Essays on Life 



It is not as though the theory were un- 

 known, or had been condemned by our leading 

 men of science. Professor Ray Lankester in- 

 troduced it to English readers in an appreciative 

 notice of Professor Hering's address, which ap- 

 peared in Nature, July 13, 1876. He wrote to 

 the Athenaeum, March 24, 1884, and claimed 

 credit for having done so, but I do not believe 

 he has ever said more in public about it than 

 what I have here referred to. Mr. Romanes did 

 indeed try to crush it in Nature, January 27, 

 1881, but in 1883, in his "Mental Evolution 

 in Animals," he adopted its main conclusion 

 without acknowledgment. The Athenceum, 

 to my unbounded surprise, called him to task 

 for this (March 1, 1884), and since that time 

 he has given the Heringian theory a sufficiently 

 wide berth. Mr. Wallace showed himself 

 favourably enough disposed towards the view 

 that heredity and memory are part of the 

 same story when he reviewed my book " Life 

 and Habit" in Nature, March 27, 1879, but 

 he has never since betrayed any sign of being 

 aware that such a theory existed. Mr. Her- 

 bert Spencer wrote to the Athenceum (April 



5, 1884), and claimed the theory for himself, 



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