764 Dynamic Theory. 



contrary motives which are nearly balanced, the decision will not be 

 very positive in either direction, aiid may be reversed more than once 

 before motor action supervenes to reinforce and finally fix the decision. 

 As long as attention is concentrated upon one motive, it may cause a de- 

 termination of the will in a corresponding direction, but as soon as such 

 a will is formed, and attention is no longer monopolized by the motive 

 out of which it grew, unless it be of a nature which proceeds to instant 

 execution, the opposing motive engrosses attention and forms an op- 

 posing will. 



Decision of character depends further on the directness with which 

 the stimuli move from the stimulating agency to the part of the brain 

 to be moved. If the stimulus affects too many parts, they are apt to 

 antagonize and react against each other. It is the same as in the case 

 of the motor nerves, which pass into sympathetic ganglia, a part of the 

 motor energy is scattered off into out-of-the-way places and" gradually 

 reduced from work to mere heat. There must not be too many bearings 

 of a question come up for discussion, if a prompt decision is required. 

 The character of the Duke of Halifax, as given by Macauley, was one 

 of indecision, because of the very versatility and wit of the man, that 

 compelled him to see so many bearings of his subject, each of which 

 was forever answering, rebutting and neutralizing the others. 



The history of Winnifred, Countess of Nithsdale, whose husband 

 took part in the Scotch rebellion of 1745, and was condemned to death 

 for it, shows not only the decision and preserverance of her own char- 

 acter, but that she understood that the elements upon which a purpose 

 must be formed, in order to be persistent, must not be opposed by others 

 of a distracting nature. She determined upon a plan for her husband's 

 rescue, by disguising him as a woman, in which it was necessary to have 

 the co-operation of two other women. These she surprised into her 

 service after all the other arrangements had been made, and pressed the 

 execution of the plot before they had time to realize the risk they were 

 incurring. They started for the prison in a coach, and she says, ' 'When 

 we were in the coach I never ceased talking that they might have no 

 leisure to reflect. Their surprise and astonishment when I first opened 

 my design to them had made them consent, without ever thinking of 

 the consequences. " The plot was cleverly managed by this ingenious 

 woman, and was entirely successful. 



A persistent purpose involves no principles not concerned in the for- 

 mation of will. It is, in fact, the continuous re-formation of a will by 

 the concurrence of all the stimuli involved at any time and every time. 

 And the purpose is persistent only in the event that the stimuli are per- 

 sistent. For example, A, who is in the clothing business in Minneap- 

 olis, hears that B, in Chicago, has a job lot to be sold at a bargain. 



