. 2.) + +As a natural consequence of the foregoing he regards "alterative +action" as "habit-breaking action." + +As regards the organism's being guided throughout its development to +maturity by an unconscious memory, Dr. Creighton says that +"Professor Bain calls reproduction the acme of organic +complication." "I should prefer to say," he adds, "the acme of +organic implication; for the reason that the sperm and germ elements +are perfectly simple, having nothing in their form or structure to +show for the marvellous potentialities within them. + +"I now come to the application of these considerations to the +doctrine of unconscious memory. If generation is the acme of +organic implicitness, what is its correlative in nature, what is the +acme of organic explicitness? Obviously the fine flower of +consciousness. Generation is implicit memory, consciousness is +explicit memory; generation is potential memory, consciousness is +actual memory." + +I am not sure that I understand the preceding paragraph as clearly +as I should wish, but having quoted enough to perhaps induce the +reader to turn to Dr. Creighton's book, I will proceed to the +subject indicated in my title. + + + +CHAPTER V--Statement of the Question at Issue + + + +Of the two points referred to in the opening sentence of this book-- +I mean the connection between heredity and memory, and the +reintroduction of design into organic modification--the second is +both the more important and the one which stands most in need of +support. The substantial identity between heredity and memory is +becoming generally admitted; as regards my second point, however, I +cannot flatter myself that I have made much way against the +formidable array of writers on the neo-Darwinian side; I shall +therefore devote the rest of my book as far as possible to this +subject only. Natural selection (meaning by these words the +preservation in the ordinary course of nature of favourable +variations that are supposed to be mainly matters of pure good luck +and in no way arising out of function) has been, to use an +Americanism than which I can find nothing apter, the biggest +biological boom of the last quarter of a century; it is not, +therefore, to be wondered at that Professor Ray Lankester, Mr. +Romanes, Mr. Grant Allen, and others, should show some impatience at +seeing its value as prime means of modification called in question. +Within the last few months, indeed, Mr. Grant Allen {70a} and +Professor Ray Lankester {70b} in England, and Dr. Ernst Krause {70c} +in Germany, have spoken and written warmly in support of the theory +of natural selection, and in opposition to the views taken by +myself; if they are not to be left in possession of the field the +sooner they are met the better. + +Stripped of detail the point at issue is this;--whether luck or +cunning is the fitter to be insisted on as the main means of organic +development. Erasmus Darwin and Lamarck answered this question in +favour of cunning. They settled it in favour of intelligent +perception of the situation--within, of course, ever narrower and +narrower limits as organism retreats farther backwards from +ourselves--and persistent effort to turn it to account. They made +this the soul of all development whether of mind or body. + +And they made it, like all other souls, liable to aberration both +for better and worse. They held that some organisms show more ready +wit and savoir faire than others; that some give more proofs of +genius and have more frequent happy thoughts than others, and that +some have even gone through waters of misery which they have used as +wells. + +The sheet anchor both of Erasmus Darwin and Lamarck is in good sense +and thrift; still they are aware that money has been sometimes made +by "striking oil," and ere now been transmitted to descendants in +spite of the haphazard way in which it was originally acquired. No +speculation, no commerce; "nothing venture, nothing have," is as +true for the development of organic wealth as for that of any other +kind, and neither Erasmus Darwin nor Lamarck hesitated about +admitting that highly picturesque and romantic incidents of +developmental venture do from time to time occur in the race +histories even of the dullest and most dead-level organisms under +the name of "sports;" but they would hold that even these occur most +often and most happily to those that have persevered in well-doing +for some generations. Unto the organism that hath is given, and +from the organism that hath not is taken away; so that even "sports" +prove to be only a little off thrift, which still remains the sheet +anchor of the early evolutionists. They believe, in fact, that more +organic wealth has been made by saving than in any other way. The +race is not in the long run to the phenomenally swift nor the battle +to the phenomenally strong, but to the good average all-round +organism that is alike shy of Radical crotchets and old world +obstructiveness. Festina, but festina lente--perhaps as involving +so completely the contradiction in terms which must underlie all +modification--is the motto they would assign to organism, and Chi va +piano va lontano, they hold to be a maxim as old, if not as the +hills (and they have a hankering even after these), at any rate as +the amoeba. + +To repeat in other words. All enduring forms establish a modus +vivendi with their surroundings. They can do this because both they +and the surroundings are plastic within certain undefined but +somewhat narrow limits. They are plastic because they can to some +extent change their habits, and changed habit, if persisted in, +involves corresponding change, however slight, in the organs +employed; but their plasticity depends in great measure upon their +failure to perceive that they are moulding themselves. If a change +is so great that they are seriously incommoded by its novelty, they +are not likely to acquiesce in it kindly enough to grow to it, but +they will make no difficulty about the miracle involved in +accommodating themselves to a difference of only two or three per +cent. {72a} + +As long as no change exceeds this percentage, and as long, also, as +fresh change does not supervene till the preceding one is well +established, there seems no limit to the amount of modification +which may be accumulated in the course of generations--provided, of +course, always, that the modification continues to be in conformity +with the instinctive habits and physical development of the organism +in their collective capacity. Where the change is too great, or +where an organ has been modified cumulatively in some one direction, +until it has reached a development too seriously out of harmony with +the habits of the organism taken collectively, then the organism +holds itself excused from further effort, throws up the whole +concern, and takes refuge in the liquidation and reconstruction of +death. It is only on the relinquishing of further effort that this +death ensues; as long as effort endures, organisms go on from change +to change, altering and being altered--that is to say, either +killing themselves piecemeal in deference to the surroundings or +killing the surroundings piecemeal to suit themselves. There is a +ceaseless higgling and haggling, or rather a life-and-death struggle +between these two things as long as life lasts, and one or other or +both have in no small part to re-enter into the womb from whence +they came and be born again in some form which shall give greater +satisfaction. + +All change is pro tanto death or pro tanto birth. Change is the +common substratum which underlies both life and death; life and +death are not two distinct things absolutely antagonistic to one +another; in the highest life there is still much death, and in the +most complete death there is still not a little life. La vie, says +Claud Bernard, {73a} c'est la mort: he might have added, and +perhaps did, et la mort ce n'est que la vie transformee. Life and +death are the extreme modes of something which is partly both and +wholly neither; this something is common, ordinary change; solve any +change and the mystery of life and death will be revealed; show why +and how anything becomes ever anything other in any respect than +what it is at any given moment, and there will be little secret left +in any other change. One is not in its ultimate essence more +miraculous that another; it may be more striking--a greater +congeries of shocks, it may be more credible or more incredible, but +not more miraculous; all change is qua us absolutely +incomprehensible and miraculous; the smallest change baffles the +greatest intellect if its essence, as apart from its phenomena, be +inquired into. + +But however this may be, all organic change is either a growth or a +dissolution, or a combination of the two. Growth is the coming +together of elements with quasi similar characteristics. I +understand it is believed to be the coming together of matter in +certain states of motion with other matter in states so nearly +similar that the rhythms of the one coalesce with and hence +reinforce the rhythms pre-existing in the other--making, rather than +marring and undoing them. Life and growth are an attuning, death +and decay are an untuning; both involve a succession of greater or +smaller attunings and untunings; organic life is "the diapason +closing full in man"; it is the fulness of a tone that varies in +pitch, quality, and in the harmonics to which it gives rise; it +ranges through every degree of complexity from the endless +combinations of life-and-death within life-and-death which we find +in the mammalia, to the comparative simplicity of the amoeba. +Death, again, like life, ranges through every degree of complexity. +All pleasant changes are recreative; they are pro tanto births; all +unpleasant changes are wearing, and, as such, pro tanto deaths, but +we can no more exhaust either wholly of the other, than we can +exhaust all the air out of a receiver; pleasure and pain lurk within +one another, as life in death, and death in life, or as rest and +unrest in one another. + +There is no greater mystery in life than in death. We talk as +though the riddle of life only need engage us; this is not so; death +is just as great a miracle as life; the one is two and two making +five, the other is five splitting into two and two. Solve either, +and we have solved the other; they should be studied not apart, for +they are never parted, but together, and they will tell more tales +of one another than either will tell about itself. If there is one +thing which advancing knowledge makes clearer than another, it is +that death is swallowed up in life, and life in death; so that if +the last enemy that shall be subdued is death, then indeed is our +salvation nearer than what we thought, for in strictness there is +neither life nor death, nor thought nor thing, except as figures of +speech, and as the approximations which strike us for the time as +most convenient. There is neither perfect life nor perfect death, +but a being ever with the Lord only, in the eternal f??a, or going +to and fro and heat and fray of the universe. When we were young we +thought the one certain thing was that we should one day come to +die; now we know the one certain thing to be that we shall never +wholly do so. Non omnis moriar, says Horace, and "I die daily," +says St. Paul, as though a life beyond the grave, and a death on +this side of it, were each some strange thing which happened to them +alone of all men; but who dies absolutely once for all, and for ever +at the hour that is commonly called that of death, and who does not +die daily and hourly? Does any man in continuing to live from day +to day or moment to moment, do more than continue in a changed body, +with changed feelings, ideas, and aims, so that he lives from moment +to moment only in virtue of a simultaneous dying from moment to +moment also? Does any man in dying do more than, on a larger and +more complete scale, what he has been doing on a small one, as the +most essential factor of his life, from the day that he became "he" +at all? When the note of life is struck the harmonics of death are +sounded, and so, again, to strike death is to arouse the infinite +harmonics of life that rise forthwith as incense curling upwards +from a censer. If in the midst of life we are in death, so also in +the midst of death we are in life, and whether we live or whether we +die, whether we like it and know anything about it or no, still we +do it to the Lord--living always, dying always, and in the Lord +always, the unjust and the just alike, for God is no respecter of +persons. + +Consciousness and change, so far as we can watch them, are as +functionally interdependent as mind and matter, or condition and +substance, are--for the condition of every substance may be +considered as the expression and outcome of its mind. Where there +is consciousness there is change; where there is no change there is +no consciousness; may we not suspect that there is no change without +a pro tanto consciousness however simple and unspecialised? Change +and motion are one, so that we have substance, feeling, change (or +motion), as the ultimate three-in-one of our thoughts, and may +suspect all change, and all feeling, attendant or consequent, +however limited, to be the interaction of those states which for +want of better terms we call mind and matter. Action may be +regarded as a kind of middle term between mind and matter; it is the +throe of thought and thing, the quivering clash and union of body +and soul; commonplace enough in practice; miraculous, as violating +every canon on which thought and reason are founded, if we theorise +about it, put it under the microscope, and vivisect it. It is here, +if anywhere, that body or substance is guilty of the contradiction +in terms of combining with that which is without material substance +and cannot, therefore, be conceived by us as passing in and out with +matter, till the two become a body ensouled and a soul embodied. + +All body is more or less ensouled. As it gets farther and farther +from ourselves, indeed, we sympathise less with it; nothing, we say +to ourselves, can have intelligence unless we understand all about +it--as though intelligence in all except ourselves meant the power +of being understood rather than of understanding. We are +intelligent, and no intelligence, so different from our own as to +baffle our powers of comprehension deserves to be called +intelligence at all. The more a thing resembles ourselves, the more +it thinks as we do--and thus by implication tells us that we are +right, the more intelligent we think it; and the less it thinks as +we do, the greater fool it must be; if a substance does not succeed +in making it clear that it understands our business, we conclude +that it cannot have any business of its own, much less understand +it, or indeed understand anything at all. But letting this pass, so +far as we are concerned, [Greek text]; we are +body ensouled, and soul embodied, ourselves, nor is it possible for +us to think seriously of anything so unlike ourselves as to consist +either of soul without body, or body without soul. Unmattered +condition, therefore, is as inconceivable by us as unconditioned +matter; and we must hold that all body with which we can be +conceivably concerned is more or less ensouled, and all soul, in +like manner, more or less embodied. Strike either body or soul-- +that is to say, effect either a physical or a mental change, and the +harmonics of the other sound. So long as body is minded in a +certain way--so long, that is to say, as it feels, knows, remembers, +concludes, and forecasts one set of things--it will be in one form; +if it assumes a new one, otherwise than by external violence, no +matter how slight the change may be, it is only through having +changed its mind, through having forgotten and died to some trains +of thought, and having been correspondingly born anew by the +adoption of new ones. What it will adopt depends upon which of the +various courses open to it it considers most to its advantage. + +What it will think to its advantage depends mainly on the past +habits of its race. Its past and now invisible lives will influence +its desires more powerfully than anything it may itself be able to +add to the sum of its likes and dislikes; nevertheless, over and +above preconceived opinion and the habits to which all are slaves, +there is a small salary, or, as it were, agency commission, which +each may have for himself, and spend according to his fancy; from +this, indeed, income-tax must be deducted; still there remains a +little margin of individual taste, and here, high up on this narrow, +inaccessible ledge of our souls, from year to year a breed of not +unprolific variations build where reason cannot reach them to +despoil them; for de gustibus non est disputandum. + +Here we are as far as we can go. Fancy, which sometimes sways so +much and is swayed by so little, and which sometimes, again, is so +hard to sway, and moves so little when it is swayed; whose ways have +a method of their own, but are not as our ways--fancy, lies on the +extreme borderland of the realm within which the writs of our +thoughts run, and extends into that unseen world wherein they have +no jurisdiction. Fancy is as the mist upon the horizon which blends +earth and sky; where, however, it approaches nearest to the earth +and can be reckoned with, it is seen as melting into desire, and +this as giving birth to design and effort. As the net result and +outcome of these last, living forms grow gradually but persistently +into physical conformity with their own intentions, and become +outward and visible signs of the inward and spiritual faiths, or +wants of faith, that have been most within them. They thus very +gradually, but none the less effectually, design themselves. + +In effect, therefore, Erasmus Darwin and Lamarck introduce +uniformity into the moral and spiritual worlds as it was already +beginning to be introduced into the physical. According to both +these writers development has ever been a matter of the same energy, +effort, good sense, and perseverance, as tend to advancement of life +now among ourselves. In essence it is neither more nor less than +this, as the rain-drop which denuded an ancient formation is of the +same kind as that which is denuding a modern one, though its effect +may vary in geometrical ratio with the effect it has produced +already. As we are extending reason to the lower animals, so we +must extend a system of moral government by rewards and punishments +no less surely; and if we admit that to some considerable extent man +is man, and master of his fate, we should admit also that all +organic forms which are saved at all have been in proportionate +degree masters of their fate too, and have worked out, not only +their own salvation, but their salvation according, in no small +measure, to their own goodwill and pleasure, at times with a light +heart, and at times in fear and trembling. I do not say that +Erasmus Darwin and Lamarck saw all the foregoing as clearly as it is +easy to see it now; what I have said, however, is only the natural +development of their system. + + + +CHAPTER VI--Statement of the Question at Issue (continued) + + + +So much for the older view; and now for the more modern opinion. +According to Messrs. Darwin and Wallace, and ostensibly, I am afraid +I should add, a great majority of our most prominent biologists, the +view taken by Erasmus Darwin and Lamarck is not a sound one. Some +organisms, indeed, are so admirably adapted to their surroundings, +and some organs discharge their functions with so much appearance of +provision, that we are apt to think they must owe their development +to sense of need and consequent contrivance, but this opinion is +fantastic; the appearance of design is delusive; what we are tempted +to see as an accumulated outcome of desire and cunning, we should +regard as mainly an accumulated outcome of good luck. + +Let us take the eye as a somewhat crucial example. It is a seeing- +machine, or thing to see with. So is a telescope; the telescope in +its highest development is a secular accumulation of cunning, +sometimes small, sometimes great; sometimes applied to this detail +of the instrument, and sometimes to that. It is an admirable +example of design; nevertheless, as I said in "Evolution Old and +New," he who made the first rude telescope had probably no idea of +any more perfect form of the instrument than the one he had himself +invented. Indeed, if he had, he would have carried his idea out in +practice. He would have been unable to conceive such an instrument +as Lord Rosse's; the design, therefore, at present evidenced by the +telescope was not design all on the part of one and the same person. +Nor yet was it unmixed with chance; many a detail has been doubtless +due to an accident or coincidence which was forthwith seized and +made the best of. Luck there always has been and always will be, +until all brains are opened, and all connections made known, but +luck turned to account becomes design; there is, indeed, if things +are driven home, little other design than this. The telescope, +therefore, is an instrument designed in all its parts for the +purpose of seeing, and, take it all round, designed with singular +skill. + +Looking at the eye, we are at first tempted to think that it must be +the telescope over again, only more so; we are tempted to see it as +something which has grown up little by little from small beginnings, +as the result of effort well applied and handed down from generation +to generation, till, in the vastly greater time during which the eye +has been developing as compared with the telescope, a vastly more +astonishing result has been arrived at. We may indeed be tempted to +think this, but, according to Mr. Darwin, we should be wrong. +Design had a great deal to do with the telescope, but it had nothing +or hardly anything whatever to do with the eye. The telescope owes +its development to cunning, the eye to luck, which, it would seem, +is so far more cunning than cunning that one does not quite +understand why there should be any cunning at all. The main means +of developing the eye was, according to Mr. Darwin, not use as +varying circumstances might direct with consequent slow increase of +power and an occasional happy flight of genius, but natural +selection. Natural selection, according to him, though not the +sole, is still the most important means of its development and +modification. {81a} What, then, is natural selection? + +Mr. Darwin has told us this on the title-page of the "Origin of +Species." He there defines it as "The Preservation of Favoured +Races;" "Favoured" is "Fortunate," and "Fortunate" "Lucky;" it is +plain, therefore, that with Mr. Darwin natural selection comes to +"The Preservation of Lucky Races," and that he regarded luck as the +most important feature in connection with the development even of so +apparently purposive an organ as the eye, and as the one, therefore, +on which it was most proper to insist. And what is luck but absence +of intention or design? What, then, can Mr. Darwin's title-page +amount to when written out plainly, but to an assertion that the +main means of modification has been the preservation of races whose +variations have been unintentional, that is to say, not connected +with effort or intention, devoid of mind or meaning, fortuitous, +spontaneous, accidental, or whatever kindred word is least +disagreeable to the reader? It is impossible to conceive any more +complete denial of mind as having had anything to do with organic +development, than is involved in the title-page of the "Origin of +Species" when its doubtless carefully considered words are studied-- +nor, let me add, is it possible to conceive a title-page more likely +to make the reader's attention rest much on the main doctrine of +evolution, and little, to use the words now most in vogue concerning +it, on Mr. Darwin's own "distinctive feature." + +It should be remembered that the full title of the "Origin of +Species" is, "On the origin of species by means of natural +selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for +life." The significance of the expansion of the title escaped the +greater number of Mr. Darwin's readers. Perhaps it ought not to +have done so, but we certainly failed to catch it. The very words +themselves escaped us--and yet there they were all the time if we +had only chosen to look. We thought the book was called "On the +Origin of Species," and so it was on the outside; so it was also on +the inside fly-leaf; so it was on the title-page itself as long as +the most prominent type was used; the expanded title was only given +once, and then in smaller type; so the three big "Origins of +Species" carried us with them to the exclusion of the rest. + +The short and working title, "On the Origin of Species," in effect +claims descent with modification generally; the expanded and +technically true title only claims the discovery that luck is the +main means of organic modification, and this is a very different +matter. The book ought to have been entitled, "On Natural +Selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for +life, as the main means of the origin of species;" this should have +been the expanded title, and the short title should have been "On +Natural Selection." The title would not then have involved an +important difference between its working and its technical forms, +and it would have better fulfilled the object of a title, which is, +of course, to give, as far as may be, the essence of a book in a +nutshell. We learn on the authority of Mr. Darwin himself {83a} +that the "Origin of Species" was originally intended to bear the +title "Natural Selection;" nor is it easy to see why the change +should have been made if an accurate expression of the contents of +the book was the only thing which Mr. Darwin was considering. It is +curious that, writing the later chapters of "Life and Habit" in +great haste, I should have accidentally referred to the "Origin of +Species" as "Natural Selection;" it seems hard to believe that there +was no intention in my thus unconsciously reverting to Mr. Darwin's +own original title, but there certainly was none, and I did not then +know what the original title had been. + +If we had scrutinised Mr. Darwin's title-page as closely as we +should certainly scrutinise anything written by Mr. Darwin now, we +should have seen that the title did not technically claim the theory +of descent; practically, however, it so turned out that we +unhesitatingly gave that theory to the author, being, as I have +said, carried away by the three large "Origins of Species" (which we +understood as much the same thing as descent with modification), and +finding, as I shall show in a later chapter, that descent was +ubiquitously claimed throughout the work, either expressly or by +implication, as Mr. Darwin's theory. It is not easy to see how any +one with ordinary instincts could hesitate to believe that Mr. +Darwin was entitled to claim what he claimed with so much +insistance. If ars est celare artem Mr. Darwin must be allowed to +have been a consummate artist, for it took us years to understand +the ins and outs of what had been done. + +I may say in passing that we never see the "Origin of Species" +spoken of as "On the Origin of Species, &c.," or as "The Origin of +Species, &c." (the word "on" being dropped in the latest editions). +The distinctive feature of the book lies, according to its admirers, +in the "&c.," but they never give it. To avoid pedantry I shall +continue to speak of the "Origin of Species." + +At any rate it will be admitted that Mr. Darwin did not make his +title-page express his meaning so clearly that his readers could +readily catch the point of difference between himself and his +grandfather and Lamarck; nevertheless the point just touched upon +involves the only essential difference between the systems of Mr. +Charles Darwin and those of his three most important predecessors. +All four writers agree that animals and plants descend with +modification; all agree that the fittest alone survive; all agree +about the important consequences of the geometrical ratio of +increase; Mr. Charles Darwin has said more about these last two +points than his predecessors did, but all three were alike cognisant +of the facts and attached the same importance to them, and would +have been astonished at its being supposed possible that they +disputed them. The fittest alone survive; yes--but the fittest from +among what? Here comes the point of divergence; the fittest from +among organisms whose variations arise mainly through use and +disuse? In other words, from variations that are mainly functional? +Or from among organisms whose variations are in the main matters of +luck? From variations into which a moral and intellectual system of +payment according to results has largely entered? Or from +variations which have been thrown for with dice? From variations +among which, though cards tell, yet play tells as much or more? Or +from those in which cards are everything and play goes for so little +as to be not worth taking into account? Is "the survival of the +fittest" to be taken as meaning "the survival of the luckiest" or +"the survival of those who know best how to turn fortune to +account"? Is luck the only element of fitness, or is not cunning +even more indispensable? + +Mr. Darwin has a habit, borrowed, perhaps, mutatis mutandis, from +the framers of our collects, of every now and then adding the words +"through natural selection," as though this squared everything, and +descent with modification thus became his theory at once. This is +not the case. Buffon, Erasmus Darwin, and Lamarck believed in +natural selection to the full as much as any follower of Mr. Charles +Darwin can do. They did not use the actual words, but the idea +underlying them is the essence of their system. Mr. Patrick Matthew +epitomised their doctrine more tersely, perhaps, than was done by +any other of the pre-Charles-Darwinian evolutionists, in the +following passage which appeared in 1831, and which I have already +quoted in "Evolution Old and New" (pp. 320, 323). The passage +runs:- + +"The self-regulating adaptive disposition of organised life may, in +part, be traced to the extreme fecundity of nature, who, as before +stated, has in all the varieties of her offspring a prolific power +much beyond (in many cases a thousandfold) what is necessary to fill +up the vacancies caused by senile decay. As the field of existence +is limited and preoccupied, it is only the hardier, more robust, +better suited to circumstance individuals, who are able to struggle +forward to maturity, these inhabiting only the situations to which +they have superior adaptation and greater power of occupancy than +any other kind; the weaker and less circumstance-suited being +prematurely destroyed. This principle is in constant action; it +regulates the colour, the figure, the capacities, and instincts; +those individuals in each species whose colour and covering are best +suited to concealment or protection from enemies, or defence from +inclemencies or vicissitudes of climate, whose figure is best +accommodated to health, strength, defence, and support; whose +capacities and instincts can best regulate the physical energies to +self-advantage according to circumstances--in such immense waste of +primary and youthful life those only come forward to maturity from +THE STRICT ORDEAL BY WHICH NATURE TESTS THEIR ADAPTATION TO HER +STANDARD OF PERFECTION and fitness to continue their kind by +reproduction." {86a} A little lower down Mr. Matthew speaks of +animals under domestication "NOT HAVING UNDERGONE SELECTION BY THE +LAW OF NATURE, OF WHICH WE HAVE SPOKEN, and hence being unable to +maintain their ground without culture and protection." + +The distinction between Darwinism and Neo-Darwinism is generally +believed to lie in the adoption of a theory of natural selection by +the younger Darwin and its non-adoption by the elder. This is true +in so far as that the elder Darwin does not use the words "natural +selection," while the younger does, but it is not true otherwise. +Both writers agree that offspring tends to inherit modifications +that have been effected, from whatever cause, in parents; both hold +that the best adapted to their surroundings live longest and leave +most offspring; both, therefore, hold that favourable modifications +will tend to be preserved and intensified in the course of many +generations, and that this leads to divergence of type; but these +opinions involve a theory of natural selection or quasi-selection, +whether the words "natural selection" are used or not; indeed it is +impossible to include wild species in any theory of descent with +modification without implying a quasi-selective power on the part of +nature; but even with Mr. Charles Darwin the power is only quasi- +selective; there is no conscious choice, and hence there is nothing +that can in strictness be called selection. + +It is indeed true that the younger Darwin gave the words "natural +selection" the importance which of late years they have assumed; he +probably adopted them unconsciously from the passage of Mr. +Matthew's quoted above, but he ultimately said, {87a} "In the +literal sense of the word (sic) no doubt natural selection is a +false term," as personifying a fact, making it exercise the +conscious choice without which there can be no selection, and +generally crediting it with the discharge of functions which can +only be ascribed legitimately to living and reasoning beings. +Granted, however, that while Mr. Charles Darwin adopted the +expression natural selection and admitted it to be a bad one, his +grandfather did not use it at all; still Mr. Darwin did not mean the +natural selection which Mr. Matthew and those whose opinions he was +epitomising meant. Mr. Darwin meant the selection to be made from +variations into which purpose enters to only a small extent +comparatively. The difference, therefore, between the older +evolutionists and their successor does not lie in the acceptance by +the more recent writer of a quasi-selective power in nature which +his predecessors denied, but in the background--hidden behind the +words natural selection, which have served to cloak it--in the views +which the old and the new writers severally took of the variations +from among which they are alike agreed that a selection or quasi- +selection is made. + +It now appears that there is not one natural selection, and one +survival of the fittest only, but two natural selections, and two +survivals of the fittest, the one of which may be objected to as an +expression more fit for religious and general literature than for +science, but may still be admitted as sound in intention, while the +other, inasmuch as it supposes accident to be the main purveyor of +variations, has no correspondence with the actual course of things; +for if the variations are matters of chance or hazard unconnected +with any principle of constant application, they will not occur +steadily enough, throughout a sufficient number of successive +generations, nor to a sufficient number of individuals for many +generations together at the same time and place, to admit of the +fixing and permanency of modification at all. The one theory of +natural selection, therefore, may, and indeed will, explain the +facts that surround us, whereas the other will not. Mr. Charles +Darwin's contribution to the theory of evolution was not, as is +commonly supposed, "natural selection," but the hypothesis that +natural selection from variations that are in the main fortuitous +could accumulate and result in specific and generic differences. + +In the foregoing paragraph I have given the point of difference +between Mr. Charles Darwin and his predecessors. Why, I wonder, +have neither he nor any of his exponents put this difference before +us in such plain words that we should readily apprehend it? Erasmus +Darwin and Lamarck were understood by all who wished to understand +them; why is it that the misunderstanding of Mr. Darwin's +"distinctive feature" should have been so long and obstinate? Why +is it that, no matter how much writers like Mr. Grant Allen and +Professor Ray Lankester may say about "Mr. Darwin's master-key," nor +how many more like hyperboles they brandish, they never put a +succinct resume of Mr. Darwin's theory side by side with a similar +resume of his grandfather's and Lamarck's? Neither Mr. Darwin +himself, not any of those to whose advocacy his reputation is mainly +due, have done this. Professor Huxley is the man of all others who +foisted Mr. Darwin most upon us, but in his famous lecture on the +coming of age of the "Origin of Species" he did not explain to his +hearers wherein the Neo-Darwinian theory of evolution differed from +the old; and why not? Surely, because no sooner is this made clear +than we perceive that the idea underlying the old evolutionists is +more in accord with instinctive feelings that we have cherished too +long to be able now to disregard them than the central idea which +underlies the "Origin of Species." + +What should we think of one who maintained that the steam-engine and +telescope were not developed mainly through design and effort +(letting the indisputably existing element of luck go without +saying), but to the fact that if any telescope or steam-engine +"happened to be made ever such a little more conveniently for man's +purposes than another," &c., &c.? + +Let us suppose a notorious burglar found in possession of a jemmy; +it is admitted on all hands that he will use it as soon as he gets a +chance; there is no doubt about this; how perverted should we not +consider the ingenuity of one who tried to persuade us we were wrong +in thinking that the burglar compassed the possession of the jemmy +by means involving ideas, however vague in the first instance, of +applying it to its subsequent function. + +If any one could be found so blind to obvious inferences as to +accept natural selection, "or the preservation of favoured +machines," as the main means of mechanical modification, we might +suppose him to argue much as follows:- "I can quite understand," he +would exclaim, "how any one who reflects upon the originally simple +form of the earliest jemmies, and observes the developments they +have since attained in the hands of our most accomplished +housebreakers, might at first be tempted to believe that the present +form of the instrument has been arrived at by long-continued +improvement in the hands of an almost infinite succession of +thieves; but may not this inference be somewhat too hastily drawn? +Have we any right to assume that burglars work by means analogous to +those employed by other people? If any thief happened to pick up +any crowbar which happened to be ever such a little better suited to +his purpose than the one he had been in the habit of using hitherto, +he would at once seize and carefully preserve it. If it got worn +out or broken he would begin searching for a crowbar as like as +possible to the one that he had lost; and when, with advancing +skill, and in default of being able to find the exact thing he +wanted, he took at length to making a jemmy for himself, he would +imitate the latest and most perfect adaptation, which would thus be +most likely to be preserved in the struggle of competitive forms. +Let this process go on for countless generations, among countless +burglars of all nations, and may we not suppose that a jemmy would +be in time arrived at, as superior to any that could have been +designed as the effect of the Niagara Falls is superior to the puny +efforts of the landscape gardener?" + +For the moment I will pass over the obvious retort that there is no +sufficient parallelism between bodily organs and mechanical +inventions to make a denial of design in the one involve in equity a +denial of it in the other also, and that therefore the preceding +paragraph has no force. A man is not bound to deny design in +machines wherein it can be clearly seen because he denies it in +living organs where at best it is a matter of inference. This +retort is plausible, but in the course of the two next following +chapters but one it will be shown to be without force; for the +moment, however, beyond thus calling attention to it, I must pass it +by. + +I do not mean to say that Mr. Darwin ever wrote anything which made +the utility of his contention as apparent as it is made by what I +have above put into the mouth of his supposed follower. Mr. Darwin +was the Gladstone of biology, and so old a scientific hand was not +going to make things unnecessarily clear unless it suited his +convenience. Then, indeed, he was like the man in "The Hunting of +the Snark," who said, "I told you once, I told you twice, what I +tell you three times is true." That what I have supposed said, +however, above about the jemmy is no exaggeration of Mr. Darwin's +attitude as regards design in organism will appear from the passage +about the eye already referred to, which it may perhaps be as well +to quote in full. Mr. Darwin says:- + +"It is scarcely possible to avoid comparing the eye to a telescope. +We know that this instrument has been perfected by the long- +continued efforts of the highest human intellects, and we naturally +infer that the eye has been formed by a somewhat analogous process. +But may not this inference be presumptuous? Have we any right to +assume that the Creator works by intellectual powers like those of +men? If we must compare the eye to an optical instrument, we ought +in imagination to take a thick layer of transparent tissue, with a +nerve sensitive to light beneath, and then suppose every part of +this layer to be continually changing slowly in density, so as to +separate into layers of different densities and thicknesses, placed +at different distances from each other, and with the surfaces of +each layer slowly changing in form. Further, we must suppose that +there is a power always intently watching each slight accidental +alteration in the transparent layers, and carefully selecting each +alteration which, under varied circumstances, may in any way, or in +any degree, tend to produce a distincter image. We must suppose +each new state of the instrument to be multiplied by the million, +and each to be preserved till a better be produced, and then the old +ones to be destroyed. In living bodies variation will cause the +slight alterations, generation will multiply them almost infinitely, +and natural selection will pick out with unerring skill each +improvement. Let this process go on for millions on millions of +years, and during each year on millions of individuals of many +kinds; and may we not believe that a living optical instrument might +thus be formed as superior to one of glass as the works of the +Creator are to those of man?" {92a} + +Mr. Darwin does not in this passage deny design, or cunning, point +blank; he was not given to denying things point blank, nor is it +immediately apparent that he is denying design at all, for he does +not emphasize and call attention to the fact that the VARIATIONS on +whose accumulation he relies for his ultimate specific difference +are accidental, and, to use his own words, in the passage last +quoted, caused by VARIATION. He does, indeed, in his earlier +editions, call the variations "accidental," and accidental they +remained for ten years, but in 1869 the word "accidental" was taken +out. Mr. Darwin probably felt that the variations had been +accidental as long as was desirable; and though they would, of +course, in reality remain as accidental as ever, still, there could +be no use in crying "accidental variations" further. If the reader +wants to know whether they were accidental or no, he had better find +out for himself. Mr. Darwin was a master of what may be called +scientific chiaroscuro, and owes his reputation in no small measure +to the judgment with which he kept his meaning dark when a less +practised hand would have thrown light upon it. There can, however, +be no question that Mr. Darwin, though not denying purposiveness +point blank, was trying to refer the development of the eye to the +accumulation of small accidental improvements, which were not as a +rule due to effort and design in any way analogous to those +attendant on the development of the telescope. + +Though Mr. Darwin, if he was to have any point of difference from +his grandfather, was bound to make his variations accidental, yet, +to do him justice, he did not like it. Even in the earlier editions +of the "Origin of Species," where the "alterations" in the passage +last quoted are called "accidental" in express terms, the word does +not fall, so to speak, on a strong beat of the bar, and is apt to +pass unnoticed. Besides, Mr. Darwin does not say point blank "we +may believe," or "we ought to believe;" he only says "may we not +believe?" The reader should always be on his guard when Mr. Darwin +asks one of these bland and child-like questions, and he is fond of +asking them; but, however this may be, it is plain, as I pointed out +in "Evolution Old and New" {93a} that the only "skill," that is to +say the only thing that can possibly involve design, is "the +unerring skill" of natural selection. + +In the same paragraph Mr. Darwin has already said: "Further, we +must suppose that there is a power represented by natural selection +or the survival of the fittest always intently watching each slight +alteration, &c." Mr. Darwin probably said "a power represented by +natural selection" instead of "natural selection" only, because he +saw that to talk too frequently about the fact that the most lucky +live longest as "intently watching" something was greater nonsense +than it would be prudent even for him to write, so he fogged it by +making the intent watching done by "a power represented by" a fact, +instead of by the fact itself. As the sentence stands it is just as +great nonsense as it would have been if "the survival of the +fittest" had been allowed to do the watching instead of "the power +represented by" the survival of the fittest, but the nonsense is +harder to dig up, and the reader is more likely to pass it over. + +This passage gave Mr. Darwin no less trouble than it must have given +to many of his readers. In the original edition of the "Origin of +Species" it stood, "Further, we must suppose that there is a power +always intently watching each slight accidental variation." I +suppose it was felt that if this was allowed to stand, it might be +fairly asked what natural selection was doing all this time? If the +power was able to do everything that was necessary now, why not +always? and why any natural selection at all? This clearly would +not do, so in 1861 the power was allowed, by the help of brackets, +actually to become natural selection, and remained so till 1869, +when Mr. Darwin could stand it no longer, and, doubtless for the +reason given above, altered the passage to "a power