LETTER VI.
HABIT.
We all acknowledge the strength of habit. Its power increases with time. In youth, it may seem to us, like the filmy line of the spider; in age, like the fly caught in its toils, we struggle in vain. "Habit, if not resisted," says St. Augustine, "becomes necessity."
The physical force of habit, is thus clearly illustrated by Dr. Combe: "A tendency to resume the same mode of action at stated times, is peculiarly the characteristic of the nervous system; and on this account, regularity is of great consequence in exercising the moral and intellectual powers. All nervous diseases have a marked tendency to observe regular periods, and the natural inclination to sleep at the approach of night, is another instance of the same fact. It is this principle of our nature, which promotes the formation of what are called habits. If we repeat any kind of mental effort every day at the same hour, we at last find ourselves entering upon it, without premeditation, when the time approaches."
