Page:First steps in mental growth (1906).djvu/36

 fashioning of fetiches to sculpture, from rude drumming to higher instrumental music—the development of the hand and mentality have ever been in the closest intimacy of association."

A part of the interest which attaches to a study of the development of hand- and arm-movements in an individual child arises out of the consideration just mentioned; namely, that in the history of the race the development of human intelligence and manual skill have run parallel, and have been intimately related. But even entirely apart from this consideration, the development of a child's ability to use the hands is an attractive subject for study. So we have Preyer, Sully, Miss Shinn, Mrs. Moore, and Mrs. Hall each giving large space to the description of the development of hand- and arm-movements in individual children. The record which follows is offered with the thought of corroborating some of the observations of others; and, perhaps, in the latter part of the chapter of directing attention to some of the earlier forms of ideational movement which, so far as the writer knows, have not been the subject of careful study.

The fourfold classification which is usually made of bodily movements in general will be adopted as a convenient method of grouping hand- and arm-movements: namely, spontaneous or automatic, reflex, instinctive, and voluntary or ideational. Each of these four classes of hand- and arm-movements will be described and illustrated in turn.