represented by +natural selection," at the same time cutting out the word +"accidental." + +It may perhaps make the workings of Mr. Darwin's mind clearer to the +reader if I give the various readings of this passage as taken from +the three most important editions of the "Origin of Species." + +In 1859 it stood, "Further, we must suppose that there is a power +always intently watching each slight accidental alteration," &c. + +In 1861 it stood, "Further, we must suppose that there is a power +(natural selection) always intently watching each slight accidental +alteration," &c. + +And in 1869, "Further, we must suppose that there is a power +represented by natural selection or the survival of the fittest +always intently watching each slight alteration," &c. {94a} + +The hesitating feeble gait of one who fears a pitfall at every step, +so easily recognisable in the "numerous, successive, slight +alterations" in the foregoing passage, may be traced in many another +page of the "Origin of Species" by those who will be at the trouble +of comparing the several editions. It is only when this is done, +and the working of Mr. Darwin's mind can be seen as though it were +the twitchings of a dog's nose, that any idea can be formed of the +difficulty in which he found himself involved by his initial blunder +of thinking he had got a distinctive feature which entitled him to +claim the theory of evolution as an original idea of his own. He +found his natural selection hang round his neck like a millstone. +There is hardly a page in the "Origin of Species" in which traces of +the struggle going on in Mr. Darwin's mind are not discernible, with +a result alike exasperating and pitiable. I can only repeat what I +said in "Evolution Old and New," namely, that I find the task of +extracting a well-defined meaning out of Mr. Darwin's words +comparable only to that of trying to act on the advice of a lawyer +who has obscured the main issue as much as he can, and whose chief +aim has been to leave as many loopholes as possible for himself to +escape by, if things should go wrong hereafter. Or, again, to that +of one who has to construe an Act of Parliament which was originally +drawn with a view to throwing as much dust as possible in the eyes +of those who would oppose the measure, and which, having been found +utterly unworkable in practice, has had clauses repealed up and down +it till it is now in an inextricable tangle of confusion and +contradiction. + +The more Mr. Darwin's work is studied, and more especially the more +his different editions are compared, the more impossible is it to +avoid a suspicion of arriere pensee as pervading it whenever the +"distinctive feature" is on the tapis. It is right to say, however, +that no such suspicion attaches to Mr. A. R. Wallace, Mr. Darwin's +fellow discoverer of natural selection. It is impossible to doubt +that Mr. Wallace believed he had made a real and important +improvement upon the Lamarckian system, and, as a natural +consequence, unlike Mr. Darwin, he began by telling us what Lamarck +had said. He did not, I admit, say quite all that I should have +been glad to have seen him say, nor use exactly the words I should +myself have chosen, but he said enough to make it impossible to +doubt his good faith, and his desire that we should understand that +with him, as with Mr. Darwin, variations are mainly accidental, not +functional. Thus, in his memorable paper communicated to the +Linnean Society in 1858 he said, in a passage which I have quoted in +"Unconscious Memory": + +"The hypothesis of Lamarck--that progressive changes in species have +been produced by the attempts of the animals to increase the +development of their own organs, and thus modify their structures +and habits--has been repeatedly and easily refuted by all writers on +the subject of varieties and species; . . . but the view here +developed renders such an hypothesis quite unnecessary. . . . The +powerful retractile talons of the falcon and cat tribes have not +been produced or increased by the volition of those animals; . . . +neither did the giraffe acquire its long neck by desiring to reach +the foliage of the more lofty shrubs, and constantly stretching its +neck for this purpose, but because any varieties which occurred +among its antitypes with a longer neck than usual AT ONCE SECURED A +FRESH RANGE OF PASTURE OVER THE SAME GROUND AS THEIR SHORTER-NECKED +COMPANIONS, AND ON THE FIRST SCARCITY OF FOOD WERE THUS ENABLED TO +OUTLIVE THEM" (italics in original). {96a} + +"Which occurred" is obviously "which happened to occur, by some +chance or accident entirely unconnected with use and disuse;" and +though the word "accidental" is never used, there can be no doubt +about Mr. Wallace's desire to make the reader catch the fact that +with him accident, and not, as with Erasmus Darwin and Lamarck, +sustained effort, is the main purveyor of the variations whose +accumulation amounts ultimately to specific difference. It is a +pity, however, that instead of contenting himself like a theologian +with saying that his opponent had been refuted over and over again, +he did not refer to any particular and tolerably successful attempt +to refute the theory that modifications in organic structure are +mainly functional. I am fairly well acquainted with the literature +of evolution, and have never met with any such attempt. But let +this pass; as with Mr. Darwin, so with Mr. Wallace, and so indeed +with all who accept Mr. Charles Darwin's natural selection as the +main means of modification, the central idea is luck, while the +central idea of the Erasmus-Darwinian system is cunning. + +I have given the opinions of these contending parties in their +extreme development; but they both admit abatements which bring them +somewhat nearer to one another. Design, as even its most strenuous +upholders will admit, is a difficult word to deal with; it is, like +all our ideas, substantial enough until we try to grasp it--and +then, like all our ideas, it mockingly eludes us; it is like life or +death--a rope of many strands; there is design within design, and +design within undesign; there is undesign within design (as when a +man shuffles cards designing that there shall be no design in their +arrangement), and undesign within undesign; when we speak of cunning +or design in connection with organism we do not mean cunning, all +cunning, and nothing but cunning, so that there shall be no place +for luck; we do not mean that conscious attention and forethought +shall have been bestowed upon the minutest details of action, and +nothing been left to work itself out departmentally according to +precedent, or as it otherwise best may according to the chapter of +accidents. + +So, again, when Mr. Darwin and his followers deny design and effort +to have been the main purveyors of the variations whose accumulation +results in specific difference, they do not entirely exclude the +action of use and disuse--and this at once opens the door for +cunning; nevertheless, according to Erasmus Darwin and Lamarck, the +human eye and the long neck of the giraffe are alike due to the +accumulation of variations that are mainly functional, and hence +practical; according to Charles Darwin they are alike due to the +accumulation of variations that are accidental, fortuitous, +spontaneous, that is to say, mainly cannot be reduced to any known +general principle. According to Charles Darwin "the preservation of +favoured," or lucky, "races" is by far the most important means of +modification; according to Erasmus Darwin effort non sibi res sed se +rebus subjungere is unquestionably the most potent means; roughly, +therefore, there is no better or fairer way of putting the matter, +than to say that Charles Darwin is the apostle of luck, and his +grandfather, and Lamarck, of cunning. + +It should be observed also that the distinction between the organism +and its surroundings--on which both systems are founded--is one that +cannot be so universally drawn as we find it convenient to allege. +There is a debatable ground of considerable extent on which RES and +ME, ego and non ego, luck and cunning, necessity and freewill, meet +and pass into one another as night and day, or life and death. No +one can draw a sharp line between ego and non ego, nor indeed any +sharp line between any classes of phenomena. Every part of the ego +is non ego qua organ or tool in use, and much of the non ego runs up +into the ego and is inseparably united with it; still there is +enough that it is obviously most convenient to call ego, and enough +that it is no less obviously most convenient to call non ego, as +there is enough obvious day and obvious night, or obvious luck and +obvious cunning, to make us think it advisable to keep separate +accounts for each. + +I will say more on this head in a following chapter; in this present +one my business should be confined to pointing out as clearly and +succinctly as I can the issue between the two great main contending +opinions concerning organic development that obtain among those who +accept the theory of descent at all; nor do I believe that this can +be done more effectually and accurately than by saying, as above, +that Mr. Charles Darwin (whose name, by the way, was "Charles +Robert," and not, as would appear from the title-pages of his books, +"Charles" only), Mr. A. R. Wallace, and their supporters are the +apostles of luck, while Erasmus Darwin and Lamarck, followed, more +or less timidly, by the Geoffroys and by Mr. Herbert Spencer, and +very timidly indeed by the Duke of Argyll, preach cunning as the +most important means of organic modification. + +NOTE.--It appears from "Samuel Butler: A Memoir" (II, 29) that +Butler wrote to his father (Dec. 1885) about a passage in Horace +(near the beginning of the First Epistle of the First Book) - + +Nunc in Aristippi furtim praecepta relabor, +Et mihi res, non me rebus subjungere conor. + +On the preceding page he is adapting the second of these two verses +to his own purposes.--H. F. J. + + + +CHAPTER VII--(Intercalated) Mr. Spencer's "The Factors of Organic +Evolution" + + + +Since the foregoing and several of the succeeding chapters were +written, Mr. Herbert Spencer has made his position at once more +clear and more widely understood by his articles "The Factors of +Organic Evolution" which appeared in the Nineteenth Century for +April and May, 1886. The present appears the fittest place in which +to intercalate remarks concerning them. + +Mr. Spencer asks whether those are right who regard Mr. Charles +Darwin's theory of natural selection as by itself sufficient to +account for organic evolution. + +"On critically examining the evidence" (modern writers never examine +evidence, they always "critically," or "carefully," or "patiently," +examine it), he writes, we shall find reason to think that it by no +means explains all that has to be explained. Omitting for the +present any consideration of a factor which may be considered +primordial, it may be contended that one of the factors alleged by +Erasmus Darwin and Lamarck must be recognised as a co-operator. +Unless that increase of a part resulting from extra activity, and +that decrease of it resulting from inactivity, are transmissible to +descendants, we are without a key to many phenomena of organic +evolution. UTTERLY INADEQUATE TO EXPLAIN THE MAJOR PART OF THE +FACTS AS IS THE HYPOTHESIS OF THE INHERITANCE OF FUNCTIONALLY +PRODUCED MODIFICATIONS, yet there is a minor part of the facts very +extensive though less, which must be ascribed to this cause." +(Italics mine.) + +Mr. Spencer does not here say expressly that Erasmus Darwin and +Lamarck considered inheritance of functionally produced +modifications to be the sole explanation of the facts of organic +life; modern writers on evolution for the most part avoid saying +anything expressly; this nevertheless is the conclusion which the +reader naturally draws--and was doubtless intended to draw--from Mr. +Spencer's words. He gathers that these writers put forward an +"utterly inadequate" theory, which cannot for a moment be +entertained in the form in which they left it, but which, +nevertheless, contains contributions to the formation of a just +opinion which of late years have been too much neglected. + +This inference would be, as Mr. Spencer ought to know, a mistaken +one. Erasmus Darwin, who was the first to depend mainly on +functionally produced modifications, attributes, if not as much +importance to variations induced either by what we must call chance, +or by causes having no connection with use and disuse, as Mr. +Spencer does, still so nearly as much that there is little to choose +between them. Mr. Spencer's words show that he attributes, if not +half, still not far off half the modification that has actually been +produced, to use and disuse. Erasmus Darwin does not say whether he +considers use and disuse to have brought about more than half or +less than half; he only says that animal and vegetable modification +is "in part produced" by the exertions of the animals and vegetables +themselves; the impression I have derived is, that just as Mr. +Spencer considers rather less than half to be due to use and disuse, +so Erasmus Darwin considers decidedly more than half--so much more, +in fact, than half as to make function unquestionably the factor +most proper to be insisted on if only one can be given. Further +than this he did not go. I will quote enough of Dr. Erasmus +Darwin's own words to put his position beyond doubt. He writes:- + +"Thirdly, when we enumerate the great changes produced in the +species of animals before their nativity, as, for example, when the +offspring reproduces the effects produced upon the parent by +accident or culture, or the changes produced by the mixture of +species, as in mules; or the changes produced probably by exuberance +of nourishment supplied to the foetus, as in monstrous births with +additional limbs; many of these enormities are propagated and +continued as a variety at least, if not as a new species of animal. +I have seen a breed of cats with an additional claw on every foot; +of poultry also with an additional claw and with wings to their +feet; and of others without rumps. Mr. Buffon" (who, by the way, +surely, was no more "Mr. Buffon" than Lord Salisbury is "Mr. +Salisbury") "mentions a breed of dogs without tails which are common +at Rome and Naples--which he supposes to have been produced by a +custom long established of cutting their tails close off." {102a} + +Here not one of the causes of variation adduced is connected with +use and disuse, or effort, volition, and purpose; the manner, +moreover, in which they are brought forward is not that of one who +shows signs of recalcitrancy about admitting other causes of +modification as well as use and disuse; indeed, a little lower down +he almost appears to assign the subordinate place to functionally +produced modifications, for he says--"Fifthly, from their first +rudiments or primordium to the termination of their lives, all +animals undergo perpetual transformations; WHICH ARE IN PART +PRODUCED by their own exertions in consequence of their desires and +aversions, of their pleasures and their pains, or of irritations or +of associations; and many of these acquired forms or propensities +are transmitted to their posterity." + +I have quoted enough to show that Dr. Erasmus Darwin would have +protested against the supposition that functionally produced +modifications were an adequate explanation of all the phenomena of +organic modification. He declares accident and the chances and +changes of this mortal life to be potent and frequent causes of +variations, which, being not infrequently inherited, result in the +formation of varieties and even species, but considers these causes +if taken alone as no less insufficient to account for observable +facts than the theory of functionally produced modifications would +be if not supplemented by inheritance of so-called fortuitous, or +spontaneous variations. The difference between Dr. Erasmus Darwin +and Mr. Spencer does not consist in the denial by the first, that a +variety which happens, no matter how accidentally, to have varied in +a way that enables it to comply more fully and readily with the +conditions of its existence, is likely to live longer and leave more +offspring than one less favoured; nor in the denial by the second of +the inheritance and accumulation of functionally produced +modifications; but in the amount of stress which they respectively +lay on the relative importance of the two great factors of organic +evolution, the existence of which they are alike ready to admit. + +With Erasmus Darwin there is indeed luck, and luck has had a great +deal to do with organic modification, but no amount of luck would +have done unless cunning had known how to take advantage of it; +whereas if cunning be given, a very little luck at a time will +accumulate in the course of ages and become a mighty heap. Cunning, +therefore, is the factor on which, having regard to the usage of +language and the necessity for simplifying facts, he thinks it most +proper to insist. Surely this is as near as may be the opinion +which common consent ascribes to Mr. Spencer himself. It is +certainly the one which, in supporting Erasmus Darwin's system as +against his grandson's, I have always intended to support. With +Charles Darwin, on the other hand, there is indeed cunning, effort, +and consequent use and disuse; nor does he deny that these have +produced some, and sometimes even an important, effect in modifying +species, but he assigns by far the most important role in the whole +scheme to natural selection, which, as I have already shown, must, +with him, be regarded as a synonym for luck pure and simple. This, +for reasons well shown by Mr. Spencer in the articles under +consideration, is so untenable that it seems only possible to +account for its having been advanced at all by supposing Mr. +Darwin's judgment to have been perverted by some one or more of the +many causes that might tend to warp them. What the chief of those +causes may have been I shall presently point out. + +Buffon erred rather on the side of ignoring functionally produced +modifications than of insisting on them. The main agency with him +is the direct action of the environment upon the organism. This, no +doubt, is a flaw in Buffon's immortal work, but it is one which +Erasmus Darwin and Lamarck easily corrected; nor can we doubt that +Buffon would have readily accepted their amendment if it had been +suggested to him. Buffon did infinitely more in the way of +discovering and establishing the theory of descent with modification +than any one has ever done either before or since. He was too much +occupied with proving the fact of evolution at all, to dwell as +fully as might have been wished upon the details of the process +whereby the amoeba had become man, but we have already seen that he +regarded inherited mutilation as the cause of establishing a new +breed of dogs, and this is at any rate not laying much stress on +functionally produced modifications. Again, when writing of the +dog, he speaks of variations arising "BY SOME CHANCE common enough +with nature," {104a} and clearly does not contemplate function as +the sole cause of modification. Practically, though I grant I +should be less able to quote passages in support of my opinion than +I quite like, I do not doubt that his position was much the same as +that of his successors, Erasmus Darwin and Lamarck. + +Lamarck is more vulnerable than either Erasmus Darwin or Buffon on +the score of unwillingness to assign its full share to mere chance, +but I do not for a moment believe his comparative reticence to have +been caused by failure to see that the chapter of accidents is a +fateful one. He saw that the cunning or functional side had been +too much lost sight of, and therefore insisted on it, but he did not +mean to say that there is no such thing as luck. "Let us suppose," +he says, "that a grass growing in a low-lying meadow, gets carried +BY SOME ACCIDENT to the brow of a neighbouring hill, where the soil +is still damp enough for the plant to be able to exist." {105a} Or +again--"With sufficient time, favourable conditions of life, +successive changes in the condition of the globe, and the power of +new surroundings and habits to modify the organs of living bodies, +all animal and vegetable forms have been imperceptibly rendered such +as we now see them." {105b} Who can doubt that accident is here +regarded as a potent factor of evolution, as well as the design that +is involved in the supposition that modification is, in the main, +functionally induced? Again he writes, "As regards the +circumstances that give rise to variation, the principal are +climatic changes, different temperatures of any of a creature's +environments, differences of abode, of habit, of the most frequent +actions, and lastly of the means of obtaining food, self-defence, +reproduction," &c. {105c} I will not dwell on the small +inconsistencies which may be found in the passages quoted above; the +reader will doubtless see them, and will also doubtless see that in +spite of them there can be no doubt that Lamarck, while believing +modification to be effected mainly by the survival in the struggle +for existence of modifications which had been induced functionally, +would not have hesitated to admit the survival of favourable +variations due to mere accident as also a potent factor in inducing +the results we see around us. + +For the rest, Mr. Spencer's articles have relieved me from the +necessity of going into the evidence which proves that such +structures as a giraffe's neck, for example, cannot possibly have +been produced by the accumulation of variations which had their +origin mainly in accident. There is no occasion to add anything to +what Mr. Spencer has said on this score, and I am satisfied that +those who do not find his argument convince them would not be +convinced by anything I might say; I shall, therefore, omit what I +had written on this subject, and confine myself to giving the +substance of Mr. Spencer's most telling argument against Mr. +Darwin's theory that accidental variations, if favourable, would +accumulate and result in seemingly adaptive structures. Mr. Spencer +well shows that luck or chance is insufficient as a motive-power, or +helm, of evolution; but luck is only absence of design; if, then, +absence of design is found to fail, it follows that there must have +been design somewhere, nor can the design be more conveniently +placed than in association with function. + +Mr. Spencer contends that where life is so simple as to consist +practically in the discharge of only one function, or where +circumstances are such that some one function is supremely important +(a state of things, by the way, more easily found in hypothesis than +in nature--at least as continuing without modification for many +successive seasons), then accidental variations, if favourable, +would indeed accumulate and result in modification, without the aid +of the transmission of functionally produced modification. This is +true; it is also true, however, that only a very small number of +species in comparison with those we see around us could thus arise, +and that we should never have got plants and animals as embodiments +of the two great fundamental principles on which it is alone +possible that life can be conducted, {107a} and species of plants +and animals as embodiments of the details involved in carrying out +these two main principles. + +If the earliest organism could have only varied favourably in one +direction, the one possible favourable accidental variation would +have accumulated so long as the organism continued to exist at all, +inasmuch as this would be preserved whenever it happened to occur, +while every other would be lost in the struggle of competitive +forms; but even in the lowest forms of life there is more than one +condition in respect of which the organism must be supposed +sensitive, and there are as many directions in which variations may +be favourable as there are conditions of the environment that affect +the organism. We cannot conceive of a living form as having a power +of adaptation limited to one direction only; the elasticity which +admits of a not being "extreme to mark that which is done amiss" in +one direction will commonly admit of it in as many directions as +there are possible favourable modes of variation; the number of +these, as has been just said, depends upon the number of the +conditions of the environment that affect the organism, and these +last, though in the long run and over considerable intervals of time +tolerably constant, are over shorter intervals liable to frequent +and great changes; so that there is nothing in Mr. Charles Darwin's +system of modification through the natural survival of the lucky, to +prevent gain in one direction one year from being lost irretrievably +in the next, through the greater success of some in no way +correlated variation, the fortunate possessors of which alone +survive. This, in its turn, is as likely as not to disappear +shortly through the arising of some difficulty in some entirely new +direction, and so on; nor, if function be regarded as of small +effect in determining organism, is there anything to ensure either +that, even if ground be lost for a season or two in any one +direction, it shall be recovered presently on resumption by the +organism of the habits that called it into existence, or that it +shall appear synchronously in a sufficient number of individuals to +ensure its not being soon lost through gamogenesis. + +How is progress ever to be made if races keep reversing, Penelope- +like, in one generation all that they have been achieving in the +preceding? And how, on Mr. Darwin's system, of which the +accumulation of strokes of luck is the greatly preponderating +feature, is a hoard ever to be got together and conserved, no matter +how often luck may have thrown good things in an organism's way? +Luck, or absence of design, may be sometimes almost said to throw +good things in our way, or at any rate we may occasionally get more +through having made no design than any design we should have been +likely to have formed would have given us; but luck does not hoard +these good things for our use and make our wills for us, nor does it +keep providing us with the same good gifts again and again, and no +matter how often we reject them. + +I had better, perhaps, give Mr. Spencer's own words as quoted by +himself in his article in the Nineteenth Century for April, 1886. +He there wrote as follows, quoting from section 166 of his +"Principles of Biology," which appeared in 1864:- + +"Where the life is comparatively simple, or where surrounding +circumstances render some one function supremely important, the +survival of the fittest" (which means here the survival of the +luckiest) "may readily bring about the appropriate structural +change, without any aid from the transmission of functionally- +acquired modifications" (into which effort and design have entered). +"But in proportion as the life grows complex--in proportion as a +healthy existence cannot be secured by a large endowment of some one +power, but demands many powers; in the same proportion do there +arise obstacles to the increase of any particular power, by 'the +preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life'" (that is +to say, through mere survival of the luckiest). "As fast as the +faculties are multiplied, so fast does it become possible for the +several members of a species to have various kinds of superiority +over one another. While one saves its life by higher speed, another +does the like by clearer vision, another by keener scent, another by +quicker hearing, another by greater strength, another by unusual +power of enduring cold or hunger, another by special sagacity, +another by special timidity, another by special courage; and others +by other bodily and mental attributes. Now it is unquestionably +true that, other things equal, each of these attributes, giving its +possessor an equal extra chance of life, is likely to be transmitted +to posterity. But there seems no reason to believe it will be +increased in subsequent generations by natural selection. That it +may be thus increased, the animals not possessing more than average +endowments of it must be more frequently killed off than individuals +highly endowed with it; and this can only happen when the attribute +is one of greater importance, for the time being, than most of the +other attributes. + +If those members of the species which have but ordinary shares of +it, nevertheless survive by virtue of other superiorities which they +severally possess, then it is not easy to see how this particular +attribute can be developed by natural selection in subsequent +generations." (For if some other superiority is a greater source of +luck, then natural selection, or survival of the luckiest, will +ensure that this other superiority be preserved at the expense of +the one acquired in the earlier generation.) "The probability seems +rather to be, that by gamogenesis, this extra endowment will, on the +average, be diminished in posterity--just serving in the long run to +compensate the deficient endowments of other individuals, whose +special powers lie in other directions; and so to keep up the normal +structure of the species. The working out of the process is here +somewhat difficult to follow" (there is no difficulty as soon as it +is perceived that Mr. Darwin's natural selection invariably means, +or ought to mean, the survival of the luckiest, and that seasons and +what they bring with them, though fairly constant on an average, yet +individually vary so greatly that what is luck in one season is +disaster in another); "but it appears to me that as fast as the +number of bodily and mental faculties increases, and as fast as the +maintenance of life comes to depend less on the amount of any one, +and more on the combined action of all, so fast does the production +of specialities of character by natural selection alone become +difficult. Particularly does this seem to be so with a species so +multitudinous in powers as mankind; and above all does it seem to be +so with such of the human powers as have but minor shares in aiding +the struggle for life--the aesthetic faculties, for example. + +"Dwelling for a moment on this last illustration of the class of +difficulties described, let us ask how we are to interpret the +development of the musical faculty; how came there that endowment of +musical faculty which characterises modern Europeans at large, as +compared with their remote ancestors? The monotonous chants of low +savages cannot be said to show any melodic inspiration; and it is +not evident that an individual savage who had a little more musical +perception than the rest would derive any such advantage in the +maintenance of life as would secure the spread of his superiority by +inheritance of the variation," &c. + +It should be observed that the passage given in the last paragraph +but one appeared in 1864, only five years after the first edition of +the "Origin of Species," but, crushing as it is, Mr. Darwin never +answered it. He treated it as nonexistent--and this, doubtless from +a business standpoint, was the best thing he could do. How far such +a course was consistent with that single-hearted devotion to the +interests of science for which Mr. Darwin developed such an abnormal +reputation, is a point which I must leave to his many admirers to +determine. + + + +CHAPTER VIII--Property, Common Sense, and Protoplasm + + + +One would think the issue stated in the three preceding chapters was +decided in the stating. This, as I have already implied, is +probably the reason why those who have a vested interest in Mr. +Darwin's philosophical reputation have avoided stating it. + +It may be said that, seeing the result is a joint one, inasmuch as +both "res" and "me," or both luck and cunning, enter so largely into +development, neither factor can claim pre-eminence to the exclusion +of the other. But life is short and business long, and if we are to +get the one into the other we must suppress details, and leave our +words pregnant, as painters leave their touches when painting from +nature. If one factor concerns us greatly more than the other, we +should emphasize it, and let the other go without saying, by force +of association. There is no fear of its being lost sight of; +association is one of the few really liberal things in nature; by +liberal, I mean precipitate and inaccurate; the power of words, as +of pictures, and indeed the power to carry on life at all, vests in +the fact that association does not stick to the letter of its bond, +but will take the half for the whole without even looking closely at +the coin given to make sure that it is not counterfeit. Through the +haste and high pressure of business, errors arise continually, and +these errors give us the shocks of which our consciousness is +compounded. Our whole conscious life, therefore, grows out of +memory and out of the power of association, in virtue of which not +only does the right half pass for the whole, but the wrong half not +infrequently passes current for it also, without being challenged +and found out till, as it were, the accounts come to be balanced, +and it is found that they will not do so. + +Variations are an organism's way of getting over an unexpected +discrepancy between its resources as shown by the fly-leaves of its +own cheques and the universe's passbook; the universe is generally +right, or would be upheld as right if the matter were to come before +the not too incorruptible courts of nature, and in nine cases out of +ten the organism has made the error in its own favour, so that it +must now pay or die. It can only pay by altering its mode of life, +and how long is it likely to be before a new departure in its mode +of life comes out in its own person and in those of its family? +Granted it will at first come out in their appearance only, but +there can be no change in appearance without some slight +corresponding organic modification. In practice there is usually +compromise in these matters. The universe, if it does not give an +organism short shrift and eat it at once, will commonly abate +something of its claim; it gets tricked out of an additional moiety +by the organism; the organism really does pay something by way of +changed habits; this results in variation, in virtue of which the +accounts are cooked, cobbled, and passed by a series of those +miracles of inconsistency which was call compromises, and after this +they cannot be reopened--not till next time. + +Surely of the two factors which go to the making up of development, +cunning is the one more proper to be insisted on as determining the +physical and psychical well or ill being, and hence, ere long, the +future form of the organism. We can hardly open a newspaper without +seeing some sign of this; take, for example, the following extract +from a letter in the Times of the day on which I am writing +(February 8, 1886)-- "You may pass along a road which divides a +settlement of Irish Celts from one of Germans. They all came to the +country equally without money, and have had to fight their way in +the forest, but the difference in their condition is very +remarkable; on the German side there is comfort, thrift, peace, but +on the other side the spectacle is very different." Few will deny +that slight organic differences, corresponding to these differences +of habit, are already perceptible; no Darwinian will deny that these +differences are likely to be inherited, and, in the absence of +intermarriage between the two colonies, to result in still more +typical difference than that which exists at present. According to +Mr. Darwin, the improved type of the more successful race would not +be due mainly to transmitted perseverance in well-doing, but to the +fact that if any member of the German colony "happened" to be born +"ever so slightly," &c. Of course this last is true to a certain +extent also; if any member of the German colony does "happen to be +born," &c., then he will stand a better chance of surviving, and, if +he marries a wife like himself, of transmitting his good qualities; +but how about the happening? How is it that this is of such +frequent occurrence in the one colony, and is so rare in the other? +Fortes creantur fortibus et bonis. True, but how and why? Through +the race being favoured? In one sense, doubtless, it is true that +no man can have anything except it be given him from above, but it +must be from an above into the composition of which he himself +largely enters. God gives us all things; but we are a part of God, +and that part of Him, moreover, whose department it more especially +is to look after ourselves. It cannot be through luck, for luck is +blind, and does not pick out the same people year after year and +generation after generation; shall we not rather say, then, that it +is because mind, or cunning, is a great factor in the achievement of +physical results, and because there is an abiding memory between +successive generations, in virtue of which the cunning of an earlier +one enures to the benefit of its successors? + +It is one of the commonplaces of biology that the nature of the +organism (which is mainly determined by ancestral antecedents) is +greatly more important in determining its future than the conditions +of its environment, provided, of course, that these are not too +cruelly abnormal, so that good seed will do better on rather poor +soil, than bad seed on rather good soil; this alone should be enough +to show that cunning, or individual effort, is more important in +determining organic results than luck is, and therefore that if +either is to be insisted on to the exclusion of the other, it should +be cunning, not luck. Which is more correctly said to be the main +means of the development of capital--Luck? or Cunning? Of course +there must be something to be developed--and luck, that is to say, +the unknowable and unforeseeable, enters everywhere; but is it more +convenient with our oldest and best-established ideas to say that +luck is the main means of the development of capital, or that +cunning is so? Can there be a moment's hesitation in admitting that +if capital is found to have been developed largely, continuously, by +many people, in many ways, over a long period of time, it can only +have been by means of continued application, energy, effort, +industry, and good sense? Granted there has been luck too; of +course there has, but we let it go without saying, whereas we cannot +let the skill or cunning go without saying, inasmuch as we feel the +cunning to have been the essence of the whole matter. + +Granted, again, that there is no test more fallacious on a small +scale than that of immediate success. As applied to any particular +individual, it breaks down completely. It is unfortunately no rare +thing to see the good man striving against fate, and the fool born +with a silver spoon in his mouth. Still on a large scale no test +can be conceivably more reliable; a blockhead may succeed for a +time, but a succession of many generations of blockheads does not go +on steadily gaining ground, adding field to field and farm to farm, +and becoming year by year more capable and prosperous. Given time-- +of which there is no scant in the matter of organic development--and +cunning will do more with ill luck than folly with good. People do +not hold six trumps every hand for a dozen games of whist running, +if they do not keep a card or two up their sleeves. Cunning, if it +can keep its head above water at all, will beat mere luck unaided by +cunning, no matter what start luck may have had, if the race be a +fairly long one. Growth is a kind of success which does indeed come +to some organisms with less effort than to others, but it cannot be +maintained and improved upon without pains and effort. A foolish +organism and its fortuitous variation will be soon parted, for, as a +general rule, unless the variation has so much connection with the +organism's past habits and ways of thought as to be in no proper +sense of the word "fortuitous," the organism will not know what to +do with it when it has got it, no matter how favourable it may be, +and it is little likely to be handed down to descendants. Indeed +the kind of people who get on best in the world--and what test to a +Darwinian can be comparable to this?