Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 46.djvu/395

Rh articles it is necessary to sleep with them, if not on them. When a young child is trying to resist another taking things away from it, the usual method it pursues is to put the articles between its legs, to push away its assailant with its hands, and to scream loudly. During the scream it brings its mouth into a particular shape to show its canine teeth to the best advantage, and it frequently puts its head forward, especially protruding the chin so that the other animal may have a good view of its canine teeth. This is what the reason was; with a child, of course, it is a case of inherited habit and association, because it has never known how to fight with the canine teeth.

The earlier inheritance of the maternal instinct is worth noticing further; the doll-proclivity of girls is a particular instance of earlier inheritance thereof. Doll-nursing instinct is not shared in the least by any healthy boys, nor can they take to little household duties with the handiness of a girl. Boys' earlier inheritance is all in the way of offensive weapons, of bows, bats, balls, and noise, with a tendency to teasing and bullying, a feature for which the male has been famous, the sufferer who was put upon being the female—the weaker vessel; weaker because the males fought with one another for her; had she fought with her sisters for the males she could have been the stronger and the bigger brained.

The female, however, does inherit a pugnacious instinct, chiefly defensive. She has had to fight on behalf of her young ones, and in such cases the maternal instinct becomes very strong indeed. Children show this character; and I witnessed in one of mine a very curious exhibition of what might be called perverted instinct arising from a conflict of inherited associations. She was quite a little girl and was nursing her doll with all possible expression of affection, loving it, kissing it, and calling it all the endearing names she knew. Up came her brother and began to tease her. In an instant the pugnacious idea was aroused in defense of the doll, but, having no available weapon in hand, she seized the doll by the hind legs and, wheeling it aloft, brought its china head down with resounding force on the cranium of her brother. He retired, howling and discomfited. She, excited with her triumph, returned to the caressing of her doll with redoubled ardor, quite unconscious of the incongruity of her actions, an unconsciousness which heightened the comicality of the incident.

Another habit of children—a sadly destructive habit too—is that of picking at anything loose, any piece of wall-paper especially, so as to tear it off. This habit is a survival of a monkey practice of picking off the bark from trees in order to search for insects. Any loose piece of bark, even the very least displacement, indicates an insect refuge, and immediately suggests live