Unconscious Memory(Fiscle Part-3) by Samuel Butler (best novels ever .TXT) 📖
- Author: Samuel Butler
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Accounts Of Organic Form And Function Without Taking Account Of The
Psychical Side Is Most Strenuously Asserted. And With Our Regret
That Past Misunderstandings Should Be So Prominent In Butler's Works,
It Was Very Pleasant To Hear Francis Darwin's Quotation From Butler's
Translation Of Hering {0l} Followed By A Personal Tribute To Butler
Himself.
In Commemoration Of The Centenary Of The Birth Of Charles Darwin And
Of The Fiftieth Anniversary Of The Publication Of The "Origin Of
Species," At The Suggestion Of The Cambridge Philosophical Society,
The University Press Published During The Current Year A Volume
Entitled "Darwin And Modern Science," Edited By Mr. A. C. Seward,
Professor Of Botany In The University. Of The Twenty-Nine Essays By
Men Of Science Of The Highest Distinction, One Is Of Peculiar
Interest To The Readers Of Samuel Butler: "Heredity And Variation In
Modern Lights," By Professor W. Bateson, F.R.S., To Whose Work On
"Discontinuous Variations" We Have Already Referred. Here Once More
Butler Receives From An Official Biologist Of The First Rank Full
Recognition For His Wonderful Insight And Keen Critical Power. This
Is The More Noteworthy Because Bateson Has Apparently No Faith In The
Transmission Of Acquired Characters; But Such A Passage As This Would
Have Commended Itself To Butler's Admiration:-
"All This Indicates A Definiteness And Specific Order In Heredity,
And Therefore In Variation. This Order Cannot By The Nature Of The
Case Be Dependent On Natural Selection For Its Existence, But Must Be
A Consequence Of The Fundamental Chemical And Physical Nature Of
Living Things. The Study Of Variation Had From The First Shown That
An Orderliness Of This Kind Was Present. The Bodies And Properties
Of Living Things Are Cosmic, Not Chaotic. No Matter How Low In The
Scale We Go, Never Do We Find The Slightest Hint Of A Diminution In
That All-Pervading Orderliness, Nor Can We Conceive An Organism
Existing For One Moment In Any Other State."
We Have Now Before Us The Materials To Determine The Problem Of
Butler's Relation To Biology And To Biologists. He Was, We Have
Seen, Anticipated By Hering; But His Attitude Was His Own, Fresh And
Original. He Did Not Hamper His Exposition, Like Hering, By A
Subsidiary Hypothesis Of Vibrations Which May Or May Not Be True,
Which Burdens The Theory Without Giving It Greater Carrying Power Or
Persuasiveness, Which Is Based On No Objective Facts, And Which, As
Semon Has Practically Demonstrated, Is Needless For The Detailed
Working Out Of The Theory. Butler Failed To Impress The Biologists
Introduction Pg 21Of His Day, Even Those On Whom, Like Romanes, He Might Have
Reasonably Counted For Understanding And For Support. But He Kept
Alive Hering's Work When It Bade Fair To Sink Into The Limbo Of
Obsolete Hypotheses. To Use Oliver Wendell Holmes's Phrase, He
"Depolarised" Evolutionary Thought. We Quote The Words Of A Young
Biologist, Who, When An Ardent And Dogmatic Weismannist Of The Most
Pronounced Type, Was Induced To Read "Life And Habit": "The Book Was
To Me A Transformation And An Inspiration." Such Learned Writings As
Semon's Or Hering's Could Never Produce Such An Effect: They Do Not
Penetrate To The Heart Of Man; They Cannot Carry Conviction To The
Intellect Already Filled Full With Rival Theories, And With The
Unreasoned Faith That To-Morrow Or Next Day A New Discovery Will
Obliterate All Distinction Between Man And His Makings. The Mind
Must Needs Be Open For The Reception Of Truth, For The Rejection Of
Prejudice; And The Violence Of A Samuel Butler May In The Future As
In The Past Be Needed To Shatter The Coat Of Mail Forged By Too
Exclusively Professional A Training.
Preface Pg 22
Not Finding The "Well-Known German Scientific Journal Kosmos" {0m}
Entered In The British Museum Catalogue, I Have Presented The Museum
With A Copy Of The Number For February 1879, Which Contains The
Article By Dr. Krause Of Which Mr. Charles Darwin Has Given A
Translation, The Accuracy Of Which Is Guaranteed--So He Informs Us--
By The Translator's "Scientific Reputation Together With His
Knowledge Of German." {0n}
I Have Marked The Copy, So That The Reader Can See At A Glance What
Passages Has Been Suppressed And Where Matter Has Been Interpolated.
I Have Also Present A Copy Of "Erasmus Darwin." I Have Marked This
Too, So That The Genuine And Spurious Passages Can Be Easily
Distinguished.