--commonly do insist on cunning +rather than on luck, sometimes perhaps even unduly; speaking, at +least, from experience, I have generally found myself more or less +of a failure with those Darwinians to whom I have endeavoured to +excuse my shortcomings on the score of luck. + +It may be said that the contention that the nature of the organism +does more towards determining its future than the conditions of its +immediate environment do, is only another way of saying that the +accidents which have happened to an organism in the persons of its +ancestors throughout all time are more irresistible by it for good +or ill than any of the more ordinary chances and changes of its own +immediate life. I do not deny this; but these ancestral accidents +were either turned to account, or neglected where they might have +been taken advantage of; they thus passed either into skill, or want +of skill; so that whichever way the fact is stated the result is the +same; and if simplicity of statement be regarded, there is no more +convenient way of putting the matter than to say that though luck is +mighty, cunning is mightier still. Organism commonly shows its +cunning by practising what Horace preached, and treating itself as +more plastic than its surroundings; those indeed who have had the +greatest the first to admit that they had gained their ends more by +reputation as moulders of circumstances have ever been shaping their +actions and themselves to suit events, than by trying to shape +events to suit themselves and their actions. Modification, like +charity, begins at home. + +But however this may be, there can be no doubt that cunning is in +the long run mightier than luck as regards the acquisition of +property, and what applies to property applies to organism also. +Property, as I have lately seen was said by Rosmini, is a kind of +extension of the personality into the outside world. He might have +said as truly that it is a kind of penetration of the outside world +within the limits of the personality, or that it is at any rate a +prophesying of, and essay after, the more living phase of matter in +the direction of which it is tending. If approached from the +dynamical or living side of the underlying substratum, it is the +beginning of the comparatively stable equilibrium which we call +brute matter; if from the statical side, that is to say, from that +of brute matter, it is the beginning of that dynamical state which +we associate with life; it is the last of ego and first of non ego, +or vice versa, as the case may be; it is the ground whereon the two +meet and are neither wholly one nor wholly the other, but a whirling +mass of contradictions such as attends all fusion. + +What property is to a man's mind or soul that his body is also, only +more so. The body is property carried to the bitter end, or +property is the body carried to the bitter end, whichever the reader +chooses; the expression "organic wealth" is not figurative; none +other is so apt and accurate; so universally, indeed, is this +recognised that the fact has found expression in our liturgy, which +bids us pray for all those who are any wise afflicted "in mind, +body, or estate;" no inference, therefore, can be more simple and +legitimate than the one in accordance with which the laws that +govern the development of wealth generally are supposed also to +govern the particular form of health and wealth which comes most +closely home to us--I mean that of our bodily implements or organs. +What is the stomach but a living sack, or purse of untanned leather, +wherein we keep our means of subsistence? Food is money made easy; +it is petty cash in its handiest and most reduced form; it is our +way of assimilating our possessions and making them indeed our own. +What is the purse but a kind of abridged extra corporeal stomach +wherein we keep the money which we convert by purchase into food, as +we presently convert the food by digestion into flesh and blood? +And what living form is there which is without a purse or stomach, +even though it have to job it by the meal as the amoeba does, and +exchange it for some other article as soon as it has done eating? +How marvellously does the analogy hold between the purse and the +stomach alike as regards form and function; and I may say in passing +that, as usual, the organ which is the more remote from protoplasm +is at once more special, more an object of our consciousness, and +less an object of its own. + +Talk of ego and non ego meeting, and of the hopelessness of avoiding +contradiction in terms--talk of this, and look, in passing, at the +amoeba. It is itself qua maker of the stomach and being fed; it is +not itself qua stomach and qua its using itself as a mere tool or +implement to feed itself with. It is active and passive, object and +subject, ego and non ego--every kind of Irish bull, in fact, which a +sound logician abhors--and it is only because it has persevered, as +I said in "Life and Habit," in thus defying logic and arguing most +virtuously in a most vicious circle, that it has come in the persons +of some of its descendants to reason with sufficient soundness. And +what the amoeba is man is also; man is only a great many amoebas, +most of them dreadfully narrow-minded, going up and down the country +with their goods and chattels like gipsies in a caravan; he is only +a great many amoebas that have had much time and money spent on +their education, and received large bequests of organised +intelligence from those that have gone before them. + +The most incorporate tool--we will say an eye, or a tooth, or the +closed fist when used to strike--has still something of the non ego +about it in so far as it is used; those organs, again, that are the +most completely separate from the body, as the locomotive engine, +must still from time to time kiss the soil of the human body, and be +handled and thus crossed with man again if they would remain in +working order. They cannot be cut adrift from the most living form +of matter (I mean most living from our point of view), and remain +absolutely without connection with it for any length of time, any +more than a seal can live without coming up sometimes to breathe; +and in so far as they become linked on to living beings they live. +Everything is living which is in close communion with, and +interpermeated by, that something which we call mind or thought. +Giordano Bruno saw this long ago when he made an interlocutor in one +of his dialogues say that a man's hat and cloak are alive when he is +wearing them. "Thy boots and spurs live," he exclaims, "when thy +feet carry them; thy hat lives when thy head is within it; and so +the stable lives when it contains the horse or mule, or even +yourself;" nor is it easy to see how this is to be refuted except at +a cost which no one in his senses will offer. + +It may be said that the life of clothes in wear and implements in +use is no true life, inasmuch as it differs from flesh and blood +life in too many and important respects; that we have made up our +minds about not letting life outside the body too decisively to +allow the question to be reopened; that if this be tolerated we +shall have societies for the prevention of cruelty to chairs and +tables, or cutting clothes amiss, or wearing them to tatters, or +whatever other absurdity may occur to idle and unkind people; the +whole discussion, therefore, should be ordered out of court at once. + +I admit that this is much the most sensible position to take, but it +can only be taken by those who turn the deafest of deaf ears to the +teachings of science, and tolerate no going even for a moment below +the surface of things. People who take this line must know how to +put their foot down firmly in the matter of closing a discussion. +Some one may perhaps innocently say that some parts of the body are +more living and vital than others, and those who stick to common +sense may allow this, but if they do they must close the discussion +on the spot; if they listen to another syllable they are lost; if +they let the innocent interlocutor say so much as that a piece of +well-nourished healthy brain is more living than the end of a +finger-nail that wants cutting, or than the calcareous parts of a +bone, the solvent will have been applied which will soon make an end +of common sense ways of looking at the matter. Once even admit the +use of the participle "dying," which involves degrees of death, and +hence an entry of death in part into a living body, and common sense +must either close the discussion at once, or ere long surrender at +discretion. + +Common sense can only carry weight in respect of matters with which +every one is familiar, as forming part of the daily and hourly +conduct of affairs; if we would keep our comfortable hard and fast +lines, our rough and ready unspecialised ways of dealing with +difficult questions, our impatience of what St. Paul calls "doubtful +disputations," we must refuse to quit the ground on which the +judgments of mankind have been so long and often given that they are +not likely to be questioned. Common sense is not yet formulated in +manners of science or philosophy, for only few consider them; few +decisions, therefore, have been arrived at which all hold final. +Science is, like love, "too young to know what conscience," or +common sense, is. As soon as the world began to busy itself with +evolution it said good-bye to common sense, and must get on with +uncommon sense as best it can. The first lesson that uncommon sense +will teach it is that contradiction in terms is the foundation of +all sound reasoning--and, as an obvious consequence, compromise, the +foundation of all sound practice. This, it follows easily, involves +the corollary that as faith, to be of any value, must be based on +reason, so reason, to be of any value, must be based on faith, and +that neither can stand alone or dispense with the other, any more +than culture or vulgarity can stand unalloyed with one another +without much danger of mischance. + +It may not perhaps be immediately apparent why the admission that a +piece of healthy living brain is more living than the end of a +finger-nail, is so dangerous to common sense ways of looking at life +and death; I had better, therefore, be more explicit. By this +admission degrees of livingness are admitted within the body; this +involves approaches to non-livingness. On this the question arises, +"Which are the most living parts?" The answer to this was given a +few years ago with a flourish of trumpets, and our biologists +shouted with one voice, "Great is protoplasm. There is no life but +protoplasm, and Huxley is its prophet." Read Huxley's "Physical +Basis of Mind." Read Professor Mivart's article, "What are Living +Beings?" in the Contemporary Review, July, 1879. Read Dr. Andrew +Wilson's article in the Gentleman's Magazine, October, 1879. +Remember Professor Allman's address to the British Association, +1879; ask, again, any medical man what is the most approved +scientific attitude as regards the protoplasmic and non-protoplasmic +parts of the body, and he will say that the thinly veiled conclusion +arrived at by all of them is, that the protoplasmic parts are alone +truly living, and that the non-protoplasmic are non-living. + +It may suffice if I confine myself to Professor Allman's address to +the British Association in 1879, as a representative utterance. +Professor Allman said:- + +"Protoplasm lies at the base of every vital phenomenon. It is, as +Huxley has well expressed it, 'the physical basis of life;' wherever +there is life from its lowest to its highest manifestation there is +protoplasm; wherever there is protoplasm there is life." {122a} + +To say wherever there is life there is protoplasm, is to say that +there can be no life without protoplasm, and this is saying that +where there is no protoplasm there is no life. But large parts of +the body are non-protoplasmic; a bone is, indeed, permeated by +protoplasm, but it is not protoplasm; it follows, therefore, that +according to Professor Allman bone is not in any proper sense of +words a living substance. From this it should follow, and doubtless +does follow in Professor Allman's mind, that large tracts of the +human body, if not the greater part by weight (as bones, skin, +muscular tissues, &c.), are no more alive than a coat or pair of +boots in wear is alive, except in so far as the bones, &c., are more +closely and nakedly permeated by protoplasm than the coat or boots, +and are thus brought into closer, directer, and more permanent +communication with that which, if not life itself, still has more of +the ear of life, and comes nearer to its royal person than anything +else does. Indeed that this is Professor Allman's opinion appears +from the passage on page 26 of the report, in which he says that in +"protoplasm we find the only form of matter in which life can +manifest itself." + +According to this view the skin and other tissues are supposed to be +made from dead protoplasm which living protoplasm turns to account +as the British Museum authorities are believed to stuff their new +specimens with the skins of old ones; the matter used by the living +protoplasm for this purpose is held to be entirely foreign to +protoplasm itself, and no more capable of acting in concert with it +than bricks can understand and act in concert with the bricklayer. +As the bricklayer is held to be living and the bricks non-living, so +the bones and skin which protoplasm is supposed to construct are +held non-living and the protoplasm alone living. Protoplasm, it is +said, goes about masked behind the clothes or habits which it has +fashioned. It has habited itself as animals and plants, and we have +mistaken the garment for the wearer--as our dogs and cats doubtless +think with Giordano Bruno that our boots live when we are wearing +them, and that we keep spare paws in our bedrooms which lie by the +wall and go to sleep when we have not got them on. + +If, in answer to the assertion that the osseous parts of bone are +non-living, it is said that they must be living, for they heal if +broken, which no dead matter can do, it is answered that the broken +pieces of bone do not grow together; they are mended by the +protoplasm which permeates the Haversian canals; the bones +themselves are no more living merely because they are tenanted by +something which really does live, than a house lives because men and +women inhabit it; and if a bone is repaired, it no more repairs +itself than a house can be said to have repaired itself because its +owner has sent for the bricklayer and seen that what was wanted was +done. + +We do not know, it is said, by what means the structureless viscid +substance which we call protoplasm can build for itself a solid +bone; we do not understand how an amoeba makes its test; no one +understands how anything is done unless he can do it himself; and +even then he probably does not know how he has done it. Set a man +who has never painted, to watch Rembrandt paint the Burgomaster Six, +and he will no more understand how Rembrandt can have done it, than +we can understand how the amoeba makes its test, or the protoplasm +cements two broken ends of a piece of bone. Ces choses se font mais +ne s'expliquent pas. So some denizen of another planet looking at +our earth through a telescope which showed him much, but still not +quite enough, and seeing the St. Gothard tunnel plumb on end so that +he could not see the holes of entry and exit, would think the trains +there a kind of caterpillar which went through the mountain by a +pure effort of the will--that enabled them in some mysterious way to +disregard material obstacles and dispense with material means. We +know, of course, that it is not so, and that exemption from the toil +attendant on material obstacles has been compounded for, in the +ordinary way, by the single payment of a tunnel; and so with the +cementing of a bone, our biologists say that the protoplasm, which +is alone living, cements it much as a man might mend a piece of +broken china, but that it works by methods and processes which elude +us, even as the holes of the St. Gothard tunnel may be supposed to +elude a denizen of another world. + +The reader will already have seen that the toils are beginning to +close round those who, while professing to be guided by common +sense, still parley with even the most superficial probers beneath +the surface; this, however, will appear more clearly in the +following chapter. It will also appear how far-reaching were the +consequences of the denial of design that was involved in Mr. +Darwin's theory that luck is the main element in survival, and how +largely this theory is responsible for the fatuous developments in +connection alike with protoplasm and automatism which a few years +ago seemed about to carry everything before them. + + + +CHAPTER IX--Property, Common Sense, and Protoplasm (continued) + + + +The position, then, stands thus. Common sense gave the inch of +admitting some parts of the body to be less living than others, and +philosophy took the ell of declaring the body to be almost all of it +stone dead. This is serious; still if it were all, for a quiet +life, we might put up with it. Unfortunately we know only too well +that it will not be all. Our bodies, which seemed so living and now +prove so dead, have served us such a trick that we can have no +confidence in anything connected with them. As with skin and bones +to-day, so with protoplasm to-morrow. Protoplasm is mainly oxygen, +hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon; if we do not keep a sharp look out, +we shall have it going the way of the rest of the body, and being +declared dead in respect, at any rate, of these inorganic +components. Science has not, I believe, settled all the components +of protoplasm, but this is neither here nor there; she has settled +what it is in great part, and there is no trusting her not to settle +the rest at any moment, even if she has not already done so. As +soon as this has been done we shall be told that nine-tenths of the +protoplasm of which we are composed must go the way of our non- +protoplasmic parts, and that the only really living part of us is +the something with a new name that runs the protoplasm that runs the +flesh and bones that run the organs - + +Why stop here? Why not add "which run the tools and properties +which are as essential to our life and health as much that is +actually incorporate with us?" The same breach which has let the +non-living effect a lodgment within the body must, in all equity, +let the organic character--bodiliness, so to speak--pass out beyond +its limits and effect a lodgment in our temporary and extra- +corporeal limbs. What, on the protoplasmic theory, the skin and +bones are, that the hammer and spade are also; they differ in the +degree of closeness and permanence with which they are associated +with protoplasm, but both bones and hammers are alike non-living +things which protoplasm uses for its own purposes and keeps closer +or less close at hand as custom and convenience may determine. + +According to this view, the non-protoplasmic parts of the body are +tools of the first degree; they are not living, but they are in such +close and constant contact with that which really lives, that an +aroma of life attaches to them. Some of these, however, such as +horns, hooves, and tusks, are so little permeated by protoplasm that +they cannot rank much higher than the tools of the second degree, +which come next to them in order. + +These tools of the second degree are either picked up ready-made, or +are manufactured directly by the body, as being torn or bitten into +shape, or as stones picked up to throw at prey or at an enemy. + +Tools of the third degree are made by the instrumentality of tools +of the second and first degrees; as, for example, chipped flint, +arrow-heads, &c. + +Tools of the fourth degree are made by those of the third, second, +and first. They consist of the simpler compound instruments that +yet require to be worked by hand, as hammers, spades, and even hand +flour-mills. + +Tools of the fifth degree are made by the help of those of the +fourth, third, second, and first. They are compounded of many +tools, worked, it may be, by steam or water and requiring no +constant contact with the body. + +But each one of these tools of the fifth degree was made in the +first instance by the sole instrumentality of the four preceding +kinds of tool. They must all be linked on to protoplasm, which is +the one original tool-maker, but which can only make the tools that +are more remote from itself by the help of those that are nearer, +that is to say, it can only work when it has suitable tools to work +with, and when it is allowed to use them in its own way. There can +be no direct communication between protoplasm and a steam-engine; +there may be and often is direct communication between machines of +even the fifth order and those of the first, as when an engine-man +turns a cock, or repairs something with his own hands if he has +nothing better to work with. But put a hammer, for example, to a +piece of protoplasm, and the protoplasm will no more know what to do +with it than we should be able to saw a piece of wood in two without +a saw. Even protoplasm from the hand of a carpenter who has been +handling hammers all his life would be hopelessly put off its stroke +if not allowed to work in its usual way but put bare up against a +hammer; it would make a slimy mess and then dry up; still there can +be no doubt (so at least those who uphold protoplasm as the one +living substance would say) that the closer a machine can be got to +protoplasm and the more permanent the connection, the more living it +appears to be, or at any rate the more does it appear to be endowed +with spontaneous and reasoning energy, so long, of course, as the +closeness is of a kind which protoplasm understands and is familiar +with. This, they say, is why we do not like using any implement or +tool with gloves on, for these impose a barrier between the tool and +its true connection with protoplasm by means of the nervous system. +For the same reason we put gloves on when we box so as to bar the +connection. + +That which we handle most unglovedly is our food, which we handle +with our stomachs rather than with our hands. Our hands are so +thickly encased with skin that protoplasm can hold but small +conversation with what they contain, unless it be held for a long +time in the closed fist, and even so the converse is impeded as in a +strange language; the inside of our mouths is more naked, and our +stomachs are more naked still; it is here that protoplasm brings its +fullest powers of suasion to bear on those whom it would proselytise +and receive as it were into its own communion--whom it would convert +and bring into a condition of mind in which they shall see things as +it sees them itself, and, as we commonly say, "agree with" it, +instead of standing out stiffly for their own opinion. We call this +digesting our food; more properly we should call it being digested +by our food, which reads, marks, learns, and inwardly digests us, +till it comes to understand us and encourage us by assuring us that +we were perfectly right all the time, no matter what any one might +have said, or say, to the contrary. Having thus recanted all its +own past heresies, it sets to work to convert everything that comes +near it and seems in the least likely to be converted. Eating is a +mode of love; it is an effort after a closer union; so we say we +love roast beef. A French lady told me once that she adored veal; +and a nurse tells her child that she would like to eat it. Even he +who caresses a dog or horse pro tanto both weds and eats it. +Strange how close the analogy between love and hunger; in each case +the effort is after closer union and possession; in each case the +outcome is reproduction (for nutrition is the most complete of +reproductions), and in each case there are residua. But to return. + +I have shown above that one consequence of the attempt so vigorously +made a few years ago to establish protoplasm as the one living +substance, is the making it clear that the non-protoplasmic parts of +the body and the simpler extra-corporeal tools or organs must run on +all fours in the matter of livingness and non-livingness. If the +protoplasmic parts of the body are held living in virtue of their +being used by something that really lives, then so, though in a less +degree, must tools and machines. If, on the other hand, tools and +machines are held non-living inasmuch as they only owe what little +appearance of life they may present when in actual use to something +else that lives, and have no life of their own--so, though in a less +degree, must the non-protoplasmic parts of the body. Allow an +overflowing aroma of life to vivify the horny skin under the heel, +and from this there will be a spilling which will vivify the boot in +wear. Deny an aroma of life to the boot in wear, and it must ere +long be denied to ninety-nine per cent. of the body; and if the body +is not alive while it can walk and talk, what in the name of all +that is unreasonable can be held to be so? + +That the essential identity of bodily organs and tools is no +ingenious paradoxical way of putting things is evident from the fact +that we speak of bodily organs at all. Organ means tool. There is +nothing which reveals our most genuine opinions to us so unerringly +as our habitual and unguarded expressions, and in the case under +consideration so completely do we instinctively recognise the +underlying identity of tools and limbs, that scientific men use the +word "organ" for any part of the body that discharges a function, +practically to the exclusion of any other term. Of course, however, +the above contention as to the essential identity of tools and +organs does not involve a denial of their obvious superficial +differences--differences so many and so great as to justify our +classing them in distinct categories so long as we have regard to +the daily purposes of life without looking at remoter ones. + +If the above be admitted, we can reply to those who in an earlier +chapter objected to our saying that if Mr. Darwin denied design in +the eye he should deny it in the burglar's jemmy also. For if +bodily and non-bodily organs are essentially one in kind, being each +of them both living and non-living, and each of them only a higher +development of principles already admitted and largely acted on in +the other, then the method of procedure observable in the evolution +of the organs whose history is within our ken should throw light +upon the evolution of that whose history goes back into so dim a +past that we can only know it by way of inference. In the absence +of any show of reason to the contrary we should argue from the known +to the unknown, and presume that even as our non-bodily organs +originated and were developed through gradual accumulation of +design, effort, and contrivance guided by experience, so also must +our bodily organs have been, in spite of the fact that the +contrivance has been, as it were, denuded of external evidences in +the course of long time. This at least is the most obvious +inference to draw; the burden of proof should rest not with those +who uphold function as the most important means of organic +modification, but with those who impugn it; it is hardly necessary, +however, to say that Mr. Darwin never attempted to impugn by way of +argument the conclusions either of his grandfather or of Lamarck. +He waved them both aside in one or two short semi-contemptuous +sentences, and said no more about them--not, at least, until late in +life he wrote his "Erasmus Darwin," and even then his remarks were +purely biographical; he did not say one syllable by way of +refutation, or even of explanation. + +I am free to confess that, overwhelming as is the evidence brought +forward by Mr. Spencer in the articles already referred to, as +showing that accidental variations, unguided by the helm of any main +general principle which should as it were keep their heads straight, +could never accumulate with the results supposed by Mr. Darwin; and +overwhelming, again, as is the consideration that Mr. Spencer's most +crushing argument was allowed by Mr. Darwin to go without reply, +still the considerations arising from the discoveries of the last +forty years or so in connection with protoplasm, seem to me almost +more overwhelming still. This evidence proceeds on different lines +from that adduced by Mr. Spencer, but it points to the same +conclusion, namely, that though luck will avail much if backed by +cunning and experience, it is unavailing for any permanent result +without them. There is an irony which seems almost always to attend +on those who maintain that protoplasm is the only living substance +which ere long points their conclusions the opposite way to that +which they desire--in the very last direction, indeed, in which they +of all people in the world would willingly see them pointed. + +It may be asked why I should have so strong an objection to seeing +protoplasm as the only living substance, when I find this view so +useful to me as tending to substantiate design--which I admit that I +have as much and as seriously at heart as I can allow myself to have +any matter which, after all, can so little affect daily conduct; I +reply that it is no part of my business to inquire whether this or +that makes for my pet theories or against them; my concern is to +inquire whether or no it is borne out by facts, and I find the +opinion that protoplasm is the one living substance unstable, +inasmuch as it is an attempt to make a halt where no halt can be +made. This is enough; but, furthermore, the fact that the +protoplasmic parts of the body are MORE living than the non- +protoplasmic--which I cannot deny, without denying that it is any +longer convenient to think of life and death at all--will answer my +purpose to the full as well or better. + +I pointed out another consequence, which, again, was cruelly the +reverse of what the promoters of the protoplasm movement might be +supposed anxious to arrive at--in a series of articles which +appeared in the Examiner during the summer of 1879, and showed that +if protoplasm were held to be the sole seat of life, then this unity +in the substance vivifying all, both animals and plants, must be +held as uniting them into a single corporation or body--especially +when their community of descent is borne in mind--more effectually +than any merely superficial separation into individuals can be held +to disunite them, and that thus protoplasm must be seen as the life +of the world--as a vast body corporate, never dying till the earth +itself shall pass away. This came practically to saying that +protoplasm was God Almighty, who, of all the forms open to Him, had +chosen this singularly unattractive one as the channel through which +to make Himself manifest in the flesh by taking our nature upon Him, +and animating us with His own Spirit. Our biologists, in fact, were +fast nearing the conception of a God who was both personal and +material, but who could not be made to square with pantheistic +notions inasmuch as no provision was made for the inorganic world; +and, indeed, they seem to have become alarmed at the grotesqueness +of the position in which they must ere long have found themselves, +for in the autumn of 1879 the boom collapsed, and thenceforth the +leading reviews and magazines have known protoplasm no more. About +the same time bathybius, which at one time bade fair to supplant it +upon the throne of popularity, died suddenly, as I am told, at +Norwich, under circumstances which did not transpire, nor has its +name, so far as I am aware, been ever again mentioned. + +So much for the conclusions in regard to the larger aspect of life +taken as a whole which must follow from confining life to +protoplasm; but there is another aspect--that, namely, which regards +the individual. The inevitable consequences of confining life to +the protoplasmic parts of the body were just as unexpected and +unwelcome here as they had been with regard to life at large; for, +as I have already pointed out, there is no drawing the line at +protoplasm and resting at this point; nor yet at the next halting- +point beyond; nor at the one beyond that. How often is this process +to be repeated? and in what can it end but in the rehabilitation of +the soul as an ethereal, spiritual, vital principle, apart from +matter, which, nevertheless, it animates, vivifying the clay of our +bodies? No one who has followed the course either of biology or +psychology during this century, and more especially during the last +five-and-twenty years, will tolerate the reintroduction of the soul +as something apart from the substratum in which both feeling and +action must be held to inhere. The notion of matter being ever +changed except by other matter in another state is so shocking to +the intellectual conscience that it may be dismissed without +discussion; yet if bathybius had not been promptly dealt with, it +must have become apparent even to the British public that there were +indeed but few steps from protoplasm, as the only living substance, +to vital principle. Our biologists therefore stifled bathybius, +perhaps with justice, certainly with prudence, and left protoplasm +to its fate. + +Any one who reads Professor Allman's address above referred to with +due care will see that he was uneasy about protoplasm, even at the +time of its greatest popularity. Professor Allman never says +outright that the non-protoplasmic parts of the body are no more +alive than chairs and tables are. He said what involved this as an +inevitable consequence, and there can be no doubt that this is what +he wanted to convey, but he never insisted on it with the +outspokenness and emphasis with which so startling a paradox should +alone be offered us for acceptance; nor is it easy to believe that +his reluctance to express his conclusion totidem verbis was not due +to a sense that it might ere long prove more convenient not to have +done so. When I advocated the theory of the livingness, or quasi- +livingness of machines, in the chapters of "Erewhon" of which all +else that I have written on biological subjects is a development, I +took care that people should see the position in its extreme form; +the non-livingness of bodily organs is to the full as startling a +paradox as the livingness of non-bodily ones, and we have a right to +expect the fullest explicitness from those who advance it. Of +course it must be borne in mind that a machine can only claim any +appreciable even aroma of livingness so long as it is in actual use. +In "Erewhon" I did not think it necessary to insist on this, and did +not, indeed, yet fully know what I was driving at. + +The same disposition to avoid committing themselves to the assertion +that any part of the body is non-living may be observed in the +writings of the other authorities upon protoplasm above referred to; +I have searched all they said, and cannot find a single passage in +which they declare even the osseous parts of a bone to be non- +living, though this conclusion was the raison d'etre of all they +were saying and followed as an obvious inference. The reader will +probably agree with me in thinking that such reticence can only have +been due to a feeling that the ground was one on which it behoved +them to walk circumspectly; they probably felt, after a vague, ill- +defined fashion, that the more they reduced the body to mechanism +the more they laid it open to an opponent to raise mechanism to the +body, but, however this may be, they dropped protoplasm, as I have +said, in some haste with the autumn of 1879. + + + +CHAPTER X--The Attempt to Eliminate Mind + + + +What, it may be asked, were our biologists really aiming at?--for +men like Professor Huxley do not serve protoplasm for nought. They +wanted a good many things, some of them more righteous than others, +but all intelligible. Among the more lawful of their desires was a +craving after a monistic conception of the universe. We all desire +this; who can turn his thoughts to these matters at all and not +instinctively lean towards the old conception of one supreme and +ultimate essence as the source from which all things proceed and +have proceeded, both now and ever? The most striking and apparently +most stable theory of the last quarter of a century had been Sir +William Grove's theory of the conservation of energy; and yet +wherein is there any substantial difference between this recent +outcome of modern amateur, and hence most sincere, science--pointing +as it does to an imperishable, and as such unchangeable, and as +such, again, for ever unknowable underlying substance the modes of +which alone change--wherein, except in mere verbal costume, does +this differ from the conclusions arrived at by the psalmist? + +"Of old," he exclaims, "hast Thou laid the foundation of the earth; +and the heavens are the work of Thy hands. They shall perish, but +Thou shalt endure; yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as +a vesture shalt Thou change them and they shall be changed; but Thou +art the same, and Thy years shall have no end." {135a} + +I know not what theologians may think of this passage, but from a +scientific point of view it is unassailable. So again, "O Lord," he +exclaims, "Thou hast searched me out, and known me: Thou knowest my +down-sitting and mine up-rising; Thou understandest my thoughts long +before. Thou art about my path, and about my bed: and spiest out +all my ways. For lo, there is not a word in my tongue but Thou, O +Lord, knowest it altogether . . . Whither shall I go, then, from Thy +Spirit? Or whither shall I go, then, from Thy presence? If I climb +up into heaven Thou art there: if I go down to hell, Thou art there +also. If I take the wings of the morning, and remain in the +uttermost parts of the sea, even there also shall Thy hand lead me +and Thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Peradventure the +darkness shall cover me, then shall my night be turned to day. Yea, +the darkness is no darkness with Thee, but . . . the darkness and +light to Thee are both alike." {136a} + +What convention or short cut can symbolise for us the results of +laboured and complicated chains of reasoning or bring them more +aptly and concisely home to us than the one supplied long since by +the word God? What can approach more nearly to a rendering of that +which cannot be rendered--the idea of an essence omnipresent in all +things at all times everywhere in sky and earth and sea; ever +changing, yet the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever; the +ineffable contradiction in terms whose presence none can either ever +enter, or ever escape? Or rather, what convention would have been +more apt if it had not been lost sight of as a convention and come +to be regarded as an idea in actual correspondence with a more or +less knowable reality? A convention was converted into a fetish, +and now that its worthlessness as a fetish is being generally felt, +its great value as a hieroglyph or convention is in danger of being +lost sight of. No doubt the psalmist was seeking for Sir William +Grove's conception, if haply he might feel after it and find it, and +assuredly it is not far from every one of us. But the course of +true philosophy never did run smooth; no sooner have we fairly +grasped the conception of a single eternal and for ever unknowable +underlying substance, then we are faced by mind and matter. Long- +standing ideas and current language alike lead us to see these as +distinct things--mind being still commonly regarded as something +that acts on body from without as the wind blows upon a leaf, and as +no less an actual entity than the body. Neither body nor mind seems +less essential to our existence than the other; not only do we feel +this as regards our own existence, but we feel it also as pervading +the whole world of life; everywhere we see body and mind working +together towards results that must be ascribed equally to both; but +they are two, not one; if, then, we are to have our monistic +conception, it would seem as though one of these must yield to the +other; which, therefore, is it to be? + +This is a very old question. Some, from time immemorial, have tried +to get rid of matter by reducing it to a mere concept of the mind, +and their followers have arrived at conclusions that may be +logically irrefragable, but are as far removed from common sense as +they are in accord with logic; at any rate they have failed to +satisfy, and matter is no nearer being got rid of now than it was +when the discussion first began. Others, again, have tried +materialism, have declared the causative action of both thought and +feeling to be deceptive, and posit matter obeying fixed laws of +which thought and feeling must be admitted as concomitants, but with +which they have no causal connection. The same thing has happened +to these men as to their opponents; they made out an excellent case +on paper, but thought and feeling still remain the mainsprings of +action that they have been always held to be. We still say, "I gave +him 5 pounds because I felt pleased with him, and thought he would +like it;" or, "I knocked him down because I felt angry, and thought +I would teach him better manners." Omnipresent life and mind with +appearances of brute non-livingness--which appearances are +deceptive; this is one view. Omnipresent non-livingness or +mechanism with appearances as though the mechanism were guided and +controlled by thought--which appearances are deceptive; this is the +other. Between these two views the slaves of logic have oscillated +for centuries, and to all appearance will continue to oscillate for +centuries more. + +People who think--as against those who feel and act--want hard and +fast lines--without which, indeed, they cannot think at all; these +lines are as it were steps cut on a slope of ice without which there +would be no descending it. When we have begun to travel the +downward path of thought, we ask ourselves questions about life and +death, ego and non ego, object and subject, necessity and free will, +and other kindred subjects. We want to know where we are, and in +the hope of simplifying matters, strip, as it were, each subject to +the skin, and finding that even this has not freed it from all +extraneous matter, flay it alive in the hope that if we grub down +deep enough we shall come upon it in its pure unalloyed state free +from all inconvenient complication through intermixture with +anything alien to itself. Then, indeed, we can docket it, and +pigeon-hole it for what it is; but what can we do with it till we +have got it pure? We want to account for things, which means that +we want to know to which of the various accounts opened in our +mental ledger we ought to carry them--and how can we do this if we +admit a phenomenon to be neither one thing nor the other, but to +belong to half-a-dozen different accounts in proportions which often +cannot even approximately be determined? If we are to keep accounts +we must keep them in reasonable compass; and if keeping them within +reasonable compass involves something of a Procrustean arrangement, +we may regret it, but cannot help it; having set up as thinkers we +have got to think, and must adhere to the only conditions under +which thought is possible; life, therefore, must be life, all life, +and nothing but life, and so with death, free will, necessity, +design, and everything else. This, at least, is how philosophers +must think concerning them in theory; in practice, however, not even +John Stuart Mill himself could eliminate all taint of its opposite +from any one of these things, any more than Lady Macbeth could clear +her hand of blood; indeed, the more nearly we think we have +succeeded the more certain are we to find ourselves ere long mocked +and baffled; and this, I take it, is what our biologists began in +the autumn of 1879 to discover had happened to themselves. + +For some years they had been trying to get rid of feeling, +consciousness, and mind generally, from active participation in the +evolution of the universe. They admitted, indeed, that feeling and +consciousness attend the working of the world's gear, as noise +attends the working of a steam-engine, but they would not allow that +consciousness produced more effect in the working of the world than +noise on that of the steam-engine. Feeling and noise were alike +accidental unessential adjuncts and nothing more. Incredible as it +may seem to those who are happy enough not to know that this attempt +is an old one, they were trying to reduce the world to the level of +a piece of unerring though sentient mechanism. Men and animals must +be allowed to feel and even to reflect; this much must be conceded, +but granted that they do, still (so, at least, it was contended) it +has no effect upon the result; it does not matter as far as this is +concerned whether they feel and think or not; everything would go on +exactly as it does and always has done, though neither man nor beast +knew nor felt anything at all. It is only by maintaining things +like this that people will get pensions out of the British public. + +Some such position as this is a sine qua non for the Neo-Darwinistic +doctrine of natural selection, which, as Von Hartmann justly +observes, involves an essentially mechanical mindless conception of +the universe; to natural selection's door, therefore, the blame of +the whole movement in favour of mechanism must be justly laid. It +was natural that those who had been foremost in preaching mindless +designless luck as the main means of organic modification, should +lend themselves with alacrity to the task of getting rid of thought +and feeling from all share in the direction and governance of the +world. Professor Huxley, as usual, was among the foremost in this +good work, and whether influenced by Hobbes, or Descartes, or Mr. +Spalding, or even by the machine chapters in "Erewhon" which were +still recent, I do not know, led off with his article "On the +hypothesis that animals are automata" (which it may be observed is +the exact converse of the hypothesis that automata are animated) in +the Fortnightly Review for November 1874. Professor Huxley did not +say outright that men and women were just as living and just as dead +as their own watches, but this was what his article came to in +substance. The conclusion arrived at was that animals were +automata; true, they were probably sentient, still they were +automata pure and simple, mere sentient pieces of exceedingly +elaborate clockwork, and nothing more. + +"Professor Huxley," says Mr. Romanes, in his Rede Lecture for 1885, +{140a} "argues by way of perfectly logical deduction from this +statement, that thought and feeling have nothing to do with +determining action; they are merely the bye-products of cerebration, +or, as he expresses it, the indices of changes which are going on in +the brain. Under this view we are all what he terms conscious +automata, or machines which happen, as it were by chance, to be +conscious of some of their own movements. But the consciousness is +altogether adventitious, and bears the same ineffectual relation to +the activity of the brain as a steam whistle bears to the activity +of a locomotive, or the striking of a clock to the time-keeping +adjustments of the clockwork. Here, again, we meet with an echo of +Hobbes, who opens his work on the commonwealth with these words:- + +"'Nature, the art whereby God hath made and governs the world, is by +the ART of man, as in many other things, in this also imitated, that +it can make an artificial animal. For seeing life is but a motion +of limbs, the beginning whereof is in the principal part within; why +may we not say that all automata (engines that move themselves by +springs and wheels as doth a watch) have an artificial life? For +what is the HEART but a spring, and the NERVES but so many STRINGS; +and the JOINTS but so many WHEELS giving motion to the whole body, +such as was intended by the artificer?' + +"Now this theory of conscious automatism is not merely a legitimate +outcome of the theory that nervous changes are the causes of mental +changes, but it is logically the only possible outcome. Nor do I +see any way in which this theory can be fought on grounds of +physiology." + +In passing, I may say the theory that living beings are conscious +machines, can be fought just as much and just as little as the +theory that machines are unconscious living beings; everything that +goes to prove either of these propositions goes just as well to +prove the other also. But I have perhaps already said as much as is +necessary on this head; the main point with which I am concerned is +the fact that Professor Huxley was trying to expel consciousness and +sentience from any causative action in the working of the universe. +In the following month appeared the late Professor Clifford's hardly +less outspoken article, "Body and Mind," to the same effect, also in +the Fortnightly Review, then edited by Mr. John Morley. Perhaps +this view attained its frankest expression in an article by the late +Mr. Spalding, which appeared in Nature, August 2, 1877; the +following extracts will show that Mr. Spalding must be credited with +not playing fast and loose with his own conclusions, and knew both +how to think a thing out to its extreme consequences, and how to put +those consequences clearly before his readers. Mr. Spalding said:- + +"Against Mr. Lewes's proposition that the movements of living beings +are prompted and guided by feeling, I urged that the amount and +direction of every nervous discharge must depend solely on physical +conditions. And I contended that to see this clearly is to see that +when we speak of movement being guided by feeling, we use the +language of a less advanced stage of enlightenment. This view has +since occupied a good deal of attention. Under the name of +automatism it has been advocated by Professor Huxley, and with +firmer logic by Professor Clifford. In the minds of our savage +ancestors feeling was the source of all movement . . . Using the +word feeling in its ordinary sense . . . WE ASSERT NOT ONLY THAT NO +EVIDENCE CAN BE GIVEN THAT FEELING EVER DOES GUIDE OR PROMPT ACTION, +BUT THAT THE PROCESS OF ITS DOING SO IS INCONCEIVABLE. (Italics +mine.) How can we picture to ourselves a state of consciousness +putting in motion any particle of matter, large or small? Puss, +while dozing before the fire, hears a light rustle in the corner, +and darts towards the spot. What has happened? Certain sound-waves +have reached the ear, a series of physical changes have taken place +within the organism, special groups of muscles have been called into +play, and the body of the cat has changed its position on the floor. +Is it asserted that this chain of physical changes is not at all +points complete and sufficient in itself?" + +I have been led to turn to this article of Mr. Spalding's by Mr. +Stewart Duncan, who, in his "Conscious Matter," {142a} quotes the +latter part of the foregoing extract. Mr. Duncan goes on to quote +passages from Professor Tyndall's utterances of about the same date +which show that he too took much the same line--namely, that there +is no causative connection between mental and physical processes; +from this it is obvious he must have supposed that physical +processes would go on just as well if there were no accompaniment of +feeling and consciousness at all. + +I have said enough to show that in the decade, roughly, between 1870 +and 1880 the set of opinion among our leading biologists was +strongly against mind, as having in any way influenced the +development of animal and vegetable life, and it is not likely to be +denied that the prominence which the mindless theory of natural +selection had assumed in men's thoughts since 1860 was one of the +chief reasons, if not the chief, for the turn opinion was taking. +Our leading biologists had staked so heavily upon natural selection +from among fortuitous variations that they would have been more than +human if they had not caught at everything that seemed to give it +colour and support. It was while this mechanical fit was upon them, +and in the closest connection with it, that the protoplasm boom +developed. It was doubtless felt that if the public could be got to +dislodge life, consciousness, and mind from any considerable part of +the body, it would be no hard matter to dislodge it, presently, from +the remainder; on this the deceptiveness of mind as a causative +agent, and the sufficiency of a purely automatic conception of the +universe, as of something that will work if a penny be dropped into +the box, would be proved to demonstration. It would be proved from +the side of mind by considerations derivable from automatic and +unconscious action where mind ex hypothesi was not, but where action +went on as well or better without it than with it; it would be +proved from the side of body by what they would doubtless call the +"most careful and exhaustive" examination of the body itself by the +aid of appliances more ample than had ever before been within the +reach of man. + +This was all very well, but for its success one thing was a sine qua +non--I mean the dislodgment must be thorough; the key must be got +clean of even the smallest trace of blood, for unless this could be +done all the argument went to the profit not of the mechanism, with +which, for some reason or other, they were so much enamoured, but of +the soul and design, the