OF THE INTELLIGENCE OF YOUNG CHILDREN 53 



three pairs of lines; the least suggestible are those who de- 

 clare equal the three pairs of lines; and finally we count, fol- 

 lowing our accustomed rule, two correct responses in three 

 sufficient for success. 



As the term suggestibility has several meanings, it is 

 important to add that it signifies here not that suggestibiHty 

 due to defect of character or judgment, but that resulting 

 from heedlessness, from lack of attention. It is because the 

 child depends upon habit and does not pay attention to the 

 real length of the new lines which are shown him, that he 

 falls into the trap. But we are not sure that this analysis of 

 this particular form of suggestibility is entirely correct. Sug- 

 gestibility rarely depends upon intelligence alone; character 

 and feeling have also an influence. The child who has formed 

 the habit, under his master's eye, of answering that the long- 

 est line is the one to the right is emotionally excited to persist 

 in this answer, to the right; he is actually forced to do so; 

 sometimes he perceives that he has erred, blushes and is 

 ashamed and ill at ease, but he does not correct himself, he 

 persists in his error. There is some emotional trouble — a 

 strange one, not yet well analyzed. 



II. Uses three given words in one sentence. — This test 

 is explained above. All children succeed at twelve years and 

 scarcely a third at ten. 



III. Says more than sixty words in three minutes. — The 

 child is told to name in three minutes as many words as he 

 possibly can. Such words as table, beard, shirt, carriage, etc. 

 His ambition is aroused by telling him that some children 

 have named more than 200 words, which is perfectly true. 

 This test is very interesting, for it is fertile in suggestions; 

 besides the number of words, one can note their relations; 

 some subjects give only detached words, each of which re- 

 quires an effort to recall. Others give a series of words, the 

 furnishings of a school, various articles of clothing, geological 

 terms, etc. Some use only names of common objects; others 



