196 MAN, THE ANIMAL 



light. For before a habit is fixed, the group of 

 reactions which result in a specific response have 

 to be repeated many times. A habit is made up 

 of many reflex actions in which one combination 

 finally dominates over all of the other possible 

 reactions. In this as in the simple nervous 

 process, it is the training of the synapses that 

 must take place. The formation of habits is well 

 illustrated in the method employed in the training 

 of animals where an almost endless series of 

 repetitions is used in fixing the habit. Habits 

 of cleanliness are instilled into a child only by 

 constantly requiring that he wash his hands before 

 coming to the table to eat and there does not 

 appear to be anything distinctively different be- 

 tween the methods of teaching the child or the 

 animal. 



It is a fact that all are agreed upon, that the 

 distinctive aspects of mind which Parker sum- 

 marizes at the close of the last chapter, are only 

 found in man who possesses the largest cerebrum 

 of any animal. The inference that somehow in 

 this structure there are resident the qualities that 

 make these characteristics of the mind possible 

 cannot be escaped because of the discoveries of 

 the last few years in regard to the persistence of 

 the "old brain" with but slight changes from the 

 fishes on to man. 



The technical discoveries of science are clearly 



