Statement of an Objection 155 



larity of action will disappear ; for the fact of remember- 

 ing what happened to him on the first day he went out 

 in search of dinner will be a modification in him in regard 

 to his then condition when he next goes out to get his 

 dinner. He had no such memory on the first day, and 

 he has upon the second. Some modification of action 

 must ensue upon this modification of the actor, and this 

 is immediately observable. He wants his dinner, indeed, 

 goes down into the street, and sees the policeman as yes- 

 terday, but he does not ask the policeman ; he remembers 

 what the policeman told him and what he did, and there- 

 fore goes straight to the eating-house without wasting 

 time : nor does he dine off the same dish two days run- 

 ning, for he remembers what he had yesterday and likes 

 variety. If, then, similarity of action is rather hindered 

 than promoted by memory, why introduce it into such 

 cases as the repetition of the embryonic processes by suc- 

 cessive generations ? The embryos of a well-fixed breed, 

 such as the goose, are almost as much alike as water is 

 to water, and by consequence one goose comes to be 

 almost as like another as water to water. Why should it 

 not be supposed to become so upon the same grounds — 

 namely, that it is made of the same stuffs, and put to- 

 gether in like proportions in the same manner ? 



