became not worth while to keep it. By-and-by it was found so
troublesome to send out for it, and so hard to come by even then,
that people left off selling it at all, and if any one wanted it he
must think it out at home as best he could; this was troublesome, so
by common consent the world decided no longer to busy itself with
the continued personality of successive generations--which was all
very well until it also decided to busy itself with the theory of
descent with modification. On the introduction of a foe so inimical
to many of our pre-existing ideas the balance of power among them
was upset, and a readjustment became necessary, which is still far
from having attained the next settlement that seems likely to be
reasonably permanent.

To change the illustration, the ordinary view is true for seven
places of decimals, and this commonly is enough; occasions, however,
have now arisen when the error caused by neglect of the omitted
places is appreciably disturbing, and we must have three or four
more. Mr. Spencer showed no more signs of seeing that he must
supply these, and make personal identity continue between successive
generations before talking about inherited (as opposed to post-natal
and educational) experience, than others had done before him; the
race with him, as with every one else till recently, was not one
long individual living indeed in pulsations, so to speak, but no
more losing continued personality by living in successive
generations, than an individual loses it by living in consecutive
days; a race was simply a succession of individuals, each one of
which was held to be an entirely new person, and was regarded
exclusively, or very nearly so, from this point of view.

When I wrote "Life and Habit" I knew that the words "experience of