THE HIGHER ORGANISMS 155 



charges arising in the brain in this manner is adopted, 

 and if no new and lively impression is received, the mem- 

 ories aroused in one group of cells after another continue 

 along in an orderly sequence, as, for example, self- 

 reproach for the carelessness shown in leaving the scissors 

 on the table, the advantage of blunt over sharp scissors 

 under such circumstances, the maternal admonition to 

 order and carefulness often expressed in early days, and 

 so on and on. 



If what may be regarded as a relatively simple act is 

 attended with such complex and correlated nervous 

 activity, how much greater it becomes when some 

 relatively complex act is considered. Thus from the 

 garden comes a stimulus that excites the nerve endings 

 in the mucous membrane of the nose and is transmitted 

 to the appropriate cells of the brain which receive the 

 impression as "perfume of rose." When this impression 

 has been properly registered, you turn, look out of the 

 window and see receive a visual impression of a rose. 

 How beautiful! you must go and pick it. Impulses 

 now descend from the brain to the spinal cord, by which 

 a succession of semi-automatic movements is initiated. 

 Thus, you first rise from your chair, then put on your 

 hat, then open the door, then walk through the garden, 

 and then pluck the rose which you place in your button- 

 hole. Each of these acts is semi-automatic because it 

 can be performed semi-consciously, that is, without 

 special attention, having so often been performed before 

 as to have become thoroughly coordinated. Who 

 thinks what he is doing as he walks along the street? 

 The action is thoroughly coordinated and purely auto- 

 matic, but it is not so with the infant learning to walk, 

 and it is not so with some new method of progress, as, 

 for example, walking upon stilts or gliding upon skates. 

 An adult learning such tricks is painfully conscious of 

 the lack of the proper coordination for the required 

 movements. 



Presumably the automatic movement has the same 



