Word: reflexivity
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Contrary to popular belief, the American chameleon (Anolis carolinensis) does not assume the color of its surroundings. Its color changes, partly reflex and partly voluntary, are stimulated by temperature, illumination, emotion. In summer the chameleon can be given the run of a screened porch, but in winter it needs a cage with plenty of sunlight shining through glass netting or fine screen. Chameleons can drink only by lapping up drops of water sprinkled on plants; hence many die of thirst even with a pan of water in their cages...
...nose and throat through two holes at the inner corner of each eye. Ordinarily this flow & drainage of tears is imperceptible, and serves simply to keep the eyeballs clean and slippery. But dirt or stinging stuff in the eyes makes those glandular reservoirs suddenly empty in a protective local reflex. The excess causes weeping, sniffling and gulping, for hard crying produces more tears than the tear ducts can carry off, and the excess overflows the lower eyelids onto the cheeks. This phenomenon has been occurring on all sides in recent weeks as police heaved gas grenades which spurted clouds...
...opium which children's specialists now say is dangerous. According to Dr. Hamburger, "Paregoric . . . was what [Johns Hopkins'] Dr. Osier took when he himself was ill with broncho-pneumonia." Habitual constipation, "excluding diseases of the intestines and adjacent structures," Dr. Hamburger declared "is usually an ill-conditioned reflex, often associated with the abuse of purgative drugs. Most of these patients can be cured by explaining how the mechanism of defecation has been deranged and by reconditioning them by persistent daily attempts at a fixed hour to move the bowels...
...week, moved him to inquire into the behavior of drivers involved in such accidents. Many a driver explains: "The car went out of control." To Dr. Henderson it seemed rather that the motorist went out of control. When a driver is jounced off balance in his seat, a powerful reflex comes into play to restore his equilibrium. So strong is this that it obliterates the ordinary conditioned reflexes of good driving. Then, according to Dr. Henderson, the driver behaves as follows...
...violent body contortions by which a sedate burgher tries to keep his feet when he slips on an icy walk are the results of a deep-rooted reflex possessed by all animals, fully developed in newborn babes, unshakable by training. Now that it imperils motorcar operators, Dr. Henderson thinks it could be successfully sidetracked by installing a pedal in the shape of a wide panel almost flush with the floor boards under the driver's left foot. When the "extensor thrust" shoots both his legs out, though the right foot may jam down the accelerator, the pedal pushed...