TC Lethbridge | The Sons of TC-Lethbridge | Tekh's Anthological Review

The Monkey’s Tail

A Study in Evolution and Parapsychology

Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1969

In The Monkey’s Tail, Lethbridge suggests that Darwin’s theories on evolution were manipulated and narrowed by Spencer and Huxley for their own ‘political’ ends. For Lethbridge believed, that what was initially intended as a working hypothesis, was later transformed into dogma and common belief. In Victorian times a large gulf existed between the church and the men of science, and because of this, a ‘middle-way’ was overlooked. Lethbridge therefore attempts to uncover this middle ground, based on observations he has made whilst undertaking his archaeological fieldwork. His study was fuelled by comments made to Darwin by the Cambridge professor Adam Sedgwick. Sedgwick warned Darwin that if he persisted in publishing his theory it would wreck the world and utterly debase mankind.

The Monkey’s Tail is exactly the type of book that played into the hands of his critics, not that Lethbridge cared about that. Intentionally repetitive, he retreads old ground to enforce his theories. To those who have never read his earlier works, they are given a mind-spinning crash-course into the world of T.C. Lethbridge. It is difficult to imagine what the initiate makes of this ‘in at the deep-end’ approach. To the rest of us, the regurgitated theories and stories are a familiar trait in his work. In his foreword to The Power of the Pendulum, Colin Wilson describes Lethbridge’s books as a kind of working journal into which he poured fresh discoveries and insights year by year. Wilson suggests that they in fact share this ‘fault’ with the notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci and other important discoverers. There is no complete ‘system’ in any of his books but collectively they portray an intuitive, developing mind.

The work is split into two parts. The first part is outstanding and is, in essence, The Monkey’s Tail. Here he has a field-day, exploring genetic memory and devolution in opposition to the accepted theories of Darwin and Wallace. Again relying on his own experiences, Lethbridge presents his ideas in his own unique way. With hindsight, it is a great example of him putting pen to paper and exploring an idea in public, without any notion of the final outcome. What we witness is the evolution of a theory before our very eyes.

To those who have read Lethbridge’s previous books, Part Two of The Monkey’s Tail is a disappointment. After completing the first part, our appetites are whetted and ‘all of the juggler’s balls are still in the air’ but they are to remain in this position, because Part Two covers ground already covered in previous books. On completion, the reader is left without a conclusion and to his critics this was typical of Lethbridge’s style. It is important however, to remember Colin Wilson’s words and to view Lethbridge’s works’ collectively. The reader, will not be disappointed for too long, for his next publication The Legend of the Sons of God, provides answers to many of the questions posed in Part One of The Monkey’s Tail. One has to commend his publishers Routledge and Kegan Paul for their foresight and perseverance for enabling him to develop his ideas in public.

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