A duty was laid on him to go back to the place where he was
bred, and now it is done, and he is weary and sad and lonely, &c. &c.
This is a very interesting passage, and I am glad to quote it; but it
hardly amounts to advancing the theory that instinct is inherited memory.
Observing Mr. Romanes' words closely, I see he only says that Canon
Kingsley was the first to advance the theory "that many hundred miles of
landscape scenery" can "constitute an object of inherited memory;" but as
he proceeds to say that "_this_" has since "been independently suggested
by several writers," it is plain he intends to convey the idea that Canon
Kingsley advanced the theory that instinct generally is inherited memory,
which indeed his words do; but it is hardly credible that he should have
left them where he did if he had realized their importance.
Mr. Romanes proceeds to inform me personally that the reference to
"Nature" in his proof "originally indicated another writer who had
independently advanced the same theory as that of Canon Kingsley." After
this I have a right to ask him to tell me who the writer is, and where I
shall find what he said. I ask this, and at my earliest opportunity will
do my best to give this writer, too, the credit he doubtless deserves.
I have never professed to be the originator of the theory connecting
heredity with memory.
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