THE CEREBRUM, AND ITS FUNCTIONS. 813 



persons who are deficient in Volitional power, as it is also among the lower 

 animals, from whose actions we may derive our best illustrations of what Habit 

 will do, when it is not under the direction of any higher principle. 1 The tend- 

 ency to habitual action is so universally recognized as an important part of our 

 psychical nature, that Man has been said to be "a bundle of habits." Where 

 the habits have been judiciously formed in the first instance the tendency is an 

 extremely useful one, prompting us to do that spontaneously which might 

 otherwise require a powerful effort of the Will : 2 but, on the other hand, if a 

 bad set of habits have grown up with the growth of the individual, or if a 

 single bad tendency be allowed to become an habitual spring of action, a far 

 stronger effort of Volition will be required to determine the conduct in opposi- 

 tion to them. This is especially the case, when the habitual idea possesses an 

 Emotional character, and becomes the source of desires ; for the more frequent- 

 ly these are yielded to, the more powerful is the solicitation they exert. (2). 

 Emotional states, which incite us to particular actions, either by the expectation 

 of gratification in the act itself or in some consequence which our reason leads 

 us to anticipate from it, or by the expectation of pain if the act be not performed. 

 All those desires and aversions which have so large a share in determining our 

 conduct, come under this category ; and to it must likewise be referred all those 



1 It is not uncommon to meet with Idiots, in whom the tendency to the automatic recur- 

 rence of modes of action once impressed on the consciousness is extremely remarkable. 

 The following is stated by Miss Martineau in regard to a youth under her own observa- 

 tion, who, in consequence of early injury to the brain, never acquired the power of speech, 

 or of understanding the language of others, or of in any way recognizing other minds ; but 

 was at the same time strongly affected by sensory impressions. "He could endure 

 nothing out of its position in space or its order in time. If any new thing was done to him 

 at any minute of the day, the same thing must be done at the same minute every day thencefor- 

 ward." Thus, although he disliked personal interference, his hair and nails having been 

 one day cut at ten minutes past eleven, the next day, and every day after, at ten minutes 

 past eleven, he, " as if by a fate," brought comb, scissors, and towel ; and it was necessary to 

 cut a snip of hair before he would release himself. Yet he had no knowledge whatever of 

 the measurement of time by clocks and watches, and was no less minutely punctual in his 

 observances when placed beyond the reach of these aids. So in regard to form, number, and 

 quantity, his actions were equally methodical. He occupied himself much in making paper- 

 cuttings, which were remarkable for their symmetry. If, when he was out of the room, 

 a brick were taken from the heap with which he amused himself, he would pass his hand 

 over them, spread them a little, and then lament and wander about till the missing one 

 was restored. If seven comfits had once been put into his hand, he would not rest with six ; 

 and if nine were given, he would not touch any until he had returned two. (" Letters on 

 the Laws of Man's Nature and Development," p. 71.) It would be easy to adduce multi- 

 tudes of analogous instances from the actions of animals, especially such as are purposely 

 trained to particular habits, by taking advantage of the principle of "contiguous associa- 

 tion," which seems to be peculiarly strong in Dogs, Horses, &c. And the recurrence of 

 particular actions at particular intervals of time, without any means of consciously esti- 

 mating its passage, or any incidents that can suggest the return of the period, is a very 

 curious indication of the degree in which organic changes in the nervous system, once 

 determined by a certain number of repetitions, tend to perpetuate themselves. Thus, a 

 dog that has been accustomed to receive food at a certain hour and place every day will 

 come in search of it with extraordinary punctuality ; and the horse of a commercial tra- 

 veller, after going the same journey a few times, will stop at the houses of all his master's 

 customers ; and when he has been pulled up at a new point on one journey, will spontane- 

 ously stop at the same point on the next a fact of which the author has personal know- 

 ledge. 



2 This is especially the case with regard to habits of intellectual exertion, which are in 

 themselves peculiarly free from any emotional complication. The author can speak from 

 long and varied experience, of the immense saving of exertion which arises from the for- 

 mation of methodical habits of mental labor ; which cause the ordinary routine to be per- 

 formed with a far less amount of fatigue than would be required on a more desultory sys- 

 tem. Even here, however, care should be taken to avoid allowing one's-self to be as much 

 the slave of habits, that all mental labor, save that which is undertaken at a particular 

 time, or in a particular place, becomes difficult and wearisome. 



