40 THE ENGINES OF THE HUMAN BODY 



times and in different orders ; we were learning how to 

 make them work in harmony and be obedient to our 

 will. Some of us remember the very morning a pen was 

 put in our hand and the struggle we had with the battery 

 of engines which move the fingers until they could be 

 combined so as to form a perfectly straight stroke or an 

 evenly rounded ought. We thought then that it was 

 only a matter of making the fingers move smoothly and 

 easily. We did not understand that the wrist had to be 

 steadied by a group of engines which are placed in the 

 forearm before the hand can work with precision. Then 

 the forearm had to be steadied or controlled by the 

 muscles of the upper arm, the upper arm by muscles in 

 the shoulder, and the shoulder had to be made firm by 

 calling into action the whole battalion of engines which 

 balance the backbone. Is it any wonder, then, seeing that 

 a hundred engines and more are set going before we can 

 handle a pen, that each of us writes our name in our own 

 style ? No matter how many John Smiths there may be, 

 the cashier who pays money to them at the bank can tell 

 at a glance the signature of each. Each one of us writes 

 his own way, walks his own way, and speaks his own 

 way, because in every one of these acts we have to set in 

 motion and regulate such a great number of muscular 

 engines that no man could learn to drive or time them in 

 exactly the same way as his neighbour. 



Is it not a fortunate thing that the greatest pleasures 

 we have when we are young are the games and sports 

 which stimulate us to obtain a perfect control over the 

 muscular engines of our bodies ? What boy does not 

 dream that one day he may be chosen to play for his 

 village, his school, his county, his university, or even his 

 country, because he has become a master driver of the 

 engines of his own body ? That brilliant left-hand catch 

 which we saw made on the cricket-field, the throw-in 

 from mid-field which shattered the wicket, the perfectly 

 timed stroke, are they not all of them displays of perfect 

 engine driving ? Then there are the accomplishments of 

 life — attained by hours, days, and years of practice — of 



