162 Unconscious Memory 



the successive stages in the single life of what we call one 

 individual ; nor can you admit personal identity through 

 the stages of a long and varied life (embryonic and post- 

 natal) without admitting it to endure through an endless 

 series of generations. 



The personal identity of successive generations being 

 admitted, the possibility of the second of two generations 

 remembering what happened to it in the first is obvious. 

 The a priori objection, therefore, is removed, and the 

 question becomes one of fact — does the offspring act as 

 if it remembered ? 



The answer to this question is not only that it does so 

 act, but that it is not possible to account for either its 

 development or its early instinctive actions upon any 

 other hypothesis than that of its remembering, and re- 

 membering exceedingly well. 



The only alternative is to declare with Von Hartmann 

 that a living being may display a vast and varied informa- 

 tion concerning all manner of details, and be able to per- 

 form most intricate operations, independently of experience 

 and practice. Once admit knowledge independent of ex- 

 perience, and farewell to sober sense and reason from that 

 moment. 



Firstly, then, we show that offspring has had every 

 facility for remembering ; secondl5^ that it shows every 

 appearance of having remembered ; thirdly, that no other 

 hypothesis except memory can be brought forward, so as 

 to account for the phenomena of instinct and lieredity 

 generally, which is not easily reducible to an absurdity. 

 Beyond this we do not care to go, and must allow those 

 to differ from us who require further evidence. 



As regards the argument that the necessity of each 

 moment will account for likeness of result, without there 

 being any need for introducing memorj'', I admit that 

 likeness of consequents is due to likeness of antecedents, 

 and I grant this will hold as good with embryos as with 

 oxygen and hydrogen gas ; what will cover the one will 



