It is
not only the suggestion of a plan which is due to memory, but, as
Professor Hering has so well said, it is the binding power of memory
which alone renders any consolidation or coherence of action possible,
inasmuch as without this no action could have parts subordinate one to
another, yet bearing upon a common end; no part of an action, great or
small, could have reference to any other part, much less to a combination
of all the parts; nothing, in fact, but ultimate atoms of actions could
ever happen--these bearing the same relation to such an action, we will
say, as a railway journey from London to Edinburgh as a single molecule
of hydrogen to a gallon of water.
If asked how it is that the chicken shows no sign of consciousness
concerning this design, nor yet of the steps it is taking to carry it
out, we reply that such unconsciousness is usual in all cases where an
action, and the design which prompts it, have been repeated exceedingly
often. If, again, we are asked how we account for the regularity with
which each step is taken in its due order, we answer that this too is
characteristic of actions that are done habitually--they being very
rarely misplaced in respect of any part.
When I wrote Life and Habit, I had arrived at the conclusion that memory
was the most essential characteristic of life, and went so far as to say,
"Life is that property of matter whereby it can remember--matter which
can remember is living.
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