without moving others or all of them, who can not move his brows or
corrugate his forehead at will, and whose inflection is very
monotonous, illustrates a condition of arrest or atrophy of this
later, finer, accessory system of muscles. On the other hand, the
child, precocious in any or all of these later respects, is very
liable to be undeveloped in the larger and more fundamental parts and
functions. The full unfoldment of each is, in fact, an inexorable
condition precedent for the normal development to full and abiding
maturity of the higher and more refined muscularity, just as
conversely the awkwardness and clumsiness of adolescence mark a
temporary loss of balance in the opposite direction. If this general
conception be correct, then nature does not finish the basis of her
pyramid in the way Ross, Mercier, and others have assumed, but lays a
part of the foundation and, after carrying it to an apex, normally
goes back and adds to the foundation to carry up the apex still higher
and, if prevented from so doing, expends her energy in building the
apex up at a sharper angle till instability results. School and
kindergarten often lay a disproportionate strain on the tiny accessory
muscles, weighing altogether but a few ounces, that wag the tongue,
move the pen, and do fine work requiring accuracy. But still at this
stage prolonged work requiring great accuracy is irksome and brings
dangers homologous to those caused by too much fine work in the
kindergarten before the first adjustment of large to small muscles,
which lasts until adolescence, is established. Then disproportion
between function and growth often causes symptoms of chorea. The chief
danger is arrest of the development and control of the smaller
muscles. Many occupations and forms of athletics, on the contrary,
place the stress mainly upon groups of fundamental muscles to the
neglect of finer motor possibilities. Some who excel in heavy
athletics no doubt coarsen their motor reactions, become not only