ideas which of all others were most +distasteful to them. They shut their eyes to this for a long time, +but in the end appear to have seen that if they were in search of an +absolute living and absolute non-living, the path along which they +were travelling would never lead them to it. They were driving life +up into a corner, but they were not eliminating it, and, moreover, +at the very moment of their thinking they had hedged it in and could +throw their salt upon it, it flew mockingly over their heads and +perched upon the place of all others where they were most +scandalised to see it--I mean upon machines in use. So they retired +sulkily to their tents baffled but not ashamed. + + +Some months subsequent to the completion of the foregoing chapter, +and indeed just as this book is on the point of leaving my hands, +there appears in Nature {144a} a letter from the Duke of Argyll, +which shows that he too is impressed with the conviction expressed +above--I mean that the real object our men of science have lately +had in view has been the getting rid of mind from among the causes +of evolution. The Duke says:- + +"The violence with which false interpretations were put upon this +theory (natural selection) and a function was assigned to it which +it could never fulfil, will some day be recognised as one of the +least creditable episodes in the history of science. With a curious +perversity it was the weakest elements in the theory which were +seized upon as the most valuable, particularly the part assigned to +blind chance in the occurrence of variations. This was valued not +for its scientific truth,--for it could pretend to none,--but +because of its assumed bearing upon another field of thought and the +weapon it afforded for expelling mind from the causes of evolution." + +The Duke, speaking of Mr. Herbert Spencer's two articles in the +Nineteenth Century for April and May, 1886, to which I have already +called attention, continues:- + +"In these two articles we have for the first time an avowed and +definite declaration against some of the leading ideas on which the +mechanical philosophy depends; and yet the caution, and almost +timidity, with which a man so eminent approaches the announcement of +conclusions of the most self-evident truth is a most curious proof +of the reign of terror which has come to be established." + +Against this I must protest; the Duke cannot seriously maintain that +the main scope and purpose of Mr. Herbert Spencer's articles is new. +Their substance has been before us in Mr. Spencer's own writings for +some two-and-twenty years, in the course of which Mr. Spencer has +been followed by Professor Mivart, the Rev. J. J. Murphy, the Duke +of Argyll himself, and many other writers of less note. When the +Duke talks about the establishment of a scientific reign of terror, +I confess I regard such an exaggeration with something like +impatience. Any one who has known his own mind and has had the +courage of his opinions has been able to say whatever he wanted to +say with as little let or hindrance during the last twenty years, as +during any other period in the history of literature. Of course, if +a man will keep blurting out unpopular truths without considering +whose toes he may or may not be treading on, he will make enemies +some of whom will doubtless be able to give effect to their +displeasure; but that is part of the game. It is hardly possible +for any one to oppose the fallacy involved in the Charles-Darwinian +theory of natural selection more persistently and unsparingly than I +have done myself from the year 1877 onwards; naturally I have at +times been very angrily attacked in consequence, and as a matter of +business have made myself as unpleasant as I could in my rejoinders, +but I cannot remember anything having been ever attempted against me +which could cause fear in any ordinarily constituted person. If, +then, the Duke of Argyll is right in saying that Mr. Spencer has +shown a caution almost amounting to timidity in attacking Mr. +Darwin's theory, either Mr. Spencer must be a singularly timid +person, or there must be some cause for his timidity which is not +immediately obvious. If terror reigns anywhere among scientific +men, I should say it reigned among those who have staked imprudently +on Mr. Darwin's reputation as a philosopher. I may add that the +discovery of the Duke's impression that there exists a scientific +reign of terror, explains a good deal in his writings which it has +not been easy to understand hitherto. + +As regards the theory of natural selection, the Duke says:- + +"From the first discussions which arose on this subject, I have +ventured to maintain that . . . the phrase 'natural-selection' +represented no true physical cause, still less the complete set of +causes requisite to account for the orderly procession of organic +forms in Nature; that in so far as it assumed variations to arise by +accident it was not only essentially faulty and incomplete, but +fundamentally erroneous; in short, that its only value lay in the +convenience with which it groups under one form of words, highly +charged with metaphor, an immense variety of causes, some purely +mental, some purely vital, and others purely physical or +mechanical." + + + +CHAPTER XI--The Way of Escape + + + +To sum up the conclusions hitherto arrived at. Our philosophers +have made the mistake of forgetting that they cannot carry the +rough-and-ready language of common sense into precincts within which +politeness and philosophy are supreme. Common sense sees life and +death as distinct states having nothing in common, and hence in all +respects the antitheses of one another; so that with common sense +there should be no degrees of livingness, but if a thing is alive at +all it is as much alive as the most living of us, and if dead at all +it is stone dead in every part of it. Our philosophers have +exercised too little consideration in retaining this view of the +matter. They say that an amoeba is as much a living being as a man +is, and do not allow that a well-grown, highly educated man in +robust health is more living than an idiot cripple. They say he +differs from the cripple in many important respects, but not in +degree of livingness. Yet, as we have seen already, even common +sense by using the word "dying" admits degrees of life; that is to +say, it admits a more and a less; those, then, for whom the +superficial aspects of things are insufficient should surely find no +difficulty in admitting that the degrees are more numerous than is +dreamed of in the somewhat limited philosophy which common sense +alone knows. Livingness depends on range of power, versatility, +wealth of body and mind--how often, indeed, do we not see people +taking a new lease of life when they have come into money even at an +advanced age; it varies as these vary, beginning with things that, +though they have mind enough for an outsider to swear by, can hardly +be said to have yet found it out themselves, and advancing to those +that know their own minds as fully as anything in this world does +so. The more a thing knows its own mind the more living it becomes, +for life viewed both in the individual and in the general as the +outcome of accumulated developments, is one long process of +specialising consciousness and sensation; that is to say, of getting +to know one's own mind more and more fully upon a greater and +greater variety of subjects. On this I hope to touch more fully in +another book; in the meantime I would repeat that the error of our +philosophers consists in not having borne in mind that when they +quitted the ground on which common sense can claim authority, they +should have reconsidered everything that common sense had taught +them. + +The votaries of common sense make the same mistake as philosophers +do, but they make it in another way. Philosophers try to make the +language of common sense serve for purposes of philosophy, +forgetting that they are in another world, in which another tongue +is current; common sense people, on the other hand, every now and +then attempt to deal with matters alien to the routine of daily +life. The boundaries between the two kingdoms being very badly +defined, it is only by giving them a wide berth and being so +philosophical as almost to deny that there is any either life or +death at all, or else so full of common sense as to refuse to see +one part of the body as less living than another, that we can hope +to steer clear of doubt, inconsistency, and contradiction in terms +in almost every other word we utter. We cannot serve the God of +philosophy and the Mammon of common sense at one and the same time, +and yet it would almost seem as though the making the best that can +be made of both these worlds were the whole duty of organism. + +It is easy to understand how the error of philosophers arose, for, +slaves of habit as we all are, we are more especially slaves when +the habit is one that has not been found troublesome. There is no +denying that it saves trouble to have things either one thing or the +other, and indeed for all the common purposes of life if a thing is +either alive or dead the small supplementary residue of the opposite +state should be neglected as too small to be observable. If it is +good to eat we have no difficulty in knowing when it is dead enough +to be eaten; if not good to eat, but valuable for its skin, we know +when it is dead enough to be skinned with impunity; if it is a man, +we know when he has presented enough of the phenomena of death to +allow of our burying him and administering his estate; in fact, I +cannot call to mind any case in which the decision of the question +whether man or beast is alive or dead is frequently found to be +perplexing; hence we have become so accustomed to think there can be +no admixture of the two states, that we have found it almost +impossible to avoid carrying this crude view of life and death into +domains of thought in which it has no application. There can be no +doubt that when accuracy is required we should see life and death +not as fundamentally opposed, but as supplementary to one another, +without either's being ever able to exclude the other altogether; +thus we should indeed see some things as more living than others, +but we should see nothing as either unalloyedly living or +unalloyedly non-living. If a thing is living, it is so living that +it has one foot in the grave already; if dead, it is dead as a thing +that has already re-entered into the womb of Nature. And within the +residue of life that is in the dead there is an element of death; +and within this there is an element of life, and so ad infinitum-- +again, as reflections in two mirrors that face one another. + +In brief, there is nothing in life of which there are not germs, +and, so to speak, harmonics in death, and nothing in death of which +germs and harmonics may not be found in life. Each emphasizes what +the other passes over most lightly--each carries to its extreme +conceivable development that which in the other is only sketched in +by a faint suggestion--but neither has any feature rigorously +special to itself. Granted that death is a greater new departure in +an organism's life, than any since that congeries of births and +deaths to which the name embryonic stages is commonly given, still +it is a new departure of the same essential character as any other-- +that is to say, though there be much new there is much, not to say +more, old along with it. We shrink from it as from any other change +to the unknown, and also perhaps from an instinctive sense that the +fear of death is a sine qua non for physical and moral progress, but +the fear is like all else in life, a substantial thing which, if its +foundations be dug about, is found to rest on a superstitious basis. + +Where, and on what principle, are the dividing lines between living +and non-living to be drawn? All attempts to draw them hitherto have +ended in deadlock and disaster; of this M. Vianna De Lima, in his +"Expose Sommaire des Theories transformistes de Lamarck, Darwin, et +Haeckel," {150a} says that all attempts to trace une ligne de +demarcation nette et profonde entre la matiere vivante et la matiere +inerte have broken down. {150b} Il y a un reste de vie dans le +cadavre, says Diderot, {150c} speaking of the more gradual decay of +the body after an easy natural death, than after a sudden and +violent one; and so Buffon begins his first volume by saying that +"we can descend, by almost imperceptible degrees, from the most +perfect creature to the most formless matter--from the most highly +organised matter to the most entirely inorganic substance." {150d} + +Is the line to be so drawn as to admit any of the non-living within +the body? If we answer "yes," then, as we have seen, moiety after +moiety is filched from us, till we find ourselves left face to face +with a tenuous quasi immaterial vital principle or soul as animating +an alien body, with which it not only has no essential underlying +community of substance, but with which it has no conceivable point +in common to render a union between the two possible, or give the +one a grip of any kind over the other; in fact, the doctrine of +disembodied spirits, so instinctively rejected by all who need be +listened to, comes back as it would seem, with a scientific +imprimatur; if, on the other hand, we exclude the non-living from +the body, then what are we to do with nails that want cutting, dying +skin, or hair that is ready to fall off? Are they less living than +brain? Answer "yes," and degrees are admitted, which we have +already seen prove fatal; answer "no," and we must deny that one +part of the body is more vital than another--and this is refusing to +go as far even as common sense does; answer that these things are +not very important, and we quit the ground of equity and high +philosophy on which we have given ourselves such airs, and go back +to common sense as unjust judges that will hear those widows only +who importune us. + +As with the non-living so also with the living. Are we to let it +pass beyond the limits of the body, and allow a certain temporary +overflow of livingness to ordain as it were machines in use? Then +death will fare, if we once let life without the body, as life fares +if we once let death within it. It becomes swallowed up in life, +just as in the other case life was swallowed up in death. Are we to +confine it to the body? If so, to the whole body, or to parts? And +if to parts, to what parts, and why? The only way out of the +difficulty is to rehabilitate contradiction in terms, and say that +everything is both alive and dead at one and the same time--some +things being much living and little dead, and others, again, much +dead and little living. Having done this we have only got to settle +what a thing is--when a thing is a thing pure and simple, and when +it is only a congeries of things--and we shall doubtless then live +very happily and very philosophically ever afterwards. + +But here another difficulty faces us. Common sense does indeed know +what is meant by a "thing" or "an individual," but philosophy cannot +settle either of these two points. Professor Mivart made the +question "What are Living Beings?" the subject of an article in one +of our leading magazines only a very few years ago. He asked, but +he did not answer. And so Professor Moseley was reported (Times, +January 16, 1885) as having said that it was "almost impossible" to +say what an individual was. Surely if it is only "almost" +impossible for philosophy to determine this, Professor Moseley +should have at any rate tried to do it; if, however, he had tried +and failed, which from my own experience I should think most likely, +he might have spared his "almost." "Almost" is a very dangerous +word. I once heard a man say that an escape he had had from +drowning was "almost" providential. The difficulty about defining +an individual arises from the fact that we may look at "almost" +everything from two different points of view. If we are in a +common-sense humour for simplifying things, treating them broadly, +and emphasizing resemblances rather than differences, we can find +excellent reasons for ignoring recognised lines of demarcation, +calling everything by a new name, and unifying up till we have +united the two most distant stars in heaven as meeting and being +linked together in the eyes and souls of men; if we are in this +humour individuality after individuality disappears, and ere long, +if we are consistent, nothing will remain but one universal whole, +one true and only atom from which alone nothing can be cut off and +thrown away on to something else; if, on the other hand, we are in a +subtle philosophically accurate humour for straining at gnats and +emphasizing differences rather than resemblances, we can draw +distinctions, and give reasons for subdividing and subdividing, +till, unless we violate what we choose to call our consistency +somewhere, we shall find ourselves with as many names as atoms and +possible combinations and permutations of atoms. The lines we draw, +the moments we choose for cutting this or that off at this or that +place, and thenceforth the dubbing it by another name, are as +arbitrary as the moments chosen by a South-Eastern Railway porter +for leaving off beating doormats; in each case doubtless there is an +approximate equity, but it is of a very rough and ready kind. + +What else, however, can we do? We can only escape the Scylla of +calling everything by one name, and recognising no individual +existences of any kind, by falling into the Charybdis of having a +name for everything, or by some piece of intellectual sharp practice +like that of the shrewd but unprincipled Ulysses. If we were +consistent honourable gentlemen, into Charybdis or on to Scylla we +should go like lambs; every subterfuge by the help of which we +escape our difficulty is but an arbitrary high-handed act of +classification that turns a deaf ear to everything not robust enough +to hold its own; nevertheless even the most scrupulous of +philosophers pockets his consistency at a pinch, and refuses to let +the native hue of resolution be sicklied o'er with the pale cast of +thought, nor yet fobbed by the rusty curb of logic. He is right, +for assuredly the poor intellectual abuses of the time want +countenancing now as much as ever, but so far as he countenances +them, he should bear in mind that he is returning to the ground of +common sense, and should not therefore hold himself too stiffly in +the matter of logic. + +As with life and death so with design and absence of design or luck. +So also with union and disunion. There is never either absolute +design rigorously pervading every detail, nor yet absolute absence +of design pervading any detail rigorously, so, as between +substances, there is neither absolute union and homogeneity, not +absolute disunion and heterogeneity; there is always a little place +left for repentance; that is to say, in theory we should admit that +both design and chance, however well defined, each have an aroma, as +it were, of the other. Who can think of a case in which his own +design--about which he should know more than any other, and from +which, indeed, all his ideas of design are derived--was so complete +that there was no chance in any part of it? Who, again, can bring +forward a case even of the purest chance or good luck into which no +element of design had entered directly or indirectly at any +juncture? This, nevertheless, does not involve our being unable +ever to ascribe a result baldly either to luck or cunning. In some +cases a decided preponderance of the action, whether seen as a whole +or looked at in detail, is recognised at once as due to design, +purpose, forethought, skill, and effort, and then we properly +disregard the undesigned element; in others the details cannot +without violence be connected with design, however much the position +which rendered the main action possible may involve design--as, for +example, there is no design in the way in which individual pieces of +coal may hit one another when shot out of a sack, but there may be +design in the sack's being brought to the particular place where it +is emptied; in others design may be so hard to find that we rightly +deny its existence, nevertheless in each case there will be an +element of the opposite, and the residuary element would, if seen +through a mental microscope, be found to contain a residuary element +of ITS opposite, and this again of ITS opposite, and so on ad +infinitum, as with mirrors standing face to face. This having been +explained, and it being understood that when we speak of design in +organism we do so with a mental reserve of exceptis excipiendis, +there should be no hesitation in holding the various modifications +of plants and animals to be in such preponderating measure due to +function, that design, which underlies function, is the fittest idea +with which to connect them in our minds. + +We will now proceed to inquire how Mr. Darwin came to substitute, or +try to substitute, the survival of the luckiest fittest, for the +survival of the most cunning fittest, as held by Erasmus Darwin and +Lamarck; or more briefly how he came to substitute luck for cunning. + + + +CHAPTER XII--Why Darwin's Variations were Accidental + + + +Some may perhaps deny that Mr. Darwin did this, and say he laid so +much stress on use and disuse as virtually to make function his main +factor of evolution. + +If, indeed, we confine ourselves to isolated passages, we shall find +little difficulty in making out a strong case to this effect. +Certainly most people believe this to be Mr. Darwin's doctrine, and +considering how long and fully he had the ear of the public, it is +not likely they would think thus if Mr. Darwin had willed otherwise, +nor could he have induced them to think as they do if he had not +said a good deal that was capable of the construction so commonly +put upon it; but it is hardly necessary, when addressing biologists, +to insist on the fact that Mr. Darwin's distinctive doctrine is the +denial of the comparative importance of function, or use and disuse, +as a purveyor of variations,--with some, but not very considerable, +exceptions, chiefly in the cases of domesticated animals. + +He did not, however, make his distinctive feature as distinct as he +should have done. Sometimes he said one thing, and sometimes the +directly opposite. Sometimes, for example, the conditions of +existence "included natural selection" or the fact that the best +adapted to their surroundings live longest and leave most offspring; +{156a} sometimes "the principle of natural selection" "fully +embraced" "the expression of conditions of existence." {156b} It +would not be easy to find more unsatisfactory writing than this is, +nor any more clearly indicating a mind ill at ease with itself. +Sometimes "ants work BY INHERITED INSTINCTS and inherited tools;" +{157a} sometimes, again, it is surprising that the case of ants +working by inherited instincts has not been brought as a +demonstrative argument "against the well-known doctrine of INHERITED +HABIT, as advanced by Lamarck." {157b} Sometimes the winglessness +of beetles inhabiting ocean islands is "mainly due to natural +selection," {157c} and though we might be tempted to ascribe the +rudimentary condition of the wing to disuse, we are on no account to +do so--though disuse was probably to some extent "combined with" +natural selection; at other times "it is probable that disuse has +been the main means of rendering the wings of beetles living on +small exposed islands" rudimentary. {157d} We may remark in passing +that if disuse, as Mr. Darwin admits on this occasion, is the main +agent in rendering an organ rudimentary, use should have been the +main agent in rendering it the opposite of rudimentary--that is to +say, in bringing about its development. The ostensible raison +d'etre, however, of the "Origin of Species" is to maintain that this +is not the case. + +There is hardly an opinion on the subject of descent with +modification which does not find support in some one passage or +another of the "Origin of Species." If it were desired to show that +there is no substantial difference between the doctrine of Erasmus +Darwin and that of his grandson, it would be easy to make out a good +case for this, in spite of Mr. Darwin's calling his grandfather's +views "erroneous," in the historical sketch prefixed to the later +editions of the "Origin of Species." Passing over the passage +already quoted on p. 62 of this book, in which Mr. Darwin declares +"habit omnipotent and its effects hereditary"--a sentence, by the +way, than which none can be either more unfalteringly Lamarckian or +less tainted with the vices of Mr. Darwin's later style--passing +this over as having been written some twenty years before the +"Origin of Species"--the last paragraph of the "Origin of Species" +itself is purely Lamarckian and Erasmus-Darwinian. It declares the +laws in accordance with which organic forms assumed their present +shape to be--"Growth with reproduction; Variability from the +indirect and direct action of the external conditions of life and +from use and disuse, &c." {158a} Wherein does this differ from the +confession of faith made by Erasmus Darwin and Lamarck? Where are +the accidental fortuitous, spontaneous variations now? And if they +are not found important enough to demand mention in this peroration +and stretto, as it were, of the whole matter, in which special +prominence should be given to the special feature of the work, where +ought they to be made important? + +Mr. Darwin immediately goes on: "A ratio of existence so high as to +lead to a struggle for life, and as a consequence to natural +selection, entailing divergence of character and the extinction of +less improved forms;" so that natural selection turns up after all. +Yes--in the letters that compose it, but not in the spirit; not in +the special sense up to this time attached to it in the "Origin of +Species." The expression as used here is one with which Erasmus +Darwin would have found little fault, for it means not as elsewhere +in Mr. Darwin's book and on his title-page the preservation of +"favoured" or lucky varieties, but the preservation of varieties +that have come to be varieties through the causes assigned in the +preceding two or three lines of Mr. Darwin's sentence; and these are +mainly functional or Erasmus-Darwinian; for the indirect action of +the conditions of life is mainly functional, and the direct action +is admitted on all hands to be but small. + +It now appears more plainly, as insisted upon on an earlier page, +that there is not one natural selection and one survival of the +fittest, but two, inasmuch as there are two classes of variations +from which nature (supposing no exception taken to her +personification) can select. The bottles have the same labels, and +they are of the same colour, but the one holds brandy, and the other +toast and water. Nature can, by a figure of speech, be said to +select from variations that are mainly functional or from variations +that are mainly accidental; in the first case she will eventually +get an accumulation of variation, and widely different types will +come into existence; in the second, the variations will not occur +with sufficient steadiness for accumulation to be possible. In the +body of Mr. Darwin's book the variations are supposed to be mainly +due to accident, and function, though not denied all efficacy, is +declared to be the greatly subordinate factor; natural selection, +therefore, has been hitherto throughout tantamount to luck; in the +peroration the position is reversed in toto; the selection is now +made from variations into which luck has entered so little that it +may be neglected, the greatly preponderating factor being function; +here, then, natural selection is tantamount to cunning. We are such +slaves of words that, seeing the words "natural selection" employed- +-and forgetting that the results ensuing on natural selection will +depend entirely on what it is that is selected from, so that the +gist of the matter lies in this and not in the words "natural +selection"--it escaped us that a change of front had been made, and +a conclusion entirely alien to the tenor of the whole book smuggled +into the last paragraph as the one which it had been written to +support; the book preached luck, the peroration cunning. + +And there can be no doubt Mr. Darwin intended that the change of +front should escape us; for it cannot be believed that he did not +perfectly well know what he had done. Mr. Darwin edited and re- +edited with such minuteness of revision that it may be said no +detail escaped him provided it was small enough; it is incredible +that he should have allowed this paragraph to remain from first to +last unchanged (except for the introduction of the words "by the +Creator," which are wanting in the first edition) if they did not +convey the conception he most wished his readers to retain. Even if +in his first edition he had failed to see that he was abandoning in +his last paragraph all that it had been his ostensible object most +especially to support in the body of his book, he must have become +aware of it long before he revised the "Origin of Species" for the +last time; still he never altered it, and never put us on our guard. + +It was not Mr. Darwin's manner to put his reader on his guard; we +might as well expect Mr. Gladstone to put us on our guard about the +Irish land bills. Caveat lector seems to have been his motto. Mr. +Spencer, in the articles already referred to, is at pains to show +that Mr. Darwin's opinions in later life underwent a change in the +direction of laying greater stress on functionally produced +modifications, and points out that in the sixth edition of the +"Origin of Species" Mr. Darwin says, "I think there can be no doubt +that use in our domestic animals has strengthened and enlarged +certain parts, and disuse diminished them;" whereas in his first +edition he said, "I think there can be LITTLE doubt" of this. Mr. +Spencer also quotes a passage from "The Descent of Man," in which +Mr. Darwin said that EVEN IN THE FIRST EDITION of the "Origin of +Species" he had attributed great effect to function, as though in +the later ones he had attributed still more; but if there was any +considerable change of position, it should not have been left to be +toilsomely collected by collation of editions, and comparison of +passages far removed from one another in other books. If his mind +had undergone the modification supposed by Mr. Spencer, Mr. Darwin +should have said so in a prominent passage of some later edition of +the "Origin of Species." He should have said--"In my earlier +editions I underrated, as now seems probable, the effects of use and +disuse as purveyors of the slight successive modifications whose +accumulation in the ordinary course of things results in specific +difference, and I laid too much stress on the accumulation of merely +accidental variations;" having said this, he should have summarised +the reasons that had made him change his mind, and given a list of +the most important cases in which he has seen fit to alter what he +had originally written. If Mr. Darwin had dealt thus with us we +should have readily condoned all the mistakes he would have been at +all likely to have made, for we should have known him as one who was +trying to help us, tidy us up, keep us straight, and enable us to +use our judgments to the best advantage. The public will forgive +many errors alike of taste and judgment, where it feels that a +writer persistently desires this. + +I can only remember a couple of sentences in the later editions of +the "Origin of Species" in which Mr. Darwin directly admits a change +of opinion as regards the main causes of organic modification. How +shuffling the first of these is I have already shown in "Life and +Habit," p. 260, and in "Evolution, Old and New," p. 359; I need not, +therefore, say more here, especially as there has been no rejoinder +to what I then said. Curiously enough the sentence does not bear +out Mr. Spencer's contention that Mr. Darwin in his later years +leaned more decidedly towards functionally produced modifications, +for it runs: {161a}--"In the earlier editions of this work I +underrated, as now seems probable, the frequency and importance of +modifications due," not, as Mr. Spencer would have us believe, to +use and disuse, but "to spontaneous variability," by which can only +be intended, "to variations in no way connected with use and +disuse," as not being assignable to any known cause of general +application, and referable as far as we are concerned to accident +only; so that he gives the natural survival of the luckiest, which +is indeed his distinctive feature, if it deserve to be called a +feature at all, greater prominence than ever. Nevertheless there is +no change in his concluding paragraph, which still remains an +embodiment of the views of Erasmus Darwin and Lamarck. + +The other passage is on p. 421 of the edition of 1876. It stands:- +"I have now recapitulated the facts and considerations which have +thoroughly" (why "thoroughly"?) "convinced me that species have been +modified during a long course of descent. This has been effected +chiefly through the natural selection of numerous, successive, +slight, favourable variations; aided in an important manner by the +inherited effects of the use and disuse of parts; and in an +unimportant manner, that is, in relation to adaptive structures, +whether past or present, by the direct action of external +conditions, and by variations which seem to us in our ignorance to +arise spontaneously. It appears that I formerly underrated the +frequency and value of these latter forms of variation as leading to +permanent modifications of structure independently of natural +selection." + +Here, again, it is not use and disuse which Mr. Darwin declares +himself to have undervalued, but spontaneous variations. The +sentence just given is one of the most confusing I ever read even in +the works of Mr Darwin. It is the essence of his theory that the +"numerous successive, slight, favourable variations," above referred +to, should be fortuitous, accidental, spontaneous; it is evident, +moreover, that they are intended in this passage to be accidental or +spontaneous, although neither of these words is employed, inasmuch +as use and disuse and the action of the conditions of existence, +whether direct or indirect, are mentioned specially as separate +causes which purvey only the minor part of the variations from among +which nature selects. The words "that is, in relation to adaptive +forms" should be omitted, as surplusage that draws the reader's +attention from the point at issue; the sentence really amounts to +this--that modification has been effected CHIEFLY THROUGH SELECTION +in the ordinary course of nature FROM AMONG SPONTANEOUS VARIATIONS, +AIDED IN AN UNIMPORTANT MANNER BY VARIATIONS WHICH QUa US ARE +SPONTANEOUS. Nevertheless, though these spontaneous variations are +still so trifling in effect that they only aid spontaneous +variations in an unimportant manner, in his earlier editions Mr. +Darwin thought them still less important than he does now. + +This comes of tinkering. We do not know whether we are on our heads +or our heels. We catch ourselves repeating "important," +"unimportant," "unimportant," "important," like the King when +addressing the jury in "Alice in Wonderland;" and yet this is the +book of which Mr. Grant Allen {163a} says that it is "one of the +greatest, and most learned, the most lucid, the most logical, the +most crushing, the most conclusive, that the world has ever seen. +Step by step, and principle by principle, it proved every point in +its progress triumphantly before it went on to the next. So vast an +array of facts so thoroughly in hand had never before been mustered +and marshalled in favour of any biological theory." The book and +the eulogy are well mated. + +I see that in the paragraph following on the one just quoted, Mr. +Allen says, that "to the world at large Darwinism and evolution +became at once synonymous terms." Certainly it was no fault of Mr. +Darwin's if they did not, but I will add more on this head +presently; for the moment, returning to Mr. Darwin, it is hardly +credible, but it is nevertheless true, that Mr Darwin begins the +paragraph next following on the one on which I have just reflected +so severely, with the words, "It can hardly be supposed that a false +theory would explain in so satisfactory a manner as does the theory +of natural selection, the several large classes of facts above +specified." If Mr. Darwin found the large classes of facts +"satisfactorily" explained by the survival of the luckiest +irrespectively of the cunning which enabled them to turn their luck +to account, he must have been easily satisfied. Perhaps he was in +the same frame of mind as when he said {164a} that "even an +imperfect answer would be satisfactory," but surely this is being +thankful for small mercies. + +On the following page Mr. Darwin says:- "Although I am fully" (why +"fully"?) "convinced of the truth of the views given in this volume +under the form of an abstract, I by no means expect to convince +experienced naturalists," &c. I have not quoted the whole of Mr. +Darwin's sentence, but it implies that any experienced naturalist +who remained unconvinced was an old-fashioned, prejudiced person. I +confess that this is what I rather feel about the experienced +naturalists who differ in only too great numbers from myself, but I +did not expect to find so much of the old Adam remaining in Mr. +Darwin; I did not expect to find him support me in the belief that +naturalists are made of much the same stuff as other people, and, if +they are wise, will look upon new theories with distrust until they +find them becoming generally accepted. I am not sure that Mr. +Darwin is not just a little bit flippant here. + +Sometimes I ask myself whether it is possible that, not being +convinced, I may be an experienced naturalist after all; at other +times, when I read Mr. Darwin's works and those of his eulogists, I +wonder whether there is not some other Mr. Darwin, some other +"Origin of Species," some other Professors Huxley, Tyndal, and Ray +Lankester, and whether in each case some malicious fiend has not +palmed off a counterfeit upon me that differs toto caelo from the +original. I felt exactly the same when I read Goethe's "Wilhelm +Meister"; I could not believe my eyes, which nevertheless told me +that the dull diseased trash I was so toilsomely reading was a work +which was commonly held to be one of the great literary masterpieces +of the world. It seemed to me that there must be some other Goethe +and some other Wilhelm Meister. Indeed I find myself so +depressingly out of harmony with the prevailing not opinion only, +but spirit--if, indeed, the Huxleys, Tyndals, Miss Buckleys, Ray +Lankesters, and Romaneses express the prevailing spirit as +accurately as they appear to do--that at times I find it difficult +to believe I am not the victim of hallucination; nevertheless I know +that either every canon, whether of criticism or honourable conduct, +which I have learned to respect is an impudent swindle, suitable for +the cloister only, and having no force or application in the outside +world; or else that Mr. Darwin and his supporters are misleading the +public to the full as much as the theologians of whom they speak at +times so disapprovingly. They sin, moreover, with incomparably less +excuse. Right as they doubtless are in much, and much as we +doubtless owe them (so we owe much also to the theologians, and they +also are right in much), they are giving way to a temper which +cannot be indulged with impunity. I know the great power of +academicism; I know how instinctively academicism everywhere must +range itself on Mr. Darwin's side, and how askance it must look on +those who write as I do; but I know also that there is a power +before which even academicism must bow, and to this power I look not +unhopefully for support. + +As regards Mr. Spencer's contention that Mr. Darwin leaned more +towards function as he grew older, I do not doubt that at the end of +his life Mr. Darwin believed modification to be mainly due to +function, but the passage quoted on page 62 written in 1839, coupled +with the concluding paragraph of the "Origin of Species" written in +1859, and allowed to stand during seventeen years of revision, +though so much else was altered--these passages, when their dates +and surroundings are considered, suggest strongly that Mr. Darwin +thought during all the forty years or so thus covered exactly as his +grandfather and Lamarck had done, and indeed as all sensible people +since Buffon wrote have done if they have accepted evolution at all. + +Then why should he not have said so? What object could he have in +writing an elaborate work to support a theory which he knew all the +time to be untenable? The impropriety of such a course, unless the +work was, like Buffon's, transparently ironical, could only be +matched by its fatuousness, or indeed by the folly of one who should +assign action so motiveless to any one out of a lunatic asylum. + +This sounds well, but unfortunately we cannot forget that when Mr. +Darwin wrote the "Origin of Species" he claimed to be the originator +of the theory of descent with modification generally; that he did +this without one word of reference either to Buffon or Erasmus +Darwin until the first six thousand copies of his book had been +sold, and then with as meagre, inadequate notice as can be well +conceived. Lamarck was just named in the first editions of the +"Origin of Species," but only to be told that Mr. Darwin had not got +anything to give him, and he must go away; the author of the +"Vestiges of Creation" was also just mentioned, but only in a +sentence full of such gross misrepresentation that Mr. Darwin did +not venture to stand by it, and expunged it in later editions, as +usual, without calling attention to what he had done. It would have +been in the highest degree imprudent, not to say impossible, for one +so conscientious as Mr. Darwin to have taken the line he took in +respect of descent with modification generally, if he were not +provided with some ostensibly distinctive feature, in virtue of +which, if people said anything, he might claim to have advanced +something different, and widely different, from the theory of +evolution propounded by his illustrious predecessors; a distinctive +theory of some sort, therefore, had got to be looked for--and if +people look in this spirit they can generally find. + +I imagine that Mr. Darwin, casting about for a substantial +difference, and being unable to find one, committed the Gladstonian +blunder of mistaking an unsubstantial for a substantial one. It was +doubtless because he suspected it that he never took us fully into +his confidence, nor in all probability allowed even to himself how +deeply he distrusted it. Much, however, as he disliked the +accumulation of accidental variations, he disliked not claiming the +theory of descent with modification still more; and if he was to +claim this, accidental his variations had got to be. Accidental +they accordingly were, but in as obscure and perfunctory a fashion +as Mr. Darwin could make them consistently with their being to hand +as accidental variations should later developments make this +convenient. Under these circumstances it was hardly to be expected +that Mr. Darwin should help the reader to follow the workings of his +mind--nor, again, that a book the writer of which was hampered as I +have supposed should prove clear and easy reading. + +The attitude of Mr. Darwin's mind, whatever it may have been in +regard to the theory of descent with modification generally, goes so +far to explain his attitude in respect to the theory of natural +selection (which, it cannot be too often repeated, is only one of +the conditions of existence advanced as the main means of +modification by the earlier evolutionists), that it is worth while +to settle the question once for all whether Mr. Darwin did or did +not believe himself justified in claiming the theory of descent as +an original discovery of his own. This will be a task of some +little length, and may perhaps try the reader's patience, as it +assuredly tried mine; if, however, he will read the two following +chapters, he will probably be able to make up his mind upon much +that will otherwise, if he thinks about it at all, continue to +puzzle him. + + + +CHAPTER XIII--Darwin's Claim to Descent with Modification + + + +Mr. Allen, in his "Charles Darwin," {168a} says that "in the public +mind Mr. Darwin is commonly regarded as the discoverer and founder +of the evolution hypothesis," and on p. 177 he says that to most men +Darwinism and evolution mean one and the same thing. Mr. Allen +declares misconception on this matter to be "so extremely general" +as to be "almost universal;" this is more true than creditable to +Mr. Darwin. + +Mr. Allen says {168b} that though Mr. Darwin gained "far wider +general acceptance" for both the doctrine of descent in general, and +for that of the descent of man from a simious or semi-simious +ancestor in particular, "he laid no sort of claim to originality or +proprietorship in either theory." This is not the case. No one can +claim a theory more frequently and more effectually than Mr. Darwin +claimed descent with modification, nor, as I have already said, is +it likely that the misconception of which Mr. Allen complains would +be general, if he had not so claimed it. The "Origin of Species" +begins:- + +"When on board H.M.S. Beagle, as naturalist, I was much struck with +certain facts in the distribution of the inhabitants of South +America, and in the geological relation of the present to the past +inhabitants of that continent. These facts seemed to me to throw +some light on the origin of species--that mystery of mysteries, as +it has been called by one of our greatest philosophers. On my +return home it occurred to me, in 1837, that something might perhaps +be made out on this question by patiently accumulating and +reflecting upon all sorts of facts which could possibly have any +bearing on it. After five years' work I allowed myself to speculate +upon the subject, and drew up some short notes; these I enlarged in +1844 {169a} into a sketch of the conclusions which then seemed to me +probable. From that period to the present day I have steadily +pursued the same object. I hope I may be excused these personal +details, as I give them to show that I have not been hasty in coming +to a decision." + +This is bland, but peremptory. Mr. Darwin implies that the mere +asking of the question how species has come about opened up a field +into which speculation itself had hardly yet ventured to intrude. +It was the mystery of mysteries; one of our greatest philosophers +had said so; not one little feeble ray of light had ever yet been +thrown upon it. Mr. Darwin knew all this, and was appalled at the +greatness of the task that lay before him; still, after he had +pondered on what he had seen in South America, it really did occur +to him, that if he was very very patient, and went on reflecting for +years and years longer, upon all sorts of facts, good, bad, and +indifferent, which could possibly have any bearing on the subject-- +and what fact might not possibly have some bearing?