X Unconscious Memory 



forefathers ; (3) the latency of that memory until it is re- 

 kindled by a recurrence of the associated ideas ; (4) the 

 unconsciousness with which habitual actions come to be 

 performed." To these we must add a fifth : the purposive- 

 ness of the actions of living beings, as of the machines 

 which they make or select. 



Butler tells (" Life and Habit," p. 33) that he some- 

 times hoped " that this book would be regarded as a 

 valuable adjunct to Darwinism." He was bitterly dis- 

 appointed in the event, for the book, as a whole, was 

 received by professional biologists as a gigantic joke — 

 a joke, moreover, not in the best possible taste. True, its 

 central ideas, largely those of Lamarck, had been pre- 

 sented by Hering in 1870 (as Butler found shortly after 

 his publication) ; they had been favourably received, 

 developed by Haeckel, expounded and praised by Ray 

 Lankester. Coming from Butler, they met with con- 

 tumely, even from such men as Romanes, who, as Butler 

 had no difficulty in proving, were unconsciously inspired 

 by the same ideas — " Nur mit ein bischen ander'n Worter." 



It is easy, looking back, to see why " Life and Habit " 

 so missed its mark. Charles Darwin's presentation of the 

 evolution theory had, for the first time, rendered it possible 

 for a " sound naturalist " to accept the doctrine of com- 

 mon descent with divergence ; and so given a real mean- 

 ing to the term " natural relationship," which had forced 

 itself upon the older naturalists, despite their beUef in 

 special and independent creations. The immediate aim 

 of the naturalists of the day was now to fill up the gaps 

 in their knowledge, so as to strengthen the fabric of a 

 unified biology. For this purpose they found their actual 

 scientific equipment so inadequate that they were fully 

 occupied in inventing fresh technique, and working there- 

 with at facts — save a few critics, such as St. George Mivart, 

 who was regarded as negligible, since he evidently held a 

 brief for'a party standing outside the scientific world. 



Butler introduced himself as what we now call " The 



