>S6 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[Dec. 28, 1883. 



suggest these cheese mixtures to others with some mis- 

 giving as regards palatability, after learning the revelations 

 of Darwin on the persistence of heredity. It is quite 

 possible that, being a compound of tlie Swiss Mattieu with 

 the Welsh Williams, cheese on both sides, I may in- 

 herit an abnormal fondness for this staple food of the 

 mountaineers. 



Be this as it may, so far as the mere palate is concerned, 

 I have full confidence in the chemistry of all my advocacy 

 of cheese and its cookery. Rendered digestible by simple 

 and suitable cookery, and added, with a little potash salt, 

 to farinaceous food of all kinds, it aiibrds exactly what is 

 required to supply a theoretically complete and a most 

 economical dietary, without the aid of any other kind of 

 animal food. The potash salts may be advantageously 

 supplied by a liberal second course of fruit or salad. 



MIND m THE INFANT. 



rilHE early and obscure beginnings of mental life as they 

 X manifest themselves in infants have always had a 

 great and absorbing interest for mothers. But it is only 

 within the last decade that it has been authoritatively re- 

 cognised, that those very facts which are so fraught with 

 interest to mothers are also of paramount importance to 

 men of science. 



The marvellous transition from the pathetic helplessness 

 of the new-born babe to the grand capabilities of the adult 

 man is a phenomenon which has always, it is true, called 

 forth the speculations and attracted the attention of 

 scientific inquirers. But these all (with one notable excep- 

 tion) failed to see, that if they hoped for an adequate solu- 

 tion of the problem, they must be prepared to take up 

 their stand by the cradle, and ascertain there, by 

 personal observation and experiment, how mind begins 

 to unfold itself. For, as by no effort of memory can a 

 man remember his own mental development during the 

 first three years of his life, it is clear that the psycholo- 

 gist is inevitably driven upon one of two alternatives. 

 Either he must infer what goes on in the mind of the child 

 from what goes on in the mind of the adult, or he is bound 

 to watch for each gleam of intelligence and sensibility as 

 these reveal themselves to us through the medium of the 

 cries, movements, and facial expression of the babe of a 

 few weeks old. It is precisely this latter more satis- 

 factory method which the psychologists ab.stained from 

 adopting, and the natural consequence was that many fruit- 

 less controversies were waged over unreliable theories set 

 up to explain the processes of mental development. We 

 have said that there was one exception to the prevailing 

 indifference shown to the phenomena of infant life ; this 

 was the German philosopher, Thiery Tiedemann, who at 

 the close of last century held a professorial chair at the 

 University of Marburg. 



Exactly one hundred years ago Tiedemann published a 

 series of carefully-recorded observations, arranged in 

 journal fashion, and extending over the first two years of 

 his child's existence. By means of this memoir he sought 

 to promote the experimental .study of the human mind, 

 more especially as it displays itself at the commencement 

 of life. His example, however, apparently stimulated no 

 one to the prosecution of similar investigations, and, in- 

 deed, it is only through a translation of Monsieur Miche- 

 lant's, published eighty-one years later in the Journal de 

 rinst.ruci.io7i Fublique, that this remarkable record is at 

 length brought within the ken of the ordinary reader. 



Now, after the lapse of many years, there has been a 

 sudden rush of p.sychologists iuto the hitherto neglected 

 field, and this particular department of infant psychology 

 has been enriched by contribution after contribution of 

 varying value, but of constant interest, from the pens of 

 Darwin, Taine, Egger, Preyer, Sully, Ferri, Pollock, 

 Perez, &c. 



But numerous as are the facts chronicled by practised 

 observers, such as are the foregoing, there yet remains 

 wide scope for the exercise of parental activity in collect- 

 ing still further data, and so assisting to constitute what 

 has l)een aptly designated an Infant or a Kursery 

 Psychology. 



We cannot, therefore, too emphatically impress upon 

 parents — more especially upon mothers — the wisdom of 

 keeping an accurate register of all the varied phenomena 

 they note in their oflspring ; and, in order that they may 

 do this to really good and practical purpose, we propose, in 

 a series of articles, laying before them all that is at present 

 known with regard to this singularly interesting subject, 

 and inviting them to inform us how far the facts they 

 themselves observe corroborate or conflict with the con- 

 clusions which have been come to. 



Still more to guide them in their work of observation, 

 we shall subjoin tables showing the acquisitions of difierent 

 infants during each month of their first year and each 

 quarter of their second and third years. We shall also 

 suggest simple experiments which may be tried upon 

 infants when the elucidation of debatable points is in 

 question. 



And lest mothers should imagine that they are being 

 invited to take up this work of minute and detailed 

 observation merely in the interests of a science which they 

 may or may not care to advance, we would refer them to 

 an admirable article in La Revue ScipufAfique. 



The writer, Monsieur Compayr^, here points out forcibly 

 how great is the assistance which a knowledge of the 

 mental phenomena of infant life is calculated to give the 

 educator. Education, he says, Ijeing nothing but art interven- 

 ing to direct and control natural tendencies ; it is impos- 

 sible to make much way if the educator does not know the 

 needs of children in order to satisfy them, their capabilities 

 so as to call them forth, and their powers so as not to put 

 too severe a strain upon them. In short, he says the 

 artificial methods of education can only succeed when they 

 are modelled upon the first steps of Nature herself — that 

 is to say, upon those natural processes which we can see 

 going on in the early life of the infant. 



He then cites as an instance of the sort of knowledge 

 needed by those who have the care of children, the well- 

 known psychological fact, that a quite little child cannot 

 fix its attention for more than five or six minutes at a time, 

 while even with children of more advanced growth, half 

 an hour of concentrated attention is the utmost they are 

 capable of yielding without short intervals of rest and 

 recreation. How often does a mother punish her child for 

 its obstinacy in not attending, when, really, the blame 

 should fall upon her for her folly in not acquainting herself 

 with the laws of its nature. How often, again, does she 

 not attempt to develop some faculty, without know- 

 ing that she is, all unwittingly, helping to impede its 

 exercise. 



In the interests then of the infant, even more than in 

 those of the psychological philosopher, it is time that the 

 different facts of infant mental life should be carefully 

 systematised and placed within the reach of the mothers 

 of England. And this is what, in a series of some dozen 

 articles, we shall now attempt to do. 



A. M. H. B. 



