diluted with water, which, on the fourth day, he stoutly
refused. During his sixth month, he began to refuse to
take the breast (which was offered him only in the night),
because the sweetened cow's milk, which he had taken in



1 These results are corroborated also by Kroner, Fehling and several
others.



84 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CHILDHOOD.

the daytime, was somewhat sweeter. From this time
onward, and especially after weaning, his discrimination
became much nicer, and by the fourth and fifth years he
had become so " fastidious " that even the sight of certain
articles of diet would call forth from him the mimetic
movements for nausea, choking, etc.

Perez says the sense of taste is very slightly developed in
the new-born, yet it exists. A child observed by him dis-
tinguished milk from sweetened water, and sweetened water
from plain water, by the taste. Yet there are great differ-
ences of gustatory sensitiveness among children. In some
cases, a child of six months has been induced to take bitter
medicine by a change in the color. On the other hand, a
child of two and a half months refused its bottle because the
milk was not sweetened. Most children begin very early
to detect the acid taste in certain substances.^

Yet in general, children's tastes change very easily, and
hence are highly susceptible to education in almost every
direction. Moreover, there are differences in the same child
at different times: the state of the health, the temperature
of the food (which, according to Champneys, is of more
consequence than the taste itself), and many other circum-
stances entering in to disturb the gustatory equilibrium.



V. Smell.

Taste and smell are so closely associated that they might
almost be considered together. The savour of substances
depends, to a large extent, on their odor. These senses
resemble each other in the comparative diffuseness of their
perceptions, and in the fact that their sensations are more



1 Dr. Brown thinks this is the first taste to be recognized.



SENSATION. 35

persistent, and, therefore, less clearly distinguishable suc-
cessively than those of the higher senses.

In order to sensations of smell, there must be air in the
nasal cavities; hence there can be no exercise of this sense
before respiration begins ; none, therefore, before the begin-
ning of the post-natal life.

Careful tests upon new-born children, however, show that
they are susceptible to strong odors in the first hours of life.
Eecords are at hand of tests made on about fifty children,
most of whom were less than a day, some only fifteen min-
utes old. The tests were made with asafoetida, aqua foetida,
and oleum dipelli. Care was taken to experiment on sleep-
ing as well as waking children, in order to avoid mistakes
in interpreting the gestures and facial expressions. The
result was that the children became uneasy, knit the eyelids
more firmly together, contracted the muscles of the face,
moved the head and arms, and, finally, awoke, sometimes
even with crying. On the removal of the odor, they would
fall asleep again. These results were also obtained in the
case of eight months children, but not on those of a still
more premature birth.

With the child's growth, progress is normally made in
power of discrimination by the sense of smell, though more
slowly than in the case of the higher senses. A little girl
of eighteen hours obstinately refused a nipple on which a
little petroleum had been rubbed, but readily took the other.
Another child refused cow's milk when it ivas brought near
him. Another, at thirteen days, refused certain medicines,
being guided solely by their odor. Decisive discrimination
of pleasant from unpleasant odors, with rejection of the
latter, and appreciation of the former, has been observed in
numerous instances from the early part of the second month
on; and during the second half of the first year, this dis-
crimination has become, with some children, very marked



36 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CHILDHOOD.

indeed, a lively enjoyment of the scent of flowers often
being noticeable from this time on.

With all this, however, the sense of smell is far less acute
in children than in adults. They often appear unaffected
by odors which would be exceedingly unpleasant to the
grown person. Further, their sensibility to smells very
quickly becomes blunted by repetition or continuance, as is
the case, to a less degree, with all persons. When the
experiments with asafoetida, etc., described above, were
repeated, no responses could be elicited after the first or
second trial. Even after the child has become keenly ap-
preciative of odors, he seems utterly to lack that dexterity
in the management of the organ which is so noticeable in
the case of taste. Children well on in the second year of
life may be observed to carry a fragrant flower to the
mouth — and even into it — instead of to the nose. The
same awkwardness is seen in the management of the breath.
When learning to smell, they invariably exhale with great
vigor at first, but require considerable practice before they
can inhale the odors.

