Mr. Herbert Spencer 49 
conception of Mr. Spencer’s meaning, we may say with more 
confidence what it was that he did not mean. He did not 
mean to make memory the keystone of his system ; he has 
none of that sense of the unifying, binding force of memory 
which Professor Hering has so well expressed, nor does he 
show any signs of perceiving the far-reaching consequences 
that ensue if the phenomena of heredity are considered as 
phenomena of memory. Thus, when he is dealing with 
the phenomena of old age (vol. i. p. 538, ed. 2) he does not 
ascribe them to lapse and failure of memory, nor surmise 
the principle underlying longevity. He never mentions 
memory in connection with heredity without presently 
saying something which makes us involuntarily think of a 
man missing an easy catch at cricket; it is only rarely, 
however, that he connects the two at all. I have only been 
able to find the word “ inherited ’’ or any derivative of the 
verb “ to inherit ” in connection with memory once in all 
the 1300 long pages of the “Principles of Psychology.”’ 
It occurs in vol ii. p. 200, 2d ed., where the words stand, 
‘Memory, inherited or acquired.” I submit that this was 
unintelligible when Mr. Spencer wrote it, for want of an 
explanation which he never gave ; I submit, also, that he 
could not have left it unexplained, nor yet as an unrepeated 
expression not introduced till late in his work, if he had had 
any idea of its pregnancy. 
At ‘any rate, whether he intended to imply what he 
now implies that he intended to imply (for Mr. Spencer, 
like the late Mr. Darwin, is fond of qualifying phrases), 
I have shown that those most able and willing to 
understand him did not take him to mean what he now 
appears anxious to have it supposed that he meant. Surely, 
moreover, if he had meant it he would have spoken sooner, 
when he saw his meaning had been missed. I can, however, 
have no hesitation in saying that if I had known the “ Prin- 
ciples of Psychology ” earlier, as well as I know the work 
now, I should have used it largely. 
D 