--well, +something, as against the nothing that had been made out hitherto, +might by some faint far-away possibility be one day dimly seem. It +was only what he had seen in South America that made all this occur +to him. He had never seen anything about descent with modification +in any book, nor heard any one talk about it as having been put +forward by other people; if he had, he would, of course, have been +the first to say so; he was not as other philosophers are; so the +mountain went on for years and years gestating, but still there was +no labour. + +"My work," continues Mr. Darwin, "is now nearly finished; but as it +will take me two or three years to complete it, and as my health is +far from strong, I have been urged to publish this abstract. I have +been more especially induced to do this, as Mr. Wallace, who is now +studying the natural history of the Malay Archipelago, has arrived +at almost exactly the same general conclusions that I have on the +origin of species." Mr. Darwin was naturally anxious to forestall +Mr. Wallace, and hurried up with his book. What reader, on finding +descent with modification to be its most prominent feature, could +doubt--especially if new to the subject, as the greater number of +Mr. Darwin's readers in 1859 were--that this same descent with +modification was the theory which Mr. Darwin and Mr. Wallace had +jointly hit upon, and which Mr. Darwin was so anxious to show that +he had not been hasty in adopting? When Mr. Darwin went on to say +that his abstract would be very imperfect, and that he could not +give references and authorities for his several statements, we did +not suppose that such an apology could be meant to cover silence +concerning writers who during their whole lives, or nearly so, had +borne the burden and heat of the day in respect of descent with +modification in its most extended application. "I much regret," +says Mr. Darwin, "that want of space prevents my having the +satisfaction of acknowledging the generous assistance I have +received from very many naturalists, some of them personally unknown +to me." This is like what the Royal Academicians say when they do +not intend to hang our pictures; they can, however, generally find +space for a picture if they want to hang it, and we assume with +safety that there are no master-works by painters of the very +highest rank for which no space has been available. Want of space +will, indeed, prevent my quoting from more than one other paragraph +of Mr. Darwin's introduction; this paragraph, however, should alone +suffice to show how inaccurate Mr. Allen is in saying that Mr. +Darwin "laid no sort of claim to originality or proprietorship" in +the theory of descent with modification, and this is the point with +which we are immediately concerned. Mr. Darwin says:- + +"In considering the origin of species, it is quite conceivable that +a naturalist, reflecting on the mutual affinities of organic beings, +on their embryological relations, their geographical distribution, +geological succession, and other such facts, might come to the +conclusion that each species had not been independently created, but +had descended like varieties from other species." + +It will be observed that not only is no hint given here that descent +with modification was a theory which, though unknown to the general +public, had been occupying the attention of biologists for a hundred +years and more, but it is distinctly implied that this was not the +case. When Mr. Darwin said it was "conceivable that a naturalist +might" arrive at the theory of descent, straightforward readers took +him to mean that though this was conceivable, it had never, to Mr. +Darwin's knowledge, been done. If we had a notion that we had +already vaguely heard of the theory that men and the lower animals +were descended from common ancestors, we must have been wrong; it +was not this that we had heard of, but something else, which, though +doubtless a little like it, was all wrong, whereas this was +obviously going to be all right. + +To follow the rest of the paragraph with the closeness that it +merits would be a task at once so long and so unpleasant that I will +omit further reference to any part of it except the last sentence. +That sentence runs:- + +"In the case of the mistletoe, which draws its nourishment from +certain trees, which has seeds that must be transported by certain +birds, and which has flowers with separate sexes absolutely +requiring the agency of certain insects to bring pollen from one +flower to the other, it is equally preposterous to account for the +structure of this parasite, with its relations to several distinct +organic beings, by the effects of the external conditions, or of +habit, or of the volition of the plant itself." + +Doubtless it would be preposterous to refer the structure of either +woodpecker or mistletoe to the single agency of any one of these +three causes; but neither Lamarck nor any other writer on evolution +has, so far as I know, even contemplated this; the early +evolutionists supposed organic modification to depend on the action +and interaction of all three, and I venture to think that this will +ere long be considered as, to say the least of it, not more +preposterous than the assigning of the largely preponderating share +in the production of such highly and variously correlated organisms +as the mistletoe and woodpecker mainly to luck pure and simple, as +is done by Mr. Charles Darwin's theory. + +It will be observed that in the paragraph last quoted from, Mr. +Darwin, more suo, is careful not to commit himself. All he has said +is, that it would be preposterous to do something the +preposterousness of which cannot be reasonably disputed; the +impression, however, is none the less effectually conveyed, that +some one of the three assigned agencies, taken singly, was the only +cause of modification ever yet proposed, if, indeed, any writer had +even gone so far as this. We knew we did not know much about the +matter ourselves, and that Mr. Darwin was a naturalist of long and +high standing; we naturally, therefore, credited him with the same +good faith as a writer that we knew in ourselves as readers; it +never so much as crossed our minds to suppose that the head which he +was holding up all dripping before our eyes as that of a fool, was +not that of a fool who had actually lived and written, but only of a +figure of straw which had been dipped in a bucket of red paint. +Naturally enough we concluded, since Mr. Darwin seemed to say so, +that if his predecessors had nothing better to say for themselves +than this, it would not be worth while to trouble about them +further; especially as we did not know who they were, nor what they +had written, and Mr. Darwin did not tell us. It would be better and +less trouble to take the goods with which it was plain Mr. Darwin +was going to provide us, and ask no questions. We have seen that +even tolerably obvious conclusions were rather slow in occurring to +poor simple-minded Mr. Darwin, and may be sure that it never once +occurred to him that the British public would be likely to argue +thus; he had no intention of playing the scientific confidence trick +upon us. I dare say not, but unfortunately the result has closely +resembled the one that would have ensued if Mr. Darwin had had such +an intention. + +The claim to originality made so distinctly in the opening sentences +of the" Origin of Species" is repeated in a letter to Professor +Haeckel, written October 8, 1864, and giving an account of the +development of his belief in descent with modification. This +letter, part of which is quoted by Mr. Allen, {173a} is given on p. +134 of the English translation of Professor Haeckel's "History of +Creation," {173b} and runs as follows:- + +"In South America three classes of facts were brought strongly +before my mind. Firstly, the manner in which closely allied species +replace species in going southward. Secondly, the close affinity of +the species inhabiting the islands near South America to those +proper to the continent. This struck me profoundly, especially the +difference of the species in the adjoining islets in the Galapagos +Archipelago. Thirdly, the relation of the living Edentata and +Rodentia to the extinct species. I shall never forget my +astonishment when I dug out a gigantic piece of armour like that of +the living armadillo. + +"Reflecting on these facts, and collecting analogous ones, it seemed +to me probable that allied species were descended from a common +ancestor. But during several years I could not conceive how each +form could have been modified so as to become admirably adapted to +its place in nature. I began, therefore, to study domesticated +animals and cultivated plants, and after a time perceived that man's +power of selecting and breeding from certain individuals was the +most powerful of all means in the production of new races. Having +attended to the habits of animals and their relations to the +surrounding conditions, I was able to realise the severe struggle +for existence to which all organisms are subjected, and my +geological observations had allowed me to appreciate to a certain +extent the duration of past geological periods. Therefore, when I +happened to read Malthus on population, the idea of natural +selection flashed on me. Of all minor points, the last which I +appreciated was the importance and cause of the principle of +divergence." + +This is all very naive, and accords perfectly with the introductory +paragraphs of the "Origin of Species;" it gives us the same picture +of a solitary thinker, a poor, lonely, friendless student of nature, +who had never so much as heard of Buffon, Erasmus Darwin, or +Lamarck. Unfortunately, however, we cannot forget the description +of the influences which, according to Mr. Grant Allen, did in +reality surround Mr. Darwin's youth, and certainly they are more +what we should have expected than those suggested rather than +expressly stated by Mr. Darwin. "Everywhere around him," says Mr. +Allen, {174a} "in his childhood and youth these great but formless" +(why "formless"?) "evolutionary ideas were brewing and fermenting. +The scientific society of his elders and of the contemporaries among +whom he grew up was permeated with the leaven of Laplace and +Lamarck, of Hutton and of Herschel. Inquiry was especially +everywhere rife as to the origin and nature of specific distinctions +among plants and animals. Those who believed in the doctrine of +Buffon and of the 'Zoonomia,' and those who disbelieved in it, +alike, were profoundly interested and agitated in soul by the far- +reaching implications of that fundamental problem. On every side +evolutionism, in its crude form." (I suppose Mr. Allen could not +help saying "in its crude form," but descent with modification in +1809 meant, to all intents and purposes, and was understood to mean, +what it means now, or ought to mean, to most people.) "The +universal stir," says Mr. Allen on the following page, "and deep +prying into evolutionary questions which everywhere existed among +scientific men in his early days was naturally communicated to a lad +born of a scientific family and inheriting directly in blood and +bone the biological tastes and tendencies of Erasmus Darwin." + +I confess to thinking that Mr. Allen's account of the influences +which surrounded Mr. Darwin's youth, if tainted with +picturesqueness, is still substantially correct. On an earlier page +he had written:- "It is impossible to take up any scientific memoirs +or treatises of the first half of our own century without seeing at +a glance how every mind of high original scientific importance was +permeated and disturbed by the fundamental questions aroused, but +not fully answered, by Buffon, Lamarck, and Erasmus Darwin. In +Lyell's letters, and in Agassiz's lectures, in the 'Botanic Journal' +and in the 'Philosophical Transactions,' in treatises on Madeira +beetles and the Australian flora, we find everywhere the thoughts of +men profoundly influenced in a thousand directions by this universal +evolutionary solvent and leaven. + +"And while the world of thought was thus seething and moving +restlessly before the wave of ideas set in motion by these various +independent philosophers, another group of causes in another field +was rendering smooth the path beforehand for the future champion of +the amended evolutionism. Geology on the one hand and astronomy on +the other were making men's minds gradually familiar with the +conception of slow natural development, as opposed to immediate and +miraculous creation. + +. . . + +"The influence of these novel conceptions upon the growth and spread +of evolutionary ideas was far-reaching and twofold. In the first +place, the discovery of a definite succession of nearly related +organic forms following one another with evident closeness through +the various ages, inevitably suggested to every inquiring observer +the possibility of their direct descent one from the other. In the +second place, the discovery that geological formations were not +really separated each from its predecessor by violent revolutions, +but were the result of gradual and ordinary changes, discredited the +old idea of frequent fresh creations after each catastrophe, and +familiarised the minds of men of science with the alternative notion +of slow and natural evolutionary processes. The past was seen in +effect to be the parent of the present; the present was recognised +as the child of the past." + +This is certainly not Mr. Darwin's own account of the matter. +Probably the truth will lie somewhere between the two extreme views: +and on the one hand, the world of thought was not seething quite so +badly as Mr. Allen represents it, while on the other, though "three +classes of fact," &c., were undoubtedly "brought strongly before" +Mr. Darwin's "mind in South America," yet some of them had perhaps +already been brought before it at an earlier time, which he did not +happen to remember at the moment of writing his letter to Professor +Haeckel and the opening paragraph of the "Origin of Species." + + + +CHAPTER XIV--Darwin and Descent with Modification (continued) + + + +I have said enough to show that Mr. Darwin claimed I to have been +the originator of the theory of descent with modification as +distinctly as any writer usually claims any theory; but it will +probably save the reader trouble in the end if I bring together a +good many, though not, probably, all (for I much disliked the task, +and discharged it perfunctorily), of the passages in the "Origin of +Species" in which the theory of descent with modification in its +widest sense is claimed expressly or by implication. I shall quote +from the original edition, which, it should be remembered, consisted +of the very unusually large number of four thousand copies, and from +which no important deviation was made either by addition or +otherwise until a second edition of two thousand further copies had +been sold; the "Historical Sketch," &c., being first given with the +third edition. The italics, which I have employed so as to catch +the reader's eye, are mine, not Mr. Darwin's. Mr. Darwin writes:- + +"Although much remains obscure, and will long remain obscure, I CAN +ENTERTAIN NO DOUBT, AFTER THE MOST DELIBERATE STUDY AND +DISPASSIONATE JUDGMENT OF WHICH I AM CAPABLE, THAT THE VIEW WHICH +MOST NATURALISTS ENTERTAIN, AND WHICH I FORMERLY ENTERTAINED--NAMELY +THAT EACH SPECIES HAS BEEN INDEPENDENTLY CREATED--IS ERRONEOUS. I +am fully convinced that species are not immutable, but that those +belonging to what are called the same genera are lineal descendants +of some other and generally extinct species, in the same manner as +the acknowledged varieties of any one species are the descendants of +that species. Furthermore, I am convinced that natural selection" +(or the preservation of fortunate races) "has been the main but not +exclusive means of modification" (p. 6). + +It is not here expressly stated that the theory of the mutability of +species is Mr. Darwin's own; this, nevertheless, is the inference +which the great majority of his readers were likely to draw, and did +draw, from Mr. Darwin's words. + +Again:- + +"It is not that all large genera are now varying much, and are thus +increasing in the number of their species, or that no small genera +are now multiplying and increasing; for if this had been so it would +have been fatal to MY THEORY; inasmuch as geology," &c. (p. 56). + +The words "my theory" stand in all the editions. Again:- + +"This relation has a clear meaning ON MY VIEW of the subject; I look +upon all the species of any genus as having as certainly descended +from the same progenitor, as have the two sexes of any one of the +species" (p. 157). + +"My view" here, especially in the absence of reference to any other +writer as having held the same opinion, implies as its most natural +interpretation that descent pure and simple is Mr. Darwin's view. +Substitute "the theory of descent" for "my view," and we do not feel +that we are misinterpreting the author's meaning. The words "my +view" remain in all editions. + +Again:- + +"Long before having arrived at this part of my work, a crowd of +difficulties will have occurred to the reader. Some of them are so +grave that to this day I can never reflect on them without being +staggered; but to the best of my belief the greater number are only +apparent, and those that are real are not, I think, FATAL TO MY +THEORY. + +"These difficulties and objections may be classed under the +following heads:- Firstly, if species have descended from other +species by insensibly fine gradations, why do we not everywhere +see?" &c. (p. 171). + +We infer from this that "my theory" is the theory "that species have +descended from other species by insensibly fine gradations"--that is +to say, that it is the theory of descent with modification; for the +theory that is being objected to is obviously the theory of descent +in toto, and not a mere detail in connection with that theory. + +The words "my theory" were altered in 1872, with the sixth edition +of the "Origin of species," into "the theory;" but I am chiefly +concerned with the first edition of the work, my object being to +show that Mr. Darwin was led into his false position as regards +natural selection by a desire to claim the theory of descent with +modification; if he claimed it in the first edition, this is enough +to give colour to the view which I take; but it must be remembered +that descent with modification remained, by the passage just quoted +"my theory," for thirteen years, and even when in 1869 and 1872, for +a reason that I can only guess at, "my theory" became generally "the +theory," this did not make it become any one else's theory. It is +hard to say whose or what it became, if the words are to be +construed technically; practically, however, with all ingenuous +readers, "the theory" remained as much Mr. Darwin's theory as though +the words "my theory" had been retained, and Mr. Darwin cannot be +supposed so simple-minded as not to have known this would be the +case. Moreover, it appears, from the next page but one to the one +last quoted, that Mr. Darwin claimed the theory of descent with +modification generally, even to the last, for we there read, "BY MY +THEORY these allied species have descended from a common parent," +and the "my" has been allowed, for some reason not quite obvious, to +survive the general massacre of Mr. Darwin's "my's" which occurred +in 1869 and 1872. + +Again:- + +"He who believes that each being has been created as we now see it, +must occasionally have felt surprise when he has met," &c. (p. 185). + +Here the argument evidently lies between descent and independent +acts of creation. This appears from the paragraph immediately +following, which begins, "He who believes in separate and +innumerable acts of creation," &c. We therefore understand descent +to be the theory so frequently spoken of by Mr. Darwin as "my." + +Again:- + +"He who will go thus far, if he find on finishing this treatise that +large bodies of facts, otherwise inexplicable, can be explained BY +THE THEORY OF DESCENT, ought not to hesitate to go farther, and to +admit that a structure even as perfect as an eagle's eye might be +formed BY NATURAL SELECTION, although in this case he does not know +any of the transitional grades" (p. 188). + +The natural inference from this is that descent and natural +selection are one and the same thing. + +Again:- + +"If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed which +could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight +modifications, MY THEORY would absolutely break down. But I can +find out no such case. No doubt many organs exist of which we do +not know the transitional grades, more especially if we look to +much-isolated species, round which, according to my THEORY, there +has been much extinction" (p. 189). + +This makes "my theory" to be "the theory that complex organs have +arisen by numerous, successive, slight modifications;" that is to +say, to be the theory of descent with modification. The first of +the two "my theory's" in the passage last quoted has been allowed to +stand. The second became "the theory" in 1872. It is obvious, +therefore, that "the theory" means "my theory;" it is not so obvious +why the change should have been made at all, nor why the one "my +theory" should have been taken and the other left, but I will return +to this question. + +Again, Mr. Darwin writes:- + +"Although we must be extremely cautious in concluding that any organ +could not possibly have been produced by small successive +transitional gradations, yet, undoubtedly grave cases of difficulty +occur, some of which will be discussed in my future work" (p. 192). + +This, as usual, implies descent with modification to be the theory +that Mr. Darwin is trying to make good. + +Again:- + +"I have been astonished how rarely an organ can be named towards +which no transitional variety is known to lead . . . Why, ON THE +THEORY OF CREATION, should this be so? Why should not nature have +taken a leap from structure to structure? ON THE THEORY OF NATURAL +SELECTION we can clearly understand why she should not; for natural +selection can act only by taking advantage of slight successive +variations; she can never take a leap, but must advance by the +slowest and shortest steps" (p. 194). + +Here "the theory of natural selection" is opposed to "the theory of +creation;" we took it, therefore, to be another way of saying "the +theory of descent with modification." + +Again:- + +"We have in this chapter discussed some of the difficulties and +objections which may be urged against MY THEORY. Many of them are +very grave, but I think that in the discussion light has been thrown +on several facts which, ON THE THEORY OF INDEPENDENT ACTS OF +CREATION, are utterly obscure" (p. 203). + +Here we have, on the one hand, "my theory," on the other, +"independent acts of creation." The natural antithesis to +independent acts of creation is descent, and we assumed with reason +that Mr. Darwin was claiming this when he spoke of "my theory." "My +theory" became "the theory" in 1869. + +Again:- + +"On the theory of natural selection we can clearly understand the +full meaning of that old canon in natural history, 'Natura non facit +saltum.' This canon, if we look only to the present inhabitants of +the world is not strictly correct, but if we include all those of +past times, it must BY MY THEORY be strictly true" (p. 206). + +Here the natural interpretation of "by my theory" is "by the theory +of descent with modification;" the words "on the theory of natural +selection," with which the sentence opens, lead us to suppose that +Mr. Darwin regarded natural selection and descent as convertible +terms. "My theory" was altered to "this theory" in 1872. Six lines +lower down we read, "ON MY THEORY unity of type is explained by +unity of descent." The "my" here has been allowed to stand. + +Again:- + +"Again, as in the case of corporeal structure, and conformably with +MY THEORY, the instinct of each species is good for itself, but has +never," &c. (p. 210). + +Who was to see that "my theory" did not include descent with +modification? The "my" here has been allowed to stand. + +Again:- + +"The fact that instincts . . . are liable to make mistakes;--that no +instinct has been produced for the exclusive good of other animals, +but that each animal takes advantage of the instincts of others;-- +that the canon of natural history, 'Natura non facit saltum,' is +applicable to instincts as well as to corporeal structure, and is +plainly explicable on the foregoing views, but is otherwise +inexplicable,--ALL TEND TO CORROBORATE THE THEORY OF NATURAL +SELECTION" (p. 243). + +We feel that it is the theory of evolution, or descent with +modification, that is here corroborated, and that it is this which +Mr. Darwin is mainly trying to establish; the sentence should have +ended "all tend to corroborate the theory of descent with +modification;" the substitution of "natural selection" for descent +tends to make us think that these conceptions are identical. That +they are so regarded, or at any rate that it is the theory of +descent in full which Mr. Darwin has in his mind, appears from the +immediately succeeding paragraph, which begins "THIS THEORY," and +continues six lines lower, "For instance, we can understand, on the +PRINCIPLE OF INHERITANCE, how it is that," &c. + +Again:- + +"In the first place, it should always be borne in mind what sort of +intermediate forms must, ON MY THEORY, formerly have existed" (p. +280). + +"My theory" became "the theory" in 1869. No reader who read in good +faith could doubt that the theory of descent with modification was +being here intended. + +"It is just possible BY MY THEORY, that one of two living forms +might have descended from the other; for instance, a horse from a +tapir; but in this case DIRECT intermediate links will have existed +between them" (p. 281). + +"My theory" became "the theory" in 1869. + +Again:- + +"BY THE THEORY OF NATURAL SELECTION all living species have been +connected with the parent species of each genus," &c. We took this +to mean, "By the theory of descent with modification all living +species," &c. (p. 281). + +Again:- + +"Some experienced conchologists are now sinking many of the very +fine species of D'Orbigny and others into the rank of varieties; and +on this view we do find the kind of evidence of change which ON MY +THEORY we ought to find" (p. 297). + +"My theory" became "the theory" in 1869. + +In the fourth edition (1866), in a passage which is not in either of +the two first editions, we read (p. 359), "So that here again we +have undoubted evidence of change in the direction required by MY +THEORY." "My theory" became "the theory" in 1869; the theory of +descent with modification is unquestionably intended. + +Again:- + +"Geological research has done scarcely anything in breaking down the +distinction between species, by connecting them together by +numerous, fine, intermediate varieties; and this not having been +effected, is probably the gravest and most obvious of all the many +objections which may be urged against MY VIEWS" (p. 299). + +We naturally took "my views" to mean descent with modification. The +"my" has been allowed to stand. + +Again:- + +"If, then, there be some degree of truth in these remarks, we have +no right to expect to find in our geological formations an infinite +number of those transitional forms which ON MY THEORY assuredly have +connected all the past and present species of the same group in one +long and branching chain of life . . . But I do not pretend that I +should ever have suspected how poor was the record in the best +preserved geological sections, had not the absence of innumerable +transitional links between the species which lived at the +commencement and at the close of each formation pressed so hardly ON +MY THEORY" (pp. 301, 302). + +Substitute "descent with modification" for "my theory" and the +meaning does not suffer. The first of the two "my theories" in the +passage last quoted was altered in 1869 into "our theory;" the +second has been allowed to stand. + +Again:- + +"The abrupt manner in which whole groups of species suddenly appear +in some formations, has been urged by several palaeontologists . . . +as a fatal objection TO THE BELIEF IN THE TRANSMUTATION OF SPECIES. +If numerous species, belonging to the same genera or families, have +really started into life all at once, the fact would be fatal TO THE +THEORY OF DESCENT WITH SLOW MODIFICATION THROUGH NATURAL SELECTION" +(p. 302). + +Here "the belief in the transmutation of species," or descent with +modification, is treated as synonymous with "the theory of descent +with slow modification through natural selection; "but it has +nowhere been explained that there are two widely different "theories +of descent with slow modification through natural selection," the +one of which may be true enough for all practical purposes, while +the other is seen to be absurd as soon as it is examined closely. +The theory of descent with modification is not properly convertible +with either of these two views, for descent with modification deals +with the question whether species are transmutable or no, and +dispute as to the respective merits of the two natural selections +deals with the question how it comes to be transmuted; nevertheless, +the words "the theory of descent with slow modification through the +ordinary course of things" (which is what "descent with modification +through natural selection" comes to) may be considered as expressing +the facts with practical accuracy, if the ordinary course of nature +is supposed to be that modification is mainly consequent on the +discharge of some correlated function, and that modification, if +favourable, will tend to accumulate so long as the given function +continues important to the wellbeing of the organism; the words, +however, have no correspondence with reality if they are supposed to +imply that variations which are mainly matters of pure chance and +unconnected in any way with function will accumulate and result in +specific difference, no matter how much each one of them may be +preserved in the generation in which it appears. In the one case, +therefore, the expression natural selection may be loosely used as a +synonym for descent with modification, and in the other it may not. +Unfortunately with Mr. Charles Darwin the variations are mainly +accidental. The words "through natural selection," therefore, in +the passage last quoted carry no weight, for it is the wrong natural +selection that is, or ought to be, intended; practically, however, +they derived a weight from Mr. Darwin's name to which they had no +title of their own, and we understood that "the theory of descent +with slow modification" through the kind of natural selection +ostensibly intended by Mr. Darwin was a quasi-synonymous expression +for the transmutation of species. We understood--so far as we +understood anything beyond that we were to believe in descent with +modification--that natural selection was Mr. Darwin's theory; we +therefore concluded, since Mr. Darwin seemed to say so, that the +theory of the transmutation of species generally was so also. At +any rate we felt as regards the passage last quoted that the theory +of descent with modification was the point of attack and defence, +and we supposed it to be the theory so often referred to by Mr. +Darwin as "my." + +Again:- + +"Some of the most ancient Silurian animals, as the Nautilus, +Lingula, &c., do not differ much from the living species; and it +cannot ON MY THEORY be supposed that these old species were the +progenitors," &c. (p. 306) . . . "Consequently IF MY THEORY BE TRUE, +it is indisputable," &c. (p. 307). + +Here the two "my theories" have been altered, the first into "our +theory," and the second into "the theory," both in 1869; but, as +usual, the thing that remains with the reader is the theory of +descent, and it remains morally and practically as much claimed when +called "the theory"--as during the many years throughout which the +more open "my" distinctly claimed it. + +Again:- + +"All the most eminent palaeontologists, namely, Cuvier, Owen, +Agassiz, Barrande, E. Forbes, &c., and all our greatest geologists, +as Lyell, Murchison, Sedgwick, &c., have unanimously, often +vehemently, maintained THE IMMUTABILITY OF SPECIES. . . . I feel how +rash it is to differ from these great authorities . . . Those who +think the natural geological record in any degree perfect, and who +do not attach much weight to the facts and arguments of other kinds +brought forward in this volume, will undoubtedly at once REJECT MY +THEORY" (p. 310). + +What is "my theory" here, if not that of the mutability of species, +or the theory of descent with modification? "My theory" became "the +theory" in 1869. + +Again:- + +"Let us now see whether the several facts and rules relating to the +geological succession of organic beings, better accord with the +common view of the immutability of species, or with that of their +SLOW AND GRADUAL MODIFICATION, THROUGH DESCENT AND NATURAL +SELECTION" (p. 312). + +The words "natural selection" are indeed here, but they might as +well be omitted for all the effect they produce. The argument is +felt to be about the two opposed theories of descent, and +independent creative efforts. + +Again:- + +"These several facts accord well with MY THEORY" (p. 314). That "my +theory" is the theory of descent is the conclusion most naturally +drawn from the context. "My theory" became "our theory" in 1869. + +Again:- + +"This gradual increase in the number of the species of a group is +strictly conformable WITH MY THEORY; for the process of modification +and the production of a number of allied forms must be slow and +gradual, . . . like the branching of a great tree from a single +stem, till the group becomes large" (p. 314). + +"My theory" became "the theory" in 1869. We took "my theory" to be +the theory of descent; that Mr. Darwin treats this as synonymous +with the theory of natural selection appears from the next +paragraph, on the third line of which we read, "On THE THEORY OF +NATURAL SELECTION the extinction of old forms," &c. + +Again:- + +"THE THEORY OF NATURAL SELECTION is grounded on the belief that each +new variety and ultimately each new species, is produced and +maintained by having some advantage over those with which it comes +into competition; and the consequent extinction of less favoured +forms almost inevitably follows" (p. 320). Sense and consistency +cannot be made of this passage. Substitute "The theory of the +preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life" for "The +theory of natural selection" (to do this is only taking Mr. Darwin's +own synonym for natural selection) and see what the passage comes +to. "The preservation of favoured races" is not a theory, it is a +commonly observed fact; it is not "grounded on the belief that each +new variety," &c., it is one of the ultimate and most elementary +principles in the world of life. When we try to take the passage +seriously and think it out, we soon give it up, and pass on, +substituting "the theory of descent" for "the theory of natural +selection," and concluding that in some way these two things must be +identical. + +Again:- + +"The manner in which single species and whole groups of species +become extinct accords well with THE THEORY OF NATURAL SELECTION" +(p. 322). + +Again:- + +"This great fact of the parallel succession of the forms of life +throughout the world, is explicable ON THE THEORY OF NATURAL +SELECTION" (p. 325). + +Again:- + +"Let us now look to the mutual affinities of extinct and living +species. They all fall into one grand natural system; and this is +at once explained ON THE PRINCIPLE OF DESCENT" (p. 329). + +Putting the three preceding passages together, we naturally inferred +that "the theory of natural selection" and "the principle of +descent" were the same things. We knew Mr. Darwin claimed the +first, and therefore unhesitatingly gave him the second at the same +time. + +Again:- + +"Let us see how far these several facts and inferences accord with +THE THEORY OF DESCENT WITH MODIFICATION" (p. 331) + +Again:- + +"Thus, ON THE THEORY OF DESCENT WITH MODIFICATION, the main facts +with regard to the mutual affinities of the extinct forms of life to +each other and to living forms, seem to me explained in a +satisfactory manner. And they are wholly inexplicable ON ANY OTHER +VIEW" (p. 333). + +The words "seem to me" involve a claim in the absence of so much as +a hint in any part of the book concerning indebtedness to earlier +writers. + +Again:- + +"ON THE THEORY OF DESCENT, the full meaning of the fossil remains," +&c. (p. 336). + +In the following paragraph we read:- + +"But in one particular sense the more recent forms must, ON MY +THEORY, be higher than the more ancient." + +Again:- + +"Agassiz insists that ancient animals resemble to a certain extent +the embryos of recent animals of the same classes; or that the +geological succession of extinct forms is in some degree parallel to +the embryological development of recent forms. . . . This doctrine +of Agassiz accords well with THE THEORY OF NATURAL SELECTION" (p. +338). + +"The theory of natural selection" became "our theory" in 1869. The +opinion of Agassiz accords excellently with the theory of descent +with modification, but it is not easy to see how it bears upon the +fact that lucky races are preserved in the struggle for life--which, +according to Mr. Darwin's title-page, is what is meant by natural +selection. + +Again:- + +"ON THE THEORY OF DESCENT WITH MODIFICATION, the great law of the +long-enduring but not immutable succession of the same types within +the same areas, is at once explained" (p. 340). + +Again:- + +"It must not be forgotten that, ON MY THEORY, all the species of the +same genus have descended from some one species" (p. 341). + +"My theory" became "our theory" in 1869. + +Again:- + +"He who rejects these views on the nature of the geological record, +will rightly reject MY WHOLE THEORY" (p. 342). + +"My" became "our" in 1869. + +Again:- + +"Passing from these difficulties, the other great leading facts in +palaeontology agree admirably with THE THEORY OF DESCENT WITH +MODIFICATION THROUGH VARIATION AND NATURAL SELECTION" (p. 343). + +Again:- + +The succession of the same types of structure within the same areas +during the later geological periods CEASES TO BE MYSTERIOUS, and IS +SIMPLY EXPLAINED BY INHERITANCE (p. 345). + +I suppose inheritance was not when Mr. Darwin wrote considered +mysterious. The last few words have been altered to "and is +intelligible on the principle of inheritance." It seems as though +Mr. Darwin did not like saying that inheritance was not mysterious, +but had no objection to implying that it was intelligible. + +The next paragraph begins--"If, then, the geological record be as +imperfect as I believe it to be, . . . the main objections TO THE +THEORY OF NATURAL SELECTION are greatly diminished or disappear. On +the other hand, all the chief laws of palaeontology plainly +proclaim, AS IT SEEMS TO ME, THAT SPECIES HAVE BEEN PRODUCED BY +ORDINARY GENERATION." + +Here again the claim to the theory of descent with modification is +unmistakable; it cannot, moreover, but occur to us that if species +"have been produced by ordinary generation," then ordinary +generation has as good a claim to be the main means of originating +species as natural selection has. It is hardly necessary to point +out that ordinary generation involves descent with modification, for +all known offspring differ from their parents, so far, at any rate, +as that practised judges can generally tell them apart. + +Again:- + +"We see in these facts some deep organic bond, prevailing throughout +space and time, over the same areas of land and water, and +independent of their physical condition. The naturalist must feel +little curiosity who is not led to inquire what this bond is. + +"This bond, ON MY THEORY, IS SIMPLY INHERITANCE, that cause which +alone," &c. (p. 350). + +This passage was altered in 1869 to "The bond is simply +inheritance." The paragraph concludes, "ON THIS PRINCIPLE OF +INHERITANCE WITH MODIFICATION, we can understand how it is that +sections of genera . . . are confined to the same areas," &c. + +Again:- + +"He who rejects it rejects the vera causa of ordinary generation," +&c. (p. 352). + +We naturally ask, Why call natural selection the "main means of +modification," if "ordinary generation" is a vera causa? + +Again:- + +"In discussing this subject, we shall be enabled at the same time to +consider a point equally important for us, namely, whether the +several distinct species of a genus, WHICH ON MY THEORY HAVE ALL +DESCENDED FROM A COMMON ANCESTOR, can have migrated (undergoing +modification during some part of their migration) from the area +inhabited by their progenitor" (p. 354). + +The words "on my theory" became "on our theory" in 1869. + +Again:- + +"With those organic beings which never intercross (if such exist) +THE SPECIES, ON MY THEORY, MUST HAVE DESCENDED FROM A SUCCESSION OF +IMPROVED VARIETIES," &c. (p. 355). + +The words "on my theory" were cut out in 1869. + +Again:- + +"A slow southern migration of a marine fauna will account, ON THE +THEORY OF MODIFICATION, for many closely allied forms," &c. (p. +372). + +Again:- + +"But the existence of several quite distinct species, belonging to +genera exclusively confined to the southern hemisphere, is, ON MY +THEORY OF DESCENT WITH MODIFICATION, a far more remarkable case of +difficulty" (p. 381). + +"My" became "the" in 1866 with the fourth edition. This was the +most categorical claim to the theory of descent with modification in +the "Origin of Species." The "my" here is the only one that was +taken out before 1869. I suppose Mr. Darwin thought that with the +removal of this "my" he had ceased to claim the theory of descent +with modification. Nothing, however, could be gained by calling the +reader's attention to what had been done, so nothing was said about +it. + +Again:- + +"Some species of fresh-water shells have a very wide range, AND +ALLIED SPECIES, WHICH, ON MY THEORY, ARE DESCENDED FROM A SINGLE +SOURCE, prevail throughout the world" (p. 385). + +"My theory" became "our theory" in 1869. + +Again:- + +"In the following remarks I shall not confine myself to the mere +question of dispersal, but shall consider some other facts which +bear upon the truth of THE TWO THEORIES OF INDEPENDENT CREATION AND +OF DESCENT WITH MODIFICATION" (p. 389). What can be plainer than +that the theory which Mr. Darwin espouses, and has so frequently +called "my," is descent with modification? + +Again:- + +"But as these animals and their spawn are known to be immediately +killed by sea-water, ON MY VIEW, we can see that there would be +great difficulty in their transportal across the sea, and therefore +why they do not exist on any oceanic island. But why, ON THE THEORY +OF CREATION, they should not have been created there, it would be +very difficult to explain" (p. 393). + +"On my view" was cut out in 1869. + +On the following page we read--"On my view this question can easily +be answered." "On my view" is retained in the latest edition. + +Again:- + +"Yet there must be, ON MY VIEW, some unknown but highly efficient +means for their transportation" (p. 397). + +"On my view" became "according to our view" in 1869. + +Again:- + +"I believe this grand fact can receive no sort of explanation ON THE +ORDINARY VIEW OF INDEPENDENT CREATION; whereas, ON THE VIEW HERE +MAINTAINED, it is obvious that the Galapagos Islands would be likely +to receive colonists . . . from America, and the Cape de Verde +Islands from Africa; and that such colonists would be liable to +modification; the principle of inheritance still betraying their +original birth-place" (p. 399). + +Again:- + +"With respect to the distinct species of the same genus which, ON MY +THEORY, must have spread from one parent source, if we make the same +allowances as before," &c. + +"On my theory" became "on our theory" in 1869. + +Again:- + +"ON MY THEORY these several relations throughout time and space are +intelligible; . . . the forms within each class have been connected +by the same bond of ordinary generation; . . . in both cases the +laws of variation have been the same, and modifications have been +accumulated by the same power of natural selection" (p. 410). + +"On my theory" became "according to our theory" in 1869, and natural +selection is no longer a power, but has become a means. + +Again:- + +"I BELIEVE THAT SOMETHING MORE IS INCLUDED, and that propinquity of +descent--the only known cause of the similarity of organic beings-- +is the bond, hidden as it is by various degrees of modification, +which is partially revealed to us by our classification" (p. 418). + +Again:- + +"THUS, ON THE VIEW WHICH I HOLD, the natural system is genealogical +in its arrangement, like a pedigree" (p. 422). + +"On the view which I hold" was cut out in 1872. + +Again:- + +"We may feel almost sure, ON THE THEORY OF DESCENT, that these +characters have been inherited from a common ancestor" (p. 426). + +Again:- + +"ON MY VIEW OF CHARACTERS BEING OF REAL IMPORTANCE FOR +CLASSIFICATION ONLY IN SO FAR AS THEY REVEAL DESCENT, we can clearly +understand," &c. (p. 427). + +"On my view" became "on the view" in 1872. + +Again:- + +"The more aberrant any form is, the greater must be the number of +connecting forms which, ON MY THEORY, have been exterminated and +utterly lost" (p. 429). + +The words "on my theory" were excised in 1869. + +Again:- + +"Finally, we have seen that NATURAL SELECTION. . . EXPLAINS that +great and universal feature in the affinities of all organic beings, +namely, their subordination in group under group. WE USE THE +ELEMENT OF DESCENT in classing the individuals of both sexes, &c.; . +. . WE USE DESCENT in classing acknowledged varieties; . . . and I +believe this element of descent is the hidden bond of connection +which naturalists have sought under the term of the natural system" +(p. 433). + +Lamarck was of much the same opinion, as I showed in "Evolution Old +and New." He wrote:- "An arrangement should be considered +systematic, or arbitrary, when it does not conform to the +genealogical order taken by nature in the development of the things +arranged, and when, by consequence, it is not founded on well- +considered analogies. There is a natural order in every department +of nature; it is the order in which its several component items have +been successively developed." {195a} The point, however, which +should