ON CERTAIN ACQUIRED HABITS. 9 



it is a new one, or an old one used in an unfamiliar 

 sense, in which case we notice, and may very likely 

 remember it. Our memory retains the substance only, 

 the substance only being unfamiliar. Nevertheless, 

 although we do not perceive more than the general 

 result of our perception, there can be no doubt of our 

 having perceived every letter in every word that 

 we have read at all, for if we come upon a word 

 misspelt our attention is at once aroused; unless, 

 indeed, we have actually corrected the misspelling, as 

 well as noticed it, unconsciously, through exceeding 

 familiarity with the way in which it ought to be 

 spelt. Not only do we perceive the letters we have 

 seen without noticing that we have perceived them, but 

 we find it almost impossible to notice that we notice 

 them when we have once learnt to read fluently. To 

 try to do so puts us out, and prevents our being able 

 to read. We may even go so far as to say that if a 

 man can attend to the individual characters, it is a 

 sign that he cannot yet read fluently. If we know 

 how to read well, we are as unconscious of the means 

 and processes whereby we attain the desired result as 

 we are about the growth of our hair or the circulation 

 of our blood. So that here again it would seem that 

 we only know what we know still to some extent 

 imperfectly, and that what we know thoroughly 

 escapes our conscious perception though none the less 

 actually perceived. Our perception in fact passes into 

 a latent stage, as also our memory and volition. 



Walking is another example of the rapid exercise of 

 volition with but little perception of each individual 



