OF THE INTELLIGENCE OF YOUNG CHILDREN 23 



child: "No, that is not the way. You must take the boxes 

 in your hands and weigh them." This supplementary instruc- 

 tion is sufficient to orient most subjects; so much the worse 

 for the others. We have observed curiously the errors made 

 by these last. Here are some of them : To lift only one box 

 and declare it to be the heavier; to place the two boxes side 

 by side in the same hand and declare that one is the heavier; 

 in this case the weighing is much more difficult without being 

 impossible; finally, to place them one on top of the other in 

 the same hand. This is still more defective as a method of 

 weighing; however, it is still possible to detect the difference 

 in weight. 



This test includes two quite distinct operations ; one con- 

 sists in understanding that the weights of the two boxes are 

 to be compared, and the consequent act of comparing them ; 

 the other consists in appreciating the difference in the two 

 weights. The first operation is much more difficult than the 

 second; one can even say that it depends on the general in- 

 telligence and presupposes a high intellectual level, while the 

 second depends on the much more simple faculty of feeling 

 a difference in weight, and exists at a much lower intellectual 

 level, perhaps one of only two years ; this is proven by the 

 fact that when a child, in spite of all possible explanations, 

 fails to take the weights and compare them, it is often suffi- 

 cient to place the weights one in each hand and ask him 

 which is the heavier to secure from him the correct gesture. 

 The awkwardness with which a child takes the weights, 

 hefts them and compares them, and the surety with which 

 he shows that he feels the difference in weight, is always an 

 interesting contrast. 



II. Copies a square. — This is the first time that we have 

 put a penholder into the child's hand. 



A square with a diameter of from 3 to 4 centimeters is 

 drawn with ink, and the child is asked to reproduce it, using 

 pen and ink. The use of pen and ink increases the difficulty 

 of the task and a pencil must not be substituted. Young sub- 