more particularly engage our attention is that Mr. Darwin in +the passage last quoted uses "natural selection" and "descent" as +though they were convertible terms. + +Again:- + +"Nothing can be more hopeless than to attempt to explain this +similarity of pattern in members of the same class by utility or the +doctrine of final causes . . . ON THE ORDINARY VIEW OF THE +INDEPENDENT CREATION OF EACH BEING, we can only say that so it is . +. . THE EXPLANATION IS MANIFEST ON THE THEORY OF THE NATURAL +SELECTION OF SUCCESSIVE SLIGHT modifications," &c. (p. 435). + +This now stands--"The explanation is to a large extent simple, on +the theory of the selection of successive, slight modifications." I +do not like "a large extent" of simplicity; but, waiving this, the +point at issue is not whether the ordinary course of things ensures +a quasi-selection of the types that are best adapted to their +surroundings, with accumulation of modification in various +directions, and hence wide eventual difference between species +descended from common progenitors--no evolutionist since 1750 has +doubted this--but whether a general principle underlies the +modifications from among which the quasi-selection is made, or +whether they are destitute of such principle and referable, as far +as we are concerned, to chance only. Waiving this again, we note +that the theories of independent creation and of natural selection +are contrasted, as though they were the only two alternatives; +knowing the two alternatives to be independent creation and descent +with modification, we naturally took natural selection to mean +descent with modification. + +Again:- + +"ON THE THEORY OF NATURAL SELECTION we can satisfactorily answer +these questions" (p. 437). + +"Satisfactorily" now stands "to a certain extent." + +Again:- + +"ON MY VIEW these terms may be used literally" (pp. 438, 439). + +"On my view" became "according to the views here maintained such +language may be," &c., in 1869. + +Again:- + +"I believe all these facts can be explained as follows, ON THE VIEW +OF DESCENT WITH MODIFICATION" (p. 443). + +This sentence now ends at "follows." + +Again:- + +"Let us take a genus of birds, DESCENDED, ON MY THEORY, FROM SOME +ONE PARENT SPECIES, and of which the several new species HAVE BECOME +MODIFIED THROUGH NATURAL SELECTION in accordance with their divers +habits" (p. 446). + +The words "on my theory" were cut out in 1869, and the passage now +stands, "Let us take a group of birds, descended from some ancient +form and modified through natural selection for different habits." + +Again:- + +"ON MY VIEW OF DESCENT WITH MODIFICATION, the origin of rudimentary +organs is simple" (p. 454). + +"On my view" became "ON THE VIEW" in 1869. + +Again:- + +"ON THE VIEW OF DESCENT WITH MODIFICATION," &c. (p. 455). + +Again:- + +"ON THIS SAME VIEW OF DESCENT WITH MODIFICATION all the great facts +of morphology become intelligible" (p. 456). + +Again:- + +"That many and grave objections may be advanced against THE THEORY +OF DESCENT WITH MODIFICATION THROUGH NATURAL SELECTION, I do not +deny" (p. 459). + +This now stands, "That many and serious objections may be advanced +against THE THEORY OF DESCENT WITH MODIFICATION THROUGH VARIATION +AND NATURAL SELECTION, I do not deny." + +Again:- + +"There are, it must be admitted, cases of special difficulty ON THE +THEORY OF NATURAL SELECTION" (p. 460). + +"On" has become "opposed to;" it is not easy to see why this +alteration was made, unless because "opposed to" is longer. + +Again:- + +"Turning to geographical distribution, the difficulties encountered +ON THE THEORY OF DESCENT WITH MODIFICATION are grave enough." + +"Grave" has become "serious," but there is no other change (p. 461). + +Again:- + +"As ON THE THEORY OF NATURAL SELECTION an interminable number of +intermediate forms must have existed," &c. + +"On" has become "according to"--which is certainly longer, but does +not appear to possess any other advantage over "on." It is not easy +to understand why Mr. Darwin should have strained at such a gnat as +"on," though feeling no discomfort in such an expression as "an +interminable number." + +Again:- + +"This is the most forcible of the many objections which may be urged +AGAINST MY THEORY . . . For certainly, ON MY THEORY," &c. (p. 463). + +The "my" in each case became "the" in 1869. + +Again:- + +"Such is the sum of the several chief objections and difficulties +which may be justly urged AGAINST MY THEORY" (p. 465). + +"My" became "the" in 1869. + +Again:- + +"Grave as these several difficulties are, IN MY JUDGMENT they do not +overthrow THE THEORY OF DESCENT WITH MODIFICATIONS" (p. 466). + +This now stands, "Serious as these several objections are, in my +judgment they are by no means sufficient to overthrow THE THEORY OF +DESCENT WITH SUBSEQUENT MODIFICATION;" which, again, is longer, and +shows at what little, little gnats Mr. Darwin could strain, but is +no material amendment on the original passage. + +Again:- + +"THE THEORY OF NATURAL SELECTION, even if we looked no further than +this, SEEMS TO ME TO BE IN ITSELF PROBABLE" (p. 469). + +This now stands, "The theory of natural selection, even if we look +no further than this, SEEMS TO BE IN THE HIGHEST DEGREE PROBABLE." +It is not only probable, but was very sufficiently proved long +before Mr. Darwin was born, only it must be the right natural +selection and not Mr. Charles Darwin's. + +Again:- + +"It is inexplicable, ON THE THEORY OF CREATION, why a part +developed, &c., . . . BUT, ON MY VIEW, this part has undergone," &c. +(p. 474). + +"On my view" became "on our view" in 1869. + +Again:- + +"Glancing at instincts, marvellous as some are, they offer no +greater difficulty than does corporeal structure ON THE THEORY OF +THE NATURAL SELECTION OF SUCCESSIVE, SLIGHT, BUT PROFITABLE +MODIFICATIONS" (p. 474). + +Again:- + +"ON THE VIEW OF ALL THE SPECIES OF THE SAME GENUS HAVING DESCENDED +FROM A COMMON PARENT, and having inherited much in common, we can +understand how it is," &c. (p. 474). + +Again:- + +"If we admit that the geological record is imperfect in an extreme +degree, then such facts as the record gives, support THE THEORY OF +DESCENT WITH MODIFICATION. + +" . . . The extinction of species . . . almost inevitably follows on +THE PRINCIPLE OF NATURAL SELECTION" (p. 475). + +The word "almost" has got a great deal to answer for. + +Again:- + +"We can understand, ON THE THEORY OF DESCENT WITH MODIFICATION, most +of the great leading facts in Distribution" (p. 476). + +Again:- + +"The existence of closely allied or representative species in any +two areas, implies, ON THE THEORY OF DESCENT WITH MODIFICATION, that +the same parents formerly inhabited both areas . . . It must be +admitted that these facts receive no explanation ON THE THEORY OF +CREATION . . . The fact . . . is intelligible ON THE THEORY OF +NATURAL SELECTION, with its contingencies of extinction and +divergence of character" (p. 478). + +Again:- + +"Innumerable other such facts at once explain themselves ON THE +THEORY OF DESCENT WITH SLOW AND SLIGHT SUCCESSIVE MODIFICATIONS" (p. +479). + +"Any one whose disposition leads him to attach more weight to +unexplained difficulties than to the explanation of a certain number +of facts, WILL CERTAINLY REJECT MY THEORY" (p. 482). + +"My theory" became "the theory" in 1869. + + +From this point to the end of the book the claim is so ubiquitous, +either expressly or by implication, that it is difficult to know +what not to quote. I must, however, content myself with only a few +more extracts. Mr. Darwin says:- + +"It may be asked HOW FAR I EXTEND THE DOCTRINE OF THE MODIFICATION +OF SPECIES" (p. 482). + +Again:- + +"Analogy would lead me one step further, namely, to the belief that +all animals and plants have descended from some one prototype . . . +Therefore I should infer from analogy that probably all the organic +beings which have ever lived on this earth have descended from some +one primordial form, into which life was first breathed." + +From an amoeba--Adam, in fact, though not in name. This last +sentence is now completely altered, as well it might be. + +Again:- + +"When THE VIEWS ENTERTAINED IN THIS VOLUME ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES, +OR WHEN ANALOGOUS VIEWS ARE GENERALLY ADMITTED, we can dimly foresee +that there will be a considerable revolution in natural history" (p. +434). + +Possibly. This now stands, "When the views advanced by me in this +volume, and by Mr. Wallace, or when analogous views on the origin of +species are generally admitted, we can dimly foresee," &c. When the +"Origin of Species" came out we knew nothing of any analogous views, +and Mr. Darwin's words passed unnoticed. I do not say that he knew +they would, but he certainly ought to have known. + +Again:- + +"A GRAND AND ALMOST UNTRODDEN FIELD OF INQUIRY WILL BE OPENED, on +the causes and laws of variation, on correlation of growth, on the +effects of use and disuse, on the direct action of external +conditions, and so forth" (p. 486). + +Buffon and Lamarck had trodden this field to some purpose, but not a +hint to this effect is vouchsafed to us. Again; - + +"WHEN I VIEW ALL BEINGS NOT AS SPECIAL CREATIONS, BUT AS THE LINEAL +DESCENDANTS OF SOME FEW BEINGS WHICH LIVED LONG BEFORE the first bed +of the Silurian system was deposited, they seem to me to become +ennobled . . . We can so far take a prophetic glance into futurity +as to foretell that it will be the common and widely spread species, +belonging to the larger and dominant groups, which will ultimately +prevail and procreate new and dominant species." + +There is no alteration in this except that "Silurian" has become +"Cambrian." + +The idyllic paragraph with which Mr. Darwin concludes his book +contains no more special claim to the theory of descent en bloc than +many another which I have allowed to pass unnoticed; it has been, +moreover, dealt with in an earlier chapter (Chapter XII.) + + + +CHAPTER XV--The Excised "My's" + + + +I have quoted in all ninety-seven passages, as near as I can make +them, in which Mr. Darwin claimed the theory of descent, either +expressly by speaking of "my theory" in such connection that the +theory of descent ought to be, and, as the event has shown, was, +understood as being intended, or by implication, as in the opening +passages of the "Origin of Species," in which he tells us how he had +thought the matter out without acknowledging obligation of any kind +to earlier writers. The original edition of the "Origin of Species" +contained 490 pp., exclusive of index; a claim, therefore, more or +less explicit, to the theory of descent was made on the average +about once in every five pages throughout the book from end to end; +the claims were most prominent in the most important parts, that is +to say, at the beginning and end of the work, and this made them +more effective than they are made even by their frequency. A more +ubiquitous claim than this it would be hard to find in the case of +any writer advancing a new theory; it is difficult, therefore, to +understand how Mr. Grant Allen could have allowed himself to say +that Mr. Darwin "laid no sort of claim to originality or +proprietorship" in the theory of descent with modification. + +Nevertheless I have only found one place where Mr. Darwin pinned +himself down beyond possibility of retreat, however ignominious, by +using the words "my theory of descent with modification." {202a} He +often, as I have said, speaks of "my theory," and then shortly +afterwards of "descent with modification," under such circumstances +that no one who had not been brought up in the school of Mr. +Gladstone could doubt that the two expressions referred to the same +thing. He seems to have felt that he must be a poor wriggler if he +could not wriggle out of this; give him any loophole, however small, +and Mr. Darwin could trust himself to get out through it; but he did +not like saying what left no loophole at all, and "my theory of +descent with modification" closed all exits so firmly that it is +surprising he should ever have allowed himself to use these words. +As I have said, Mr. Darwin only used this direct categorical form of +claim in one place; and even here, after it had stood through three +editions, two of which had been largely altered, he could stand it +no longer, and altered the "my" into "the" in 1866, with the fourth +edition of the "Origin of Species." + +This was the only one of the original forty-five my's that was cut +out before the appearance of the fifth edition in 1869, and its +excision throws curious light upon the working of Mr. Darwin's mind. +The selection of the most categorical my out of the whole forty- +five, shows that Mr. Darwin knew all about his my's, and, while +seeing reason to remove this, held that the others might very well +stand. He even left "On my VIEW of descent with modification," +{203a} which, though more capable of explanation than "my theory," +&c., still runs it close; nevertheless the excision of even a single +my that had been allowed to stand through such close revision as +those to which the "Origin of Species" had been subjected betrays +uneasiness of mind, for it is impossible that even Mr. Darwin should +not have known that though the my excised in 1866 was the most +technically categorical, the others were in reality just as guilty, +though no tower of Siloam in the shape of excision fell upon them. +If, then, Mr. Darwin was so uncomfortable about this one as to cut +it out, it is probable he was far from comfortable about the others. + +This view derives confirmation from the fact that in 1869, with the +fifth edition of the "Origin of Species," there was a stampede of +my's throughout the whole work, no less than thirty out of the +original forty-five being changed into "the," "our," "this," or some +other word, which, though having all the effect of my, still did not +say "my" outright. These my's were, if I may say so, sneaked out; +nothing was said to explain their removal to the reader or call +attention to it. Why, it may be asked, having been considered +during the revisions of 1861 and 1866, and with only one exception +allowed to stand, why should they be smitten with a homing instinct +in such large numbers with the fifth edition? It cannot be +maintained that Mr. Darwin had had his attention called now for the +first time to the fact that he had used my perhaps a little too +freely, and had better be more sparing of it for the future. The my +excised in 1866 shows that Mr. Darwin had already considered this +question, and saw no reason to remove any but the one that left him +no loophole. Why, then, should that which was considered and +approved in 1859, 1861, and 1866 (not to mention the second edition +of 1859 or 1860) be retreated from with every appearance of panic in +1869? Mr. Darwin could not well have cut out more than he did--not +at any rate without saying something about it, and it would not be +easy to know exactly what say. Of the fourteen my's that were left +in 1869, five more were cut out in 1872, and nine only were allowed +eventually to remain. We naturally ask, Why leave any if thirty-six +ought to be cut out, or why cut out thirty-six if nine ought to be +left--especially when the claim remains practically just the same +after the excision as before it? + +I imagine complaint had early reached Mr. Darwin that the difference +between himself and his predecessors was unsubstantial and hard to +grasp; traces of some such feeling appear even in the late Sir +Charles Lyell's "Principles of Geology," in which he writes that he +had reprinted his abstract of Lamarck's doctrine word for word, "in +justice to Lamarck, in order to show how nearly the opinions taught +by him at the beginning of this century resembled those now in vogue +among a large body of naturalists respecting the infinite +variability of species, and the progressive development in past time +of the organic world." {205a} Sir Charles Lyell could not have +written thus if he had thought that Mr. Darwin had already done +"justice to Lamarck," nor is it likely that he stood alone in +thinking as he did. It is probable that more reached Mr. Darwin +than reached the public, and that the historical sketch prefixed to +all editions after the first six thousand copies had been sold-- +meagre and slovenly as it is--was due to earlier manifestation on +the part of some of Mr. Darwin's friends of the feeling that was +afterwards expressed by Sir Charles Lyell in the passage quoted +above. I suppose the removal of the my that was cut out in 1866 to +be due partly to the Gladstonian tendencies of Mr. Darwin's mind, +which would naturally make that particular my at all times more or +less offensive to him, and partly to the increase of objection to it +that must have ensued on the addition of the "brief but imperfect" +historical sketch in 1861; it is doubtless only by an oversight that +this particular my was not cut out in 1861. The stampede of 1869 +was probably occasioned by the appearance in Germany of Professor +Haeckel's "History of Creation." This was published in 1868, and +Mr. Darwin no doubt foresaw that it would be translated into +English, as indeed it subsequently was. In this book some account +is given--very badly, but still much more fully than by Mr. Darwin-- +of Lamarck's work; and even Erasmus Darwin is mentioned-- +inaccurately--but still he is mentioned. Professor Haeckel says:- + +"Although the theory of development had been already maintained at +the beginning of this century by several great naturalists, +especially by Lamarck and Goethe, it only received complete +demonstration and causal foundation nine years ago through Darwin's +work, and it is on this account that it is now generally (though not +altogether rightly) regarded as exclusively Mr. Darwin's theory." +{206a} + +Later on, after giving nearly a hundred pages to the works of the +early evolutionists--pages that would certainly disquiet the +sensitive writer who had cut out the "my" which disappeared in 1866- +-he continued:- + +"We must distinguish clearly (though this is not usually done) +between, firstly, the theory of descent as advanced by Lamarck, +which deals only with the fact of all animals and plants being +descended from a common source, and secondly, Darwin's theory of +natural selection, which shows us WHY this progressive modification +of organic forms took place" (p. 93). + +This passage is as inaccurate as most of those by Professor Haeckel +that I have had occasion to examine have proved to be. Letting +alone that Buffon, not Lamarck, is the foremost name in connection +with descent, I have already shown in "Evolution Old and New" that +Lamarck goes exhaustively into the how and why of modification. He +alleges the conservation, or preservation, in the ordinary course of +nature, of the most favourable among variations that have been +induced mainly by function; this, I have sufficiently explained, is +natural selection, though the words "natural selection" are not +employed; but it is the true natural selection which (if so +metaphorical an expression is allowed to pass) actually does take +place with the results ascribed to it by Lamarck, and not the false +Charles-Darwinian natural selection that does not correspond with +facts, and cannot result in specific differences such as we now +observe. But, waiving this, the "my's," within which a little rift +had begun to show itself in 1866, might well become as mute in 1869 +as they could become without attracting attention, when Mr. Darwin +saw the passages just quoted, and the hundred pages or so that lie +between them. + +I suppose Mr. Darwin cut out the five more my's that disappeared in +1872 because he had not yet fully recovered from his scare, and +allowed nine to remain in order to cover his retreat, and tacitly +say that he had not done anything and knew nothing whatever about +it. Practically, indeed, he had not retreated, and must have been +well aware that he was only retreating technically; for he must have +known that the absence of acknowledgment to any earlier writers in +the body of his work, and the presence of the many passages in which +every word conveyed the impression that the writer claimed descent +with modification, amounted to a claim as much when the actual word +"my" had been taken out as while it was allowed to stand. We took +Mr. Darwin at his own estimate because we could not for a moment +suppose that a man of means, position, and education,--one, +moreover, who was nothing if he was not unself-seeking--could play +such a trick upon us while pretending to take us into his +confidence; hence the almost universal belief on the part of the +public, of which Professors Haeckel and Ray Lankester and Mr. Grant +Allen alike complain--namely, that Mr. Darwin is the originator of +the theory of descent, and that his variations are mainly +functional. Men of science must not be surprised if the readiness +with which we responded to Mr. Darwin's appeal to our confidence is +succeeded by a proportionate resentment when the peculiar shabbiness +of his action becomes more generally understood. For myself, I know +not which most to wonder at--the meanness of the writer himself, or +the greatness of the service that, in spite of that meanness, he +unquestionably rendered. + +If Mr. Darwin had been dealing fairly by us, when he saw that we had +failed to catch the difference between the Erasmus-Darwinian theory +of descent through natural selection from among variations that are +mainly functional, and his own alternative theory of descent through +natural selection from among variations that are mainly accidental, +and, above all, when he saw we were crediting him with other men's +work, he would have hastened to set us right. "It is with great +regret," he might have written, "and with no small surprise, that I +find how generally I have been misunderstood as claiming to be the +originator of the theory of descent with modification; nothing can +be further from my intention; the theory of descent has been +familiar to all biologists from the year 1749, when Buffon advanced +it in its most comprehensive form, to the present day." If Mr. +Darwin had said something to the above effect, no one would have +questioned his good faith, but it is hardly necessary to say that +nothing of the kind is to be found in any one of Mr. Darwin's many +books or many editions; nor is the reason why the requisite +correction was never made far to seek. For if Mr. Darwin had said +as much as I have put into his mouth above, he should have said +more, and would ere long have been compelled to have explained to us +wherein the difference between himself and his predecessors +precisely lay, and this would not have been easy. Indeed, if Mr. +Darwin had been quite open with us he would have had to say much as +follows:- + +"I should point out that, according to the evolutionists of the last +century, improvement in the eye, as in any other organ, is mainly +due to persistent, rational, employment of the organ in question, in +such slightly modified manner as experience and changed surroundings +may suggest. You will have observed that, according to my system, +this goes for very little, and that the accumulation of fortunate +accidents, irrespectively of the use that may be made of them, is by +far the most important means of modification. Put more briefly +still, the distinction between me and my predecessors lies in this;- +-my predecessors thought they knew the main normal cause or +principle that underlies variation, whereas I think that there is no +general principle underlying it at all, or that even if there is, we +know hardly anything about it. This is my distinctive feature; +there is no deception; I shall not consider the arguments of my +predecessors, nor show in what respect they are insufficient; in +fact, I shall say nothing whatever about them. Please to understand +that I alone am in possession of the master key that can unlock the +bars of the future progress of evolutionary science; so great an +improvement, in fact, is my discovery that it justifies me in +claiming the theory of descent generally, and I accordingly claim +it. If you ask me in what my discovery consists, I reply in this;-- +that the variations which we are all agreed accumulate are caused-- +by variation. {209a} I admit that this is not telling you much +about them, but it is as much as I think proper to say at present; +above all things, let me caution you against thinking that there is +any principle of general application underlying variation." + +This would have been right. This is what Mr. Darwin would have had +to have said if he had been frank with us; it is not surprising, +therefore, that he should have been less frank than might have been +wished. I have no doubt that many a time between 1859 and 1882, the +year of his death, Mr. Darwin bitterly regretted his initial error, +and would have been only too thankful to repair it, but he could +only put the difference between himself and the early evolutionists +clearly before his readers at the cost of seeing his own system come +tumbling down like a pack of cards; this was more than he could +stand, so he buried his face, ostrich-like, in the sand. I know no +more pitiable figure in either literature or science. + +As I write these lines (July 1886) I see a paragraph in Nature which +I take it is intended to convey the impression that Mr. Francis +Darwin's life and letters of his father will appear shortly. I can +form no idea whether Mr. F. Darwin's forthcoming work is likely to +appear before this present volume; still less can I conjecture what +it may or may not contain; but I can give the reader a criterion by +which to test the good faith with which it is written. If Mr. F. +Darwin puts the distinctive feature that differentiates Mr. C. +Darwin from his predecessors clearly before his readers, enabling +them to seize and carry it away with them once for all--if he shows +no desire to shirk this question, but, on the contrary, faces it and +throws light upon it, then we shall know that his work is sincere, +whatever its shortcomings may be in other respects; and when people +are doing their best to help us and make us understand all that they +understand themselves, a great deal may be forgiven them. If, on +the other hand, we find much talk about the wonderful light which +Mr. Charles Darwin threw on evolution by his theory of natural +selection, without any adequate attempt to make us understand the +difference between the natural selection, say, of Mr. Patrick +Matthew, and that of his more famous successor, then we may know +that we are being trifled with; and that an attempt is being again +made to throw dust in our eyes. + + + +CHAPTER XVI--Mr. Grant Allen's "Charles Darwin" + + + +It is here that Mr. Grant Allen's book fails. It is impossible to +believe it written in good faith, with no end in view, save to make +something easy which might otherwise be found difficult; on the +contrary, it leaves the impression of having been written with a +desire to hinder us, as far as possible, from understanding things +that Mr. Allen himself understood perfectly well. + +After saying that "in the public mind Mr. Darwin is perhaps most +commonly regarded as the discoverer and founder of the evolution +hypothesis," he continues that "the grand idea which he did really +originate was not the idea of 'descent with modification,' but the +idea of 'natural selection,'" and adds that it was Mr. Darwin's +"peculiar glory" to have shown the "nature of the machinery" by +which all the variety of animal and vegetable life might have been +produced by slow modifications in one or more original types. "The +theory of evolution," says Mr. Allen, "already existed in a more or +less shadowy and undeveloped shape;" it was Mr. Darwin's "task in +life to raise this theory from the rank of a mere plausible and +happy guess to the rank of a highly elaborate and almost universally +accepted biological system" (pp. 3-5). + +We all admit the value of Mr. Darwin's work as having led to the +general acceptance of evolution. No one who remembers average +middle-class opinion on this subject before 1860 will deny that it +was Mr. Darwin who brought us all round to descent with +modification; but Mr. Allen cannot rightly say that evolution had +only existed before Mr. Darwin's time in "a shadowy, undeveloped +state," or as "a mere plausible and happy guess." It existed in the +same form as that in which most people accept it now, and had been +carried to its extreme development, before Mr. Darwin's father had +been born. It is idle to talk of Buffon's work as "a mere plausible +and happy guess," or to imply that the first volume of the +"Philosophie Zoologique" of Lamarck was a less full and sufficient +demonstration of descent with modification than the "Origin of +Species" is. It has its defects, shortcomings, and mistakes, but it +is an incomparably sounder work than the "Origin of Species;" and +though it contains the deplorable omission of any reference to +Buffon, Lamarck does not first grossly misrepresent Buffon, and then +tell him to go away, as Mr. Darwin did to the author of the +"Vestiges" and to Lamarck. If Mr. Darwin was believed and honoured +for saying much the same as Lamarck had said, it was because Lamarck +had borne the brunt of the laughing. The "Origin of Species" was +possible because the "Vestiges" had prepared the way for it. The +"Vestiges" were made possible by Lamarck and Erasmus Darwin, and +these two were made possible by Buffon. Here a somewhat sharper +line can be drawn than is usually found possible when defining the +ground covered by philosophers. No one broke the ground for Buffon +to anything like the extent that he broke it for those who followed +him, and these broke it for one another. + +Mr. Allen says (p. 11) that, "in Charles Darwin's own words, Lamarck +'first did the eminent service of arousing attention to the +probability of all change in the organic as well as in the inorganic +world being the result of law, and not of miraculous +interposition.'" Mr. Darwin did indeed use these words, but Mr. +Allen omits the pertinent fact that he did not use them till six +thousand copies of his work had been issued, and an impression been +made as to its scope and claims which the event has shown to be not +easily effaced; nor does he say that Mr. Darwin only pays these few +words of tribute in a quasi-preface, which, though prefixed to his +later editions of the "Origin of Species," is amply neutralised by +the spirit which I have shown to be omnipresent in the body of the +work itself. Moreover, Mr. Darwin's statement is inaccurate to an +unpardonable extent; his words would be fairly accurate if applied +to Buffon, but they do not apply to Lamarck. + +Mr. Darwin continues that Lamarck "seems to attribute all the +beautiful adaptations in nature, such as the long neck of the +giraffe for browsing on the branches of trees," to the effects of +habit. Mr. Darwin should not say that Lamarck "seems" to do this. +It was his business to tell us what led Lamarck to his conclusions, +not what "seemed" to do so. Any one who knows the first volume of +the "Philosophie Zoologique" will be aware that there is no "seems" +in the matter. Mr. Darwin's words "seem" to say that it really +could not be worth any practical naturalist's while to devote +attention to Lamarck's argument; the inquiry might be of interest to +antiquaries, but Mr. Darwin had more important work in hand than +following the vagaries of one who had been so completely exploded as +Lamarck had been. "Seem" is to men what "feel" is to women; women +who feel, and men who grease every other sentence with a "seem," are +alike to be looked on with distrust. + +"Still," continues Mr. Allen, "Darwin gave no sign. A flaccid, +cartilaginous, unphilosophic evolutionism had full possession of the +field for the moment, and claimed, as it were, to be the genuine +representative of the young and vigorous biological creed, while he +himself was in truth the real heir to all the honours of the +situation. He was in possession of the master-key which alone could +unlock the bars that opposed the progress of evolution, and still he +waited. He could afford to wait. He was diligently collecting, +amassing, investigating; eagerly reading every new systematic work, +every book of travels, every scientific journal, every record of +sport, or exploration, or discovery, to extract from the dead mass +of undigested fact whatever item of implicit value might swell the +definite co-ordinated series of notes in his own commonplace books +for the now distinctly contemplated 'Origin of Species.' His way +was to make all sure behind him, to summon up all his facts in +irresistible array, and never to set out upon a public progress +until he was secure against all possible attacks of the ever- +watchful and alert enemy in the rear," &c. (p. 73). + +It would not be easy to beat this. Mr. Darwin's worst enemy could +wish him no more damaging eulogist. + +Of the "Vestiges" Mr. Allen says that Mr. Darwin "felt sadly" the +inaccuracy and want of profound technical knowledge everywhere +displayed by the anonymous author. Nevertheless, long after, in the +"Origin of Species," the great naturalist wrote with generous +appreciation of the "Vestiges of Creation"--"In my opinion it has +done excellent service in this country in calling attention to the +subject, in removing prejudice, and in thus preparing the ground for +the reception of analogous views." + +I have already referred to the way in which Mr. Darwin treated the +author of the "Vestiges," and have stated the facts at greater +length in "Evolution Old and New," but it may be as well to give Mr. +Darwin's words in full; he wrote as follows on the third page of the +original edition of the "Origin of Species":- + +"The author of the 'Vestiges of Creation' would, I presume, say +that, after a certain unknown number of generations, some bird had +given birth to a woodpecker, and some plant to the mistletoe, and +that these had been produced perfect as we now see them; but this +assumption seems to me to be no explanation, for it leaves the case +of the coadaptation of organic beings to each other and to their +physical conditions of life untouched and unexplained." + +The author of the "Vestiges" did, doubtless, suppose that "SOME +bird" had given birth to a woodpecker, or more strictly, that a +couple of birds had done so--and this is all that Mr. Darwin has +committed himself to--but no one better knew that these two birds +would, according to the author of the "Vestiges," be just as much +woodpeckers, and just as little woodpeckers, as they would be with +Mr. Darwin himself. Mr. Chambers did not suppose that a woodpecker +became a woodpecker per saltum though born of some widely different +bird, but Mr. Darwin's words have no application unless they convey +this impression. The reader will note that though the impression is +conveyed, Mr. Darwin avoids conveying it categorically. I suppose +this is what Mr. Allen means by saying that he "made all things sure +behind him." Mr. Chambers did indeed believe in occasional sports; +so did Mr. Darwin, and we have seen that in the later editions of +the "Origin of Species" he found himself constrained to lay greater +stress on these than he had originally done. Substantially, Mr. +Chambers held much the same opinion as to the suddenness or slowness +of modification as Mr. Darwin did, nor can it be doubted that Mr. +Darwin knew this perfectly well. + +What I have said about the woodpecker applies also to the mistletoe. +Besides, it was Mr. Darwin's business not to presume anything about +the matter; his business was to tell us what the author of the +"Vestiges" had said, or to refer us to the page of the "Vestiges" on +which we should find this. I suppose he was too busy "collecting, +amassing, investigating," &c., to be at much pains not to +misrepresent those who had been in the field before him. There is +no other reference to the "Vestiges" in the "Origin of Species" than +this suave but singularly fraudulent passage. + +In his edition of 1860 the author of the "Vestiges" showed that he +was nettled, and said it was to be regretted Mr. Darwin had read the +"Vestiges" "almost as much amiss as if, like its declared opponents, +he had an interest in misunderstanding it;" and a little lower he +adds that Mr. Darwin's book "in no essential respect contradicts the +'Vestiges,'" but that, on the contrary, "while adding to its +explanations of nature, it expressed the same general ideas." {216a} +This is substantially true; neither Mr. Darwin's nor Mr. Chambers's +are good books, but the main object of both is to substantiate the +theory of descent with modification, and, bad as the "Vestiges" is, +it is ingenuous as compared with the "Origin of Species." +Subsequently to Mr. Chambers' protest, and not till, as I have said, +six thousand copies of the "Origin of Species" had been issued, the +sentence complained of by Mr. Chambers was expunged, but without a +word of retractation, and the passage which Mr. Allen thinks so +generous was inserted into the "brief but imperfect" sketch which +Mr. Darwin prefixed--after Mr. Chambers had been effectually snuffed +out--to all subsequent editions of his "Origin of Species." There +is no excuse for Mr. Darwin's not having said at least this much +about the author of the "Vestiges" in his first edition; and on +finding that he had misrepresented him in a passage which he did not +venture to retain, he should not have expunged it quietly, but +should have called attention to his mistake in the body of his book, +and given every prominence in his power to the correction. + +Let us now examine Mr. Allen's record in the matter of natural +selection. For years he was one of the foremost apostles of Neo- +Darwinism, and any who said a good word for Lamarck were told that +this was the "kind of mystical nonsense" from which Mr. Allen "had +hoped Mr. Darwin had for ever saved us." {216b} Then in October +1883 came an article in "Mind," from which it appeared as though Mr. +Allen had abjured Mr. Darwin and all his works. + +"There are only two conceivable ways," he then wrote, "in which any +increment of brain power can ever have arisen in any individual. +The one is the Darwinian way, by spontaneous variation, that is to +say, by variation due to minute physical circumstances affecting the +individual in the germ. The other is the Spencerian way, by +functional increment, that is to say, by the effect of increased use +and constant exposure to varying circumstances during conscious +life." + +Mr. Allen calls this the Spencerian view, and so it is in so far as +that Mr. Spencer has adopted it. Most people will call it +Lamarckian. This, however, is a detail. Mr. Allen continues:- + +"I venture to think that the first way, if we look it clearly in the +face, will be seen to be practically unthinkable; and that we have +no alternative, therefore, but to accept the second." + +I like our looking a "way" which is "practically unthinkable" +"clearly in the face." I particularly like "practically +unthinkable." I suppose we can think it in theory, but not in +practice. I like almost everything Mr. Allen says or does; it is +not necessary to go far in search of his good things; dredge up any +bit of mud from him at random and we are pretty sure to find an +oyster with a pearl in it, if we look it clearly in the face; I +mean, there is sure to be something which will be at any rate +"almost" practically unthinkable. But however this may be, when Mr. +Allen wrote his article in "Mind" two years ago, he was in +substantial agreement with myself about the value of natural +selection as a means of modification--by natural selection I mean, +of course, the commonly known Charles-Darwinian natural selection +from fortuitous variations; now, however, in 1885, he is all for +this same natural selection again, and in the preface to his +"Charles Darwin" writes (after a handsome acknowledgment of +"Evolution Old and New") that he "differs from" me "fundamentally +in" my "estimate of the worth of Charles Darwin's distinctive +discovery of natural selection." + +This he certainly does, for on page 81 of the work itself he speaks +of "the distinctive notion of natural selection" as having, "like +all true and fruitful ideas, more than once flashed," &c. I have +explained usque ad nauseam, and will henceforth explain no longer, +that natural selection is no "distinctive notion" of Mr. Darwin's. +Mr. Darwin's "distinctive notion" is natural selection from among +fortuitous variations. + +Writing again (p. 89) of Mr. Spencer's essay in the "Leader," {218a} +Mr. Allen says:- + +"It contains, in a very philosophical and abstract form, the theory +of 'descent with modification' without the distinctive Darwinian +adjunct of 'natural selection' or survival of the fittest. Yet it +was just that lever dexterously applied, and carefully weighted with +the whole weight of his endlessly accumulated inductive instances, +that finally enabled our modern Archimedes to move the world." + +Again:- + +"To account for adaptation, for the almost perfect fitness of every +plant and every animal to its position in life, for the existence +(in other words) of definitely correlated parts and organs, we must +call in the aid of survival of the fittest. Without that potent +selective agent, our conception of the becoming of life is a mere +chaos; order and organisation are utterly inexplicable save by the +brilliant illuminating ray of the Darwinian principle" (p. 93). + +And yet two years previously this same principle, after having been +thinkable for many years, had become "unthinkable." + +Two years previously, writing of the Charles-Darwinian scheme of +evolution, Mr. Allen had implied it as his opinion "that all brains +are what they are in virtue of antecedent function." "The one +creed," he wrote--referring to Mr Darwin's--"makes the man depend +mainly upon the accidents of molecular physics in a colliding germ +cell and sperm cell; the other makes him depend mainly on the doings +and gains of his ancestors as modified and altered by himself." + +This second creed is pure Erasmus-Darwinism and Lamarck. + +Again:- + +"It seems to me easy to understand how survival of the fittest may +result in progress STARTING FROM SUCH FUNCTIONALLY PRODUCED GAINS +(italics mine), but impossible to understand how it could result in +progress, if it had to start in mere accidental structural +increments due to spontaneous variation alone." {219a} + +Which comes to saying that it is easy to understand the Lamarckian +system of evolution, but not the Charles-Darwinian. Mr. Allen +concluded his article a few pages later on by saying + +"The first hypothesis" (Mr. Darwin's) "is one that throws no light +upon any of the facts. The second hypothesis" (which is unalloyed +Erasmus Darwin and Lamarck) "is one that explains them all with +transparent lucidity." Yet in his "Charles Darwin" Mr. Allen tells +us that though Mr. Darwin "did not invent the development theory, he +made it believable and comprehensible" (p. 4). + +In his "Charles Darwin" Mr. Allen does not tell us how recently he +had, in another place, expressed an opinion about the value of Mr. +Darwin's "distinctive contribution" to the theory of evolution, so +widely different from the one he is now expressing with +characteristic appearance of ardour. He does not explain how he is +able to execute such rapid changes of front without forfeiting his +claim on our attention; explanations on matters of this sort seem +out of date with modern scientists. I can only suppose that Mr. +Allen regards himself as having taken a brief, as it were, for the +production of a popular work, and feels more bound to consider the +interests of the gentleman who pays him than to say what he really +thinks; for surely Mr. Allen would not have written as he did in +such a distinctly philosophical and scientific journal as "Mind" +without weighing his words, and nothing has transpired lately, +apropos of evolution, which will account for his present +recantation. I said in my book "Selections," &c., that when Mr. +Allen made stepping-stones of his dead selves, he jumped upon them +to some tune. I was a little scandalised then at the completeness +and suddenness of the movement he executed, and spoke severely; I +have sometimes feared I may have spoken too severely, but his recent +performance goes far to warrant my remarks. + +If, however, there is no dead self about it, and Mr. Allen has only +taken a brief, I confess to being not greatly edified. I grant that +a good case can be made out for an author's doing as I suppose Mr. +Allen to have done; indeed I am not sure that both science and +religion would not gain if every one rode his neighbour's theory, as +at a donkey-race, and the least plausible were held to win; but +surely, as things stand, a writer by the mere fact of publishing a +book professes to be giving a bona fide opinion. The analogy of the +bar does not hold, for not only is it perfectly understood that a +barrister does not necessarily state his own opinions, but there +exists a strict though unwritten code to protect the public against +the abuses to which such a system must be liable. In religion and +science no such code exists--the supposition being that these two +holy callings are above the necessity for anything of the kind. +Science and religion are not as business is; still, if the public do +not wish to be taken in, they must be at some pains to find out +whether they are in the hands of one who, while pretending to be a +judge, is in reality a paid advocate, with no one's interests at +heart except his client's, or in those of one who, however warmly he +may plead, will say nothing but what springs from mature and genuine +conviction. + +The present unsettled and unsatisfactory state of the moral code in +this respect is at the bottom of the supposed antagonism between +religion and science. These two are not, or never ought to be, +antagonistic. They should never want what is spoken of as +reconciliation, for in reality they are one. Religion is the +quintessence of science, and science the raw material of religion; +when people talk about reconciling religion and science they do not +mean what they say; they mean reconciling the statements made by one +set of professional men with those made by another set whose +interests lie in the opposite direction--and with no recognised +president of the court to keep them within due bounds this is not +always easy. + +Mr. Allen says:- + +"At the same time it must be steadily remembered that there are many +naturalists at the present day, especially among those of the lower +order of intelligence, who, while accepting evolutionism in a +general way, and therefore always describing themselves as +Darwinians, do not believe, and often cannot even understand, the +distinctive Darwinian addition to the evolutionary doctrine--namely, +the principle of natural selection. Such hazy and indistinct +thinkers as these are still really at