Man seems greatly inferior to many of the lower animals
in regard to smell. A kitten, three days old, " spat " at a
hand which had been licked by a dog — a remarkable
instance of the persistence and transmission of what Mr.
Darwin calls "serviceable associated movements." The
keenness of scent in dogs and horses, and many wild ani-
mals, is proverbial. In man, on the other hand, this sense
stands very low in the knowledge-giving scale. Even in
mature life, it gives but little information respecting the
external world, and that of an uncertain character. In the
child, it is concerned chiefly with the recognition of food.
But it may well be that if this sense were brought into as
constant requisition as the sense of sight or hearing, and as
much care bestowed upon its education, very important



> SENSATION. 37

results might take place in the way of developing a smell-
sensibility.^

VI. TeMPEKATUPwE.

There are two classes of thermic sensations : 1st, passive,
subjective and general, as when we say " I am cold " or " I
am warm." 2nd, active, objective and local, as when we
touch a hot or cold object and pronounce it hot or cold.
Both are important in the child's development, but the
second sort lends itself to experiment more readily than
the first.

The sense of temperature should not be confounded with
the sense of touch; for, though, like touch, it is universal,
having its end organs scattered all over the body, yet the
feeling in the one case is quite distinct from that in
the other.

With regard to the possibility of sensations of tempera-
ture prior to birth, Luys expresses himself as follows : " We
know indeed that from this period (the fourth month of
pregnancy) the foetus is sensitive to the action of cold, and
that we can develop its spontaneous movements by applying
a cold hand to the abdomen of the mother." Perez also is
of the opinion that the foetus experiences certain cutano-
thermal sensations from about this time. Preyer takes the
opposite ground, arguing for the homogeneity of the uterine
temperature, and the consequent absence of any possibility
of comparing sensations.

At all events, in the newly -born, the sense of warmth and
cold develops very promptly. The gradual cooling, on com-
ing into contact with the external world, the atmosphere,

1 Mantegazza complains that we aid our eyes with spectacles, micro-
scopes and telescopes, and our ears with trumpets, while the nose is
entirely neglected, "Die Hygiene der Sinne."



38 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CHILDHOOD.

the clothing, the bath, — all contribute to the speedy differ-
entiation of thermic sensations, and to the perception of
temperature. Genzmer, in experimenting upon about twenty
new-born children, found that there was active withdrawal
of the parts — palm of hand, sole of foot, cheek, etc. — to
which the cold object was applied. His experiments are
not entirely satisfactory, however, since sufficient care was
not taken to exclude touch sensations from participating.

Satisfactory observations as to the development of the
temperature sense are very scarce. Preyer found that the
warm bath was enjoyed almost from the first, but the cold
bath was disliked until the child learned by experience its
refreshing effects. The lips, tongue and mucous membrane
of the mouth were surprisingly sensitive to warmth and
cold, even in the first days. The child would refuse milk
of a temperature only slightly higher or lower than that of
the mother. Still, on the whole, the infant suffers less
from extremes of temperature than the adult, in whose case
the faculty of judgment enters to aggravate the sensation.

An interesting point in this connection is the gradual
variation between the " neutral point " in the tongue and
cavity of the mouth, on the one hand, and the external parts,
such as the hand, on the other. In the former it remains
through life almost the same as before birth, while in the
latter it gradually lowers by contact with the surrounding
medium.

VII. Organic Sensations.

By this is usually meant those comparatively vague and
general feelings of comfort and discomfort arising from cer-
tain conditions of the viscera, as distinguished from defi-
nitely located feelings resulting from excitation of the special
Hunger and thirst may serve as examples of



SENSATION. 39

visceral discomfort, and the feeling of satiety that follows
the taking of nourishment as an example of visceral comfort.
We shall also consider here feelings of pain in general,
whether produced hy external or internal stimuli.

