OF THE BRAIN AND MIND. 241 



that if practice in dancing, fencing, skating, and 

 riding be persevered in for a sufficient length of time 

 to give the muscles the requisite promptitude and 

 harmony of action, the power will be ever afterward 

 retained, although little called into use. Whereas, 

 if we stop short of this point, we may reiterate prac- 

 tice by fits and starts, without any proportionate 

 v advancement. The same principle applies equally 

 to the moral and intellectual powers, because these 

 operate by means of material organs. 



The necessity of being in private what we wish 

 to appear in public springs from the same rule. If 

 we wish to be polite, just, kind, and sociable, we 

 must habitually act under the influence of the cor- 

 responding sentiments in the domestic circle and in 

 every-day life, as well as in the company of strangers 

 and on great occasions. It is the daily practice 

 which gives ready activity to the sentiments, and 

 marks the character. If we indulge in vulgarities of 

 speech and behaviour at home, and put on politeness 

 merely for the reception of strangers, the former 

 will shine through the mask which is intended to 

 hide them ; because the habitual association to which 

 the organs and faculties have been accustomed can- 

 not be thus controlled. As well may we hope to 

 excel in elegant and graceful dancing by the daily 

 practice of every awkward attitude. In the one 

 case, as in the other, the organs must not only be 

 associated in action by the command of the will, but 

 they must be habituated to the association by the 

 frequency of the practice ; a fact which exposes the 

 ignorant folly of those parents who habitually act 

 with rudeness and caprice towards their children, 

 and then chide the latter for unpolite behaviour to- 

 wards strangers. 



The same principle, of repetition being necessary 

 to make a durable impression on the brain and con- 

 stitute a mental habit, also explains the manner in 

 which natural endowments are modified by external 

 X 



