PHILOSOPHY OF DR. ERASMUS DARWIN. 



than is told us by Professor Kay Lankester in an article 

 which appeared in * Nature/ July 13th, 1876. This 

 theory seems to be adopted by Professor Haeckel, and 

 to receive support from Professor Kay Lankester him- 

 self. Knowing no German, I have been unable to 

 make myself acquainted with Professor Hering's posi- 

 tion in detail, but its similarity to, if not identity with, 

 that taken by myself subsequently, but independently, 

 in * Life and Habit,' seems sufficiently established by 

 the following extracts ; it is to be wished, however, 

 that a full account of this lecture were accessible to 

 English readers. The extracts are as follows : 



" Professor Hering has the merit of introducing some 

 striking phraseology into his treatment of the subject 

 which serves to emphasize the leading idea. He points 

 out that since all transmission of ' qualities ' from cell 

 to cell in the growth and repair of one and the same 

 organ, or from parent to offspring, is a transmission of 

 vibrations or affections of material particles, whether 

 these qualities manifest themselves as form, or as a 

 facility for entering on a given series of vibrations, 

 we may speak of all such phenomena as ' memory,' 

 whether it be the conscious memory exhibited by the 

 nerve cells of the brain or the unconscious memory we 

 call habit, or the inherited memory we call instinct ; or 

 whether, again, it be the reproduction of parental form 

 and minute structure. All equally may be called the 

 ' memory of living matter.' From the earliest exist- 

 ence of protoplasm to the present day the memory of 

 living matter is continuous. Though individuals die, 

 the universal memory of living matter is carried on. 



" Professor Hering, in short, helps us to a coin- 



