Part 5 (2/2)

So every school and home should be a species of habit-factory--a place where children develop habits of neatness, punctuality, obedience, politeness, dependability and the other graces of character

5 RULES FOR HABIT-FORMING

JAMES'S THREE MAXIMS FOR HABIT-FORMING--On the for off of old ones, I know of no better statement than that of James, based on Bain's chapter on ”Moral Habits” I quote this stateth: ”In the acquisition of a new habit, or the leaving off of an old one, weand decided an initiative as possible_ Accumulate all the possible circuht motives; put yourself assiduously in conditions that encourage the neay; ee, if the case allows; in short, develop your resolution with every aid you know This will give your new beginning such a momentum that the temptation to break doill not occur as soon as it otherwisewhich a breakdown is postponed adds to the chances of its not occurring at all

”The second maxim is: _Never suffer an exception to occur until the new habit is securely rooted in your life_ Each lapse is like letting fall a ball of string which one is carefully winding up; a single slip undoes ain _Continuity_ of training is the great ht

The need of securing success nerves one to future vigor

”A thirdpair: _Seize the very first possible opportunity to act on every resolution youyou ain_ It is not in the_motor effects_, that resolves and aspirations communicate the new 'set' to the brain”[3]

THE PREPONDERANCE OF GOOD HABITS OVER BAD--And finally, let no one be disturbed or afraid because in a little ti bundle of habits” For in so far as your good actions predoood habits outweigh your bad habits

Silently,out of all worthy acts well done Every bit of heroic self-sacrifice, every battle fought and won, every good deed perfor irradicably credited to you in your nervous syste the success of your ambitions

6 PROBLEMS IN OBSERVATION AND INTROSPECTION

1 Select sorow more and more habitual Notice carefully for a week and see whether you do not discover so of your bad habits; of the ood ones

2 Set out to form some new habits which you desire to possess; also to break so carefully what takes place in both cases, and how long it requires

3 Try the following experiment and relate the results to the ht about by habit: Draw a star on a sheet of cardboard Place this on a table before you, with a hand-ed that you can see the star in the mirror Now trace the outline of the star with a pencil, looking steadily in the uide your hand Do not lift the pencil from the paper from the time you start until you finish Have others try this experiroup of pupils for their habits (1) of attention, (2) of speech, (3) of standing, sitting, and walking, (4) of study Report on your observations and suggestbad habits observed

5 Make a list of ”est how they may be cured

6 Make a list of from ten to twenty habits which you think the school and its work should especially cultivate What ones of these are the schools you know least successful in cultivating? Where does the trouble lie?

CHAPTER VI

SENSATION

We can best understand the problems of sensation and perception if we first think of the existence of two great worlds--the world of physical nature without and the world of mind within On the one hand is our s we see and hear and touch and taste and handle; and on the other hand our consciousness, the means by which we come to know this outer world and adjust ourselves to it These torlds see to and require each other For ould be theor use of the physical world with no mind to know or use it; and ould be the use of a ht about?

1 HOW WE COME TO KNOW THE EXTERNAL WORLD

There is ato know the external world which we shall never be able fully to understand We have coradually and unconsciously that it now appears to us as cos that it would puzzle us to explain

KNOWLEDGE THROUGH THE SENSES--For exareen tree: it is about ten rods distant” But why ”of course”?

Why should objects at a distance from us and with no evident connection between us and the our eyes in their direction when there is light? Why not rather say with the blind son of Professor Puiseaux of Paris, hen asked if he would like to be restored to sight, answered: ”If it were not for curiosity I would rather have long arms It see in the moon than your eyes or telescopes”

We listen and then say, ”Yes, that is a certain bell ringing in the neighboring village,” as if this were thein the world But why should one piece of ainst another a mile or tay make us aware that there is a bell there at all, let alone that it is a certain bell whose tone we recognize? Or we pass our fingers over a piece of cloth and decide, ”That is silk” But why,our skin in contact with a bit of material, should we be able to know its quality, inally spun by an insect? Or we take a sip of liquid and say, ”Thisthe liquid into theit into contact with the mucous membrane to tell that it is milk, and that it possesses the quality which we call _sour_? Or, once h the openin the springtime and say, ”There is a lilac bush in bloo particles of lilac, should we be able to know that there is anything outside, much less that it is a flower and of a particular variety which we call lilac? Or, finally, we hold a heated flatiron up near the cheek and say, ”This is too hot! it will burn the cloth” But why by holding this object a foot away fro its temperature?

THE UNITY OF SENSORY EXPERIENCE--Further, our senses co, or coe, so to speak, by which each expresses its knowledge in terms of the others