360 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



application of scientific methods. Here we stop, with the sense of a 

 child who has picked up a few spangles which have dropped from 

 Flora's rich attire. 



THE TELOCITY OF THE WILL. 



Br R. RADAU. 



TRANSLATED BY A. R. MACDONOUGH. 



IT is a common idea that the saying " as quick as thought " expresses 

 the ne plus ultra of speed an unapproachable rapidity, instanta- 

 neous and lightning-like. The phrase seems used, indeed, as an hyper- 

 bole ; but in one sense, at least, this is a mistake. Thought, it is true, 

 can transport us afar without taking note of distances, because there 

 is no more difficulty in bringing up, in fancy, a remote object, than one 

 that is close to us, and in this view it may be allowable to say that 

 space creates no obstacle to thought not impeding nor changing it 

 in the least. But thought never springs instantaneously under the 

 influence of an external cause ; an appreciable time elapses, one or two 

 tenths of a second, before an idea is aroused in the mind in conse- 

 quence of an impression received by the brain, and before it will re- 

 spond to that idea by the movement of a limb. So the nervous cur- 

 rent which transmits sensations to the brain, and bears the commands 

 of the will to the extremities of the body, requires a certain time to 

 finish its course. Impressions coming to us from without are not per- 

 ceived at the very instant of their production ; they travel along 

 the nerves with a speed of from 60 to 90 feet a second, equal to that 

 of the carrier-pigeon, or the hurricane, or of a locomotive under full 

 steam, but very much less than the swiftness of a cannon-ball. For 

 instance, we are conscious of an injury in the feet only after a half- 

 tenth of a second has elapsed. The commands of the will pass from 

 the centre to the circumference with no greater rapidity ; the limbs do 

 not instantaneously obey the motive thought. When a movement is 

 provoked by a shock received in any part whatever of the body, the 

 stimulus at first travels as far as the brain; there a thought is devel- 

 oped, the will determines to send out an order ; this order runs along 

 the nerves to the limb which is bidden to act, and, at last, the limb 

 begins movement. All this takes place in three times, of quite an ap- 

 preciable duration. 



In the human body, this time lost is a mere trifle, some hundredths 

 of a second ; but let us suppose one of a great cetacea, a whale, for 

 instance, in which the telegraphic net-work cf the will controls a wider 

 range. A boat attacks it in the rear, the harpoon strikes the monster's 

 tail. Then the pain sets out on its course to demand revenge ; but 

 the journey is long it must travel over 90 feet before reaching the 



