THE LAW OF HABIT. 39 



notion of facility is not all-comprehending, and unable to do more 

 than confess the weakness of the above definition, he supplements it 

 by saying: "This definition is sufiicient for habits of art, but the 

 habits which may with propriety be called principles of action " 

 (namely, our moral habits and acquired appetites) " must give more 

 than a facility, they must give an inclination or iTnjJulse to do the 

 action." To Dr. Noah Porter also the conception of facility appears 

 to comprehend the main facts of habitual exercise. The following- 

 sentences indicate his position : — " Habit, Latin habitus, Greek i^t<;, 

 is literally a way of being held, or of holding one's self Thus 

 defined it must denote a permanent state of rest which has been 

 reached as the result of action or growth, or a pei-manent form of 

 activity, or of readiness or facility for any kind of activity." 



However, an attentive study of the specific differences in the 

 energies of the law of habit will show us that, if put forth as all- 

 embracing definitions of habit, these notions of facility and pro7ieness 

 or i'mjjulsiveness are lamentable failures, for they will be found to be 

 false and inapplicable in as many cases as they are true, and for sub- 

 serving any systematic purpose they are totally useless. In order to 

 avoid these difficulties thus merely indicated, the other class of 

 writers resort to various forms of expression which, however, are 

 either possessed of no meaning at all, or leave the subject still upon 

 our hands with none of its hard- and rough points smoothed down, 

 none of its difficulties explained away. The lexicographers, e.g. 

 Webster, commonly tell us that habit is "a, disposition or condition 

 of the mind or body acquired by custom, or the frequent repetition ' 

 of the same act." The embarrassment common to the lexicographers 

 we find also among the psychologists. Upham in his " Mental 

 Philosophy," in a section entitled, " Of the Efiects of Habit in giving 

 Strength to the Will," says : " We often see its results in the case 

 of the vicious man whose unholy propensities go on strengthening 

 and strengthening under its influence, till they assume the stubborn- 

 ness and inflexibility of iron. ... It is the result of the principle of 

 habit that eveiy act of the will . . . gives vivacity and strength to 

 the succeeding act." We might cite here, too, in virtue of certain 

 statements of his, the name of Dr. Morell before mentioned. He 

 has recourse to the use of a word which, like the word " property " 

 or "quality," is ofiTered as an explanation, but amounts only to a re- 

 statement in different words of the fact or facts to be explained. It 



