The Will. 753 



consciously, and are denominated reflex, the stimulation, after passing 

 the sensory centers, goes directly to the muscles instead of going to the 

 cortical organs of the cerebrum. The first movement of the muscle, 

 under such stimulation, liberates a stimulus upon its co-operating blood- 

 vessels. This is instantly followed by an increase in the blood supply 

 to such muscle, which in turn promotes the increased energy of the 

 muscle for further action. So that there is the same coirespondence 

 and mutuality between the muscle and its blood-vessel as between the 

 cerebral organ and its blood-vessel, and both systems are equally de- 

 pendent upon the advent of a stimulus from the environment by way of 

 the sensory centers. That" which goes to the muscles without exciting 

 the cerebral organs, produces reflex actions. Such actions follow the 

 habit to which the part moving is accustomed. If a threatening ges- 

 ture is made near the eye, it will wink without the intervention of the 

 will. Although the gesture being seen, the stimulus is carried up to the 

 cerebral organs from the sense organ at the same instant that the motor 

 stimulus goes back to the muscle of the eyelid. The reflex muscle ac- 

 tion is as rapid in this case as the cerebral action, and the lid has been 

 snapped shut at the same instant that the cerebral organ has been af- 

 fected, and given rise to a sensation of the gesture. We recognize that 

 the cerebral or memory organs are not involved in the case by describ- 

 ing such muscular action as involuntary. But if the stimulus is not too 

 sudden and powerful, the action by way of the cerebral organ has time 

 to interfere and modify the motion of the muscle. Thus, if I walk 

 along the road and meet with an obstruction, I am conscious that cere- 

 bral action determines in what way I shall avoid it. The secretory 

 glands, too, like the muscles, as shown elsewhere, are subject to stimu- 

 lations either independently or in connection with cerebral organs. 



Whenever the muscular action is modified by stimuli deflected from 

 cortical cerebral organs, we call it voluntary, and in like manner and for 

 the same reason, whenever attention is directed in any particular way by 

 the deflection of stimuli from other cortical organs, we call that volun- 

 tary attention. (See page 498. ) 



We thus perceive that no new or exceptional physiological principles 

 are involved in the mechanism of attention, but the same sort of sen- 

 sory stimulation arouses attention which arouses reflex muscular action, 

 and does it by the same process. The will, therefore, both in muscle 

 contraction and in the stimulation of organs of the cortex, in arousing 

 attention, is a direct .or indirect outcome of a sensory stimulus, and 

 would not exist without it. It is shown in chapter 73 that abstraction, 

 artificial somnambulism, &c. , are simply more intense and exclusive 

 states of attention. It is obviously inconsistent, therefore, to say that 

 the will is subverted and set aside by a suggested idea or sensory stimu- 



