Lamarck’s theories fell into disrepute, partly because they were too
startling to be capable of ready fusion with existing ideas; they were,
in fact, too wide a cross for fertility; partly because they fell upon
evil times, during the reaction that followed the French Revolution;
partly because, unless I am mistaken, he did not sufficiently link on the
experience of the race to that of the individual, nor perceive the
importance of the principle that consciousness, memory, volition,
intelligence, &c., vanish, or become latent, on becoming intense. He
also appears to have mixed up matter with his system, which was either
plainly wrong, or so incapable of proof as to enable people to laugh at
him, and pooh-pooh him; but I believe it will come to be perceived, that
he has received somewhat scant justice at the hands of his successors,
and that his “crude theories,” as they have been somewhat cheaply called,
are far from having had their last say.
Returning to Mr. Darwin, we find, as we have already seen, that it is
hard to say exactly how much Mr. Darwin differs from Lamarck, and how
much he agrees with him. Mr. Darwin has always maintained that use and
disuse are highly important, and this implies that the effect produced on
the parent should be remembered by the offspring, in the same way as the
memory of a wound is transmitted by one set of cells to succeeding ones,
who long repeat the scar, though it may fade finally away. Also, after
dealing with the manner in which one eye of a young flat-fish travels
round the head till both eyes are on the same side of the fish, he gives
(“Natural Selection,” p. 188, ed. 1875) an instance of a structure “which
apparently owes its origin exclusively to use or habit.” He refers to
the tail of some American monkeys “which has been converted into a
wonderfully perfect prehensile organ, and serves as a fifth hand. A
reviewer,” he continues, . . . “remarks on this structure—‘It is
impossible to believe that in any number of ages the first slight
incipient tendency to grasp, could preserve the lives of the individuals
possessing it, or favour their chance of having and of rearing
offspring.’ But there is no necessity for any such belief. Habit, and
this almost implies that some benefit, great or small, is thus derived,
would in all probability suffice for the work.” If, then, habit can do
this—and it is no small thing to develop a wonderfully perfect prehensile
organ which can serve as a fifth hand—how much more may not habit do,
even though unaided, as Mr. Darwin supposes to have been the case in this
instance, by “natural selection”? After attributing many of the
structural and instinctive differences of plants and animals to the
effects of use—as we may plainly do with Mr. Darwin’s own consent—after
attributing a good deal more to unknown causes, and a good deal to
changed conditions, which are bound, if at all important, to result
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