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TRAINS OF MOVEMENTS.

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last so easy that we do not know that we are performing a complicated act.

Take next a train or succession of movements. The sequence of acts in eating is one of our earliest acquirements. The lifting of the morsel by the spoon or fork, the carrying of it to the mouth, the opening of the mouth at the right moment, the action of the jaws and tongue, all exhibit a succession of regulated acts fixed into mechanical coherence and certainty, by the mere fact that they have been made to succeed each other a great number of times. The action of carrying the hand to the mouth is followed by the opening of the jaws, as surely as the two alternate acts concerned in breathing give birth to each other.

In most mechanical successions, the feeling of the effect produced at each stage is a link in the transition to the next. Thus, in writing, the sight of the part last formed is the preamble to what comes next, as much so as the motion executed; in which case, the sequence is not one of pure motions-one motion bringing on the next in the habitual order. This mixture of sensations and motions in complex trains will form a separate head; I am desirous, at the present stage, to select a few examples of actual or pure movements linked together, without any other element being present. As, however, the guidance by the feeling is necessary in the course of learning any mechanical effort, the fixing of movements in a train, independently of such guidance, is the last stage, or highest perfection of mechanical acquirement. Thus, when one is playing on a pianoforte, and attending to something else at the same time, the sequence may be said to consist of pure movements: that is to say, each stroke is associated with another definite stroke or touch, through the whole succession of the piece. Yet, even in this case, it is difficult to say how much there is of a kind of latent sensation. in the fingers and the ear, acting along with the association of pure movements.

A deaf person speaking must depend almost entirely on the associated sequence of movements; the only other assist

ance is the muscular feelings themselves, which always count for something. In saying over, to one's self, words committed by rote, the sequence of articulate motions is perfect. One word uttered brings on the next, independently of either hearing or the consciousness of articulation. This is a proof of the very great aptitude for associated movement belonging to the vocal organs; hardly any other part of the body, not even the hands, can acquire such perfection of unconscious dexterity.^ In knitting, there is probably the same sequence of movements, acquired after thousands of repetitions. The simpler figures of dancing can be gone through, with this mechanical and unconscious certainty, after a great amount of practice; but the docility of the lower limbs is far inferior to the hands, while these are second to the voice.

The difficulty of forming a perfect association of mere movements, and the dependence of most of the mechanical trains upon the sense of the effect produced, are curiously illustrated in paralyzed sensibility. Thus, there is an oftenquoted case of a woman that could not hold a baby in her arms except by keeping her eyes fixed upon it. She had no sense of weight in her arms, and the sustained tension of the muscles was not sufficiently associated with the taking up of the child, by the muscular link alone. The sight of the eye was able to supply the want of arm sensibility, but both could not be dispensed with.

A more familiar example of the same fact is the signing of one's name-an operation that, by repetition, has been brought up to the highest pitch of automatic or mechanical sequence; and yet, when we make our signature without seeing it, the execution is very faulty.

It is the linking together of movements, so perfectly as to make them succeed one another without consciousness, that brings the acquisitions into comparison with the instincts. Such actions are sometimes called secondary-automatic.

Although very few of the cases of mechanical acquirement in general can belong to the class we are now considering, there are important distinctions of human character,

CONDITIONS OF RETENTIVENESS.

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founded on the facility of acquiring trains of movement, so as to uphold them with the least possible help from the guiding sensations and ideas. The trains of action so acquired cost the smallest amount of mental fatigue in the performance; they may, moreover, go on while the mind is employed upon other things.

4. In regard to the conditions that regulate the pace of our various acquisitions, some are general, others are special to individual kinds.

The general conditions are these:

I. A certain amount of Continuance, or Repetition of the matter to be learned, is requisite: and the greater the continuance, or the more frequent the repetition, the greater the progress of the learner. Deficiency in the other conditions. has to be made up by a protracted iteration.

II. The Concentration of the mind is an important condition. This means physically that the forces of the nervous. system are strongly engaged upon the particular act, which is possible only by keeping the attention from wandering to other things. It is well known that distraction of mind is a bar to acquirement.

