Step by step Science has advanced of late to the declaration that man _thinks all over_ his body, or at least experiences those reflected sensations or emotions which are so strangely balanced between intellectual sense and sensation that we hardly know where or how to class them. "The sensitive _plexi_ of our whole organism are all either isolated or thrown into simultaneous vibration when acted on by Thought." So the Will may be found acting unconsciously as an emotion or instinct, or developed with the highest forms of conscious reflection. Last of all we find it, probably as the result of all associated functions or powers, at the head of all, their Executive president. But _is_ it "the exponent of correlated forces?" There indeed doctors differ.
There is a very curious Italian verb, _Invogliare_, which is thus described in a Dictionary of Idioms: "_Invogliare_ is to inspire a will or desire, _cupiditatem injicere a movere_. To _invogliare_ anyone is to awake in him the will or the ability or capacity, an earnest longing or appetite, an ardent wish--_alicujus rei cupiditatem a desiderium alicni movere_--to bring into action a man's hankering, solicitude, anxiety, yearning, ardor, predilection, love, fondness and relish, or aught which savors of Willing." Our English word, _Inveigle_, is derived from it, but we have none precisely corresponding to it which so generally sets forth the idea of inspiring a will in another person. "Suggestion" is far more general and vague. Now if a man could thus _in-will_ himself to good or moral purpose, he would assume a new position in life. We all admit that most human beings have defects or faults of which they would gladly be freed (however incorrigible they _appear_ to be), but they have not the patience to effect a cure, to keep to the resolve, or prevent it from fading out of sight. For a _vast_ proportion of all minor sins, or those within the law, there is no cure sought. The offender says and believes, "It is too strong for me"--and yet these small unpunished offenses cause a thousand times more suffering than all the great crimes.
Within a generation, owing to the great increase of population, prosperity and personal comfort, nervous susceptibility has also gained in extent, but there has been no check to petty abuse of power, selfishness, which always comes out in some form of injustice or wrong, or similar vexations. Nay, what with the disproportionate growth of vulgar wealth, this element has rapidly increased, and it would really seem as if the plague must spread _ad infinitum_, unless some means can be found to _invogliare_ and inspire the offenders with a sense of their sins, and move them to reform. And it is more than probable that if all who are at heart sincerely willing to reform their morals and manners could be brought to keep their delinquencies before their consciousness in the very simple manner which I have indicated, the fashion or _mode_ might at least be inaugurated. For it is _not_ so much a moral conviction, or an appeal to common sense, which is needed (as writers on ethics all seem to think), but some practical art of keeping men up to the mark in endeavoring to reform, or to make them remember it all day long, since "out of sight out of mind" is the devil's greatest help with weak minds.