598 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



whicli express the most salient qualities of objects, or the part which 

 produces the principal and dominant impression. A little girl twenty 

 months old called the decanter v^ (verve, glass). A little child two 

 years old called all dogs ica-wa, except his grandfather's dog, which he 

 did not call by his own name, but only distinguished it from others. 

 Some one made for him a little rounded figure of paper ; he said tet^, 

 the name by which he designated the bosom of his nurse. Intelligent 

 children often forget words that have no meaning for them ; children 

 of less intelligence, on the contrary, sometimes replace ideas by words. 

 The mania for jabbering syllables without signification is common with 

 children, even the most intelligent. No doubt they rest from the effort 

 of mind that their first essays in talking cost them in making this 

 noise, which, without requiring any exertion, charms and stuns their 

 ears. 



XVI. Notion of Self : Peesonalitt, Reflection. — The notion 

 of self may be considered, to a certain extent, as hereditary, and al- 

 ready existing among the impressions of foetal life. It is developed 

 little by little. The personality of little children is concentrated in the 

 sphere of emotion. They do not know distinctly either themselves or 

 anything else, but they are sensible of the presence of objects, and 

 they are sensible of themselves living, feeling, and acting. At three 

 months the notion of personality is already outlived. When children 

 begin to speak of themselves they employ the third person. M. Perez 

 does not conclude from this that children are unable to separate their 

 personality from external objects. The words 7", wze, Paul, Charles, 

 etc., alike express the notion of personal individuality ; they designate 

 the personality of the child, a personality that he well knows. When 

 between two and three 3'ears old the sentiment of personality is affirmed 

 and exaggerated. A child was very delicate before the age of twenty- 

 six months. His self-love had to be corrected. When eight years old 

 he fell, and before getting up he walked on all-fours, making believe 

 that he had not fallen. At another time he stumbled on the staircase, 

 and rolled over two or three times, purposely bumping his head with a 

 noise. He pretended to have fallen for fun. He was usually pedantic, 

 egotistic, and conceited, but from time to time would show sympathy 

 and diffidence. 



XVII. The Moral Sense. — The child has not the absolute idea of 

 good and bad ; but he has the objective idea from the age of six or 

 seven months. For him that which is permitted is good, that which is 

 forbidden is bad. A child seven months old had learned from its moth- 

 er, who had scolded and shaken it, that it ought not to cry to be taken 

 up or held in arms if its wishes were not immediately granted. When 

 ten months old the child began to get up itself in a hesitating way — a 

 moral being. A little child of eleven months obeyed his father very 

 well, particularly when asked to do anything for the amusement or 

 pleasure of others. For little children, the moral law is incarnated in 



