THE FIRST THREE YEARS OF CHILDHOOD. 593 



Laughing. — Smiling often occurs before the age of a month. Chil- 

 dren of two months laugh, but without seeming to suspect that the 

 laugh expresses anything. 



Sense. — A little girl three months old would prattle when her 

 mother sang ; she had for some time expressed, by particular sounds, 

 her wish to suck. 



Various Movements. — A child six days old left, with his arms free, 

 in his cradle, would mechanically carry his hand toward his face, and 

 succeed in placing it almost under his head. We may remark that his 

 father often slept in an analogous position. Children raise and lower 

 their arms and legs with no apparent reason. Some new-born babes 

 move their eyes from the second day. The son of Tiedemann, a phi- 

 losopher of the eighteenth century, would, when inspiring, suck any- 

 thing put in his mouth the next day after his birth. 



IV. Movements (Second Period). — Between four and eight months 

 the child passes over the interval which separates motion and locomo- 

 tion. Toward the age of fifteen months he executes many movements — 

 shaking his head from right to left to say no, and bowing it to say yes. 

 The ear and eye have accommodated themselves to distances. The eye 

 expresses many shades of thought, feeling, and will. Laughs, tears^ 

 and various movements of the hand serve equally to express emotion. 



V. Voluntary Movements. — The new-born child executes some 

 movements that have a definite end. These movements are probably 

 automatic ; consciousness is, however, begiimiug to awaken. When 

 two or three months old the child can put forth a good deal of strength. 

 At four or five months he will make such a stir that it will take several 

 persons to quiet him. Voluntary action is always determined by feel- 

 ing^ more or less conscious. 



VI. Intellectual Faculties : Consciousness, Attention. — M. 

 Perez thinks that many reflex actions of the child are accompanied by 

 consciousness. The eyes of a little girl a week old would sometimes 

 take a rotary movement, as if trying to see something. When some 

 one spoke, or when certain objects made a great noise, something like 

 surprise and attention, and an intentional direction to her gaze, was 

 noticed. This little girl would suck, but without persistence, all ob- 

 jects, besides the nipple, that were carried to her lips. She cried and 

 wrung herself when put in her cradle, but if her mother took her in 

 her arms, and while singing put her face against the child's, she would 

 cease to cry. 



Attention. — A child of seventeen days would follow with its eyes 

 a lighted candle that was passed before him. Another, at the age of 

 a month, would give sustained attention to the act of sucking ; its 

 fixed eyes would shine with pleasure, and would from time to time half 

 veil themselves under his eyelids. His sucking-bottle was filled with 

 sweetened water. After a slight hesitation, he continued his sucking 

 with the same expression of voluptuous attention as if the bottle had 



