New-York tribune., 1907-06-02

II have seen an this before. recognize that
hill and those ruins; beyond that hill there is
q village; the end Of that lane viii bring us TO
the main road" and pass on TO give further
details of what the picture brings back TO us.
Have you ever felt on seeing a place for the
first time that you have been there beforeT
This Is a favorte question OF mine. and in quite
30 per cent Of the answers I get something
which bears directly on the theory Of racial
memory. a few. from fear Of ridicule or mis-
understanding. prefer to pass the question, and
it is not always easy TO break through the Eng
lish reserve, but could give some very inter-
esting answers.
And this strange thing-this haunting as ot n
prc-existence-is not exceptional: it IS not new;
It is not limited to poets dreamers or 70 those
whose minds are representative. From the very
dawn OF history it has haunted the minds Of
men, given food for thought and shaped itself
In all kinds of speculation.
In common with other forms OF mysticism it
had its cradle In the East, where it had its phil
osophers and poets. In the subtle metaphysics
Of the Brahmns and IN the noble morality which
has its homo under the shadow OF Buddha. IT
stands out precise and clear as ultimate fact
which requires a theory. and it would appear
a religion, for its due expression. 1t was grated
into the theology Of Egypt; 1t laid hold of the
mind Of Plato. who discusses It under tho term
anamnesls-remnscence of former existence or
Of things once known and seen Among the
Jews the Pharsees had explained it by doc
trne that the virtuous have power to revive
and live again (Josephus. Antiq., XVIIL) In
the New Testament John the Baptist is regarded
by some as the reinca arnatlon Of Elijah, and
the disciples Of the Christ occasion asked
whether certain man born blind suffering
for the sin of his parents or for some sin OF
his own Under the forms Of transmlgration.
metempsychosis reincarnation. such phenomena
were discussed among the early Church Fathers
some OF whom decidedly believed that pre-exist-
ence was the explanation OF such phenomena as
have mentioned. Schopenhauer, Lessng
Hegel. Leibnitz. Herder and Fichte have dealt
with 1t.
ask. is there not such a thing as ancestral
memory? That a child should present certain
features Of his father and mother, and repro
duce certain we'll known gestures and manner
isms Of his grandfather is looked upon as some
thing very ordinary. Is it not possible that the
child may inherit something OF his ancestors
memory? That these flashes of reminiscence
are the sudden awakening. the calling into ac-
ton Of something have In our blood. the
disks the records of an ancestors past life
which require only the essential adjustment and
conditions to give up their secrets? If SO. then
we have in ancestral memory a natural answer
to many Of lfe's puzzles, without seeking the
aid Of Eastern theology.
explains large class Of apparitions the evi-
dence for which IT is easier TO ignore than to ex-
plain, and prefer to shrug our shoulders
and pass them by? Take the common form OF
ghost story \ sees the ghost OF one B. whom
he subsequently Identifies say from the family
gallery of portraits, to be ancestor. Some
member Of his house. I should say back in the
centuries did actually witness such a scene did
see come in as A saw, only the original wit
ness saw IN the flesh at such a moment
under such conditions that a great impression
was made upon him, and this impression was
handed on TO later scion of his house, to be
preserved in this racial consciousness
The theory Of ancestral memory, I main
tain, is reasonable proposition. and as a work.
ing hypothesis will be found useful in the solu-
ton of many puzzles that confront us daily II
the memory cells Of our ancestors were the COL
lected photographed impressions of their ex-
perlences and these cells in the process of pho
tographing We're subjected to some subtle change
IN physical structure then that these negatives
OF impressions should be handed on to posterity
is not difficult to understand and accept That
these negatives may be broken, blurred indis-
unct obliterated, is TO be expected but at the |
same time some of them may be passed on in |
tact. possessing the potentialities TO which . |
nave called attention.-Forbes Phillips I'm The
Nineteenth Century. "