e leg, causing them to contract. In the injured patient the
nervous impulse cannot reach the brain, the seat of consciousness,
and hence this is not awakened. Normally consciousness does result
in a majority of such cases, but only after the beginning or
completion of the appropriate action. Yet the movements of our
internal organs, intestine and heart, go on continually, and in
health we remain entirely unconscious of their action.

But reflex actions may be anything but simple. We walk and talk, and
write or play the piano without ever thinking of a single muscle or
organ. Yet we had once to learn with much effort to take each step
or frame each letter. Thus actions, originally conscious and
intended, easily become reflex; often repeated the brain leaves
their control to the lower centres. We often say, "I did not intend
to do that; I could not help it." We forget that this excuse is our
worst condemnation. It is a confession that we have allowed or
encouraged a habit to wear a groove from which the wheels of our
life cannot escape. The essential characteristic of reflex action is
therefore that from beginning to completion it goes on independently
of consciousness.

2. Instinct. This is a much-abused word. It is frequently applied to
all the mental actions of animals without much thought or care as to
its meaning. Let us gain a definition from the study of a typical
case lest we use the word as a cloak for ignorance or negligent
thoughtlessness. Watch a spider building its wonderful geometrical
web. The web is a work of art, and every motion of the spider
beautifully adapted to its purpose. But the spider is not therefore
necessarily an artist. Let us see of how much the spider is probably
conscious, remembering that our best judgment is but an inference.
We have good reason to believe that she is conscious of the stimulus
to action, hunger. She may be, probably is, conscious of the end to
be attained--to catch a fly for her dinner. She seems conscious of
what she is doing. In all these respects this differs from reflex
action. But she is probably unconscious of the exact fitness of the
means to the end. We do not believe that she has adopted the
geometrical pattern, because she has discovered or calculated that
this will make the closest and largest net for the smallest outlay
of labor and material. Furthermore the young spider builds
practically as good a web as the old one. She has inherited the
power, not deve