Unconscious Memory

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could attack Neo-Darwinism without attacking evolution.�But my friend
kindly sent me a copy; and when I read it, I found myself in the presence
of arguments different from those I had met with hitherto, and did not
see my way to answering them.�I had, however, read only a small part
of Professor Mivart s work, and was not fully awake to the position,
when the friend referred to in the preceding paragraph called on me.
When I had finished the Genesis of Species, I felt that something was
certainly wanted which should give a definite aim to the variations
whose accumulation was to amount ultimately to specific and generic
differences, and that without this there could have been no progress in
organic development.�I got the latest edition of the Origin of Species
in order to see how Mr. Darwin met Professor Mivart, and found his an-
swers in many respects unsatisfactory.�I had lost my original copy of the
Origin of Species, and had not read the book for some years.�I now
set about reading it again, and came to the chapter on instinct, where I
was horrified to find the following passage:-
But it would be a serious error to suppose that the greater number of in-
stincts have been acquired by habit in one generation and then transmit-
ted by inheritance to the succeeding generations.�It can be clearly shown
that the most wonderful instincts with which we are acquainted, namely,
those of the hive-bee and of many ants, could not possibly have been ac-
quired by habit. {23a}
This showed that, according to Mr. Darwin, I had fallen into serious er-
ror, and my faith in him, though somewhat shaken, was far too great to
be destroyed by a few days course of Professor Mivart, the full impor-
tance of whose work I had not yet apprehended.�I continued to read, and
when I had finished the chapter felt sure that I must indeed have been
blundering.�The concluding words, I am surprised that no one has hith-
erto advanced this demonstrative case of neuter insects against the well-
known doctrine of inherited habit as advanced by Lamarck, {23b} were
positively awful.�There was a quiet consciousness of strength about
them which was more convincing than any amount of more detailed
explanation.�This was the first I had heard of any doctrine of inherited
habit as having been propounded by Lamarck (the passage stands in the
first edition, the well-known doctrine of Lamarck, p. 242); and now to
find that I had been only busying myself with a stale theory of this long-
since exploded charlatan - with my book three parts written and already
in the press - it was a serious scare.
On reflection, however, I was again met with the overwhelming weight
of the evidence in favour of structure and habit being mainly due to
memory.�I accordingly gathered as much as I could second-hand of
what Lamarck had said, reserving a study of his Philosophie Zoolo-
gique for another occasion, and read as much about ants and bees as I
could find in readily accessible works.�In a few days I saw my way
again; and now, reading the Origin of Species more closely, and I may
say more sceptically, the antagonism between Mr. Darwin and Lamarck
became fully apparent to me, and I saw how incoherent and unworkable
in practice the later view was in comparison with the earlier.�Then I read
Mr. Darwin s answers to miscellaneous objections, and was met, and this
time brought up, by the passage beginning In the earlier editions of this
work, {24a} &c., on which I wrote very severely in Life and Habit ;
{24b} for I felt by this time that the difference of opinion between us
was radical, and that the matter must be fought out according to the rules
of the game.�After this I went through the earlier part of my book, and
cut out the expressions which I had used inadvertently, and which were
inconsistent with a teleological view.�This necessitated only verbal al-
terations; for, though I had not known it, the spirit of the book was
throughout teleological.
I now saw that I had got my hands full, and abandoned my intention of
touching upon Pangenesis. �I took up the words of Mr. Darwin quoted
above, to the effect that it would be a serious error to ascribe the greater
number of instincts to transmitted habit.�I wrote chapter xi. of Life and
Habit, which is headed Instincts as Inherited Memory ; I also wrote
the four subsequent chapters, Instincts of Neuter Insects, Lamarck
and Mr. Darwin, Mr. Mivart and Mr. Darwin, and the concluding
chapter, all of them in the month of October and the early part of No-
vember 1877, the complete book leaving the binder s hands December [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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