ON CERTAIN ACQUIRED HABITS. 13 



than walking, and makes generally less demand upon 

 our powers. A man may talk a long while before he 

 has done the equivalent of a five-mile walk; it is 

 natural, therefore, that we should have had more prac- 

 tice in talking than in walking, and hence that we 

 should find it harder to pay attention to our words 

 than to our steps. Certainly it is very hard to become 

 conscious of every syllable or indeed of every word we 

 say ; the attempt to do so will often bring us to a 

 check at once; nevertheless we can generally stop 

 talking if we wish to do so, unless the crying of 

 infants be considered as a kind of quasi-sipeech. : this 

 comes earlier, and is often quite uncontrollable, or 

 more truly perhaps is done with such complete control 

 over the muscles by the will, and with such absolute 

 certainty of his own purpose on the part of the wilier, 

 that there is no longer any more doubt, uncertainty, or 

 suspense, and hence no power of perceiving any of the 

 processes whereby the result is attained — as a wheel 

 which may look fast fixed because it is so fast re- 

 volving. 1 



We may observe therefore in this ascending scale, 

 imperfect as it is, that the older the habit the longer 

 the practice, the longer the practice the more know- 

 ledge — or, the less uncertainty; the less uncertainty 

 the less power of conscious self-analysis and control. 



It will occur to the reader that in all the instances 

 given above, different individuals attain the unconscious 

 stage of perfect knowledge with very different degrees 

 of facility. Some have to attain it with a great sum ; 

 others are free born. Some learn to play, to read, write, 



1 See Appendix. 



