H4 MEMORY, HABIT, AND IMITATION 



for the daily tasks of dressing and undressing. 

 By practising these operations we " short circuit " 

 the chain of reactions that they represent, detach 

 it from the brain and permit it to pass subcon- 

 sciously along local (ideo-motor) nerve systems. 

 The force of Habit produces similar results, but 

 in a different fashion. It is concerned with im- 

 pulses as well as with processes, and its most 

 noticeable effect is to facilitate our response to the 

 promptings of particular instincts, memories, and 

 beliefs. We may imagine its action as wearing 

 by repetition the channel by which an impulse 

 frees itself, and so increasing the volume of the 

 impulsive current. 



Thus by a life of enforced solitude, such as that 

 of a hunter or explorer, the individualistic im- 

 pulses may become so predominant as to render a 

 man unwilling to mix with his fellows and uneasy 

 in their society. Under different circumstances the 

 same man may become so dominated by social 

 impulses as to consider a day wasted if some hours 

 of it are not spent at his club. Feelings of respect 

 grow under the influence of respectful manners. 

 By the systematic practice of asceticism even in 

 the pettiest of matters the self-repressive im- 

 pulses may be stiffened until they form a moral 

 backbone that will enable one to confront with 

 courage tribulations before which those whose 

 wills are undisciplined fall prostrate in nervous 

 self-abandonment. In a life of industry the indus- 

 trial impulse may become as imperative as life 

 itself, so that death follows upon the heels of 

 release from toil. We may educate ourselves in 

 kindness by practising it. Our cruel feelings may 

 be stimulated by spectacles which use bloodshed 

 or inhumanity as instruments of excitement. 

 Should it pander to lust, the theatre strengthens 

 the tyranny of man's lustful passions. 



