THE NERVOUS SYSTEM 9 



of the nervous system, and though It can 

 scarcely be said to exist in the bald way in 

 which it has just been described, the idea of 

 the reflex has been certainly a most important 

 conception in the analysis of nervous opera- 

 tions. 



Many of the elemental movements which 

 the body of man is continually exhibiting par- 

 take of the nature of reflexes, and if we ex- 

 tend this term to include operations which in- 

 volve consciousness, and there seems to be no 

 good reason why we should not so extend it, 

 almost every form of nervous activity may be 

 classed under it. Many of our daily acts are 

 reflexes of the simplest possible kind ; our in- 

 stinctive movements and our habits are groups 

 of these reflexes more or less complex in their 

 associations and in their sequences. In fact 

 the ensemble of nervous activity that we rec- 

 ognize in personality rests on a background 

 of reflex operation and is itself made up in 

 large part of just this mode of action. Let us 

 turn now to a consideration of some of the 

 chief classes of nervous activity in man, that 

 we may see something of their significance to 

 him as a social organism. 



If at the outset we attempt to discover 



