inspiration." This is usually a futile procedure. The better way is to
begin to write anything about the topic in hand. What you write may
have little merit, either of substance or form. Nevertheless, if you
persist in keeping up the activity of writing, making more and more
movements, you will find that the ideas will begin to come in greater
profusion until they come so fast you can hardly write them down.

Having tried to picture the neural effect of expression, we may now
translate them into psychological terms, asking what service the
expressions render to the conscious side of our study. First of all, we
note that the expressions help to make the acts and ideas in study
habitual. We find ourselves, with each expression, better able to
perform such acts as the pronunciation of foreign words. Second, they
furnish new impressions through the kinaesthetic sense, thus being a
source of sense-impression. Third, they give rise to a greater number
of ideas and link them up with the idea dominant at the moment. There
is a further psychological effect of expression in the clarification of
ideas. It is a well-attested fact that when we attempt to explain a
thing to someone else, it becomes clearer in our own minds. You can
demonstrate this for yourself by attempting to explain to someone an
intricate conception such as the nebular hypothesis. The effort
involved in making the explanation makes the fact more vivid to you.
The habit of thus utilizing your knowledge in conversation is an
excellent one to acquire. Indeed, expression is the only objective test
of knowledge and we cannot say that we really know until we can express
our knowledge. Expression is thus the great clarification agency and
the test of knowledge. Before leaving this discussion, it might be well
to remark upon one phase of expression that is sometimes a source of
difficulty. This is the embarrassment incident to some forms of
expression, notably oral. Many people are deterred from utilizing this
form of expression because of shyness and embarrassment in the presence
of others. If you have this difficulty in such excess that it hinders
you from free expression, resolve at once to overcome it. Begin at the
very outset of your academic career to form habits of disregarding your
impulses to act in frightened manner. Take a course in public speaking.
The practice thus secured will be a great aid in developing habits of
fearless and free oral expression.

This