Chap. I. SERVICEABLE ASSOCIATED HABITS. 35 



a pair of scissors may be seen to move their jaws simul- 

 taneously with the blades of the scissors. Children 

 learning to write often twist about their tongues as 

 their fingers move, in a ridiculous fashion. When a 

 public singer suddenly becomes a little hoarse, many 

 of those present may be heard, as I have been assured 

 by a gentleman on whom I can rely, to clear their 

 throats; but here habit probably comes into play, as we 

 clear our own throats under similar circumstances. 

 I have also been told that at leaping matches, as the 

 performer makes his spring, many of the spectators, 

 generally men and boys, move their feet; but here 

 again habit probably comes into play, for it is very 

 doubtful whether women would thus act. 



Reflex actions. — Reflex actions, in the strict sense of 

 the term, are due to the excitement of a peripheral 

 nerve, which transmits its influence to certain nerve- 

 cells, and these in their turn excite certain muscles or 

 glands into action; and all this may take place without 

 any sensation or consciousness on our part, though often 

 thus accompanied. As many reflex actions are highly 

 expressive, the subject must here be noticed at some 

 little length. We shall also see that some of them 

 graduate into, and can hardly be distinguished from 

 actions which have arisen through habit. 9 Coughing 

 and sneezing are familiar instances of reflex actions. 

 With infants the first act of respiration is often a sneeze, 

 although this requires the co-ordinated movement of 



9 Prof. Huxley remarks (' Elementary Physiology,' 5th 

 edit. p. 305) that reflex actions proper to the spinal cord 

 are natural; but, by the help of the brain, that is through 

 habit, an infinity of artificial reflex actions may be ac- 

 quired. Virchow admits (' wSammlung %yissenschaft. Vor- 

 trage,' &c, " Ueber das Plickenmark," 1871, ss. 24, 31) 

 that some reflex actions can hardly be distinguished from 

 instincts; and, of the latter, it may be added, some cannot 

 be distinguished from inherited habits. 



