138 INFANCY. 



and mental dispositions, are often totally different from those 

 of the genuine parent. Infants, recently after birth, fre- 

 quently suffer from giving them, instead of the mother's milk, 

 wine-whey, water-gruel, and similar unnatural kinds of nour- 

 ishment. In this period of their existence, however, very 

 little food, but a great deal of rest, is necessary for promoting 

 their health, and securing their ease and tranquillity ; for 

 infants, when not teased by officious cares, sleep almost con- 

 tinually during several weeks after birth. Young animals are 

 naturally fond of being in the open air; but our infants, par- 

 ticularly in large towns, are almost perpetually shut up in 

 warm apartments, which both relaxes their bodies arid ener- 

 vates their minds. The great agility, strength, and fine pro- 

 portions of savages, are results of a hardy education, of living 

 much in the open air, and of an unrestrained use of all their 

 organs the moment they come into the world. 



In young animals, as well as in infants, there is a gradual 

 progress, both in bodily and mental powers, from birth to 

 maturity. These powers are unfolded sooner or later, accord- 

 ing to the nature and exigencies of particular species. This 

 progress, in man, is very slow. Man acquires not his full 

 stature and strength of body till several years after the age of 

 puberty ; and with regard to his mind, his judgment and 

 other faculties cannot be said to be perfectly ripe before his 

 thirtieth year. 



In early infancy, though the impressions received from new 

 objects must be strong, the memory appears to be weak. 

 Many causes may concur in producing this effect. In this 

 period of our existence, almost every object is new, and, of 

 course, engrosses the whole attention. Hence the idea of 

 any particular object is obliterated by the quick succession 

 and novelty of others, joined to the force with which they act 

 upon the mind. Haller ascribes this want of recollection to 

 a weakness of memory ; but it seems rather to proceed from 

 a confusion which necessarily results from the number and 

 strong impressions of new objects. The memory ripens riot 

 so much by a gradual increase in the strength of that faculty, 

 as by a diminution in the number and novelty of the objects 

 which solicit attention. In a few years children are enabled 

 to express all their wants and desires. The number of new 

 objects daily diminishes, and the impressions made by those 

 with which they are familiar, become comparatively small 

 and uninteresting. Hence their habits of attention and the 

 ardor of their minds begin to relax. Instead of a general 



