MAN 169 



insignificant compared with the size of its jaw. 

 At least scientists find that this is the case with 

 their babies it would, of course, be invidious to 

 make such a remark regarding their friends' 

 children ; and still more so to add, that in this 

 the Baby differs from the human adult, and 

 somewhat resembles the Ape, in which the nose 

 is still less prominent, and the jaw still more so. 

 Observations have been made, too, regarding the 

 Baby's remarkable power of "holding on " with 

 its hands. While a Baby is, in most respects, a 

 very weak creature, yet its powers of grip have 

 been favourably compared with those of adult 

 human beings. No one who has ever tri^d to 

 rescue his watch or his hair from the clutches of 

 a friend's Baby, will feel inclined to doubt the 

 conclusions of scientific observers regarding the 

 point in question. 



The observations above referred to were made 

 by Dr. Louis Robinson. He drew his conclusions 

 from the study of sixty cases, all of them infants 

 less than a month old; and of these at least half 

 were tested within an hour of their birth. 



In every instance except two, says Dr. Robin- 

 son, the child was able to hang on by its hands to 

 the finger, or to a small stick three quarters of an 

 inch in diameter, and to sustain the whole weight 

 of its body for at least ten seconds. " In twelve 

 cases, in infants under an hour old, half a minute 

 passed before the grasp relaxed, and in three or 

 four cases nearly a minute." In infants of about 

 four days old, increased strength was shown, and 

 "nearly all, when tried at this age, could sustain 

 their weight for half a minute. At about a fort- 

 night or three weeks after birth the faculty 

 appeared to have attained its maximum, for 



