392 A YEAR IN SCIENCE 



At each repetition of the same act the currents move 

 more rapidly. For this reason practice makes perfect. 

 We learn to write, to walk, to read, to think, to feel 

 slowly but surely as the nerve routes become estab- 

 lished. Finally such acts, thoughts, or feelings require 

 little attention, and we speak of them as habits. 



Habits, too, save the brain much time and effort. At 

 first the mind must direct each impulse necessary to 

 produce the movements in learning to write, for 

 example. Later on these impulses reflexly go over the 

 proper nerves and make the proper connections. 



It requires considerable effort, w r hen habits are once 

 formed, to break them. Certain impulses readily pass 

 over certain nerves, through certain centers, and pro- 

 duce definite, fixed responses. Only with great and 

 repeated effort is it possible to make these impulses 

 travel over new routes. It is just as difficult to break 

 a good habit as it is to break a bad one. The older 

 we grow the more fixed our habits become, and conse- 

 quently the more difficult to change. 



It is wise to form only such habits of thought and 

 action as will make us most useful to ourselves and 

 to our fellow-men. The importance of this is most 

 forcibly expressed by Professor James : 



"The hell to be endured hereafter," says Professor 

 James,* "of which theology tells, is no worse than the 

 hell we make for ourselves in this world by habitually 

 fashioning our characters in the wrong way. Could 



* Professor James, Psychology. Henry Holt & Co. 



