96 PROC. COTTESWOLD CLUB vol. xiii. (2) 



b. Quadrupedal Attitude 



Another relic of quadrupedal ancestors which the human 

 baby exhibits was first noticed by Dr Louis Robinson,* 

 namely, that children go to sleep "with the abdomen 

 downwards and the limbs flexed beneath them." I can 

 confirm this from repeated observations of my own and 

 other children. They go to sleep somewhat in the 

 attitude of crawling, only with the arms tucked under the 

 body and the head turned sideways. Mothers, ignorant 

 of the child's and their own quadrupedal ancestry, will dis- 

 turb the sleeper in order to put him into, as they think, a 

 more comfortable position ; and then they are surprised 

 that the child is fretful. 



c. Arboreal Traits' 



The arboreal episode in the history of Man's ancestors 

 must have been short compared to what may be called 

 the quadrupedal period. t For one thing during the time 

 of arboreal existence a certain quadrupedal method of pro- 

 gression was still maintained. But in the arboreal life 

 new manners of using the limbs were introduced, and the 

 chief development pertained to the fore-limbs. So that 

 though the arboreal period may have been comparatively 

 short, yet for these reasons, and for another — that it 

 shortly preceded what may be called the bipedal period — 

 it has left some very striking traces on the human infant. 



A few of these traces may be noticed. The picture, 

 PI. I, fig. 4, shows a child grasping a flower pot. First 

 may be remarked the sympathetic action of the other 



* " Darwinism in the Nursery," Nineteenth Century, Nov., 1891, p. 841. 



t The first appearance of a kind of quadrupedal movement started with fishes. It 

 is a genuine and firmly established quadrupedal progression with the Amphibians. 

 Thence onward it remained the usual method of progression, except that arboreal habits 

 induced for a short time a greater use of the fore-limbs. 



