THE STUDY OF CHILD-NATURE. 795 
there could be no high effort, no result, no hope. The power 
of picturing something better stimulates effort. | Every 
plan you form is an effort of constructive imagination. 
People who are lacking in one of their senses—for whom 
knowledge by one entrance is quite shut out—are reduced 
to think in terms of their other senses. A blind man finds 
it impossible to imagine or visualise objects which he can 
only touch or hear. One blind man asked if scarlet were 
not something like the sound of thunder. Children’s fond- 
ness for dolls and “‘ make-believe’ games are expressions of 
their imagination. 
We haven’t got wills; we are wills. The will is not 
then a separate function of the mind, but is the 
mind active, for every mental activity of which we are 
conscious is an act of will. I say ‘‘of which we are con- 
scious,’ as we must distinguish such actions from those of 
mere impulse (in which, however, there is a reflex or im- 
perfect action of the will wherein intellect plays no part). 
A perfect exercise of will involves the intellect in so far that 
we have thought out the end definitely, and see a means of 
attaining it. A complete act of will involves five elements: 
(1) Something which prompts us to activity, often a 
sense of discomfort. 
(2) Conflicting desires, in which we are swayed by the 
strongest one. 
(3) Deliberation—a short process if one desire is much 
stronger than the others. When questions of 
morality are introduced, the struggle may be 
prolonged, but is ended sooner or later by 
(4) Decision, or choice, which may be rational or 
irrational. We have then the motor idea, which 
impels us to the 
(5) Carrying out of the desire. 
The first definite voluntary acts of a child are usually to 
be noticed about the third or fourth month. ‘‘ The normal 
child’s first exhibition of volition,’ says Professor Baldwin, 
“as found in its efforts to imitate something.” He soon 
learns to distinguish what pleases him from what does not ; 
his ideas become less vague; his desires more definite; and 
the number of acts of volition increases. As the child lacks 
the strength of purpose of the adult, acts upon impulse, 
starts energetically, is easily distracted, and has no power 
of concentration, care should be exercised from the begin- 
ning to develop these powers by stimulating the child’s 
desires in definite directions, and by the formation of habits. 
“Don’t say don’t” is a good maxim of wide application. 
