Sense  impressions  of  the  outer  world  come
to  us  through  those  channels  known  col-
lectively as  the  afferent.  Recording  them-
selves in  particular  centres,  they  result  in  a
further  nervous  activity  which  manifests
itself  as  thought  and  act,  through  the  efferent.
This  efferent  channel  connects  with  the  envi-
ronment, and  its  mechanism  is  congenital  and
purely  automatic.  It  pertains  to  man — the
vertebrate,  the  mammal;  and  is  the  same  in
the  baboon.  The  acts  of  the  baboon  are
reflexive;  he  is  an  afferent  machine.  But
between  the  afferent  impression  and  the
efferent  result,  man  may  interpose  another
factor — the  will — and  in  proportion  as  he
does  so,  and  that  wisely,  he  is  the  more  man

and  the  less  monkey.     Now  the  will  is  not

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70  Resources

ready  made,  like  the  automatic  afferent,  but
is  subject  to  discipline  and  control,  and,
like  any  faculty,  grows  with  use.  It  is
energy,  and  without  it  a  man  could  not  so
much  as  read  a  book,  though  he  were  other-
wise qualified.
Its  relation  to  resources  is  obvious,  for
the  mind  will  not  acquire,  nor  can  it  over-
come the  obstacles  to  its  development,  unless
it  has  the  will  to  do  so.  Equally  direct  is
its  bearing  upon  life,  for  if  one  know  the
right  he  must  likewise  have  the  will  to  put
it  into  practise.  The  world  is  full  of  well-
meaning  people  who  have  not  the  will  to
carry  out  their  resolutions;  as  it  is  overrun
with  men,  the  agent  of  whose  acts  is  the
afferent  rather  than  the  will.  Titillate  the
nerve  of  a  headless  frog  and  he  will  kick;
and  the  habits  of  the  drunkard  and  the  klepto-
maniac are  almost  as  reflective  and  automatic
as  the  kick  of  the  frog.