I Understand That Both The "Erasmus Darwin" And The Number Of Kosmos
Have Been Sent To The Keeper Of Printed Books, With Instructions That
Preface Pg 23They Shall Be At Once Catalogued And Made Accessible To Readers, And
Do Not Doubt That This Will Have Been Done Before The Present Volume
Is Published. The Reader, Therefore, Who May Be Sufficiently
Interested In The Matter To Care To See Exactly What Has Been Done
Will Now Have An Opportunity Of Doing So.
October 25, 1880.
Chapter 1 Pg 24Introduction--General Ignorance On The Subject Of Evolution At The
Time The "Origin Of Species" Was Published In 1859.
There Are Few Things Which Strike Us With More Surprise, When We
Review The Course Taken By Opinion In The Last Century, Than The
Suddenness With Which Belief In Witchcraft And Demoniacal Possession
Came To An End. This Has Been Often Remarked Upon, But I Am Not
Acquainted With Any Record Of The Fact As It Appeared To Those Under
Whose Eyes The Change Was Taking Place, Nor Have I Seen Any
Contemporary Explanation Of The Reasons Which Led To The Apparently
Sudden Overthrow Of A Belief Which Had Seemed Hitherto To Be Deeply
Rooted In The Minds Of Almost All Men. As A Parallel To This, Though
In Respect Of The Rapid Spread Of An Opinion, And Not Its Decadence,
It Is Probable That Those Of Our Descendants Who Take An Interest In
Ourselves Will Note The Suddenness With Which The Theory Of
Evolution, From Having Been Generally Ridiculed During A Period Of
Over A Hundred Years, Came Into Popularity And Almost Universal
Acceptance Among Educated People.
It Is Indisputable That This Has Been The Case; Nor Is It Less
Indisputable That The Works Of Mr. Darwin And Mr. Wallace Have Been
The Main Agents In The Change That Has Been Brought About In Our
Opinions. The Names Of Cobden And Bright Do Not Stand More
Prominently Forward In Connection With The Repeal Of The Corn Laws
Than Do Those Of Mr. Darwin And Mr. Wallace In Connection With The
General Acceptance Of The Theory Of Evolution. There Is No Living
Philosopher Who Has Anything Like Mr. Darwin's Popularity With
Englishmen Generally; And Not Only This, But His Power Of Fascination
Extends All Over Europe, And Indeed In Every Country In Which
Civilisation Has Obtained Footing: Not Among The Illiterate Masses,
Chapter 1 Pg 25Though These Are Rapidly Following The Suit Of The Educated Classes,
But Among Experts And Those Who Are Most Capable Of Judging. France,
Indeed--The Country Of Buffon And Lamarck--Must Be Counted An
Exception To The General Rule, But In England And Germany There Are
Few Men Of Scientific Reputation Who Do Not Accept Mr. Darwin As The
Founder Of What Is Commonly Called "Darwinism," And Regard Him As
Perhaps The Most Penetrative And Profound Philosopher Of Modern
Times.
To Quote An Example From The Last Few Weeks Only, {2} I Have Observed
That Professor Huxley Has Celebrated The Twenty-First Year Since The
"Origin Of Species" Was Published By A Lecture At The Royal
Institution, And Am Told That He Described Mr. Darwin's Candour As
Something Actually "Terrible" (I Give Professor Huxley's Own Word, As
Reported By One Who Heard It); And On Opening A Small Book Entitled
"Degeneration," By Professor Ray Lankester, Published A Few Days
Before These Lines Were Written, I Find The Following Passage Amid
More That Is To The Same Purport:-
"Suddenly One Of Those Great Guesses Which Occasionally Appear In The
History Of Science Was Given To The Science Of Biology By The
Imaginative Insight Of That Greatest Of Living Naturalists--I Would
Say That Greatest Of Living Men--Charles Darwin."--Degeneration, P.
10.
This Is Very Strong Language, But It Is Hardly Stronger Than That
Habitually Employed By The Leading Men Of Science When They Speak Of
Mr. Darwin. To Go Farther Afield, In February 1879 The Germans
Devoted An Entire Number Of One Of Their Scientific Periodicals {3}
To The Celebration Of Mr. Darwin's Seventieth Birthday. There Is No
Other Englishman Now Living Who Has Been Able To Win Such A
Compliment As This From Foreigners, Who Should Be Disinterested
Judges.
Under These Circumstances, It Must Seem The Height Of Presumption To
Differ From So Great An Authority, And To Join The Small Band Of
Malcontents Who Hold That Mr. Darwin's Reputation As A Philosopher,
Though It Has Grown Up With The Rapidity Of Jonah's Gourd, Will Yet
Not Be Permanent. I Believe, However, That Though We Must Always
Gladly And Gratefully Owe It To Mr. Darwin And Mr. Wallace That The
Public Mind Has Been Brought To Accept Evolution, The Admiration Now
Generally Felt For The "Origin Of Species" Will Appear As
Unaccountable To Our Descendants
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