THE FIRST THREE YEARS OF CHILDHOOD. 591 



"Weit besser fur das Heil der Welt 

 1st frommer Irrthum, der erlitilt, 

 Als kalte Walirheit, die zerstort ' — 



may perhaps be open to question in certain cases. In the present case 

 it is worth while to reflect that oftentimes men who awaken from a long- 

 cherished though pious error betray their kinship to the beasts ; while 

 truth, sedulously handed down from generation to generation, and ad- 

 vancing enlightenment, make men more human. 



Would that we could diffuse abroad a conception of the full truth 

 of the Darwinian doctrine of development, to the end that every think- 

 ing man who has not already been caught by the counter-current might 

 know what it comprises and what consequences it does not warrant ! 



■♦«» 



THE FIKST THKEE YEAKS OF CHILDHOOD. 



THE readers of the "Monthly" will remember the account of "An 

 Infant's Progress in Language," by F. Pollock, in our September 

 number. We also published an article on " Lingual Development in 

 Babyhood," by M. Taine, in June, 1876. M. Bernard Perez has just 

 published a book upon an analogous subject — the mental development 

 of children under three years of age. The following resume of his ob- 

 servations is translated from the " Revue Scientifique " for November, 

 1878. 



I. Sensibility: Pleasures and Pains of the Senses. — From 

 the first month the foetus is sensible to the action of cold. Its nervous 

 system commences to react. 



Taste. — The first manifestations of pleasure in infancy are due to 

 taste. A child two months and a half old will refuse with grimaces a 

 sucking-bottle filled with water, or with milk too little sweetened. 



Touch. — The feather of a quill passed over the eyes and nose of a 

 child fifteen days old will make it frown. Agreeable sensations are not 

 manifested before the age of two months, although they may exist be- 

 fore that time. 



Temperature. — Infants die easily of cold even in summer. It is 

 thought, however, that adults suffer more from cold, because they are 

 better able to compare their different states. 



Vision. — Color attracts a babe ; lively colors charm it, dull colors 

 also please if they are positive and distinct. Two children, one three 

 months, the other five, were delighted by some sketches of a grayish 

 color. 



Hearing. — One child a month old liked to listen to playing and 



' Far better for the welfare of the world is pious error, which sustains, than cold 

 truth, which destroys. 



