The foregoing phenomena of memory, so far as we can judge, would appear
to be present themselves throughout the animal and vegetable kingdoms.
This will be readily admitted as regards animals; as regards plants it
may be inferred from the fact that they generally go on doing what they
have been doing most lately, though accustomed to make certain changes at
certain points in their existence. When the time comes for these
changes, they appear to know it, and either bud forth into leaf or shed
their leaves, as the case may be. If we keep a bulb in a paper bag it
seems to remember having been a bulb before, until the time comes for it
to put forth roots and grow. Then, if we supply it with earth and
moisture, it seems to know where it is, and to go on doing now whatever
it did when it was last planted; but if we keep it in the bag too long,
it knows that it ought, according to its last experience, to be treated
differently, and shows plain symptoms of uneasiness; it is distracted by
the bag, which makes it remember its bulbhood, and also by the want of
earth and water, without which associations its memory of its previous
growth cannot be duly kindled. Its roots, therefore, which are most
accustomed to earth and water, do not grow; but its leaves, which do not
require contact with these things to jog their memory, make a more
decided effort at development—a fact which would seem to go strongly in
favour of the functional independence of the parts of all but the very
simplest living organisms, if, indeed, more evidence were wanted in
support of this.
CHAPTER X.
WHAT WE SHOULD EXPECT TO FIND IF DIFFERENTIATIONS OF STRUCTURE AND
INSTINCT ARE MAINLY DUE TO MEMORY.
TO repeat briefly;—we remember best our last few performances of any
given kind, and our present performance is most likely to resemble one or
other of these; we only remember our earlier performances by way of
residuum; nevertheless, at times, some older feature is liable to
reappear.
We take our steps in the same order on each successive occasion, and are
for the most part incapable of changing that order.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account