The question of the possibility of pain experiences before
birth may perhaps be considered settled by Preyer's investi-
gations on foetal guinea pigs and dogs (see " Physiology of
the Embryo"). He obtained reactions which showed this
sensibility to be present. The reactions, however, were
very much slower than in the subsequent stages of life;
showing either that the sensibility to pain is much lower in
the foetal stage than subsequently, or that pain reflexes are
not firmly established at this time. Other investigators
have found indeed that in the case of the very immature
foetus, the prick of a pin produced no response, although in
the mature child, distinct reactions took place, by cries and
movements, to strong mechanical or electrical stimulation.

The fact that the new-born child is capable of pleasure
and pain also corroborates the view that his physiological
apparatus is already adjusted before birth to this sort of
experience.

Kussmaul has made some observations which go to show
that very soon after birth, from the sixth hour on, but vary-
ing much in different children, the infant " is accustomed to
betray distinctly that it is visited by a sensation which we
must interpret as hunger or thirst, probably a mixture of
both." This feeling is expressed by uneasy motions of the
head and hands, sucking movements, and crying. One child,
in the sixth hour of her life, would turn her head with sur-
prising quickness, first to one side and then to the other, in
order to take into the mouth and suck the finger with which
the observer stroked her on each side of her face in succes-
sion, though he took care that in stroking the finger should
not touch her lips.



40 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CHILDHOOD.

Prever observes that hunger and thirst assert themselves
in sucking movements from the first. Very soon the cry of
liunger is distinguishable from the cry of pain, being car-
ried on with more intervals and in a lower tone, while the
tongue is held in a peculiar manner, being drawn back and
spread out. The hungry infant he also observed to move
its head from side to side in a way not seen in any other
circumstances. Gradually the child becomes relatively less
absorbed in the satisfaction of hunger. From the fifth
month, he can be diverted from eating by new noises and
movements. From the tenth month, his eating is not so
hurried and greedy. This is parth* owing to the fact that
at this age he takes more food at a time, the stomach being
very much larger than at first.

For the rest, but few observations have been made. The
child experiences organic sensations of pleasure and pain
(the pain possibly predominating in the earliest period) in
connection with the digestive, respiratory and circulatory
processes : pleasure in their normal functioning, pain when
the organs are fatigued or diseased. Pleasures in general
are expressed by the widely open and *' swimming " eyes, by
the smile, — which, according to Darwin, occurred for the
first time as a real smile on the forty-fifth day, — and by
"crowing," joyful tones of voice; pains hy tightly closed
eyes, mouth drawn down at the corners, and later by the
quadrangular form of the mouth in crying, while the cry
itself varies according to the cause. The child is much
more easily fatigued than the adult, and during the first few
days passes most of the time in sleep.

YIII. MuscuLAK Feelings.

"We assume that in the normal condition all muscular
movements are accompanied by muscular feelings. It is a



SENSATION. 41

sort of *' internal touch " spread all over the body, and
intimately associated with locomotion and prehension, with
expansion and contraction, witli pressure, weight, resist-
ance, etc. It also includes the " feeling of the state of the
muscles when at rest." So closely connected with the
child's activity, its bearing on the rise of will is obvious.

That the child's muscles are called into play during the
later months of his ante-natal life, in a great variety of
movements, is so fully established as to require here only a
passing word. It has been supposed by some that the foetus
is incited to muscular movements by the tedium of his
unchanged position. It seems better, however, to suppose
that now, as at a later time, there is an instinctive necessity
for movement. The child is exceedingly active. To move
his muscles is for him an absolute necessit}', and the wisest
methods in child training are those which recognize this
fact, and, instead of repressing his activity, direct it into
the best channels.

Though muscular feelings are present thus early, they are
probably very vaguely apprehended by the child during the
first month of his, life. By the end of the third month,
however, a vast number of these feelings have become asso-
ciated with visual sensations, by means of coordinated
movements of the neck, arms and eyes. About this time
also begins the discernment of weight, though the apprecia-
tion and comparison of different weights are probably later
attainments. The healthy child experiences the keenest
pleasure in the exercise of his muscles. One observed case
may stand for many. A little boy, in his fourth month,
was observed to hold his toy rabbit up by the ears, crowing
proudly, in evident enjoyment of the effort. It is likely,

as Ferrier says, that the muscular feeling of effort, by which
weight is discerned, is first discriminated in connection with
the movements of respiration.



