44 STANDING. 



muscles; and even when we pay heed to it, our control 

 is limited: no one can hold his breath long enough to 

 suffocate himself. Any one of the voluntary muscles 

 may be thrown into activity, independently of or even 

 against the will, as we see in the "fidgets" of nervous- 

 ness. When we call any muscle voluntary, we mean that 

 it may be controlled by the will, but not that it neces- 

 sarily always is so. 



15. Standing. There are two reasons why a young 

 infant cannot stand: the first is that its skeleton is not 

 firm enough to bear its weight; the second is that it can- 

 not guide and manage its muscles. After the bones are 

 strong enough a child has still to learn to stand. We 

 all at last become by practice able to do so without 

 thinking about it; but standing always demands that a 

 great many muscles shall be at work, and be guided by 

 the brain. The part the brain takes, although we usu- 

 ally know nothing about it, is shown by the fall which 

 results from a violent knock on the head. This may 

 break no bone and injure no muscle, and yet the man who 

 has received it falls stunned and helpless to the ground. 

 His brain has been so shaken that it ceases for a time 

 to do its work, and the consequence is that the muscles, 

 released from control, cease to do their work; so until 

 the brain recovers, the man cannot stand. 



16. How our Brains come to Control the Muscles without 

 our being Conscious of it A child learning to stand has 

 to take a great deal of trouble; it has to think about 

 what it is doing all the time. After a while, it gives less 



15. Why cannot an infant stand? How is the brain concerned in 

 standing? In what way is this fact shown ? 



16. Give an example of an action once performed with trouble 



