Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 17.djvu/647

Rh another step was noticed in the development of the infant mind. Toward the end of the fourth month the child raised its arms toward its parents with an indescribable expression of longing. The transition, from grasping after indifferent things so as to take them to itself to reaching after its parents to get nearer to them, was sudden. On the other hand, its own arms and feet appeared to the child for months as something strange, not belonging to it, and it would stare at them and examine them as it did with other objects which engaged its attention. It would take hold of its feet and bring them to its lips; it would bite its arm even in the fifth quarter-year, so as to cause it to cry out in pain; it would offer biscuit to its foot to eat, as it did to its wooden horses. There appeared, as yet, no sign of self-consciousness. The unintermitted grasping of objects leads gradually to the comprehension and knowledge of separate existences and the seclusion of self.

Now that the object which has been seen and wished for is touched, a new sensation excites the attention of the child. That which was light or dark, colored or bright, appears to be also smooth or rough, heavy or light, hard or soft, warm or cold, and presents combinations in the same thing appealing to two or three senses. The same apple is red and green, smooth and heavy, cold and hard, and also smells and tastes agreeably. The junction of the sensations of sight, touch, smell, and taste at the same point excites surprise, induces reflection, and arouses the insatiable propensity of the mind to inquire into the causes of its affections. The infant examines the object it is holding, feels of it, and rubs it every way, moves it back and forth, takes it to pieces, and tries to put it together again. With these exercises the will becomes more fully developed. As soon as it is possible to learn the nature of external objects which have affected the senses by examining them, the act of grasping becomes voluntary. Will is developed from the previous desire. The remembrance of the satisfaction which the success of an effort to grasp something has given awakens, at the sight of a new object, the idea of getting hold of it, and with it the impulse to exert the necessary movement. This impulse is called the will. It is still weak in the child, for he lacks self-control, but the obstinacy of early youth shows often enough the force that lies in the unrestrained will.

The sensibility of the skin of a new-born child is very low. We may cause it to cry in the first hour by striking it or by touching it too roughly, but its cries are only reflex actions, not expressions of pain; on the other hand, we may stick needles into its nose, lips, or hands, without its giving any sign of discomfort, even if so deep a wound is made as to draw blood. I have never tried any experiments of this kind, but I have found that the eyes of new-born children close, when they are touched, more slowly than at a later period and are only imperfectly shut at that, and that they do not close when they are wet in the bath. An increase of sensibility may be perceived in the course