[3] A remark to much the same effect was made long ago by Hippocrates
and by the illustrious Harvey; for both assert that a young animal
forgets in the course of a few days the art of sucking, and cannot
without some difficulty again acquire it. I give these assertions
on the authority of Dr. Darwin, `Zoonomia,' 1794, vol. i. p. 140.
The power of Association is admitted by everyone. Mr. Bain remarks,
that "actions, sensations and states of feeling, occurring together
or in close succession, tend to grow together, or cohere, in such a way
that when any one of them is afterwards presented to the mind, the others
are apt to be brought up in idea."[5] It is so important for our purpose
fully to recognize that actions readily become associated with other actions
and with various states of the mind, that I will give a good many instances,
in the first place relating to man, and afterwards to the lower animals.
Some of the instances are of a very trifling nature, but they are as
good for our purpose as more important habits. It is known to everyone
how difficult, or even impossible it is, without repeated trials, to move
the limbs in certain opposed directions which have never been practised.
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