ORGANIC MOVEMENTS 33 



dependent on the spinal cord are not reflexes in the old 

 sense of the word, but are motor reactions determined 

 by the stimulus and by all that has happened and that 

 is happening in other parts of the moving body, nay, 

 even by the contingency of the actual general arrange- 

 ment of the motor organs at a given moment (Sherrington). 



The " centres," we are told, store and bind and stop 

 stimulations, and set them free at the right time, and 

 so on. But the word " centre ' is only a name here for 

 hypothetic anatomical places, where these processes are 

 supposed to occur. Nothing whatever is explained by the 

 use of this ambiguous word. 



And now there are still other instances of combined 

 motions of a far greater complexity in style than a simple 

 turning over into the normal position. I am thinking 

 of what is generally known under the name of " instinct." 

 And the last and highest group of combined movements 

 is what is called " action," in which " experience >: is at 

 work. What shall we say in the face of all these natural 

 facts ? 



I regret that I am unable to give here an accurate and 

 minute analysis of all possible sorts of co-ordinated move- 

 ments ; but it seems to me that some special characters 

 at least of the most typical of the higher classes of 

 combined animal motions ought to be subjected to a closer 

 consideration. It may lead at least to a clear conception 

 of the real problems of motor physiology, and perhaps 

 even to somewhat more than that. In the next chapters 

 therefore the typical form of instinct and the typical 

 action will be analysed completely. I shall try to fix, 

 as sharply as possible, what problems may appear in these 



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