Of the view that "there is thus a race memory, as there is an individual
memory, and that the expression of the former constitutes the phenomena
of heredity"--for it is thus Mr. Romanes with fair accuracy describes the
theory I was supporting--he wrote:
"Now this view, in which Mr. Butler was anticipated by Prof. Hering, is
interesting if advanced merely as an illustration; but to imagine that it
maintains any truth of profound significance, or that it can possibly be
fraught with any benefit to science, is simply absurd. The most cursory
thought is enough to show," &c. &c.
"We can understand," he continued, "in some measure how an alteration in
brain structure when once made should be permanent, . . . but we cannot
understand how this alteration is transmitted to progeny through
structures so unlike the brain as are the products of the generative
glands. And we merely stultify ourselves if we suppose that the problem
is brought any nearer to a solution by asserting that a future individual
while still in the germ has already participated, say in the cerebral
alterations of its parents," &c. Mr. Romanes could find no measure of
abuse strong enough for me,--as any reader may see who feels curious
enough to turn to Mr. Romanes' article in _Nature_ already referred to.
As for Evolution, Old and New, he said I had written it "in the hope of
gaining some notoriety by deserving and perhaps receiving a contemptuous
refutation from" Mr.
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