the prior stage of Lamarckian +evolution" (p. 199). + +Considering that Mr. Allen was at that stage himself so recently, he +might deal more tenderly with others who still find "the distinctive +Darwinian adjunct" "unthinkable." It is perhaps, however, because +he remembers his difficulties that Mr. Allen goes on as follows:- + +"It is probable that in the future, while a formal acceptance of +Darwinism becomes general, the special theory of natural selection +will be thoroughly understood and assimilated only by the more +abstract and philosophical minds." + +By the kind of people, in fact, who read the Spectator and are +called thoughtful; and in point of fact less than a twelvemonth +after this passage was written, natural selection was publicly +abjured as "a theory of the origin of species" by Mr. Romanes +himself, with the implied approval of the Times. + +"Thus," continues Mr. Allen, "the name of Darwin will often no doubt +be tacked on to what are in reality the principles of Lamarck." + +It requires no great power of prophecy to foretell this, considering +that it is done daily by nine out of ten who call themselves +Darwinians. Ask ten people of ordinary intelligence how Mr. Darwin +explains the fact that giraffes have long necks, and nine of them +will answer "through continually stretching them to reach higher and +higher boughs." They do not understand that this is the Lamarckian +view of evolution, not the Darwinian; nor will Mr. Allen's book +greatly help the ordinary reader to catch the difference between the +two theories, in spite of his frequent reference to Mr. Darwin's +"distinctive feature," and to his "master-key." No doubt the +British public will get to understand all about it some day, but it +can hardly be expected to do so all at once, considering the way in +which Mr. Allen and so many more throw dust in its eyes, and will +doubtless continue to throw it as long as an honest penny is to be +turned by doing so. Mr. Allen, then, is probably right in saying +that "the name of Darwin will no doubt be often tacked on to what +are in reality the principles of Lamarck," nor can it be denied that +Mr. Darwin, by his practice of using "the theory of natural +selection" as though it were a synonym for "the theory of descent +with modification," contributed to this result. + +I do not myself doubt that he intended to do this, but Mr. Allen +would say no less confidently he did not. He writes of Mr. Darwin +as follows:- + +"Of Darwin's pure and exalted moral nature no Englishman of the +present generation can trust himself to speak with becoming +moderation." + +He proceeds to trust himself thus:- + +"His love of truth, his singleness of heart, his sincerity, his +earnestness, his modesty, his candour, his absolute sinking of self +and selfishness--these, indeed are all conspicuous to every reader +on the very face of every word he ever printed." + +This "conspicuous sinking of self" is of a piece with the +"delightful unostentatiousness WHICH EVERY ONE MUST HAVE NOTICED" +about which Mr. Allen writes on page 65. Does he mean that Mr. +Darwin was "ostentatiously unostentatious," or that he was +"unostentatiously ostentatious"? I think we may guess from this +passage who it was that in the old days of the Pall Mall Gazelle +called Mr. Darwin "a master of a certain happy simplicity." + +Mr. Allen continues:- + +"Like his works themselves, they must long outlive him. But his +sympathetic kindliness, his ready generosity, the staunchness of his +friendship, the width and depth and breadth of his affections, the +manner in which 'he bore with those who blamed him unjustly without +blaming them again'--these things can never be so well known to any +other generation of men as to the three generations that walked the +world with him" (pp. 174, 175). + +Again:- + +"He began early in life to collect and arrange a vast encyclopaedia +of facts, all finally focussed with supreme skill upon the great +principle he so clearly perceived and so lucidly expounded. He +brought to bear upon the question an amount of personal observation, +of minute experiment, of world-wide book knowledge, of universal +scientific ability, such as never, perhaps, was lavished by any +other man upon any other department of study. His conspicuous and +beautiful love of truth, his unflinching candour, his transparent +fearlessness and honesty of purpose, his childlike simplicity, his +modesty of demeanour, his charming manner, his affectionate +disposition, his kindliness to friends, his courtesy to opponents, +his gentleness to harsh and often bitter assailants, kindled in the +minds of men of science everywhere throughout the world a contagious +enthusiasm only equalled perhaps among the disciples of Socrates and +the great teachers of the revival of learning. His name became a +rallying-point for the children of light in every country" (pp. 196, +197). + +I need not quote more; the sentence goes on to talk about "firmly +grounding" something which philosophers and speculators might have +taken a century or two more "to establish in embryo;" but those who +wish to see it must turn to Mr. Allen's book. + +If I have formed too severe an estimate of Mr. Darwin's work and +character--and this is more than likely--the fulsomeness of the +adulation lavished on him by his admirers for many years past must +be in some measure my excuse. We grow tired even of hearing +Aristides called just, but what is so freely said about Mr. Darwin +puts us in mind more of what the people said about Herod--that he +spoke with the voice of a God, not of a man. So we saw Professor +Ray Lankester hail him not many years ago as the "greatest of living +men." {224a} + +It is ill for any man's fame that he should be praised so +extravagantly. Nobody ever was as good as Mr. Darwin looked, and a +counterblast to such a hurricane of praise as has been lately +blowing will do no harm to his ultimate reputation, even though it +too blow somewhat fiercely. Art, character, literature, religion, +science (I have named them in alphabetical order), thrive best in a +breezy, bracing air; I heartily hope I may never be what is commonly +called successful in my own lifetime--and if I go on as I am doing +now, I have a fair chance of succeeding in not succeeding. + + + +CHAPTER XVII--Professor Ray Lankester and Lamarck + + + +Being anxious to give the reader a sample of the arguments against +the theory of natural selection from among variations that are +mainly either directly or indirectly functional in their inception, +or more briefly against the Erasmus-Darwinian and Lamarckian +systems, I can find nothing more to the point, or more recent, than +Professor Ray Lankester's letter to the Athenaeum of March 29, 1884, +to the latter part of which, however, I need alone call attention. +Professor Ray Lankester says:- + +"And then we are introduced to the discredited speculations of +Lamarck, which have found a worthy advocate in Mr. Butler, as really +solid contributions to the discovery of the verae causae of +variation! A much more important attempt to do something for +Lamarck's hypothesis, of the transmission to offspring of structural +peculiarities acquired by the parents, was recently made by an able +and experienced naturalist, Professor Semper of Wurzburg. His book +on 'Animal Life,' &c., is published in the 'International Scientific +Series.' Professor Semper adduces an immense number and variety of +cases of structural change in animals and plants brought about in +the individual by adaptation (during its individual life-history) to +new conditions. Some of these are very marked changes, such as the +loss of its horny coat in the gizzard of a pigeon fed on meat; BUT +IN NO SINGLE INSTANCE COULD PROFESSOR SEMPER SHOW--although it was +his object and desire to do so if possible--that such change was +transmitted from parent to offspring. Lamarckism looks all very +well on paper, but, as Professor Semper's book shows, when put to +the test of observation and experiment it collapses absolutely." + +I should have thought it would have been enough if it had collapsed +without the "absolutely," but Professor Ray Lankester does not like +doing things by halves. Few will be taken in by the foregoing +quotation, except those who do not greatly care whether they are +taken in or not; but to save trouble to readers who may have neither +Lamarck nor Professor Semper at hand, I will put the case as +follows:- + +Professor Semper writes a book to show, we will say, that the hour- +hand of the clock moves gradually forward, in spite of its appearing +stationary. He makes his case sufficiently clear, and then might +have been content to leave it; nevertheless, in the innocence of his +heart, he adds the admission that though he had often looked at the +clock for a long time together, he had never been able actually to +see the hour-hand moving. "There now," exclaims Professor Ray +Lankester on this, "I told you so; the theory collapses absolutely; +his whole object and desire is to show that the hour-hand moves, and +yet when it comes to the point, he is obliged to confess that he +cannot see it do so." It is not worth while to meet what Professor +Ray Lankester has been above quoted as saying about Lamarckism +beyond quoting the following passage from a review of "The +Neanderthal Skull on Evolution" in the "Monthly Journal of Science" +for June, 1885 (p. 362):- + +"On the very next page the author reproduces the threadbare +objection that the 'supporters of the theory have never yet +succeeded in observing a single instance in all the millions of +years invented (!) in its support of one species of animal turning +into another.' Now, ex hypothesi, one species turns into another +not rapidly, as in a transformation scene, but in successive +generations, each being born a shade different from its progenitors. +Hence to observe such a change is excluded by the very terms of the +question. Does Mr. Saville forget Mr. Herbert Spencer's apologue of +the ephemeron which had never witnessed the change of a child into a +man?" + +The apologue, I may say in passing, is not Mr. Spencer's; it is by +the author of the "Vestiges," and will be found on page 161 of the +1853 edition of that book; but let this pass. How impatient +Professor Ray Lankester is of any attempt to call attention to the +older view of evolution appears perhaps even more plainly in a +review of this same book of Professor Semper's that appeared in +"Nature," March 3, 1881. The tenor of the remarks last quoted shows +that though what I am about to quote is now more than five years +old, it may be taken as still giving us the position which Professor +Ray Lankester takes on these matters. He wrote:- + +"It is necessary," he exclaims, "to plainly and emphatically state" +(Why so much emphasis? Why not "it should be stated"?) "that +Professor Semper and a few other writers of similar views" {227a} (I +have sent for the number of "Modern Thought" referred to by +Professor Ray Lankester but find no article by Mr. Henslow, and do +not, therefore, know what he had said) "are not adding to or +building on Mr. Darwin's theory, but are actually opposing all that +is essential and distinctive in that theory, by the revival of the +exploded notion of 'directly transforming agents' advocated by +Lamarck and others." + +It may be presumed that these writers know they are not "adding to +or building on" Mr. Darwin's theory, and do not wish to build on it, +as not thinking it a sound foundation. Professor Ray Lankester says +they are "actually opposing," as though there were something +intolerably audacious in this; but it is not easy to see why he +should be more angry with them for "actually opposing" Mr. Darwin +than they may be with him, if they think it worth while, for +"actually defending" the exploded notion of natural selection--for +assuredly the Charles-Darwinian system is now more exploded than +Lamarck's is. + +What Professor Ray Lankester says about Lamarck and "directly +transforming agents" will mislead those who take his statement +without examination. Lamarck does not say that modification is +effected by means of "directly transforming agents;" nothing can be +more alien to the spirit of his teaching. With him the action of +the external conditions of existence (and these are the only +transforming agents intended by Professor Ray Lankester) is not +direct, but indirect. Change in surroundings changes the organism's +outlook, and thus changes its desires; desires changing, there is +corresponding change in the actions performed; actions changing, a +corresponding change is by-and-by induced in the organs that perform +them; this, if long continued, will be transmitted; becoming +augmented by accumulation in many successive generations, and +further modifications perhaps arising through further changes in +surroundings, the change will amount ultimately to specific and +generic difference. Lamarck knows no drug, nor operation, that will +medicine one organism into another, and expects the results of +adaptive effort to be so gradual as to be only perceptible when +accumulated in the course of many generations. When, therefore, +Professor Ray Lankester speaks of Lamarck as having "advocated +directly transforming agents," he either does not know what he is +talking about, or he is trifling with his readers. Professor Ray +Lankester continues:- + +"They do not seem to be aware of this, for they make no attempt to +examine Mr. Darwin's accumulated facts and arguments." Professor +Ray Lankester need not shake Mr. Darwin's "accumulated facts and +arguments" at us. We have taken more pains to understand them than +Professor Ray Lankester has taken to understand Lamarck, and by this +time know them sufficiently. We thankfully accept by far the +greater number, and rely on them as our sheet-anchors to save us +from drifting on to the quicksands of Neo-Darwinian natural +selection; few of them, indeed, are Mr. Darwin's, except in so far +as he has endorsed them and given them publicity, but I do not know +that this detracts from their value. We have paid great attention +to Mr. Darwin's facts, and if we do not understand all his +arguments--for it is not always given to mortal man to understand +these--yet we think we know what he was driving at. We believe we +understand this to the full as well as Mr. Darwin intended us to do, +and perhaps better. Where the arguments tend to show that all +animals and plants are descended from a common source we find them +much the same as Buffon's, or as those of Erasmus Darwin or Lamarck, +and have nothing to say against them; where, on the other hand, they +aim at proving that the main means of modification has been the fact +that if an animal has been "favoured" it will be "preserved"--then +we think that the animal's own exertions will, in the long run, have +had more to do with its preservation than any real or fancied +"favour." Professor Ray Lankester continues:- + +"The doctrine of evolution has become an accepted truth" (Professor +Ray Lankester writes as though the making of truth and falsehood lay +in the hollow of Mr. Darwin's hand. Surely "has become accepted" +should be enough; Mr. Darwin did not make the doctrine true) +"entirely in consequence of Mr. Darwin's having demonstrated the +mechanism." (There is no mechanism in the matter, and if there is, +Mr. Darwin did not show it. He made some words which confused us +and prevented us from seeing that "the preservation of favoured +races" was a cloak for "luck," and that this was all the explanation +he was giving) "by which the evolution is possible; it was almost +universally rejected, while such undemonstrable agencies as those +arbitrarily asserted to exist by Professor Semper and Mr. George +Henslow were the only means suggested by its advocates." + +Undoubtedly the theory of descent with modification, which received +its first sufficiently ample and undisguised exposition in 1809 with +the "Philosophie Zoologique" of Lamarck, shared the common fate of +all theories that revolutionise opinion on important matters, and +was fiercely opposed by the Huxleys, Romaneses, Grant Allens, and +Ray Lankesters of its time. It had to face the reaction in favour +of the Church which began in the days of the First Empire, as a +natural consequence of the horrors of the Revolution; it had to face +the social influence and then almost Darwinian reputation of Cuvier, +whom Lamarck could not, or would not, square; it was put forward by +one who was old, poor, and ere long blind. What theory could do +more than just keep itself alive under conditions so unfavourable? +Even under the most favourable conditions descent with modification +would have been a hard plant to rear, but, as things were, the +wonder is that it was not killed outright at once. We all know how +large a share social influences have in deciding what kind of +reception a book or theory is to meet with; true, these influences +are not permanent, but at first they are almost irresistible; in +reality it was not the theory of descent that was matched against +that of fixity, but Lamarck against Cuvier; who can be surprised +that Cuvier for a time should have had the best of it? + +And yet it is pleasant to reflect that his triumph was not, as +triumphs go, long lived. How is Cuvier best known now? As one who +missed a great opportunity; as one who was great in small things, +and stubbornly small in great ones. Lamarck died in 1831; in 1861 +descent with modification was almost universally accepted by those +most competent to form an opinion. This result was by no means so +exclusively due to Mr. Darwin's "Origin of Species" as is commonly +believed. During the thirty years that followed 1831 Lamarck's +opinions made more way than Darwinians are willing to allow. +Granted that in 1861 the theory was generally accepted under the +name of Darwin, not under that of Lamarck, still it was Lamarck and +not Darwin that was being accepted; it was descent, not descent with +modification by means of natural selection from among fortuitous +variations, that we carried away with us from the "Origin of +Species." The thing triumphed whether the name was lost or not. I +need not waste the reader's time by showing further how little +weight he need attach to the fact that Lamarckism was not +immediately received with open arms by an admiring public. The +theory of descent has become accepted as rapidly, if I am not +mistaken, as the Copernican theory, or as Newton's theory of +gravitation. + +When Professor Ray Lankester goes on to speak of the "undemonstrable +agencies" "arbitrarily asserted" to exist by Professor Semper, he is +again presuming on the ignorance of his readers. Professor Semper's +agencies are in no way more undemonstrable than Mr. Darwin's are. +Mr. Darwin was perfectly cogent as long as he stuck to Lamarck's +demonstration; his arguments were sound as long as they were +Lamarck's, or developments of, and riders upon, Buffon, Erasmus +Darwin, and Lamarck, and almost incredibly silly when they were his +own. Fortunately the greater part of the "Origin of Species" is +devoted to proving the theory of descent with modification, by +arguments against which no exception would have been taken by Mr. +Darwin's three great precursors, except in so far as the variations +whose accumulation results in specific difference are supposed to be +fortuitous--and, to do Mr. Darwin justice, the fortuitousness, +though always within hail, is kept as far as possible in the +background. + +"Mr. Darwin's arguments," says Professor Ray Lankester, "rest on the +PROVED existence of minute, many-sided, irrelative variations NOT +produced by directly transforming agents." Mr. Darwin throughout +the body of the "Origin of Species" is not supposed to know what his +variations are or are not produced by; if they come, they come, and +if they do not come, they do not come. True, we have seen that in +the last paragraph of the book all this was changed, and the +variations were ascribed to the conditions of existence, and to use +and disuse, but a concluding paragraph cannot be allowed to override +a whole book throughout which the variations have been kept to hand +as accidental. Mr. Romanes is perfectly correct when he says {232a} +that "natural selection" (meaning the Charles-Darwinian natural +selection) "trusts to the chapter of accidents in the matter of +variation" this is all that Mr. Darwin can tell us; whether they +come from directly transforming agents or no he neither knows nor +says. Those who accept Lamarck will know that the agencies are not, +as a rule, directly transforming, but the followers of Mr. Darwin +cannot. + +"But showing themselves," continues Professor Ray Lankester, "at +each new act of reproduction, as part of the phenomena of heredity +such minute 'sports' or 'variations' are due to constitutional +disturbance" (No doubt. The difference, however, between Mr. Darwin +and Lamarck consists in the fact that Lamarck believes he knows what +it is that so disturbs the constitution as generally to induce +variation, whereas Mr. Darwin says he does not know), "and appear +not in individuals subjected to new conditions" (What organism can +pass through life without being subjected to more or less new +conditions? What life is ever the exact fac-simile of another? And +in a matter of such extreme delicacy as the adjustment of psychical +and physical relations, who can say how small a disturbance of +established equilibrium may not involve how great a rearrangement?), +"but in the offspring of all, though more freely in the offspring of +those subjected to special causes of constitutional disturbance. +Mr. Darwin has further proved that these slight variations can be +transmitted and intensified by selective breeding." + +Mr. Darwin did, indeed, follow Buffon and Lamarck in at once turning +to animals and plants under domestication in order to bring the +plasticity of organic forms more easily home to his readers, but the +fact that variations can be transmitted and intensified by selective +breeding had been so well established and was so widely known long +before Mr. Darwin was born, that he can no more be said to have +proved it than Newton can be said to have proved the revolution of +the earth on its own axis. Every breeder throughout the world had +known it for centuries. I believe even Virgil knew it. + +"They have," continues Professor Ray Lankester, "in reference to +breeding, a remarkably tenacious, persistent character, as might be +expected from their origin in connection with the reproductive +process." + +The variations do not normally "originate in connection with the +reproductive process," though it is during this process that they +receive organic expression. They originate mainly, so far as +anything originates anywhere, in the life of the parent or parents. +Without going so far as to say that no variation can arise in +connection with the reproductive system--for, doubtless, striking +and successful sports do occasionally so arise--it is more probable +that the majority originate earlier. Professor Ray Lankester +proceeds:- + +"On the other hand, mutilations and other effects of directly +transforming agents are rarely, if ever, transmitted." Professor +Ray Lankester ought to know the facts better than to say that the +effects of mutilation are rarely, if ever, transmitted. The rule +is, that they will not be transmitted unless they have been followed +by disease, but that where disease has supervened they not +uncommonly descend to offspring. {234a} I know Brown-Sequard +considered it to be the morbid state of the nervous system +consequent upon the mutilation that is transmitted, rather than the +immediate effects of the mutilation, but this distinction is +somewhat finely drawn. + +When Professor Ray Lankester talks about the "other effects of +directly transforming agents" being rarely transmitted, he should +first show us the directly transforming agents. Lamarck, as I have +said, knows them not. "It is little short of an absurdity," he +continues, "for people to come forward at this epoch, when evolution +is at length accepted solely because of Mr. Darwin's doctrine, and +coolly to propose to replace that doctrine by the old notion so +often tried and rejected." + +Whether this is an absurdity or no, Professor Lankester will do well +to learn to bear it without showing so much warmth, for it is one +that is becoming common. Evolution has been accepted not "because +of" Mr. Darwin's doctrine, but because Mr. Darwin so fogged us about +his doctrine that we did not understand it. We thought we were +backing his bill for descent with modification, whereas we were in +reality backing it for descent with modification by means of natural +selection from among fortuitous variations. This last really is Mr. +Darwin's theory, except in so far as it is also Mr. A. R. Wallace's; +descent, alone, is just as much and just as little Mr. Darwin's +doctrine as it is Professor Ray Lankester's or mine. I grant it is +in great measure through Mr. Darwin's books that descent has become +so widely accepted; it has become so through his books, but in spite +of, rather than by reason of, his doctrine. Indeed his doctrine was +no doctrine, but only a back-door for himself to escape by in the +event of flood or fire; the flood and fire have come; it remains to +be seen how far the door will work satisfactorily. + +Professor Ray Lankester, again, should not say that Lamarck's +doctrine has been "so often tried and rejected." M. Martins, in his +edition of the "Philosophie Zoologique," {235a} said truly that +Lamarck's theory had never yet had the honour of being seriously +discussed. It never has--not at least in connection with the name +of its propounder. To mention Lamarck's name in the presence of the +conventional English society naturalist has always been like shaking +a red rag at a cow; he is at once infuriated; "as if it were +possible," to quote from Isidore Geoffroy St. Hilaire, whose defence +of Lamarck is one of the best things in his book, {235b} "that so +great labour on the part of so great a naturalist should have led +him to 'a fantastic conclusion' only--to 'a flighty error,' and, as +has been often said, though not written, to 'one absurdity the +more.' Such was the language which Lamarck heard during his +protracted old age, saddened alike by the weight of years and +blindness; this was what people did not hesitate to utter over his +grave, yet barely closed, and what, indeed, they are still saying-- +commonly too, without any knowledge of what Lamarck maintained, but +merely repeating at second hand bad caricatures of his teaching. + +"When will the time come when we may see Lamarck's theory discussed, +and I may as well at once say refuted, in some important points, +with at any rate the respect due to one of the most illustrious +masters of our science? And when will this theory, the hardihood of +which has been greatly exaggerated, become freed from the +interpretations and commentaries by the false light of which so many +naturalists have formed their opinion concerning it? If its author +is to be condemned, let it, at any rate, not be before he has been +heard." + +Lamarck was the Lazarus of biology. I wish his more fortunate +brethren, instead of intoning the old Church argument that he has +"been refuted over and over again," would refer us to some of the +best chapters in the writers who have refuted him. My own reading +has led me to become moderately well acquainted with the literature +of evolution, but I have never come across a single attempt fairly +to grapple with Lamarck, and it is plain that neither Isidore +Geoffroy nor M. Martins knows of such an attempt any more than I do. +When Professor Ray Lankester puts his finger on Lamarck's weak +places, then, but not till then, may he complain of those who try to +replace Mr. Darwin's doctrine by Lamarck's. + +Professor Ray Lankester concludes his note thus:- + +"That such an attempt should be made is an illustration of a curious +weakness of humanity. Not infrequently, after a long contested +cause has triumphed, and all have yielded allegiance thereto, you +will find, when few generations have passed, that men have clean +forgotten what and who it was that made that cause triumphant, and +ignorantly will set up for honour the name of a traitor or an +impostor, or attribute to a great man as a merit deeds and thoughts +which he spent a long life in opposing." + +Exactly so; that is what one rather feels, but surely Professor Ray +Lankester should say "in trying to filch while pretending to oppose +and to amend." He is complaining here that people persistently +ascribe Lamarck's doctrine to Mr. Darwin. Of course they do; but, +as I have already perhaps too abundantly asked, whose fault is this? +If a man knows his own mind, and wants others to understand it, it +is not often that he is misunderstood for any length of time. If he +finds he is being misapprehended in a way he does not like, he will +write another book and make his meaning plainer. He will go on +doing this for as long time as he thinks necessary. I do not +suppose, for example, that people will say I originated the theory +of descent by means of natural selection from among fortunate +accidents, or even that I was one of its supporters as a means of +modification; but if this impression were to prevail, I cannot think +I should have much difficulty in removing it. At any rate no such +misapprehension could endure for more than twenty years, during +which I continued to address a public who welcomed all I wrote, +unless I myself aided and abetted the mistake. Mr. Darwin wrote +many books, but the impression that Darwinism and evolution, or +descent with modification, are identical is still nearly as +prevalent as it was soon after the appearance of the "Origin of +Species;" the reason of this is, that Mr. Darwin was at no pains to +correct us. Where, in any one of his many later books, is there a +passage which sets the matter in its true light, and enters a +protest against the misconception of which Professor Ray Lankester +complains so bitterly? The only inference from this is, that Mr. +Darwin was not displeased at our thinking him to be the originator +of the theory of descent with modification, and did not want us to +know more about Lamarck than he could help. If we wanted to know +about him, we must find out what he had said for ourselves, it was +no part of Mr. Darwin's business to tell us; he had no interest in +our catching the distinctive difference between himself and that +writer; perhaps not; but this approaches closely to wishing us to +misunderstand it. When Mr. Darwin wished us to understand this or +that, no one knew better how to show it to us. + +We were aware, on reading the "Origin of Species," that there was a +something about it of which we had not full hold; nevertheless we +gave Mr. Darwin our confidence at once, partly because he led off by +telling us that we must trust him to a great extent, and explained +that the present book was only an instalment of a larger work which, +when it came out, would make everything perfectly clear; partly, +again, because the case for descent with modification, which was the +leading idea throughout the book, was so obviously strong, but +perhaps mainly because every one said Mr. Darwin was so good, and so +much less self-heeding than other people; besides, he had so +"patiently" and "carefully" accumulated "such a vast store of facts" +as no other naturalist, living or dead, had ever yet even tried to +get together; he was so kind to us with his, "May we not believe?" +and his "Have we any right to infer that the Creator?" &c. "Of +course we have not," we exclaimed, almost with tears in our eyes-- +"not if you ask us in that way." Now that we understand what it was +that puzzled us in Mr. Darwin's work we do not think highly either +of the chief offender, or of the accessories after the fact, many of +whom are trying to brazen the matter out, and on a smaller scale to +follow his example. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII--Per Contra + + + +"'The evil that men do lives after them" {239a} is happily not so +true as that the good lives after them, while the ill is buried with +their bones, and to no one does this correction of Shakespeare's +unwonted spleen apply more fully than to Mr. Darwin. Indeed it was +somewhat thus that we treated his books even while he was alive; the +good, descent, remained with us, while the ill, the deification of +luck, was forgotten as soon as we put down his work. Let me now, +therefore, as far as possible, quit the ungrateful task of dwelling +on the defects of Mr. Darwin's work and character, for the more +pleasant one of insisting upon their better side, and of explaining +how he came to be betrayed into publishing the "Origin of Species" +without reference to the works of his predecessors. + +In the outset I would urge that it is not by any single book that +Mr. Darwin should be judged. I do not believe that any one of the +three principal works on which his reputation is founded will +maintain with the next generation the place it has acquired with +ourselves; nevertheless, if asked to say who was the man of our own +times whose work had produced the most important, and, on the whole, +beneficial effect, I should perhaps wrongly, but still both +instinctively and on reflection, name him to whom I have, +unfortunately, found myself in more bitter opposition than to any +other in the whole course of my life. I refer, of course, to Mr. +Darwin. + +His claim upon us lies not so much in what is actually found within +the four corners of any one of his books, as in the fact of his +having written them at all--in the fact of his having brought out +one after another, with descent always for its keynote, until the +lesson was learned too thoroughly to make it at all likely that it +will be forgotten. Mr. Darwin wanted to move his generation, and +had the penetration to see that this is not done by saying a thing +once for all and leaving it. It almost seems as though it matters +less what a man says than the number of times he repeats it, in a +more or less varied form. It was here the author of the "Vestiges +of Creation" made his most serious mistake. He relied on new +editions, and no one pays much attention to new editions--the mark a +book makes is almost always made by its first edition. If, instead +of bringing out a series of amended editions during the fifteen +years' law which Mr. Darwin gave him, Mr. Chambers had followed up +the "Vestiges" with new book upon new book, he would have learned +much more, and, by consequence, not have been snuffed out so easily +once for all as he was in 1859 when the "Origin of Species" +appeared. + +The tenacity of purpose which appears to have been one of Mr. +Darwin's most remarkable characteristics was visible even in his +outward appearance. He always reminded me of Raffaelle's portrait +of Pope Julius the Second, which, indeed, would almost do for a +portrait of Mr. Darwin himself. I imagine that these two men, +widely as the sphere of their action differed, must have been like +each other in more respects than looks alone. Each, certainly, had +a hand of iron; whether Pope Julius wore a velvet glove or no, I do +not know; I rather think not, for, if I remember rightly, he boxed +Michael Angelo's ears for giving him a saucy answer. We cannot +fancy Mr. Darwin boxing any one's ears; indeed there can be no doubt +he wore a very thick velvet glove, but the hand underneath it was +none the less of iron. It was to his tenacity of purpose, +doubtless, that his success was mainly due; but for this he must +inevitably have fallen before the many inducements to desist from +the pursuit of his main object, which beset him in the shape of ill +health, advancing years, ample private means, large demands upon his +time, and a reputation already great enough to satisfy the ambition +of any ordinary man. + +I do not gather from those who remember Mr. Darwin as a boy, and as +a young man, that he gave early signs of being likely to achieve +greatness; nor, as it seems to me, is there any sign of unusual +intellectual power to be detected in his earliest book. Opening +this "almost" at random I read--"Earthquakes alone are sufficient to +destroy the prosperity of any country. If, for instance, beneath +England the now inert subterraneous forces should exert those powers +which most assuredly in former geological ages they have exerted, +how completely would the entire condition of the country be changed! +What would become of the lofty houses, thickly-packed cities, great +manufacturies (sic), the beautiful public and private edifices? If +the new period of disturbance were to commence by some great +earthquake in the dead of night, how terrific would be the carnage! +England would be at once bankrupt; all papers, records, and accounts +would from that moment be lost. Government being unable to collect +the taxes, and failing to maintain its authority, the hand of +violence and rapine would go uncontrolled. In every large town +famine would be proclaimed, pestilence and death following in its +train." {240a} Great allowance should be made for a first work, and +I admit that much interesting matter is found in Mr. Darwin's +journal; still, it was hardly to be expected that the writer who at +the age of thirty-three could publish the foregoing passage should +twenty years later achieve the reputation of being the profoundest +philosopher of his time. + +I have not sufficient technical knowledge to enable me to speak +certainly, but I question his having been the great observer and +master of experiment which he is generally believed to have been. +His accuracy was, I imagine, generally to be relied upon as long as +accuracy did not come into conflict with his interests as a leader +in the scientific world; when these were at stake he was not to be +trusted for a moment. Unfortunately they were directly or +indirectly at stake more often than one could wish. His book on the +action of worms, however, was shown by Professor Paley and other +writers {242a} to contain many serious errors and omissions, though +it involved no personal question; but I imagine him to have been +more or less hebete when he wrote this book. On the whole I should +doubt his having been a better observer of nature than nine country +gentlemen out of ten who have a taste for natural history. + +Presumptuous as I am aware it must appear to say so, I am unable to +see more than average intellectual power even in Mr. Darwin's later +books. His great contribution to science is supposed to have been +the theory of natural selection, but enough has been said to show +that this, if understood as he ought to have meant it to be +understood, cannot be rated highly as an intellectual achievement. +His other most important contribution was his provisional theory of +pan-genesis, which is admitted on all hands to have been a failure. +Though, however, it is not likely that posterity will consider him +as a man of transcendent intellectual power, he must be admitted to +have been richly endowed with a much more valuable quality than +either originality or literary power--I mean with savoir faire. The +cards he held--and, on the whole, his hand was a good one--he played +with judgment; and though not one of those who would have achieved +greatness under any circumstances, he nevertheless did achieve +greatness of no mean order. Greatness, indeed, of the highest kind- +-that of one who is without fear and without reproach--will not +ultimately be allowed him, but greatness of a rare kind can only be +denied him by those whose judgment is perverted by temper or +personal ill-will. He found the world believing in fixity of +species, and left it believing--in spite of his own doctrine--in +descent with modification. + +I have said on an earlier page that Mr. Darwin was heir to a +discredited truth, and left behind him an accredited fallacy. This +is true as regards men of science and cultured classes who +understood his distinctive feature, or thought they did, and so long +as Mr. Darwin lived accepted it with very rare exceptions; but it is +not true as regards the unreading, unreflecting public, who seized +the salient point of descent with modification only, and troubled +themselves little about the distinctive feature. It would almost +seem as if Mr. Darwin had reversed the usual practice of +philosophers and given his esoteric doctrine to the world, while +reserving the exoteric for his most intimate and faithful adherents. +This, however, is a detail; the main fact is, that Mr. Darwin +brought us all round to evolution. True, it was Mr. Darwin backed +by the Times and the other most influential organs of science and +culture, but it was one of Mr. Darwin's great merits to have +developed and organised this backing, as part of the work which he +knew was essential if so great a revolution was to be effected. + +This is an exceedingly difficult and delicate thing to do. If +people think they need only write striking and well-considered +books, and that then the Times will immediately set to work to call +attention to them, I should advise them not to be too hasty in +basing action upon this hypothesis. I should advise them to be even +less hasty in basing it upon the assumption that to secure a +powerful literary backing is a matter within the compass of any one +who chooses to undertake it. No one who has not a strong social +position should ever advance a new theory, unless a life of hard +fighting is part of what he lays himself out for. It was one of Mr. +Darwin's great merits that he had a strong social position, and had +the good sense to know how to profit by it. The magnificent feat +which he eventually achieved was unhappily tarnished by much that +detracts from the splendour that ought to have attended it, but a +magnificent feat it must remain. + +Whose work in this imperfect world is not tarred and tarnished by +something that detracts from its ideal character? It is enough that +a man should be the right man in the right place, and this Mr. +Darwin pre-eminently was. If he had been more like the ideal +character which Mr. Allen endeavours to represent him, it is not +likely that he would have been able to do as much, or nearly as +much, as he actually did; he would have been too wide a cross with +his generation to produce much effect upon it. Original thought is +much more common than is generally believed. Most people, if they +only knew it, could write a good book or play, paint a good picture, +compose a fine oratorio; but it takes an unusually able person to +get the book well reviewed, persuade a manager to bring the play +out, sell the picture, or compass the performance of the oratorio; +indeed, the more vigorous and original any one of these things may +be, the more difficult will it prove to even bring it before the +notice of the public. The error of most original people is in being +just a trifle too original. It was in his business qualities--and +these, after all, are the most essential to success, that Mr. Darwin +showed himself so superlative. These are not only the most +essential to success, but it is only by blaspheming the world in a +way which no good citizen of the world will do, that we can deny +them to be the ones which should most command our admiration. We +are in the world; surely so long as we are in it we should be of it, +and not give ourselves airs as though we were too good for our +generation, and would lay ourselves out to please any other by +preference. Mr. Darwin played for his own generation, and he got in +the very amplest measure the recognition which he endeavoured, as we +all do, to obtain. + +His success was, no doubt, in great measure due to the fact that he +knew our little ways, and humoured them; but if he had not had +little ways of his own, he never could have been so much au fait +with ours. He knew, for example, we should be pleased to hear that +he had taken his boots off so as not to disturb his worms when +watching them by night, so he told us of this, and we were +delighted. He knew we should like his using the word "sag," so he +used it, {245a} and we said it was beautiful. True, he used it +wrongly, for he was writing about tesselated pavement, and builders +assure me that "sag" is a word which applies to timber only, but +this is not to the point; the point was, that Mr. Darwin should have +used a word that we did not understand; this showed that he had a +vast fund of knowledge at his command about all sorts of practical +details with which he might have well been unacquainted. We do not +deal the same measure to man and to the lower animals in the matter +of intelligence; the less we understand these last, the less, we +say, not we, but they can understand; whereas the less we can +understand a man, the more intelligent we are apt to think him. No +one should neglect by-play of this description; if I live to be +strong enough to carry it through, I mean to play "cambre," and I +shall spell it "camber." I wonder Mr. Darwin never abused this +word. Laugh at him, however, as we may for having said "sag," if he +had not been the kind of man to know the value of these little hits, +neither would he have been the kind of man to persuade us into first +tolerating, and then cordially accepting, descent with modification. +There is a correlation of mental as well as of physical growth, and +we could not probably have had one set of Mr. Darwin's qualities +without the other. If he had been more faultless, he might have +written better books, but we should have listened worse. A book's +prosperity is like a jest's--in the ear of him that hears it. + +Mr. Spencer would not--at least one cannot think he would--have been +able to effect the revolution which will henceforth doubtless be +connected with Mr. Darwin's name. He had been insisting on +evolution for some years before the "Origin of Species" came out, +but he might as well have preached to the winds, for all the visible +effect that had been produced. On the appearance of Mr. Darwin's +book the effect was instantaneous; it was like the change in the +condition of a patient when the right medicine has been hit on after +all sorts of things have been tried and failed. Granted that it was +comparatively easy for Mr. Darwin, as having been born into the +household of one of the prophets of evolution, to arrive at +conclusions about the fixity of species which, if not so born, he +might never have reached at all; this does not make it any easier +for him to have got others to agree with him. Any one, again, may +have money left him, or run up against it, or have it run up against +him, as it does against some people, but it is only a very sensible +person who does not lose it. Moreover, once begin to go behind +achievement and there is an end of everything. Did the world give +much heed to or believe in evolution before Mr. Darwin's time? +Certainly not. Did we begin to attend and be persuaded soon after +Mr. Darwin began to write? Certainly yes. Did we ere long go over +en