42 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CHILDHOOD.

From about the middle of the first year, the healthy child
develops a remarkable propensity to seize, lift^ pi^H? and
otherwise handle all objects that come within his reach.
This is to be attributed ]Dartly to natural curiosity, but more
particularly at this early period to the constitutional need
of exercising the muscles, to which he yields almost uncon-
sciously. As soon as he is able to walk, the range of his
muscle-activity is vastly extended, and from this time forth,
his experiences in this connection play a large and important
part in his education.^

1 For further remarks on muscular mcvement, vide infra, Chap. IV.



CHAPTER II.

INTELLECT.

Most of the phenomena described in the preceding pages
involve thonght in a greater or less degree; yet in the
earliest experiences, mental activity is at a minimum; the
affective predominates over the presentative, and the repre-
sentative occupies but a very small place. Yet it seems
incorrect to say, with Xasse, that " mind comes first at birth,
and the first breath is the earliest mark of intellect;" or
witli Heyfelder, that the first cry is the sign of awakening
mind; or with Karl Vogt, that the newly-born possesses no
trace of intelligence. Kussmaul seems nearer the truth in
the following: "It cannot be doubted that man comes into
the world with an idea — a dark one to be sure — of an outer
something, with a certain idea of space, with the possibility
of localizing certain touch sensations, and with a certain
mastery over his movements. How can it otherwise be
explained that the hungry child, before it is suckled, not
only seeks nourishment, but seeks it in that region where
its sense of touch during the search is actively excited?'
These astonishing actions can only be comprehended under
the following suppositions : First, that the child has already
gained the dim idea of an outer something which is able to
remove the unpleasant sensation of hunger or thirst, and
which, to that end, must come through the mouth; secondly,
that he is able to decide the place from which the sensation
of stroking came; and thirdly, that he has already learned



44 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CHILDHOOD.

to turn the head voluntarily to the one side or to the
other."

It is not possible, within the present limits, either to give
a detailed exposition of the nature of the thought process,
or to trace the intellectual development on into the maturer
years. For these the reader is referred to the numerous
standard works on psychology in general. Here we can only
attempt to collate facts calculated to throw light on the first
budding of the intelligence, and to trace each phenomenon
only to that stage at which it may be said to be fairly
"under way." The intimate relation between thought and
language also makes it advisable to postpone much that
might be said here, until we come to the consideration of the
latter topic. ^

Observation of intellectual development is hampered by
two difficulties, which render great caution necessary. In
the first place, the combined influence of heredity and
environment produces such wide individual differences
among children, that no general conclusions can be safely
expressed until a very large number of cases have been
observed. (Certainly nothing exhaustive or final can be said
at the present time.) In the second place, even the most
careful observer, watching one child, is apt to be misled by
certain deceptive appearances, and to give the child credit
for a good deal that he does not really know. " They do
clever things, and say brilliant words, by imitation and
accident, not knowing the meaning of them." In this

1 The relation of thought and language has perhaps never been
more aptly expressed than by Sir W. Hamilton in the following :
" Language is to the mind precisely what the arch is to the tunnel.
The power of thinking and the power of excavation are not dependent
on the word in the one case, nor on the mason work in the other ; but
without these subsidiaries neither process could be earned on beyond
its rudimentary commencement." Lectures, Vol. 8, p. 138.



