Page:First steps in mental growth (1906).djvu/44

 The notes made in the fourteenth and fifteenth weeks on reaching and grasping are substantially the same as for the thirteenth week. Pleasing objects held before the child called forth only expressions of pleasure—kicking and arm-throwing in a lively manner. When either of his hands came in contact with the objects he at once began to scratch at, strike, and catch at them as if to seize them.

Sixteenth week (first day).—When toys were held in front of the child he threw his arms about, striking the hands together; and if, in so doing, he chanced to grasp the object, it was held. But this was not yet deliberate, directed motion of the hands toward an object, a movement which appeared definitely and unmistakably on the fifth day of the sixteenth week. On the last named day, a careful test was made of the child's inclination to reach for things held over him as he lay in his crib, and as a result of the experiment one could not doubt that the child tried to get his hands on the objects which were held over him. To be sure, many of his hand-movements appeared to be mere punches with the thumb or forefinger, or striking with the finger tips. But when the object—whether it was a finger, a tassel, or the leg of a doll—was grasped, he held fast, and stopped the arm-flourishing which had preceded the successful grasping. A note made at a later hour of the same day reads, "Holding attractive objects over the child seldom fails to call forth arm-movements which cannot be mistaken for random arm-flourishing. Most convincing of all is the fact that the child begins to fret when he fails to get his hands on the object."

On the last day of the sixteenth week, a watch was twirled within six inches of the child's face as he lay on his back in his crib. He first looked steadily at the watch for twenty seconds, then threw his right arm toward it, touching it and fumbling over it with his fingers for a few seconds. His arms then took