lled instincts. Besides the movements which are the direct
result of stimulation, other movements more or less spasmodic and
uncoordinated take place which seem to be the result of internal causes not
easily understood.

The whole body is usually involved in these movements, and they are at
first extremely random in expression. These are termed impulses and are
undoubtedly due to the fact that the infant is a living, breathing
embodiment of energy, seeking the means of self-expression. In other words,
the infant is active from the beginning, and the slightest kind of internal
disturbance is sufficient at times to turn loose an immense number of
impulsive movements. This activity at birth is entirely uncontrolled. It
seems that in contrast to reflexes and instincts which have prearranged
bodily means of expression, the impulses must be subjected to a long period
of training and education before they are capable of being controlled and
transformed into that voluntary movement which is sometimes called will
power.

The immense number and strength of these random, impulsive movements in the
infant is in great contrast to the few, instinctive, unchangeable modes of
action in lower animals. As already stated, most animals come to the world
with the few movements necessary to their existence already provided for
and so fixed that future adjustment to new conditions is practically
impossible. The child, on the other hand, has marvelous capacity for
adjustment to new conditions and presents, therefore, possibilities for
training and education that have probably never yet been fully realized in
any child.

The reflexes and instincts, however, are much more fixed and certain in
their action than are the impulses. No matter what the training and
education of an individual may be, he will sneeze, even in church, if the
right stimulus is present; or he will cry and shed tears in public if the
melodrama excites the proper nerve centers. When the sex instinct is fully
aroused or the sentiment of love completely awakened, no one can foretell
what the action of the otherwise sane person will be.

All that training and education can do is to inhibit under ordinary
conditions certain undesirable tendencies and instincts and to strengthen
through exercise those that are desirable; and even then when a crisis
comes, the old, hereditary instinct is apt to break through its thin veneer
and actually frighten the individual at the unexpected