Any Scientologist knows a lot about engrams, but Richard Semon (1859-1918) coined the word “engram” and was describing its relevance around the time Scientology’s founder, L. Ron Hubbard (1911-1986), was born.

Richard Wolfgang Semon & Louis Simon (The Mneme, 1921) wrote …

“The ability to retain the engraphic stimulations – the so-called engraphic susceptibility – varies in irritable organic substances, just as the irritability in respect of synchronous excitation differs greatly in various organisms, and in the varieties of tissue and cell within the same organism. In animals, during the evolutionary process, one organic system – the nervous system – has become specialised for the reception and transmission of stimuli. No monopoly of this function by the nervous system, however, can be deduced from this specialisation, not even in its highest state of evolution, as in Man. To quote a significant case, it has been demonstrated by indisputable observation and experiment that muscle is still irritable even after entire elimination of all nervous influence.

“Just as the synchronous irritability of the nervous system has gradually increased in the evolution of the species, so its engraphic susceptibility has increased. Yet neither of them has become a monopoly of the nervous system, but has remained in the higher organisms as a property of irritable substances as such, thus seeming to be indissolubly bound up with the mere quality of irritability. Observations on the nervous system lead us to the conclusion that the engraphic susceptibility grows with the increase of irritability. Weak and momentary stimuli may fail in any decisive engraphic effect on the non-nervously differentiated organic substance, and yet exercise a strong influence so far as nerve substance is concerned.

“This idea is advanced in order to prepare the reader for the demonstration of the fact that the engraphic action of stimuli on nerve substance is simpler ad more direct than on non-nervously differentiated substance, especially in cases of the experimental production of such engraphic action. On non-nervous substance, as contrasted with nerve substance, the stimuli have as a rule to act much longer, or repeat themselves much more frequently, in order to produce engraphic effects. But in the nervous substance of the higher animals a single momentary stimulus suffices to produce an easily demonstrable, durable engram.”

Richard Semon (same source as above) wrote …

“Let us take first the case of a young dog whose simple trust in humanity has not yet been shaken. He is pelted with stones by boys at play. Two groups of stimuli act upon the creature: – (Group ‘a’) the optical stimulus of the boys picking up stones and throwing them, and (Group ‘b’) the tactual stimulus of the stones striking the skin, resulting in pain. Both stimuli groups act engraphically, for after the cessation of the synchronous and the acoluthic effects of stimulation, the organism now appears permanently changed in relation to certain stimuli. Previously, the optical stimulus of a stooping boy was accompanied by no definite reaction, but now this stimulus acts regularly – generally until the death of the animal – as a pain-causing stimulus. The animal puts its tail between its legs and runs away, often with loud howls. We may express this by saying that the reactions belonging to stimulus group ‘b’ are henceforth elicited not only by these stimuli, but also by stimulus group ‘a’.”