200 LOCOMOTION. [CHAP. vn. 



In the early periods of life the will is exercised in tutoring its 

 corporeal instruments to give prompt and ready obedience to its 

 commands ; every day new lessons are acquired, and old ones con- 

 firmed ; and, having at length a practised body at its beck, it is able 

 to execute numerous and complicated movements with as much 

 precision as those of the most delicate and subtle kind, and all, or 

 any of them, without being itself distracted with the business of 

 their immediate supervision. Like the general of a disciplined 

 army, the will issues mandates of action or controul ; but is not 

 cognizant, without a special effort of attention, of anything beyond 

 the general result of the various movements that its orders produce. 

 And the body, that executes them, is constantly performing other 

 movements, of a routine nature, connected with its safety, comforts, 

 or ordinary functions ; which, though at first they had demanded 

 the general's attention, and might again attract it, yet, having been 

 learnt by drilling, are now executed without his anxiety or even 

 co-operation. They are the working of a practised organization. 

 Thus many particular movements are included in general ones, 

 without the will having the smallest immediate share in their pro- 

 duction. The countenance takes its expression from the prevailing 

 action of its muscles, often in spite of our efforts to the contrary ; 

 and, in general, the attitude and bearing wear a corresponding cha- 

 racter. And thus several general movements, which naturally (or 

 by an act of the untutored will) are impossible because incom- 

 patible, are rendered capable of being simultaneously performed. 



The following works may be consulted in reference to Muscle and Muscular 

 Action: Prochaska, de carne musculari ; 1778: Fontana, sur le venin de la 

 vipere ; 1781 : John Hunter's Croonian Lectures, works by Palmer, vol. iv. ; 

 Blane, on Muscular Motion, in his select dissertations ; the various works on 

 General Anatomy quoted in former chapters ; Barclay on Muscular Motion ; 

 Mayo's Physiology ; Muller's Physiology, by Bayly ; the Articles Muscle and 

 Muscular Action, in the Cyclop. Anat. and Phys. For greater details on the 

 Motions and Attitudes of the body than would be consistent with the plan of 

 this work, we refer to the Article Motion in the Cyclop. Anat. and Phys. ; and 

 to "Weber's Mechanik der menschlichen Gehwerkzeuge. 



