THE CHILD AS GIVEN BY NATURE 47 



even perception, much less conceptions or ideas. 

 "Infancy is mental vacuity. Human life makes 

 its appearance wholly destitute of intellectual con- 

 tent. And not only is there the absence of knowl- 

 edge, but also of the power of knowing. Mind 

 potentially is a substantial foundation of powers 

 and ideas, but at first there are neither ideas nor 

 powers." (L. R. Fiske: "Man Building," 251-2.) 

 If the above can be said of the mental powers 

 of the child, much more may it be said of the 

 moral powers. Infancy is moral vacuity. Human 

 life makes its appearance wholly destitute of 

 moral content. The conscience, or moral nature 

 of a child, is a vessel, indeed ; but it is absolutely 

 empty at birth of moral ideas and of moral char- 

 acter, either in the form of merit or demerit. 

 The view of De Pressense is as follows: "Man 

 begins with purely instinctive life, without any 

 clear consciousness of itself. In this phase the 

 individuality, the ego, the person, exists only in 

 germ, and is not separable from indistinct im- 

 pressions of which it is vaguely the subject. This 

 instinctive life makes man in the first stage of 

 his existence closely akin to the animal, though 

 there are already indications of the essential dif- 

 ference which will ultimately appear between 

 them. . . . It is governed by the sensations, af- 

 fected and modified by them, and apparently sub- 

 merged, like the swimmer who can not lift his 

 head above the rapid stream that is carrying him 

 along. He does not truly know, because he does 



