The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1 (of 2)James, William
Philosophy
The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1 (of 2)
James, William
Psychology
This brings us by a very natural transition to the _ethical
implications of the law of habit_. They are numerous and momentous.
Dr. Carpenter, from whose 'Mental Physiology' we have quoted, has so
prominently enforced the principle that our organs grow to the way in
which they have been exercised, and dwelt upon its consequences, that
his book almost deserves to be called a work of edification, on this
account alone. We need make no apology, then, for tracing a few of
these consequences ourselves:
"Habit a second nature! Habit is ten times nature," the Duke of
Wellington is said to have exclaimed; and the degree to which this is
true no one can probably appreciate as well as one who is a veteran
soldier himself. The daily drill and the years of discipline end by
fashioning a man completely over again, as to most of the possibilities
of his conduct.
"There is a story, which is credible enough, though it may not be
true, of a practical joker, who, seeing a discharged veteran carrying
home his dinner, suddenly called out, 'Attention!' whereupon the man
instantly brought his hands down, and lost his mutton and potatoes in
the gutter. The drill had been thorough, and its effects had become
embodied in the man's nervous structure."[151]
Riderless cavalry-horses, at many a battle, have been seen to come
together and go through their customary evolutions at the sound of
the bugle-call. Most trained domestic animals, dogs and oxen, and
omnibus- and car-horses, seem to be machines almost pure and simple,
undoubtingly, unhesitatingly doing from minute to minute the duties
they have been taught, and giving no sign that the possibility of an
alternative ever suggests itself to their mind. Men grown old in prison
have asked to be readmitted after being once set free. In a railroad
accident to a travelling menagerie in the United States some time in
1881, a tiger, whose cage had broken open, is said to have emerged,
but presently crept back again, as if too much bewildered by his new
responsibilities, so that he was without difficulty secured.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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