[70]

Herbert Spencer Psychology 2d Edit p. 509-511.

Excellent on Habit affecting Brain 2

N. B. a grain of sand in eye if eye kept dry and not be washed out & wd keep on [redirecting] out of nerve influence & carry tears & time of [redirecting] wd become easier

[Expression, p. 29: "The most complex and difficult movements can in time be performed without the least effort or consciousness. It is not positively known how it comes that habit is so efficient in facilitating complex movements; but physiologists admit2 "that the conducting power of the nervous fibres increases with the frequency of their excitement." This applies to the nerves of motion and sensation, as well as to those connected with the act of thinking.
2 Müller, 'Elements of Physiology,' Eng. translat. vol. ii. p. 939. See also Mr. H. Spencer's interesting speculations on the same subject, and on the genesis of nerves, in his 'Principles of Biology,' vol. ii. p. 346; and in his 'Principles of Psychology,' 2nd edit. pp. 511-557."]