Chap. I. SERVICEABLE ASSOCIATED HABITS. 31 



under a state of nature; 4 and so it is in many other 

 cases. 



The power of Association is admitted by everyone. 

 Mr. Bain remarks, that " actions, sensations and states 

 of feeling, occurring together or in close succession, 

 tend to grow together, or cohere, in such a way that 

 when any one of them is afterwards presented to the 

 mind, the others are apt to be brought up in idea." 5 

 It is so important for our purpose fully to recognize that 

 actions readily become associated with other actions 

 and with various states of the mind, that I will give a 

 good many instances, in the first place relating to man, 

 and afterwards to the lower animals. Some of the in- 

 stances are of a very trifling nature, but they are as good 

 for our purpose as more important habits. It is known 

 to everyone how difficult, or even impossible it is, with- 

 out repeated trials, to move the limbs in certain opposed 

 directions which have never been practised. Analogous 

 cases occur with sensations, as in the common experiment 

 of rolling a marble beneath the tips of two crossed fin- 

 gers, when it feels exactly like two marbles. Everyone 

 protects himself when falling to the ground by extend- 

 ing his arms, and as Professor Alison has remarked, few 

 can resist acting thus, when voluntarily falling on a 

 soft bed. A man when going out of doors puts on his 

 gloves quite unconsciously; and this may seem an ex- 

 tremely simple operation, but he who has taught a child 



4 See for my authorities, and for various analogous 

 facts, ' The Variation of Animals and Plants under Do- 

 mestication,' 1868, vol. ii. p. 304. 



5 ' The Senses and the Intellect,' 2nd edit. 1864, p. 332. 

 Prof. Huxley remarks (' Elementary Lessons in Physi- 

 ology,' 5th edit. 1872, p. 306), "It may be laid down as a 

 rule, that, if any two mental states be called up together, 

 or in succession, with due frequency and vividness, the 

 subsequent production of the one of them will suffice to 

 call up the other, and that whether we desire it or not." 



