THE IMITATIVE FACULTY OF INFANTS. 251 



he was going to be taken out, his mother used to make a sign to 

 him, and now he likewise made a sign, ahnost invariably, in the 

 doorway, with one arm, frequently with both arms, yet with an 

 expression of face that indicated that he moved the arms or arm 

 without understanding, upon the opening of the door. The 

 proof of this lies in the fact that, when I enter the room, the 

 child, so long as the door is in motion, makes that movement 

 which he at first only imitated, and does it regularly — no hint of 

 leave-taking in it, therefore. The beckoning movement is made 

 also at other times — e. g., on the opening and shutting of a large 

 cupboard ; it has, therefore, completely lost its purely imitative 

 character. The movement consists essentially of a rapid raising 

 and dropping of the extended arm ; it is not, therefore, genuine 

 beckoning. Not till after some weeks were motions of the hand 

 added, and this more skillful imitation made it seem as if the 

 machine-like movements that were made at the opening of the 

 door were less and less involuntary, were more and more inten- 

 tionally performed as genuine signs of leave-taking. But at this 

 period (tenth month) such an action is not yet admissible ; for 

 when I make the same beckoning movement for the child with- 

 out opening the door, he repeats it often in a purely imitative 

 fashion without deliberation, though, to be sure, the eye has an 

 expression of great strain of attention, on account of the diffi- 

 culty of comprehending so quick a movement. 



Not every imitative movement can be so clearly perceived to 

 be willed as can this one. When one enters a room in which 

 there are a good many infants, all quiet, one can easily observe 

 the contagious influence of crying. For, if only one child begins 

 to cry, then very soon several are crying, then many, often all of 

 them. So, too, when one single infant (in the ninth month) 

 hears other children cry, he likewise, in very many cases, begins 

 to cry. The older the child becomes, the more seldom appears 

 this kind of undesirable imitation; but even in children four 

 years old, quite aimless imitative movements may often be per- 

 ceived (as in mesmeric patients) if the children are observed 

 without their knowledge. For example, they suddenly hold the 

 arms crossed, as a stranger present is doing, and bow as he does 

 at leaving. 



A little girl in the last quarter of her first year imitated, in 

 the drollest fashion, what she herself experienced in her treat- 

 ment by the nurse, giving her doll a bath, punishing it, kissing 

 it, singing it to sleep ; and before the end of the first year she 

 imitated the barking of the dog and the bleating of the sheep 

 (Frau Dr. Friedemann). 



Another female child imitated the following movements in a 

 recognizable manner : in the eleventh month she threatened with 



