4 Unconscious Memory 



my own words. As far as the ideas are concerned this is 

 certainly the case, and considering that Professor Hering 

 wrote between seven and eight years before I did, I think 

 it due to him, and to my readers as well as to myself, to 

 explain the steps which led me to my conclusions, and, 

 while putting Professor Hering's lecture before them, to 

 show cause for thinking that I arrived at an almost 

 identical conclusion, as it would appear, by an almost 

 identical road, yet, nevertheless, quite independently. 

 I must ask the reader, therefore, to regard these earlier 

 chapters as in some measure a personal explanation, as 

 well as a contribution to the history of an important 

 feature in the developments of the last twenty years. I 

 hope also, by showing the steps by which I was led to my 

 conclusions, to make the conclusions themselves more 

 acceptable and easy of comprehension. 



Being on my way to New Zealand when the " Origin of 

 Species " appeared, I did not get it till i860 or i85i. 

 When I read it, I found " the theory of natural selection " 

 repeatedly spoken of as though it were a synonym for 

 " the theory of descent with modification " ; this is especi- 

 ally the case in the recapitulation chapter of the work. I 

 failed to see how important it was that these two theories 

 — if indeed " natural selection " can be called a theory — 

 should not be confounded together, and that a " theory of 

 descent with modification " might be true, while a " theory 

 of descent with modification through natural selection " ^ 

 might not stand being looked into. 



If any one had asked me to state in brief what Mr. 

 Darwin's theory was, I am afraid I might have answered 

 " natural selection," or " descent with modification," 

 whichever came first, as though the one meant much the 

 same as the other. I observe that most of the leading 

 writers on the subject are still unable to catch sight of the 

 distinction here alluded to, and console myself for my 

 want of acumen by reflecting that, if I was misled, I was 

 misled in good company. 



^ Origin oi Species, ed. i., p. 459. 



