following the established pathways, these reach the right destination and
produce the desired result. According to this view, secondary reflex
action is but a higher phase of ordinary reflex action--a kind of reflex
action, the conditions of which have been established by the mind through
repetition. (See functions of the cerebellum, page 317.)

*Habits.*--People are observed to act differently when exposed to the same
conditions, or when acted upon by the same stimuli. This is explained by
saying they have different habits. By _habits_ are meant certain general
modes of action that have been acquired by repetition. Certain acts
repeated again and again have established conditions in the nervous system
which enable definite forms of action to be excited, somewhat after the
manner of reflex action. On account of habits, therefore, the actions of
the individual are more or less _predisposed_. What he will do under
certain conditions may be foretold from his habits. Habits simply
represent, a higher order of secondary reflexes--those more closely
associated with the mental life and character than are the lower forms.

Habits, in common with other forms of secondary reflex action, serve the
important purpose of _economizing the nervous energy_. However, if
pernicious habits are formed instead of those that are useful, they are
detrimental from both a moral and physical standpoint. Youth is recognized
as the period in which fundamental habits are formed and character is
largely determined. Therefore parents and teachers do wisely when they
insist upon the formation of right habits by the young.

*Functions of Divisions of the Nervous System.*--The relationship between
the different parts of the nervous system is very close and one part does
not work independently of other parts. At the same time the general work
of the nervous system requires that its different divisions serve
different purposes:

1. The peripheral divisions of the nervous system are concerned in the
transmission of impulses between the surface of the body and the central
system and between the central system and the active tissues. The nerves
are the carriers of the impulses. The ganglia contain the cell-bodies
which serve as nutritive centers; and, in the case of the sympathetic
ganglia, these cell-bodies are the places where the fiber terminations of
one neuron connect with, and stimulate, other neurons.

2. The gray matter in the spinal cord, bulb, p