There are various modes of attaining the desired concentration. It is a voluntary act, prompted by present and by future pleasures and pains.

The greatest of all motives to concentration is a present enjoyment of the work in hand. Any exercise possessing a - special charm detains us by immediate attraction; everything else is neglected so long as the fascination lasts. This is the inherent power of the will in its immediate and most efficient manifestation-a present pleasure furthering a present action. It explains the great influence of what is called the Taste for a special pursuit. The taste or fascination for music, for science, for business,-keeps the mind of the learner exclusively bent upon the subject; and the pace of acquisition is proportionally rapid.

Next to present enjoyment, is associated or future enjoyment; as when we devote ourselves to something uninte

resting or painful in itself, but calculated to bring future gratification. This is, generally speaking, a less urgent stimulation, as being the influence of pleasure existing only in idea. There may, however, be all degrees of intensity of the motive, according to the strength of the ideal representation of the pleasure to come. It is on this stimulation, that we go through the dry studies necessary to a lucrative profession or a favourite object of pursuit. The young are insufficiently actuated by prospective pleasure, owing to their inferior ideal hold of it; and are therefore not powerfully moved in this way.

A third form of concentration is when present pain is made use of to deter and withdraw the mind from causes of distraction, or matters having an intrinsically superior charm. This is the final resort in securing the attention of the volatile learner. It is an inferior motive, on the score of economy, but cannot be dispensed with in early training. By an artificial appliance, the subject is made comparatively the most attractive. So with the use of future pains; the same allowance being made for the difference in their character, as for pleasures existing only in prospect.

Mere Excitement, whether as pleasure or as pain, or as neither, is a power of intellectual concentration. An idea that excites us very much persists in the mind, even if painful; and the remembrance of it will be stamped in consequence. This influence will be specially noticed, a few pages hence.

It is not uncommon, in stating the general conditions of Retentiveness, or memory, to specify the vividness or intensity of au impression; thus, we readily remember such effects as an intense odour, a speech uttered with vehemence, a conflagration. This, however, resolves itself into the concentration of mental and nervous force, due to the emotional excitement. Apart from the feelings, an idea may be more or less distinct and clear, but is not properly more or less intense. If an inscription is legible with ease, it is everything that the intellect demands; the adventitious aid of glaring characters, as when, at a public

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illumination, a sentiment is written in gas jets, is a species of excitement, securing an inordinate amount of attention or concentration of mind.

If we compare an object sharply defined with another whose lineaments are faded and obscure, there is a wide difference in the hold that the two would severally take on the memory; but such impressions differ in kind, and not simply in degree. The names vivid' and 'intense' are scarcely applicable except by a figure. Without a decisive difference or contrast, the mind is not impressed at all; everything that favours the contrast favours discrimination, and also depth of impression. All this, however, is pre-supposed as a fact or property of the Discriminating function of intellect; and is not to be repeated as appertaining to the Retentive function.

III. There appears to be specific to each individual a certain degree of General Retentiveness, or a certain aptitude for acquirement generally. We find a great inequality in the progress of learners placed almost exactly in the same circumstances. Sometimes the difference refers only to single departments, as mechanical art, music, or language; it is then referable to special and local endowments, as muscular sensibility, the musical ear, and so forth. Often, however, the superiority of individuals is seen in acquirement as a whole, in which form it is better regarded as a General power of Retentiveness.

5. We shall advert, as we proceed, to the modifying circumstances of a local kind peculiar to each class of acquisitions. As respects the present class, Movements, the special conditions seem to be as follows:

(1.) Bodily Strength, or mere muscular vigour, must be regarded as fɛ vouring acquisition. Not only is it an indication of a large share of vitality in the muscles, which is likely to attend their acquired aptitudes; it also qualifies for enduring, without fatigue, a great amount of continuance or practice of the operations required.

(2.) Distinct from mere muscular power is Spontaneity, or the active temperament; meaning the natural proneness

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