8io THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



mind as it sways that of the hypnotized adult. And there close 

 by the child was Dolly, and the child's make-believe includes, as 

 we all know, much important communication with Dolly. What 

 more natural than that the idea should at once seize his imagina- 

 tion ? But the laugh ? Well, I am ready to admit that there was 

 a touch of playful defiance here, of childish mischief. The ex- 

 pression on the mother's face showed him that his bold, absurd 

 fancy had produced its half-startling, half-amusing effect ; and 

 there is nothing your little actor likes more than this after effect 

 of startling you. But more, it gave him at the same instant a 

 glimpse of the outside look of his fancy, of the unreality of the 

 untruth ; and the laugh probably had in it the delight of the little 

 rebel, of the naughty, impish rogue who loves now and then to set 

 law at defiance. 



Momentary vivid fancy, the childish passion for acting a part, 

 this backed by a strong desire to startle, and a turn for playful 

 rebellion, seems to me to account for this and other similar varie- 

 ties of early misstatement. Naughty they no doubt are in a meas- 

 ure ; but is it not just that playing at being naughty which has 

 in it nothing really bad, and is removed toto ccelo from downright 



honest lying ? I speak the more confidently as to C 's case, as 



I happen to know that he was in his serious moods particularly, 

 one might add pedantically, truthful. 



A somewhat different case is where the vivid fancy underlying 

 the misstatement leads to a more serious self-deception. The 

 Worcester collection gives an example : " I was giving some cough 



sirup, and E , aged three years and two months, ran to me, 



saying, ' I am sick too, and I want some medicine.' She then 

 tried to cough. Every time she would see me taking the sirup 

 bottle afterward, she would begin to cough. The sirup was very 

 sweet." This looks simply awful. But what if the child were of 

 so imaginative a turn that the sight of* the sirup given to the 

 sick child produced a perfect illusion of being herself sick an 

 illusion strong enough to cause the irritation and the cough ? 

 The idea may seem far-fetched, but deserves to be considered be- 

 fore we brand the child with the name liar. 



The vivid, fanciful realization, which in this instance was sus- 

 tained by the love of sweet things, is in many cases inspired by 

 other and later developed feelings. How much false statement 

 and that not only among little children is of the nature of exag- 

 geration and directed to producing a strong effect ! When, for 

 example, the little four-year-old draws himself up and shouts 

 exultantly, " See, mamma, how tall I am I am growing so fast I 

 shall soon be a giant," or boasts of his strength, and tells you the 

 impossible things he is going to do, the element of braggadocio is 

 on the surface and imposes on nobody. 



