When the
first of these tests fails, similarity of action on the part of two
agents need not be connected with memory of a like present as well as of
like antecedents; when both fail, similarity of action should be referred
to memory of like antecedents only.
Returning to a parenthesis a few pages back, in which I said that
consciousness of memory would be less or greater according to the greater
or fewer number of times that the act had been repeated, it may be
observed as a corollary to this, that the less consciousness of memory
the greater the uniformity of action, and _vice versa_. For the less
consciousness involves the memory's being more perfect, through a larger
number (generally) of repetitions of the act that is remembered; there is
therefore a less proportionate difference in respect of the number of
recollections of this particular act between the most recent actor and
the most recent but one. This is why very old civilisations, as those of
many insects, and the greater number of now living organisms, appear to
the eye not to change at all.
For example, if an action has been performed only ten times, we will say
by A, B, C, &c, who are similar in all respects, except that A acts
without recollection, B with recollection of A's action, C with
recollection of both B's and A's, while J remembers the course taken by
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, and I--the possession of a memory by B will
indeed so change his action, as compared with A's, that it may well be
hardly recognisable.
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