title: Making Heredity Matter: Samuel Butler's Idea of Unconscious Memory.
abstract: Butler's idea of evolution was developed over the publication of four books, several articles and essays between 1863 and 1890. These publications, although never achieving the success expected by Butler, proposed a psychological elaboration of evolution (robustly enforced by Lamarck's philosophy), called 'unconscious memory'. This was strongly in contrast with the materialistic approach suggested by Darwin's natural selection. Starting with a historical introduction, this paper aspires to ascertain the logic, meaning and significance of Butler's idea of 'unconscious memory' in the post-Darwinian physiological and psychological Pan-European discussion. Particular attention is devoted to demonstrating that Butler was not only a populariser of science but also an active protagonist in the late Victorian psychological debate.
authors.affiliation: Department of History, King's College London, Strand London, WC2R 2LS, UK. cristiano.turbil@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Cristiano
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Turbil
mesh_terms: D005075:Biological Evolution; D004739:England; D049672:History, 19th Century; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory; D011584:Psychology / Q000266:history*; D012641:Selection, Genetic
keywords: Charles Darwin; Ewald Hering; Lamarckism; Psychological evolution; Samuel Butler; Unconscious memory