ON THE INTELLECT OF INFANTS. 43 



ting any farther continuation of an history which seems 

 calculated to give instruction to many of those whose re- 

 searches have been directed towards the habits and pro- 

 gress of the human mind. From the very moderate suc- 

 cess of the work alluded to (which was not calculated for 

 the million) I consider my memoir as yet unpublished. 

 If, Mr. Nicholson, it should so far meet your approval, 

 and coincide with the plan of your excellent Journal, 

 as to obtain insertion, I shall take the liberty to commu- 

 nicate the remaining part of my register, which will bring 

 the history to a period when infants are in some measure 

 admitted to and supposed capable of mutual intercourse 

 with persons of more advanced age. 



I am the father of many children, and consequently it Inquiries made 

 is now a considerable number of years since I experienced ^Jspecfin^Sn- 

 the first emotions of a parent. At that period, every fants. 

 movement, every action of the little being of which I 

 was destined to be the protector and guide, were subjects 

 of curiosity and interest. My speculations on its figure, 

 its passions, and the gradual developement of its under- 

 standing, were numerous, rapid, and confused. When I 

 went into society, I made inquiries of the age of children 

 in every stage of advancement, and classed their attain- 

 ments in regular progression for my own use, in estimat- 

 ing what I was to expect from the new object of my re- 

 gards. One month passed after the other, and my acqui- 

 *itions of knowledge, both physical and moral, respecting 

 the early stage of our existence, became greater, while my 

 entertainment and surprise were such as, perhaps, can be 

 rightly estimated by none but those who have themselves 

 been parents. After the lapse of two years, I was again 

 a father, but found, with some mortification, that I had 

 nearly forgotten all my stock of knowledge, and that 

 the same series of remarks was again to be made. I 

 then made a few notes ; but with so little precision, that 

 they were scarcely of any use, ^hen on a subsequent 

 discussion wifh an author of high reputation concerning 

 the inlluence of education, I was desirous of examining 

 the value of the facts which have led me to conclude that 

 our mental powers ^re originally as different as our phy- 

 sical ; and that, at the moment of birth, our structure 

 G2 an^ 



