Many of them admit very sensible intervals of time in which
other subordinate acts can be performed, and in most of them
the same acts might, by a great effort, be performed in much
more rapid succession. As for example : a man who ^^alks
at a moderate pace could, at least for a while, make twice
the number of steps in the same space of time by running;
or a man who uses a hammer might, for a little while, by a
particular effort, repeat the strokes much quicker, or perhaps
might in early life have acquired the power of habitually
repeating them faster, without any greater sensible effort
than his slower repetition costs him in his present habit-
Now, all intellectual and all moral labours consist of a series
of diminutive acts, each of which can be performed in so
short a space of time that an immense number of them may
be accumulated during the lapse of days, months, and years.
And these acts are of such a nature that, like those opera-
tions of other classes which I have mentioned, they can be



* Another example, a weaver.
