144 ALFEED T. SCHOFIELD^ ESQ., M..D., M.K.C.S., ETC., ON 



experiments show respectively the seats of reflex 

 action (the cord), of complicated automatic action 

 (the lower brain), and of voluntary acts (the 

 cortex). It has been said by Romanes that instinct 

 is partly due to lapsed intelligence. It may have 

 come out of confirmed hal^its, and in this case mind 

 must precede instinct and not succeed it. This 

 carries mind a long way down the scale, and pre- 

 pares us for Professor Ladd's remark that " auto- 

 matism belongs to all living protoplasm." It is for 

 this reason it is said, '■ an amoeba has a will of its 

 own." 

 Instinct appears to culminate in the articulates, such 

 as ants and bees, while intelligent action cul- 

 minates in the vertebrata, as man. The former are 

 like barrel organs, and can only play certain fixed 

 tunes, however complicated, while the latter are 

 like organs that can produce any melody at the will 

 of the player. 



(c) We come next to psycha-physical acts, mixtures of 

 mind and brain. These are : — 



1. Artificial, or acquired reflexes or habits ; these origi- 



nating in the will became automatic by use, and are 

 the chief subject of this paper. 



2. Voluntary actions acting with phj'^sical impulses. 



3. Voluntary actions acting against physical impulses. 



((7) Lastly, we reach actions purely p>sychical, which we 

 will simply enumerate : — Rejlex ideas, desires, emotions, and 

 perceptions produced by the mind without the will. 



Artificial reflex thoughts started by the will, continued by 

 association ; and lastly, purely voluntary ideas and emotions. 



Before now passing on to enquire into the nature of habit, 

 let us pause for one moment to consider the wisdom displayed 

 by fortuitous evolution (if such, indeed, be our origin) in 

 the great fact that all the processes in our body are of a 

 reflex or automatic nature that are connected with the 

 mechanism of life, and are not subject to the control of our 

 will, but proceed in a large measure even without our con- 

 sciousness : while on the other hand all the actions of 

 physical life or the expenditure of animal force is placed in 



