4 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



be developed at a comparatively late date. This idea is supported 

 by other observations. "From about two years four months 

 (writes a mother) to the present time (two years and eleven 

 months) he has shown signs of fear of music. At two years five 

 months he liked some singing of rounds, but when a fresh person 

 with a stronger voice than the rest joined, he begged the singer 

 to stop. Presently he tolerated the singing as long as he might 

 stand at the farthest corner of the room." This child was also 

 about the same time afraid of the piano, and of the organ, when 

 played by his mother in a church. 



It is sometimes supposed that this startling effect of loud 

 sounds is wholly an affair of nervous disturbance.* But the late 

 development of the repugnance in certain cases seems to show 

 that this is not the only cause at work. Of course, a child's nerv- 

 ous organization may, through ill health, become more sensitive 

 to this disturbing effect. But I suspect that vague alarm at the 

 unexpected and unknown takes part here. There is something 

 uncanny to the child in the very production of sound from a 

 usually silent thing. A banjo lying now inert, harmless, and 

 then suddenly firing out a whole gamut of sound may well shock 

 a small child's preconceptions of things. The second time that 

 fear was observed in our child at the age of ten months it was 

 excited by a new toy which squeaked on being pressed. \ This 

 seems to be another example of the disconcerting effect of the un- 

 expected. In other cases the alarming effect of the mystery is in- 

 creased by the absence of all visible cause. One little boy of two 

 years used to get sadly frightened at the sound of the water rush- 

 ing into the cistern which was near his nursery. The child was 

 afraid at the same time of thunder, calling it " water coming." 



I am far from saying that all children manifest this fear of 

 sounds- Miss Shinn points out that her niece was from the first 

 pleased with the piano, and this is no doubt true of many chil- 

 dren. Children behave very differently toward thunder, some 

 being greatly disturbed by it, others being rather delighted. 

 Thus Preyer's boy, who was so ignominiously upset by the tone 

 of the drinking-glass, laughed at the thunderstorm ; and we know 

 that the little Walter Scott was once found during a thunder- 

 storm lying on his back in the open air clapping his hands and 

 shouting "Bonnie, bonnie!" at the flashes of lightning. It is 

 possible that in such cases the exhilarating effect of the bright- 

 ness counteracts the uncanny effect of the thunder. More obser- 

 vations are needed on this point. 



* This seems to be the view of Perez : The First Three Years of Childhood (English 

 translation), p. 64. 



t Observation of F. H. Charapueys. Mind, vol. vi, p. 106. 



