378 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the effect produced after a very short space of time. It would, 

 therefore, be reasonable to conclude that the effect of thousands 

 of years' association as in the case of rocking with sleep in ar- 

 boreal dwellers would still be found to influence children very 

 long after arboreal life had been abandoned. 



It is certainly singular to find that nursery ditties contain ref- 

 erence to matters arboreal, as if there was some lingering tradi- 

 tion in the human race of ancestors who lived in trees. Thus the 

 English mother or nurse in rocking her infant to sleep sings : 



Lullaby baby on the tree top ; 

 When the wind blows the cradle shall rock ; 

 When the bough breaks the cradle will fall, 

 And down will come baby, cradle, and all. 



Somewhat similar is a German nursery ditty : 



Schlafe, schlaf ein, mein Kind. 

 Horch ! da draussen der Wind ; 

 i Wie das Yoglein im griinen Baura, 



Wiegt er auch dich in siissem Traum. 



Nowhere is a stage of a former arboreal life, with its conse- 

 quent climbing instinct, manifested more conspicuously than in 

 the insane desire of an infant to climb upstairs. As soon as 

 crawling is an accomplishment the climbing of stairs is at- 

 tempted. Remain on the level and crawl about rooms the child 

 will not ; it must make for the nearest stairs to climb with loud 

 crows of delight. Tumbles and consequent bruises have no effect 

 on the child's climbing instinct, and really it regards them far 

 less than the prohibition of its climbing feats by a too fond 

 and foolish mother. It is better to let the child climb. Even a 

 fall down the whole flight of stairs only checks the climbing 

 mania temporarily, in order that the infant may loudly express 

 its disapprobation of its own clumsiness, and may vent its anger 

 in howls. But this episode over, it will, within a quarter of an 

 hour, bravely attack the stairs again, having quite forgotten its 

 late disaster. An instinct held so tenaciously can not be regarded 

 as something fortuitous. Darwin considered that the tree-climb- 

 ing propensity of boys was a relic of monkey ancestors, but he 

 made no observation on the stair-climbing instinct of infants. 

 Mothers, unfortunately, do not always possess enough scientific 

 calmness to watch an infant climb stairs with every chance of a 

 tumble, so they are apt to cut short such experiments. But if left 

 alone and that is the best plan it is remarkable how soon the 

 child learns not to tumble ; and then the mother need have no 

 more fear. 



The early efforts of a child in learning to walk indicate the 

 habits of an animal to whom the upright position is something 



