224 VOLUNTARY MOTIONS. 



By these continuous and all-pervading 'undu- 

 lations of the vital current, the friction which 

 must attend the first movement of every molecule 

 of matter, however delicately fashioned, must be 

 prevented, or greatly reduced. 



" Some of the voluntary muscles habitually, and 

 all occasionally, act in obedience to other stimuli. 

 Striped (or voluntary) fibre-muscles have been 

 detected in certain parts of the skin, in the hair 

 follicles, in the internal ear, and in parts which 

 are not under the direct control of the will." ' 



The distinction between voluntary and invol- 

 untary muscles may perhaps be too sharply de- 

 fined, if it exists at all. Voluntary motions are 

 effected without any thought of ours as to the 

 way in which they are to be carried out. Were 

 we obliged to choose and regulate the machinery 

 for each voluntary act, our lives would be given 

 up to the work. 



"Will simply determines the result, not the 

 special movements by which that result is 

 brought about. The determination of the will is 

 carried into effect through an intermediate mech- 

 anism which, without further guidance on our 

 part, selects and combines the particular muscles 

 whose contractions are requisite to produce the 

 desired movement. 



"The sensorium or collection of sensory gang- 

 lia plays, so to speak, upon the cerebrum, send- 



1 Sharpey's Quain. 



