Ho LIFE AND HABIT. 



to say, it would be in a damp, dark, quiet place, not 

 too far from light, and with decaying matter around 

 it. It would therefore know perfectly well what to 

 do, and would begin to grow until disturbed, and again 

 put into a position with which it might, very possibly, 

 be unfamiliar. 



The great question between vast masses of living 

 organism is simply this : " Am I to put you into a 

 position with which your forefathers have been un- 

 familiar, or are you to put me into one about which 

 my own have been in like manner ignorant ? " Man 

 is only the dominant animal on the earth, because 

 he can, as a general rule, settle this question in his 

 own favour. 



The only manner in which an organism, which has 

 once forgotten its antecedents, can ever recover its 

 memory, is by being assimilated by a creature of its 

 own kind ; one, moreover, which knows its business, or 

 is not in such a false position as to be compelled to be 

 aware of being so. It was, doubtless, owing to the 

 recognition of this fact, that some Eastern nations, as 

 we are told by Herodotus, were in the habit of eating 

 their deceased parents — for matter which has once been 

 assimilated by any identity or personality, becomes 

 for all practical purposes part of the assimilating 

 personality. 



The bearing of the above will become obvious when 

 we return, as we will now do, to the question of per- 

 sonal identity. The only difficulty would seem to lie 

 in our unfamiliarity with the real meanings which we 

 attach to words in daily use. Hence, while recognis- 