masse? Assuredly. If, as I said in "Life and Habit," any one +asks who taught the world to believe in evolution, the answer to the +end of time must be that it was Mr. Darwin. And yet the more his +work is looked at, the more marvellous does its success become. It +seems as if some organisms can do anything with anything. Beethoven +picked his teeth with the snuffers, and seems to have picked them +sufficiently to his satisfaction. So Mr. Darwin with one of the +worst styles imaginable did all that the clearest, tersest writer +could have done. Strange, that such a master of cunning (in the +sense of my title) should have been the apostle of luck, and one so +terribly unlucky as Lamarck, of cunning, but such is the irony of +nature. Buffon planted, Erasmus Darwin and Lamarck watered, but it +was Mr. Darwin who said, "That fruit is ripe," and shook it into his +lap. + +With this Mr. Darwin's best friends ought to be content; his +admirers are not well advised in representing him as endowed with +all sorts of qualities which he was very far from possessing. Thus +it is pretended that he was one of those men who were ever on the +watch for new ideas, ever ready to give a helping hand to those who +were trying to advance our knowledge, ever willing to own to a +mistake and give up even his most cherished ideas if truth required +them at his hands. No conception can be more wantonly inexact. I +grant that if a writer was sufficiently at once incompetent and +obsequious Mr. Darwin was "ever ready," &c. So the Emperors of +Austria wash a few poor people's feet on some one of the festivals +of the Church, but it would not be safe to generalise from this +yearly ceremony, and conclude that the Emperors of Austria are in +the habit of washing poor people's feet. I can understand Mr. +Darwin's not having taken any public notice, for example, of "Life +and Habit," for though I did not attack him in force in that book, +it was abundantly clear that an attack could not be long delayed, +and a man may be pardoned for not doing anything to advertise the +works of his opponents; but there is no excuse for his never having +referred to Professor Hering's work either in "Nature," when +Professor Ray Lankester first called attention to it (July 13, +1876), or in some one of his subsequent books. If his attitude +towards those who worked in the same field as himself had been the +generous one which his admirers pretend, he would have certainly +come forward, not necessarily as adopting Professor Hering's theory, +but still as helping it to obtain a hearing. + +His not having done so is of a piece with his silence about Buffon, +Erasmus Darwin, and Lamarck in the early editions of the "Origin of +Species," and with the meagre reference to them which is alone found +in the later ones. It is of a piece also with the silence which Mr. +Darwin invariably maintained when he saw his position irretrievably +damaged, as, for example, by Mr. Spencer's objection already +referred to, and by the late Professor Fleeming Jenkin in the North +British Review (June 1867). Science, after all, should form a +kingdom which is more or less not of this world. The ideal +scientist should know neither self nor friend nor foe--he should be +able to hob-nob with those whom he most vehemently attacks, and to +fly at the scientific throat of those to whom he is personally most +attached; he should be neither grateful for a favourable review nor +displeased at a hostile one; his literary and scientific life should +be something as far apart as possible from his social; it is thus, +at least, alone that any one will be able to keep his eye single for +facts, and their legitimate inferences. We have seen Professor +Mivart lately taken to task by Mr. Romanes for having said {248a} +that Mr. Darwin was singularly sensitive to criticism, and made it +impossible for Professor Mivart to continue friendly personal +relations with him after he had ventured to maintain his own +opinion. I see no reason to question Professor Mivart's accuracy, +and find what he has said to agree alike with my own personal +experience of Mr. Darwin, and with all the light that his works +throw upon his character. + +The most substantial apology that can be made for his attempt to +claim the theory of descent with modification is to be found in the +practice of Lamarck, Mr. Patrick Matthew, the author of the +"Vestiges of Creation," and Mr. Herbert Spencer, and, again, in the +total absence of complaint which this practice met with. If Lamarck +might write the "Philosophie Zoologique" without, so far as I +remember, one word of reference to Buffon, and without being +complained of, why might not Mr. Darwin write the "Origin of +Species" without more than a passing allusion to Lamarck? Mr. +Patrick Matthew, again, though writing what is obviously a resume of +the evolutionary theories of his time, makes no mention of Lamarck, +Erasmus Darwin, or Buffon. I have not the original edition of the +"Vestiges of Creation" before me, but feel sure I am justified in +saying that it claimed to be a more or less Minerva-like work, that +sprang full armed from the brain of Mr. Chambers himself. This at +least is how it was received by the public; and, however violent the +opposition it met with, I cannot find that its author was blamed for +not having made adequate mention of Lamarck. When Mr. Spencer wrote +his first essay on evolution in the Leader (March 20, 1852) he did +indeed begin his argument, "Those who cavalierly reject the doctrine +of Lamarck," &c., so that his essay purports to be written in +support of Lamarck; but when he republished his article in 1858, the +reference to Lamarck was cut out. + +I make no doubt that it was the bad example set him by the writers +named in the preceding paragraph which betrayed Mr. Darwin into +doing as they did, but being more conscientious than they, he could +not bring himself to do it without having satisfied himself that he +had got hold of a more or less distinctive feature, and this, of +course, made matters worse. The distinctive feature was not due to +any deep-laid plan for pitchforking mind out of the universe, or as +part of a scheme of materialistic philosophy, though it has since +been made to play an important part in the attempt to further this; +Mr. Darwin was perfectly innocent of any intention of getting rid of +mind, and did not, probably, care the toss of sixpence whether the +universe was instinct with mind or no--what he did care about was +carrying off the palm in the matter of descent with modification, +and the distinctive feature was an adjunct with which his nervous, +sensitive, Gladstonian nature would not allow him to dispense. + +And why, it may be asked, should not the palm be given to Mr. Darwin +if he wanted it, and was at so much pains to get it? Why, if +science is a kingdom not of this world, make so much fuss about +settling who is entitled to what? At best such questions are of a +sorry personal nature, that can have little bearing upon facts, and +it is these that alone should concern us. The answer is, that if +the question is so merely personal and unimportant, Mr. Darwin may +as well yield as Buffon, Erasmus Darwin, and Lamarck; Mr. Darwin's +admirers find no difficulty in appreciating the importance of a +personal element as far as he is concerned; let them not wonder, +then, if others, while anxious to give him the laurels to which he +is entitled, are somewhat indignant at the attempt to crown him with +leaves that have been filched from the brows of the great dead who +went before him. Palmam qui meruit ferat. The instinct which tells +us that no man in the scientific or literary world should claim more +than his due is an old and, I imagine, a wholesome one, and if a +scientific self-denying ordinance is demanded, we may reply with +justice, Que messieurs les Charles-Darwinies commencent. Mr. Darwin +will have a crown sufficient for any ordinary brow remaining in the +achievement of having done more than any other writer, living or +dead, to popularise evolution. This much may be ungrudgingly +conceded to him, but more than this those who have his scientific +position most at heart will be well advised if they cease henceforth +to demand. + + + +CHAPTER XIX--Conclusion + + + +And now I bring this book to a conclusion. So many things requiring +attention have happened since it was begun that I leave it in a very +different shape to the one which it was originally intended to bear. +I have omitted much that I had meant to deal with, and have been +tempted sometimes to introduce matter the connection of which with +my subject is not immediately apparent. Such however, as the book +is, it must now go in the form into which it has grown almost more +in spite of me than from malice prepense on my part. I was afraid +that it might thus set me at defiance, and in an early chapter +expressed a doubt whether I should find it redound greatly to my +advantage with men of science; in this concluding chapter I may say +that doubt has deepened into something like certainty. I regret +this, but cannot help it. + +Among the points with which it was most incumbent upon me to deal +was that of vegetable intelligence. A reader may well say that +unless I give plants much the same sense of pleasure and pain, +memory, power of will, and intelligent perception of the best way in +which to employ their opportunities that I give to low animals, my +argument falls to the ground. If I declare organic modification to +be mainly due to function, and hence in the closest correlation with +mental change, I must give plants, as well as animals, a mind, and +endow them with power to reflect and reason upon all that most +concerns them. Many who will feel little difficulty about admitting +that animal modification is upon the whole mainly due to the secular +cunning of the animals themselves will yet hesitate before they +admit that plants also can have a reason and cunning of their own. + +Unwillingness to concede this is based principally upon the error +concerning intelligence to which I have already referred--I mean to +our regarding intelligence not so much as the power of understanding +as that of being understood by ourselves. Once admit that the +evidence in favour of a plant's knowing its own business depends +more on the efficiency with which that business is conducted than +either on our power of understanding how it can be conducted, or on +any signs on the plant's part of a capacity for understanding things +that do not concern it, and there will be no further difficulty +about supposing that in its own sphere a plant is just as +intelligent as an animal, and keeps a sharp look-out upon its own +interests, however indifferent it may seem to be to ours. So strong +has been the set of recent opinion in this direction that with +botanists the foregoing now almost goes without saying, though few +five years ago would have accepted it. + +To no one of the several workers in this field are we more indebted +for the change which has been brought about in this respect than to +my late valued and lamented friend Mr. Alfred Tylor. Mr. Tylor was +not the discoverer of the protoplasmic continuity that exists in +plants, but he was among the very first to welcome this discovery, +and his experiments at Carshalton in the years 1883 and 1884 +demonstrated that, whether there was protoplasmic continuity in +plants or no, they were at any rate endowed with some measure of +reason, forethought, and power of self-adaptation to varying +surroundings. It is not for me to give the details of these +experiments. I had the good fortune to see them more than once +while they were in progress, and was present when they were made the +subject of a paper read by Mr. Sydney B. J. Skertchly before the +Linnean Society, Mr. Tylor being then too ill to read it himself. +The paper has since been edited by Mr. Skertchly, and published. +{253a} Anything that should be said further about it will come best +from Mr. Skertchly; it will be enough here if I give the resume of +it prepared by Mr. Tylor himself. + +In this Mr. Tylor said:- "The principles which underlie this paper +are the individuality of plants, the necessity for some co- +ordinating system to enable the parts to act in concert, and the +probability that this also necessitates the admission that plants +have a dim sort of intelligence. + +"It is shown that a tree, for example, is something more than an +aggregation of tissues, but is a complex being performing acts as a +whole, and not merely responsive to the direct influence of light, +&c. The tree knows more than its branches, as the species know more +than the individual, the community than the unit. + +"Moreover, inasmuch as my experiments show that many plants and +trees possess the power of adapting themselves to unfamiliar +circumstances, such as, for instance, avoiding obstacles by bending +aside before touching, or by altering the leaf arrangement, it seems +probable that at least as much voluntary power must be accorded to +such plants as to certain lowly organised animals. + +"Finally, a connecting system by means of which combined movements +take place is found in the threads of protoplasm which unite the +various cells, and which I have now shown to exist even in the wood +of trees. + +"One of the important facts seems to be the universality of the +upward curvature of the tips of growing branches of trees, and the +power possessed by the tree to straighten its branches afterwards, +so that new growth shall by similar means be able to obtain the +necessary light and air. + +"A house, to use a sanitary analogy, is functionally useless without +it obtains a good supply of light and air. The architect strives so +to produce the house as to attain this end, and still leave the +house comfortable. But the house, though dependent upon, is not +produced by, the light and air. So a tree is functionally useless, +and cannot even exist without a proper supply of light and air; but, +whereas it has been the custom to ascribe the heliotropic and other +motions to the direct influence of those agents, I would rather +suggest that the movements are to some extent due to the desire of +the plant to acquire its necessaries of life." + +The more I have reflected upon Mr. Tylor's Carshalton experiments, +the more convinced I am of their great value. No one, indeed, ought +to have doubted that plants were intelligent, but we all of us do +much that we ought not to do, and Mr. Tylor supplied a demonstration +which may be henceforth authoritatively appealed to. + +I will take the present opportunity of insisting upon a suggestion +which I made in "Alps and Sanctuaries" (New edition, pp. 152, 153), +with which Mr. Tylor was much pleased, and which, at his request, I +made the subject of a few words that I ventured to say at the +Linnean Society's rooms after his paper had been read. "Admitting," +I said, "the common protoplasmic origin of animals and plants, and +setting aside the notion that plants preceded animals, we are still +faced by the problem why protoplasm should have developed into the +organic life of the world, along two main lines, and only two--the +animal and the vegetable. Why, if there was an early schism--and +this there clearly was--should there not have been many subsequent +ones of equal importance? We see innumerable sub-divisions of +animals and plants, but we see no other such great subdivision of +organic life as that whereby it ranges itself, for the most part +readily, as either animal or vegetable. Why any subdivision?--but +if any, why not more than two great classes?" + +The two main stems of the tree of life ought, one would think, to +have been formed on the same principle as the boughs which represent +genera, and the twigs which stand for species and varieties. If +specific differences arise mainly from differences of action taken +in consequence of differences of opinion, then, so ultimately do +generic; so, therefore, again, do differences between families; so +therefore, by analogy, should that greatest of differences in virtue +of which the world of life is mainly animal, or vegetable. In this +last case as much as in that of specific difference, we ought to +find divergent form the embodiment and organic expression of +divergent opinion. Form is mind made manifest in flesh through +action: shades of mental difference being expressed in shades of +physical difference, while broad fundamental differences of opinion +are expressed in broad fundamental differences of bodily shape. + +Or to put it thus:- + +If form and habit be regarded as functionally interdependent, that +is to say, if neither form nor habit can vary without corresponding +variation in the other, and if habit and opinion concerning +advantage are also functionally interdependent, it follows self- +evidently that form and opinion concerning advantage (and hence form +and cunning) will be functionally interdependent also, and that +there can be no great modification of the one without corresponding +modification of the other. Let there, then, be a point in respect +of which opinion might be early and easily divided--a point in +respect of which two courses involving different lines of action +presented equally-balanced advantages--and there would be an early +subdivision of primordial life, according as the one view or the +other was taken. + +It is obvious that the pros and cons for either course must be +supposed very nearly equal, otherwise the course which presented the +fewest advantages would be attended with the probable gradual +extinction of the organised beings that adopted it, but there being +supposed two possible modes of action very evenly balanced as +regards advantage and disadvantages, then the ultimate appearance of +two corresponding forms of life is a sequitur from the admission +that form varies as function, and function as opinion concerning +advantage. If there are three, four, five, or six such opinions +tenable, we ought to have three, four, five, or six main +subdivisions of life. As things are, we have two only. Can we, +then, see a matter on which opinion was likely to be easily and +early divided into two, and only two, main divisions--no third +course being conceivable? If so, this should suggest itself as the +probable source from which the two main forms of organic life have +been derived. + +I submit that we can see such a matter in the question whether it +pays better to sit still and make the best of what comes in one's +way, or to go about in search of what one can find. Of course we, +as animals, naturally hold that it is better to go about in search +of what we can find than to sit still and make the best of what +comes; but there is still so much to be said on the other side, that +many classes of animals have settled down into sessile habits, while +a perhaps even larger number are, like spiders, habitual liers in +wait rather than travellers in search of food. I would ask my +reader, therefore, to see the opinion that it is better to go in +search of prey as formulated, and finding its organic expression, in +animals; and the other--that it is better to be ever on the look-out +to make the best of what chance brings up to them--in plants. Some +few intermediate forms still record to us the long struggle during +which the schism was not yet complete, and the halting between two +opinions which it might be expected that some organisms should +exhibit. + +"Neither class," I said in "Alps and Sanctuaries," "has been quite +consistent. Who ever is or can be? Every extreme--every opinion +carried to its logical end--will prove to be an absurdity. Plants +throw out roots and boughs and leaves; this is a kind of locomotion; +and, as Dr. Erasmus Darwin long since pointed out, they do +sometimes approach nearly to what may be called travelling; a man of +consistent character will never look at a bough, a root, or a +tendril without regarding it as a melancholy and unprincipled +compromise" (New edition, p. 153). + +Having called attention to this view, and commended it to the +consideration of my readers, I proceed to another which should not +have been left to be touched upon only in a final chapter, and +which, indeed, seems to require a book to itself--I refer to the +origin and nature of the feelings, which those who accept volition +as having had a large share in organic modification must admit to +have had a no less large share in the formation of volition. +Volition grows out of ideas, ideas from feelings. What, then, is +feeling, and the subsequent mental images or ideas? + +The image of a stone formed in our minds is no representation of the +object which has given rise to it. Not only, as has been often +remarked, is there no resemblance between the particular thought and +the particular thing, but thoughts and things generally are too +unlike to be compared. An idea of a stone may be like an idea of +another stone, or two stones may be like one another; but an idea of +a stone is not like a stone; it cannot be thrown at anything, it +occupies no room in space, has no specific gravity, and when we come +to know more about stones, we find our ideas concerning them to be +but rude, epitomised, and highly conventional renderings of the +actual facts, mere hieroglyphics, in fact, or, as it were, counters +or bank-notes, which serve to express and to convey commodities with +which they have no pretence of analogy. + +Indeed we daily find that, as the range of our perceptions becomes +enlarged either by invention of new appliances or after use of old +ones, we change our ideas though we have no reason to think that the +thing about which we are thinking has changed. In the case of a +stone, for instance, the rude, unassisted, uneducated senses see it +as above all things motionless, whereas assisted and trained ideas +concerning it represent motion as its most essential characteristic; +but the stone has not changed. So, again, the uneducated idea +represents it as above all things mindless, and is as little able to +see mind in connection with it as it lately was to see motion; it +will be no greater change of opinion than we have most of us +undergone already if we come presently to see it as no less full of +elementary mind than of elementary motion, but the stone will not +have changed. + +The fact that we modify our opinions suggests that our ideas are +formed not so much in involuntary self-adjusting mimetic +correspondence with the objects that we believe to give rise to +them, as by what was in the outset voluntary, conventional +arrangement in whatever way we found convenient, of sensation and +perception-symbols, which had nothing whatever to do with the +objects, and were simply caught hold of as the only things we could +grasp. It would seem as if, in the first instance, we must have +arbitrarily attached some one of the few and vague sensations which +we could alone at first command, to certain motions of outside +things as echoed by our brain, and used them to think and feel the +things with, so as to docket them, and recognise them with greater +force, certainty, and clearness--much as we use words to help us to +docket and grasp our feelings and thoughts, or written characters to +help us to docket and grasp our words. + +If this view be taken we stand in much the same attitude towards our +feelings as a dog may be supposed to do towards our own reading and +writing. The dog may be supposed to marvel at the wonderful +instinctive faculty by which we can tell the price of the different +railway stocks merely by looking at a sheet of paper; he supposes +this power to be a part of our nature, to have come of itself by +luck and not by cunning, but a little reflection will show that +feeling is not more likely to have "come by nature" than reading and +writing are. Feeling is in all probability the result of the same +kind of slow laborious development as that which has attended our +more recent arts and our bodily organs; its development must be +supposed to have followed the same lines as that of our other arts, +and indeed of the body itself, which is the ars artium--for growth +of mind is throughout coincident with growth of organic resources, +and organic resources grow with growing mind. + +Feeling is the art the possession of which differentiates the +civilised organic world from that of brute inorganic matter, but +still it is an art; it is the outcome of a mind that is common both +to organic and inorganic, and which the organic has alone +cultivated. It is not a part of mind itself; it is no more this +than language and writing are parts of thought. The organic world +can alone feel, just as man can alone speak; but as speech is only +the development of powers the germs of which are possessed by the +lower animals, so feeling is only a sign of the employment and +development of powers the germs of which exist in inorganic +substances. It has all the characteristics of an art, and though it +must probably rank as the oldest of those arts that are peculiar to +the organic world, it is one which is still in process of +development. None of us, indeed, can feel well on more than a very +few subjects, and many can hardly feel at all. + +But, however this may be, our sensations and perceptions of material +phenomena are attendant on the excitation of certain motions in the +anterior parts of the brain. Whenever certain motions are excited +in this substance, certain sensations and ideas of resistance, +extension, &c., are either concomitant, or ensue within a period too +brief for our cognisance. It is these sensations and ideas that we +directly cognise, and it is to them that we have attached the idea +of the particular kind of matter we happen to be thinking of. As +this idea is not like the thing itself, so neither is it like the +motions in our brain on which it is attendant. It is no more like +these than, say, a stone is like the individual characters, written +or spoken, that form the word "stone," or than these last are, in +sound, like the word "stone" itself, whereby the idea of a stone is +so immediately and vividly presented to us. True, this does not +involve that our idea shall not resemble the object that gave rise +to it, any more than the fact that a looking-glass bears no +resemblance to the things reflected in it involves that the +reflection shall not resemble the things reflected; the shifting +nature, however, of our ideas and conceptions is enough to show that +they must be symbolical, and conditioned by changes going on within +ourselves as much as by those outside us; and if, going behind the +ideas which suffice for daily use, we extend our inquiries in the +direction of the reality underlying our conception, we find reason +to think that the brain-motions which attend our conception +correspond with exciting motions in the object that occasions it, +and that these, rather than anything resembling our conception +itself, should be regarded as the reality. + +This leads to a third matter, on which I can only touch with extreme +brevity. + +Different modes of motion have long been known as the causes of our +different colour perceptions, or at any rate as associated +therewith, and of late years, more especially since the promulgation +of Newlands' {260a} law, it has been perceived that what we call the +kinds or properties of matter are not less conditioned by motion +than colour is. The substance or essence of unconditioned matter, +as apart from the relations between its various states (which we +believe to be its various conditions of motion) must remain for ever +unknown to us, for it is only the relations between the conditions +of the underlying substance that we cognise at all, and where there +are no conditions, there is nothing for us to seize, compare, and, +hence, cognise; unconditioned matter must, therefore, be as +inconceivable by us as unmattered condition; {261a} but though we +can know nothing about matter as apart from its conditions or +states, opinion has been for some time tending towards the belief +that what we call the different states, or kinds, of matter are only +our ways of mentally characterising and docketing our estimates of +the different kinds of motion going on in this otherwise +uncognisable substratum. + +Our conception, then, concerning the nature of any matter depends +solely upon its kind and degree of unrest, that is to say, on the +characteristics of the vibrations that are going on within it. The +exterior object vibrating in a certain way imparts some of its +vibrations to our brain--but if the state of the thing itself +depends upon its vibrations, it must be considered as to all intents +and purposes the vibrations themselves--plus, of course, the +underlying substance that is vibrating. If, for example, a pat of +butter is a portion of the unknowable underlying substance in such- +and-such a state of molecular disturbance, and it is only by +alteration of the disturbance that the substance can be altered--the +disturbance of the substance is practically equivalent to the +substance: a pat of butter is such-and-such a disturbance of the +unknowable underlying substance, and such-and-such a disturbance of +the underlying substance is a pat of butter. In communicating its +vibrations, therefore, to our brain a substance does actually +communicate what is, as far as we are concerned, a portion of +itself. Our perception of a thing and its attendant feeling are +symbols attaching to an introduction within our brain of a feeble +state of the thing itself. Our recollection of it is occasioned by +a feeble continuance of this feeble state in our brains, becoming +less feeble through the accession of fresh but similar vibrations +from without. The molecular vibrations which make the thing an idea +of which is conveyed to our minds, put within our brain a little +feeble emanation from the thing itself--if we come within their +reach. This being once put there, will remain as it were dust, till +dusted out, or till it decay, or till it receive accession of new +vibrations. + +The vibrations from a pat of butter do, then, actually put butter +into a man's head. This is one of the commonest of expressions, and +would hardly be so common if it were not felt to have some +foundation in fact. At first the man does not know what feeling or +complex of feelings to employ so as to docket the vibrations, any +more than he knows what word to employ so as to docket the feelings, +or with what written characters to docket his word; but he gets over +this, and henceforward the vibrations of the exterior object (that +is to say, the thing) never set up their characteristic +disturbances, or, in other words, never come into his head, without +the associated feeling presenting itself as readily as word and +characters present themselves, on the presence of the feeling. The +more butter a man sees and handles, the more he gets butter on the +brain--till, though he can never get anything like enough to be +strictly called butter, it only requires the slightest molecular +disturbance with characteristics like those of butter to bring up a +vivid and highly sympathetic idea of butter in the man's mind. + +If this view is adopted, our memory of a thing is our retention +within the brain of a small leaven of the actual thing itself, or of +what qua us is the thing that is remembered, and the ease with which +habitual actions come to be performed is due to the power of the +vibrations having been increased and modified by continual accession +from without till they modify the molecular disturbances of the +nervous system, and therefore its material substance, which we have +already settled to be only our way of docketing molecular +disturbances. The same vibrations, therefore, form the substance +remembered, introduce an infinitesimal dose of it within the brain, +modify the substance remembering, and, in the course of time, create +and further modify the mechanism of both the sensory and motor +nerves. Thought and thing are one. + +I commend these two last speculations to the reader's charitable +consideration, as feeling that I am here travelling beyond the +ground on which I can safely venture; nevertheless, as it may be +some time before I have another opportunity of coming before the +public, I have thought it, on the whole, better not to omit them, +but to give them thus provisionally. I believe they are both +substantially true, but am by no means sure that I have expressed +them either clearly or accurately; I cannot, however, further delay +the issue of my book. + +Returning to the point raised in my title, is luck, I would ask, or +cunning, the more fitting matter to be insisted upon in connection +with organic modification? Do animals and plants grow into +conformity with their surroundings because they and their fathers +and mothers take pains, or because their uncles and aunts go away? +For the survival of the fittest is only the non-survival or going +away of the unfittest--in whose direct line the race is not +continued, and who are therefore only uncles and aunts of the +survivors. I can quite understand its being a good thing for any +race that its uncles and aunts should go away, but I do not believe +the accumulation of lucky accidents could result in an eye, no +matter how many uncles and aunts may have gone away during how many +generations. + +I would ask the reader to bear in mind the views concerning life and +death expressed in an early chapter. They seem to me not, indeed, +to take away any very considerable part of the sting from death; +this should not be attempted or desired, for with the sting of death +the sweets of life are inseparably bound up so that neither can be +weakened without damaging the other. Weaken the fear of death, and +the love of life would be weakened. Strengthen it, and we should +cling to life even more tenaciously than we do. But though death +must always remain as a shock and change of habits from which we +must naturally shrink--still it is not the utter end of our being, +which, until lately, it must have seemed to those who have been +unable to accept the grosser view of the resurrection with which we +were familiarised in childhood. We too now know that though worms +destroy this body, yet in our flesh shall we so far see God as to be +still in Him and of Him--biding our time for a resurrection in a new +and more glorious body; and, moreover, that we shall be to the full +as conscious of this as we are at present of much that concerns us +as closely as anything can concern us. + +The thread of life cannot be shorn between successive generations, +except upon grounds which will in equity involve its being shorn +between consecutive seconds, and fractions of seconds. On the other +hand, it cannot be left unshorn between consecutive seconds without +necessitating that it should be left unshorn also beyond the grave, +as well as in successive generations. Death is as salient a feature +in what we call our life as birth was, but it is no more than this. +As a salient feature, it is a convenient epoch for the drawing of a +defining line, by the help of which we may better grasp the +conception of life, and think it more effectually, but it is a facon +de parler only; it is, as I said in "Life and Habit," {264a} "the +most inexorable of all conventions," but our idea of it has no +correspondence with eternal underlying realities. + +Finally, we must have evolution; consent is too spontaneous, +instinctive, and universal among those most able to form an opinion, +to admit of further doubt about this. We must also have mind and +design. The attempt to eliminate intelligence from among the main +agencies of the universe has broken down too signally to be again +ventured upon--not until the recent rout has been forgotten. +Nevertheless the old, far-foreseeing Deus ex machina design as from +a point outside the universe, which indeed it directs, but of which +it is no part, is negatived by the facts of organism. What, then, +remains, but the view that I have again in this book endeavoured to +uphold--I mean, the supposition that the mind or cunning of which we +see such abundant evidence all round us, is, like the kingdom of +heaven, within us, and within all things at all times everywhere? +There is design, or cunning, but it is a cunning not despotically +fashioning us from without as a potter fashions his clay, but +inhering democratically within the body which is its highest +outcome, as life inheres within an animal or plant. + +All animals and plants are corporations, or forms of democracy, and +may be studied by the light of these, as democracies, not +infrequently, by that of animals and plants. The solution of the +difficult problem of reflex action, for example, is thus +facilitated, by supposing it to be departmental in character; that +is to say, by supposing it to be action of which the department that +attends to it is alone cognisant, and which is not referred to the +central government so long as things go normally. As long, +therefore, as this is the case, the central government is +unconscious of what is going on, but its being thus unconscious is +no argument that the department is unconscious also. + +I know that contradiction in terms lurks within much that I have +said, but the texture of the world is a warp and woof of +contradiction in terms; of continuity in discontinuity, and +discontinuity in continuity; of unity in diversity, and of diversity +in unity. As in the development of a fugue, where, when the subject +and counter subject have been enounced, there must henceforth be +nothing new, and yet all must be new, so throughout organic life-- +which is as a fugue developed to great length from a very simple +subject--everything is linked on to and grows out of that which +comes next to it in order--errors and omissions excepted. It +crosses and thwarts what comes next to it with difference that +involves resemblance, and resemblance that involves difference, and +there is no juxtaposition of things that differ too widely by +omission of necessary links, or too sudden departure from recognised +methods of procedure. + +To conclude; bodily form may be almost regarded as idea and memory +in a solidified state--as an accumulation of things each one of them +so tenuous as to be practically without material substance. It is +as a million pounds formed by accumulated millionths of farthings; +more compendiously it arises normally from, and through, action. +Action arises normally from, and through, opinion. Opinion, from, +and through, hypothesis. "Hypothesis," as the derivation of the +word itself shows, is singularly near akin to "underlying, and only +in part knowable, substratum;" and what is this but "God" translated +from the language of Moses into that of Mr. Herbert Spencer? The +conception of God is like nature--it returns to us in another shape, +no matter how often we may expel it. Vulgarised as it has been by +Michael Angelo, Raffaelle, and others who shall be nameless, it has +been like every other corruptio optimi--pessimum: used as a +hieroglyph by the help of which we may better acknowledge the height +and depth of our own ignorance, and at the same time express our +sense that there is an unseen world with which we in some mysterious +way come into contact, though the writs of our thoughts do not run +within it--used in this way, the idea and the word have been found +enduringly convenient. The theory that luck is the main means of +organic modification is the most absolute denial of God which it is +possible for the human mind to conceive--while the view that God is +in all His creatures, He in them and they in Him, is only expressed +in other words by declaring that the main means of organic +modification is, not luck, but cunning. + + + +Footnotes: + +{17a} "Nature," Nov. 12, 1885. + +{20a} "Hist. Nat. Gen.," tom. ii. p. 411, 1859. + +{23a} "Selections, &c." Trubner & Co., 1884. [Out of print.] + +{29a} "Selections, &c., and Remarks on Romanes' 'Mental +Intelligence in Animals,'" Trubner & Co., 1884. pp. 228, 229. [Out +of print.] + +{35a} Quoted by M. Vianna De Lima in his "Expose Sommaire," &c., p. +6. Paris, Delagrave, 1886. + +{40a} I have given the passage in full on p. 254a of my +"Selections," &c. [Now out of print.] I observe that Canon +Kingsley felt exactly the same difficulty that I had felt myself, +and saw also how alone it could be met. He makes the wood-wren say, +"Something told him his mother had done it before him, and he was +flesh of her flesh, life of her life, and had inherited her instinct +(as we call hereditary memory, to avoid the trouble of finding out +what it is and how it comes)." --Fraser, June, 1867. Canon Kingsley +felt he must insist on the continued personality of the two +generations before he could talk about inherited memory. On the +other hand, though he does indeed speak of this as almost a synonym +for instinct, he seems not to have realised how right he was, and +implies that we should find some fuller and more satisfactory +explanation behind this, only that we are too lazy to look for it. + +{44a} 26 Sept., 1877. "Unconscious Memory." ch. ii. + +{52a} This chapter is taken almost entirely from my book, +"Selections, &c.. and Remarks on Romanes' 'Mental Evolution in +Animals.'" Trubner, 1884. [Now out of print.] + +{52b} "Mental Evolution in Animals," p. 113. Kegan Paul, Nov., +1883. + +{52c} Ibid. p. 115. + +{52d} Ibid. p. 116. + +{53a} "Mental Evolution in Animals." p. 131. Kegan Paul, Nov., +1883. + +{54a} Vol. I, 3rd ed., 1874, p. 141, and Problem I. 21. + +{54b} "Mental Evolution in Animals," pp. 177, 178. Nov., 1883. + +{55a} "Mental Evolution in Animals," p. 192. + +{55b} Ibid. p. 195. + +{55c} Ibid. p. 296. Nov., 1883. + +{56a} "Mental Evolution in Animals," p. 33. Nov., 1883. + +{56b} Ibid., p. 116. + +{56c} Ibid., p. 178. + +{59a} "Evolution Old and New," pp. 357, 358. + +{60a} "Mental Evolution in Animals," p. 159. Kegan Paul & Co., +1883. + +{61a} "Zoonomia," vol. i. p. 484. + +{61b} "Mental Evolution in Animals," p. 297. Kegan Paul & Co., +1883. + +{61c} Ibid., p. 201. Kegan Paul & Co., 1883. + +{62a} "Mental Evolution in Animals," p. 301. November, 1883. + +{62b} Origin of Species," ed. i. p. 209. + +{62c} Ibid., ed. vi., 1876. p. 206. + +{62d} "Formation of Vegetable Mould," etc., p. 98. + +{62e} Quoted by Mr. Romanes as written in the last year of Mr. +Darwin's life. + +{63a} Macmillan, 1883. + +{66a} "Nature," August 5, 1886. + +{67a} London, H. K. Lewis, 1886. + +{70a} "Charles Darwin." Longmans, 1885. + +{70b} Lectures at the London Institution, Feb., 1886. + +{70c} "Charles Darwin." Leipzig. 1885. + +{72a} See Professor Hering's "Zur Lehre von der Beziehung zwischen +Leib und Seele. Mittheilung uber Fechner's psychophysisches +Gesetz." + +{73a} Quoted by M. Vianna De Lima in his "Expose Sommaire des +Theories Transformistes de Lamarck, Darwin, et Haeckel." Paris, +1886, p. 23. + +{81a} "Origin of Species," ed. i., p. 6; see also p. 43. + +{83a} "I think it can be shown that there is such a power at work +in 'Natural Selection' (the title of my book)."--"Proceedings of the +Linnean Society for 1858," vol. iii., p. 51. + +{86a} "On Naval Timber and Arboriculture," 1831, pp. 384, 385. See +also "Evolution Old and New," pp. 320, 321. + +{87a} "Origin of Species," p. 49, ed. vi. + +{92a} "Origin of Species," ed. i., pp. 188, 189. + +{93a} Page 9. + +{94a} Page 226. + +{96a} "Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society." +Williams and Norgate, 1858, p. 61. + +{102a} "Zoonomia," vol. i., p. 505. + +{104a} See "Evolution Old and New." p. 122. + +{105a} "Phil. Zool.," i., p. 80. + +{105b} Ibid., i. 82. + +{105c} Ibid. vol. i., p. 237. + +{107a} See concluding chapter. + +{122a} Report, 9, 26. + +{135a} Ps. cii. 25-27, Bible version. + +{136a} Ps. cxxxix., Prayer-book version. + +{140a} Contemporary Review, August, 1885, p. 84. + +{142a} London, David Bogue, 1881, p. 60. + +{144a} August 12, 1886. + +{150a} Paris, Delagrave, 1886. + +{150b} Page 60. + +{150c} "OEuvre completes," tom. ix. p. 422. Paris, Garnier freres, +1875. + +{150d} "Hist. Nat.," tom. i., p. 13, 1749, quoted "Evol. Old and +New," p. 108. + +{156a} "Origin of Species," ed. vi., p. 107. + +{156b} Ibid., ed. vi., p. 166. + +{157a} "Origin of Species," ed. vi., p. 233. + +{157b} Ibid. + +{157c} Ibid., ed. vi., p. 109. + +{157d} Ibid., ed. vi., p. 401. + +{158a} "Origin of Species," ed. i., p. 490. + +{161a} "Origin of Species," ed. vi., 1876, p. 171. + +{163a} "Charles Darwin," p. 113. + +{164a} "Animals and Plants under Domestication," vol. ii., p. 367, +ed. 1875. + +{168a} Page 3. + +{168b} Page 4. + +{169a} It should be remembered this was the year in which the +"Vestiges of Creation" appeared. + +{173a} "Charles Darwin," p. 67. + +{173b} H. S. King & Co., 1876. + +{174a} Page 17. + +{195a} "Phil. Zool.," tom. i., pp. 34, 35. + +{202a} "Origin of Species," p. 381, ed. i. + +{203a} Page 454, ed. i. + +{205a} "Principles of Geology," vol. ii., chap. xxxiv., ed. 1872. + +{206a} "Naturliche Schopfungsgeschichte," p. 3. Berlin, 1868. + +{209a} See "Evolution Old and New," pp. 8, 9. + +{216a} "Vestiges," &c., ed. 1860; Proofs, Illustrations, &c., p. +xiv. + +{216b} Examiner, May 17, 1879, review of "Evolution Old and New." + +{218a} Given in part in "Evolution Old and New." + +{219a} "Mind," p. 498, Oct., 1883. + +{224a} "Degeneration," 1880, p. 10. + +{227a} E.g. the Rev. George Henslow, in "Modern Thought," vol. ii., +No. 5, 1881. + +{232a} "Nature," Aug. 6, 1886. + +{234a} See Mr. Darwin's "Animals and Plants under Domestication," +vol. i., p. 466, &c., ed. 1875. + +{235a} Paris, 1873, Introd., p. vi. + +{235b} "Hist. Nat. Gen.," ii. 404, 1859. + +{239a} As these pages are on the point of going to press, I see +that the writer of an article on Liszt in the "Athenaeum" makes the +same emendation on Shakespeare's words that I have done. + +{240a} "Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle," vol. iii., p. 373. +London, 1839. + +{242a} See Professor Paley, "Fraser," Jan., 1882, "Science Gossip," +Nos. 162, 163, June and July, 1878, and "Nature," Jan. 3, Jan. 10, +Feb. 28, and March 27, 1884. + +{245a} "Formation of Vegetable Mould," etc., p. 217. Murray, 1882. + +{248a} "Fortnightly Review," Jan., 1886. + +{253a} "On the Growth of Trees and Protoplasmic Continuity." +London, Stanford, 1886. + +{260a} Sometimes called Mendelejeff's (see "Monthly Journal of +Science," April, 1884). + +{261a} I am aware that attempts have been made to say that we can +conceive a condition of matter, although there is no matter in +connection with it--as, for example, that we can have motion without +anything moving (see "Nature," March 5, March 12, and April 9, +1885)--but I think it little likely that this opinion will meet +general approbation. + +{264a} Page 53. + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, LUCK OR CUNNING? *** + +This file should be named lckc10.txt or lckc10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, lckc11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, lckc10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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