STUDIES OF CHILDHOOD. 349 



It is probable that the first ideas of tlie bodily self are ill-de- 

 fined. It is evident tliat the head and face are not known at first 

 as a visible object. The upper extremities, by their movement 

 across the field of vision, would come in for the special notice of 

 the eye. We know that the baby is at an early date wont to 

 watch its hands. On the other hand, the lower limbs seem to re- 

 ceive special attention from the exploring and examining hand. 



There is some reason to think, however, that in spite of these 

 advantages the limbs form a less integral and essential part of 

 the bodily self than the trunk. A child in his second year was 

 observed to bite his own finger till he cried with pain. Preyer 

 tells us of a boy of nineteen months who, when asked to give his 

 foot, seized it with both hands and tried to hand it over. The 

 Worcester collection of children's thoughts has a story of a child 

 of three years and a half who, on finding his feet stained by some 

 new stockings, observed, " O mamma, these ain't my feet, these 

 ain't the feet I had this morning ! " On the other hand, the boy 



C spoke of his limbs as foreign objects coming in the way of 



himself that is, his body. 



Probably different influences combine to give this importance 

 to the trunk in the child's conception of the bodily self. The 

 trunk is the larger portion ; it is stationary, always at hand, where- 

 as the hands and feet come and go, and may disappear for some 

 time. Much more important, I suspect, is the fact that the child 

 soon begins to localize in a vague way in the trunk the most fre- 

 quent and important of his feelings of comfort and discomfort, 

 such as the pains of impeded respiration and digestion and the 

 corresponding reliefs. We know that the " vital sense " forms the 

 sensuous basis of self-consciousness in the adult, and it is only 

 reasonable to suppose that in the first years of life, when it fills so 

 large a place in consciousness, it has most to do with determining 

 the idea of the sentient or feeling body. Afterwards the observa- 

 tion of maimed men and animals would confirm the idea that the 

 trunk is the seat and essential portion of the living body. The 

 language of others, too, by identifying "body" and "trunk," 

 would strengthen the tendency. 



About this interesting trunk-body and what is inside it, the 

 child speculates vastly. References to bones, stomach, and so 

 forth have to be understood somehow. It would be interesting to 

 get at a child's unadulterated view of his anatomy. 



At a later stage of the child's development, no doubt, when he 

 comes to form the idea of a conscious thinking self, the head will 

 become a principal jDortion of the bodily self. In the evolution of 

 the self-idea in the race, too, we find that the soul was lodged in 

 the trunk long before it was assigned a seat in the head. As is 

 illustrated in C 's case, children are quite capable of forming 



