OF THE INTELLIGENCE OF YOUNG CHILDREN 57 



rhymes in this time. He can be urged but not assisted. He 

 usually begins by giving disobey. Sometimes a series of 

 words are given which do not rhyme. Sometimes words are 

 coined with the required ending or even with some other end- 

 ing. Finally some children who have understood nothing re- 

 peat pumpkin, napkin, while others, differently oriented say: 

 To obey, I obey, I disobey, or punishment, naughtiness. Some 

 even cite various examples of disobedience: To take things 

 belotnging to the other children, to kick, etc. This test is one 

 of the easiest to estimate. 



HI. Repeats a sentence of 26 syllables. — We have com- 

 posed a series of 22 sentences regularly increasing in length, 

 from 2 to 44 syllables, and each formed of words very easy 

 to understand. By the use of these we can easily measure 

 an individual's ability for verbal repetition. When the sen- 

 tences are presented to a subject in the order of their length 

 the following facts are always noticed : Certain sentences are 

 exactly reproduced, then, as their length is increased, insig- 

 nificant changes are made in the reproduced phrases; the place 

 of a word is changed, a nonessential word is omitted or 

 replaced by a synonym. These slight alterations occur in a 

 zone corresponding to an increase of 6 to 10 syllables. Finally 

 grave omissions occur; an essential part of the sentence is 

 forgotten or modified. We think it best to allow no error. 



We will remark in passing that the memory for verbal 

 repetition does not increase much from the sixth to the tenth 

 year in spite of the immense intellectual difference which sepa- 

 rates these two ages. 



Thus a series of children six years of age, taken from the 

 school Maternelle, gave the following series of maxima for 

 repetition: 22—18—20—18—20—24, A series of children of 

 nine and ten years gave: 16 — 22 — 22 — 22 — 22 — 22 — 22. One 

 would expect a much greater difference. Decidedly the power 

 of memory does not increase greatly with age. 



