ANIMALS. 301 



he kept them above half an hour at a time. However, he saw 

 no change in the animals, thus newly brought forth ; they con- 

 tinued the whole time ^•igorous ; and, during the whole time, it 

 is very probable that the blood circulated through the same 

 channels through which it passed while they continued in the 

 womb. 



Almost all animals have their eyes closed,' for some days 

 after being brought into the world. The infant opens them the 

 instant of its birth. However, it seems to keep them fixed and 

 idle ; they want that lustre which they acquire by degrees ; and 

 if they happen to move, it is rather an accidental gaze, than an 

 exertion of the act of seeing. The light alone seems to make 

 the greatest impression upon them. The eyes of infants are 

 sometimes found turned to the place where it is strongest ; and 

 the pupil is seen to dilate and diminish, as in grown persons, in 

 proportion to the quantity it receives. But still the infant is 

 incapable of distinguishing objects ; the sense of seeing, like the 

 rest of the senses, requires an habit before it becomes any way 

 serviceable. All the senses must be compared with each other, 

 and must be made to correct the defects of one another, before 

 they can give just information. It is probable, therefore, that 

 if the infant could express its own sensations, it would give a 

 very extraordinary description of the illusions which it suffers 

 from them. The sight might, perhaps, be represented as in- 

 verting objects, or multiplying them ; the hearing, instead of 

 conveying one uniform tone, might be said to bring up an inter- 

 rupted succession of noises ; and the touch apparently would 

 di\-ide one body into as many as there are fingers that grasp it. 

 But all these errors are lost in one confused idea of existence ; 

 and it is happy for the infant that it then can make but very 

 little use of its senses, when they could serve only to bring it 

 false information. 



If there be any distinct sensations, those of pain seem to be 

 much more frequent and stronger than those of pleasure. The 

 infant's cries are sufficient indications of the uneasiness it must, 

 at every interval, endure ; while, in the beginning, it has got no 

 external marks to testify its satisfactions. It is not till after 

 forty davs that it is seen to smile ; and not till that time also, 



1 Buffuii, vol. iv. p. 173, 



