OF THE INTELLIGENCE OF YOUNG CHILDREN 37 



knowledge; one must have learned to count to be able to re- 

 verse the process. We say to the subject: "Will you count 

 from 20 to 0, descending?" If he does not understand, we 

 add : "Count this way : 20, 19, 18 — " but we do not proceed 

 any further. Some children do not know how to count in 

 this way and will not try. Others, obstinately, in spite of the 

 instructions, count in the usual way either at once or after 

 having made an effort to count as requested : 20, 19, 18, 17, 

 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, etc. Others understand very well in what 

 way they are asked to count, but they avoid doing so by 

 going back and counting up again to find each figure. Thus, 

 being at 15, they count rapidly 1, 2, 3, 4, etc., as far as 15, 

 and find in this way that 14 precedes 15. The method is be- 

 trayed by the words murmured by the subject, and by the time 

 consumed in thinking of each succeeding number. All the re- 

 sponses so far described are considered failures. To be con- 

 sidered correct the process of counting must not take more 

 than twenty seconds, and there must be no more than one 

 error (omission or inversion). 



III. Indicates omissions in pictures. — Four pictures are 

 shown successively (Fig, 7, Appendix) ; in one an eye is lack- 

 ing, in one the nose, in one the mouth, in one the arms. The 

 child is asked each time: "What is missing in this picture?" 

 Often the child does not answer, or if he does, makes some 

 incorrect remark. For the first picture which represents a 

 head he will say, for example, that the neck is missing, or 

 the stomach, or the ears, or even the legs or the feet ; and 

 having thought of this response, he does not fail to repeat it 

 for all the other pictures (automatism and repetition). All 

 these statements are true, but they do not fulfill the require- 

 ments of the test — to show what the picture lacks to make 

 it complete. Three correct answers are required. 



IV. Gives the day and date. — Four facts are required 

 in answer to this question : the day of the week, the month, 

 the day of the month, and the year. In this connection we 

 wish to make a remark: We found that in the schools "ma- 



