CH. xnj THE EVOLUTION OF MIND. 157 



the assistance of reason, volition, and conscious memory, 

 and they are attended by feelings of pleasure or pain. But 

 after a while they are performed without the aid of reason, 

 volition, or conscious memory, and they are not attended 

 by pleasurable or painful feelings. In becoming instinc 

 tive, they lapse partially or entirely from consciousness. 

 The child in learning to walk and talk, must will each 

 movement and rationally coordinate it with other move 

 ments in order to attain the desired end. But the man, 

 in walking and talking, is unconscious of the separate move 

 ments, and volition serves only to set them going. In learn 

 ing to read, the child must consciously remember each letter, 

 combine it with others into a word, and associate the word 

 with the thing signified ; and this last process is repeated in 

 later years when we learn foreign languages. But in reading 

 our own language, or a foreign one which has been thoroughly 

 learned, the association of words and things is automatic. 

 In reading an English book, in which French quotations are 

 inserted, one frequently passes from one language to the 

 other and back again, without noticing the change, if the 

 attention be concentrated on the subject-matter. In learn 

 ing to play the piano, there is at first a vast amount of con 

 scious association between the written notes, the key-board, 

 and the muscular adjustments of the fingers, wrists, and 

 arms; but an accomplished pianist will play a familiar 

 piece while his attention is directed to other matters. 

 The case is similar with writing, and indeed with all 

 habitual actions which require nervo-muscular coordination. 

 In many cases, moreover, the intervention of conscious 

 attention only impairs the accuracy of adjustment. In 

 billiard-playing and rifle-shooting, the aim is usually im 

 paired if we stop to think about it ; and on the piano it 

 is almost impossible to play triple notes with one hand 

 and double notes with the other if we attempt to measure 

 out the time. 