INTELLECT. 45

way many a child, supposed to be a prodigy, does not at all
excel others, except in a quickness of imitation. When you
want him to "show off," he fails you, simply because the
words do not mean the same to him as they do to you, and
his use of them is largely mechanical.^ The child's act may
resemble ours outwardly, but the sentiment underneath the
act may be very different. G. S. Hall says : " Not only are
children prone to imitate others in their answers, without
stopping to think and give an independent answer of their
own, but they often love to seem wise, and, to make them-
selves interesting, state what seems to interest us without
reference to truth, divining the lines of our interest with a
subtlety we do not suspect." In interpreting the phenomena
here recorded, great care is necessary to avoid an inaccurate
estimate of their intellectual value.



I. Perceptiox.

In the process of perception — which may be simply
defined as "that act of the mind by which real external
things become known through the senses " — there are
three stages, distinguished from each other qualitatively,
though not chronologically., First, the simple feelings of
the senses are differentiated. Changes, quantitative and
qualitative, are felt and known. The child recognizes the
difference between a sweet taste and a bitter one, for
example. He could not describe the difference even if he
could speak, but is simply aiuare of it. Secondly, the sensa-
tions are localized. A definite " whereness " is attributed
to them. This involves the recognition of space properties

lAs Rousseau says in Emile : " Un instant vous diriez : C'est un
g^nie, et Pinstant d'apres : C'est un sot. Vous vous troniperiez
toujours: C'est un enfant.''''



4(3 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CHILDHOOD.

in objects, and opens up the vexed question of the origin of
the idea of space, into which we cannot enter here. Thirdly,
the manifold of seusation, thus differentiated and localized,
is unified into a permanent whole, which we call the object.
The child combines the scattered sensations, visual, tactual,
olfactor}^, and sapid, into the perceived object, food.

Taste Perceptioxs. — "The first centre of the child's
psychic life is the mouth." Probably the first action is

sucking, and later all objects are experimented upon by
means of the lips and hands together. But even in the
third month, the child is weak in power of comparison, and
will suck an empty bottle as readily as a full one, until he
finds it is empty by failure to extract anything from it.
From the eighth day, a wry face was made at the sight of
bitter medicine, and by the seventh week this wry face was
accompanied by a gesture of refusal. At one month and

five days, a dose of medicine was taken with visible repug-
nance. The experiments of Kussmaul, already referred
to, show that discrimination between tastes takes place from
the first. It proceeds, generally, with considerable rapidity
from the third month on, and by the tenth month various
articles of diet are clearly known and distinguished from
one another. Yet the child, like the adult, though in a
greater degree, is subject to illusions of taste, through con-
fusion of sapid with olfactory sensations, and with one
another.

Sight Perceptions. — During the first month, the child
gives small evidence that he has any ideas of distance, or
of his own body. At this age he will strike or scratch his
own face. A girl of thirty days " seemed for an instant to
have caught the reflected image of herself," but the next
moment she became lost again in the surrounding objects of



INTELLECT. 47

the nursery. A boy, during liis second, month, gave the

first sign of distinguishing external objects from himself,
by reaching forward and grasping at them. About the same
time he began api^arently to pay attention to the looks and
gestures of others, and at six months he distinguished per-
sons, without, however, having any clear ideas about them.
When anything presented itself to him, he pointed his finger
at it, to direct attention to it, and sometimes said all.
From the beginning of his second ye^r, he rapidly advanced
in power of discrimination, though chiefly among objects
fitted to satisfy his needs. One of the objects earliest to be
recognized — if not the very earliest — is the mother's face
and form. Children give evidence of this recognition in the
second or third month. A boy of seven months "surely
recognized three persons," — his parents and the nurse.
Another, at nine weeks, seemed to know his mother. No

objects, not even the parents, are known at a distance.
In the course of the first half-year, much improvement takes
place in this direction. A child in his fifth month would
no longer grasp at objects beyond his reach. Smiling at

thfe image in the mirror has been noticed as early as the
ninth week.

" From the sensations of hearing and smell, there can be
formed no representations in the first week." ISTear the

end of the second month, one child gave evidence that he
distinguished between tones of voice expressive of different
emotions and sentiments. He allowed himself to be pacified
by gentle tones. Another, in his third month, actively

sought the direction of sound by turning his head.

Owing to the w^eakness of the attention, and lack of