110 
VOLITION 
subject is strongly fascinating ; or to a mixture of the two. 
The novel-reader is conscious of no effort of attention when 
absorbed in some delightful work of fiction ; but set him 
down to a scientific treatise, and his sense of effort may come 
little short of headache. 
By the aid of an ingenious apparatus called Hipp’s 
chronoscope, Hersch, and subsequently Wundt, have been 
able to measure the time required for a voluntary response to 
any given stimulus; this time of response averages from ^tli 
to ith of a second, and decreases with the increased energy 
of the stimulus ; and, by subtracting the time taken up in 
nervous transmission to and from the brain, Wundt obtains 
the duration of the three processes of perception, appercep¬ 
tion, and volition. These processes, which he calls “ psycho¬ 
physical.” usually require a much longer time than the purely 
physiological processes of transmission. But.- if, by means 
of a preparatory signal, the observer is led to expect the 
stimulus at a given instant, the psycho-physical stage may be 
greatly shortened, and may even be reduced to zero, so that 
the response takes no longer than a simple reflex action. 
Or the response may even be simultaneous with the stimulus. 
Wundt explains these phenomena in the following manner:— 
When the preparatory nervous tension has attained its highest 
point, the prepared movement can no longer be restrained, 
find the nerve-energy overflows into action, so that we respond 
to an irritation from within, instead of to a stimulus from 
without. Thus the apperception and the responsive volition 
no longer constitute two stages, but are fused into one act of 
will. 
I now return to the consideration of the two classes of 
volitions ; initiatory and inhibitory. 
The distinguishing quality of initiatory volitions is that 
they are non-automatic. They cannot be predicted, and even 
when considered as responses to simple stimuli, they are liable 
to indefinite variation, dependent on the constantly varying 
condition of the cells of the cerebral cortex. Therefore, the 
machinery of volition has, as it were, to be readjusted every 
time it comes into action, and its responses cannot be made 
without a certain effort. Yet volitions, like impulses, avail 
themselves of automatic mechanism, and in return strengthen 
that mechanism. For when the action is once started 
volitionally, it very frequently proceeds automatically, as in 
the already-cited case of setting out to walk; indeed, all our 
voluntary actions are to some extent intermingled with 
automatic elements, otherwise life would be intolerably 
difficult, and progress impossible. We can speak, because 
