Unconscious Memory 



Chapter I 



Introduction — 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 sur- 

 prise, when we review the course taken by opinion in 

 the last century, than the suddenness with which behef 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 e^^es 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 



