Page:First steps in mental growth (1906).djvu/43

 get his fingers around the toy—usually merely punching it with the thumb and forefinger.

In the twelfth week, the child was greatly pleased when one dangled over him brightly colored objects as a watch or yarn tassels. There was, also, apparently an attempt to seize the objects so held. But one could not be sure that the child really tried to get the articles in his hand. What he did was to strike the tassel or watch with his fingers or thumb. The question was, did the child try to get in his hands the article suspended in front of him? or was the flourishing merely an expression of his pleasure at the sight, and resulting in an occasional contact with the tassel or watch? One was inclined to the first view when it was observed that the child looked at and "felt" his own hands by the half-hour. His hand, on account of its numerous appendages, was more easily grasped, and so, for a time, was a favorite plaything. If his own hand called forth the impulse to examine and "feel," why not a foreign object like a yarn tassel or a watch? provided the foreign object was in motion.

The notes for the thirteenth week, relative to reaching and grasping, are to the effect that the child did not make any attempt to reach or grasp objects held in front of him, no matter how greatly pleased he was by the sight of them, unless they touched his hands. When they did touch his hands the desire to get hold of them seemed to arise at once. But he rarely succeeded—merely fumbling, scratching, striking at the ball, watch or other object. On a certain day, a watch was held about seven inches from his chest and about eight inches from his eyes. At first, he lay very still, not a muscle stirring, gazing. Then he began to kick rapidly, and one arm flew up and chanced to strike the watch which he fumbled as if to "feel" it or to get it in his hands. It seemed as if the sight of the bright object set the kicking and arm-throwing muscles in motion.