REFLEX AND IDEO-MOTOR REACTION 55 



high practical efficiency. It involves hesitation 

 and the possibility of error. But it possesses the 

 transcendent advantage of affording opportunities 

 for the exercise of choice, that is to say, for the 

 play of the will. It is, however, fortunate for our 

 health that the action of the heart, the stomach, 

 and other internal organs is governed by a separate 

 nerve system that is directed by instinct in inde- 

 pendence of the brain, and is not liable to these 

 disturbing complications. With however great 

 an effort we cannot help winking when the eye is 

 suddenly threatened. Nervous impulses such as 

 these (styled " reflex ") are practically mechani- 

 cal : the ganglia which actuate them lie mostly 

 in the spinal column, and operate without 

 reference to the brain. We can, by practice, 

 acquire artificial " reflex " (or, as they are termed, 

 " ideo-motor ") capacities: the complicated move- 

 ments required in talking, eating, or playing the 

 piano can be effected subconsciously, at times 

 when the brain is occupied with other matters. 

 Skill was acquired by conscious effort in which 

 the brain took place, but, with the attainment 

 of dexterity, the nervous process has become, 

 so to speak, short-circuited, and is not interfered 

 with by impressions, or thoughts, which would 

 distract a beginner. 



Ordinarily, however, so far as our conscious 

 lives are concerned, our impulses are liable to 

 inhibition : we may be distracted by a desire 

 for drink, but we may resist the impulse if in 

 habit, shame, sympathy for others, or solicitude 

 for our own health, we can find over-balancing 

 considerations. An outcry of " fire " an im- 

 pression caused by a symbol will drive the 

 audience in a theatre into a panic. But a speech 

 by the manager may possibly control them. 



