A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF AN INFANT. 199 



brother having been or being left-handed. When between 80 and 

 90 days old, he drew all sorts of objects into his mouth, and in 

 two or three weeks' time could do this with some skill; but he often 

 first touched his nose with the object and then dragged it down into 

 Ins mouth. After grasping my finger and drawing it to his mouth, 

 his own hand prevented him from sucking it; but on the 114th day, 

 after acting in this manner, he slipped his own hand down so that 

 he could get the end of my finger into his mouth. This action was 

 repeated several times, and evidently was not a chance but a rational 

 one. The intentional movements of the hands and arms were thus 

 much in advance of those of the body and legs; though the purpose- 

 less movements of the latter were from a very early period usually 

 alternate, as in the act of walking. When four months old he often 

 looked intently at his own hands and other objects close to him, and 

 in doing so the eyes were turned much inwards, so that he often 

 squinted frightfully. In a fortnight after this time (i. e., 132 days old), 

 I observed that if an object was brought as near to his face as his 

 own bands were, he tried to seize it, but often failed; and he did not 

 try to do so in regard to more distant objects. I think there can be 

 little doubt that the convergence of his eyes gave him the clue and 

 excited him to move his arms. Although this infant thus began to 

 use his hands at an early period, he showed no special aptitude in 

 this respect, for when he was two years and four months old, he 

 held pencils, pens, and other objects far less neatly and efficiently than 

 did his sister, who was then only fourteen months old, and who showed 

 great inherent aptitude in handling anything. 



Anger. — It was difficult to decide at how early an age anger was 

 felt; on his eighth day he frowned and wrinkled the skin round his 

 eyes before a crying fit, but this may have been due to pain or distress, 

 and not to anger. When about ten weeks old, he was given some rather 

 cold milk, and he kept a slight frown on his forehead all the time 

 that he was sucking, so that he looked like a grown-up person made 

 cross from being compelled to do something which he did not like. 

 When nearly four months old, and perhaps much earlier, there could 

 be no doubt, from the manner in which the blood gushed into his 

 whole face and scalp, that he easily got into a violent passion. A 

 small cause sufficed; thus, when a little over seven months old, he 

 screamed with rage because a lemon slipped away and he could not 

 seize it with his hands. When eleven months old, if a wrong plaything 

 was given him, he would push it away and beat it; I presume that the 

 beating was an instinctive sign of anger, like the snapping of the jaws 

 by a young crocodile just out of the egg, and not that he imagined 

 he could hurt the plaything. When two years and three months 

 old, he became a great adept at throwing books or sticks, etc., at any 



