122 tHE COMING OF MAN 



really worth while to do anything about it? Pick out of a 

 college class of one hundred men the ten who appear the lazi- 

 est, and you will have nearly all the best trained athletes. 

 Most of us, by lively hustling, waste enough nervous energy 

 in one day to last us a week; and then wonder what it was all 

 about. Hustling is conspicuous but not therefore fit. There 

 is "power in repose." We hurry and worry; and these, ac- 

 cording to the Arab proverb, are the Devil. Don't waste the 

 time of a strong man who tells you he has plenty to spare. 

 Try that experiment on the man who has none; you will do 

 far less harm. A healthy nervous system is first of all eco- 

 nomical. There is in it nothing of the hair-trigger releasing 

 an explosion at the slightest touch; nor is it like a sponge 

 giving out only under pressure. " Too much of nothing." 



Continual responses smooth grooves of least resistance in 

 our nervous system until all its energy tends to pour out along 

 these paths. Hence arise habits which we have formed or al- 

 lowed to grow. William James has spoken of them far bet- 

 ter than I can.^ The only genuine gentleman is the man who 

 could not be anything else. This too is obvious. 



The different centers in our nervous systems may be com- 

 pared to the local centers or switch-boards of the telephone 

 system of a great city, all connected at one center. It might 

 better be compared to the system of control and communica- 

 tion, the organization, of a great army whose soldiers would 

 correspond to our muscular fibrils. There are headquarters 

 for companies, regiments, brigades and divisions. Behind and 

 above all are the headquarters of the general in supreme com- 

 mand, a chief of staff. So we find in our bodies a hierarchy 

 of centers of different levels, a " reservoir of indetermination," 

 all having their final seat of control in the thinking mind.^ 



It is a long circuit for impulses through this highest center. 

 Many or most never reach it, but are shifted or arrested 

 farther down. In this highest region there is opportunity for 

 delay, for mutual inhibition or conflicting impulses. There 



1 127. 



2 135 Chaps. II. V. 



