CHAPTER VI 



MEMORY, HABIT, AND IMITATION 



WE have grouped Memory, Habit, and Imitation 

 together because they are all repetitive influences 

 influences which may perhaps be ascribed to a 

 tendency of living tissue to repeat the results of 

 impulses. Memory is the repetition of mental, 

 or nervous experiences ; Habit, the repetition of 

 mental or muscular action ; Imitation, the repeti- 

 tion of mental impressions in mental or muscular 

 action. The physical world around us is pervaded 

 by the rhythmical repetitions, or vibrations, oj 

 light and sound ; and memory, habit, and 

 imitation appear to have more in common with 

 Matter than with the spontaneous irregularity 

 which is the chiefest characteristic of Life. Many 

 of the nervous reactions of living creatures dis- 

 play a sympathy with rhythm : such are the 

 regular pulsations of the jelly-fish (Medusa), the 

 timed movements that synchronously agitate 

 swarms of insects, and the human accomplish- 

 ments of music, poetry, and dancing. But neither 

 memory nor habit, so far as we can judge, is an 

 influence of paramount importance in the inferior 

 classes of the animal kingdom. Here the processes 

 of directive instinct maintain the regularity of life. 

 Higher up the scale, memory and habit become 

 controlling forces : they are tyrannical, but 

 infinitely less so than the almost inevitable regu- 

 larity which they displace. Imitation, on the 



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