lit ate otif race history; pliysically, intellectually, morally and religiously. If this parallel de- 

 velopment of the child and the race is a. fad and not merely a series of remarkable coincidences, 

 then the law of culture epochs is simply a part of the more comprehensive law of organic de- 

 velopment from which the child is not and should not be exempt. 



B. Infantile Characteristics. The characteristics possessed by every healthy, 

 normal infant, just born into the world, are hereditary rather than acquired during his em- 

 bryonic life. The manner in which he reacts against the hostile environment in which he 

 now finds himself is determined by the sum total of these hereditary traits. The nature of 

 such reaction and the character of the environment will determine what individual character- 

 istics will be acquired. Of the hereditary traits with which the infant is endowed we may 

 recognize two groups; the mammalian and the racial. 



1. MAMMALIAN CHARACTERISTICS. Under this head will be included all those char- 

 acteristics and structures which the child possesses in common with the higher mammals and 

 which he would have regardless of what had been the history of the race. Here will be in- 

 cluded the general anatomical and histologicai details of his body and the physiology of his 

 various organs. In common with other mammals in their infancy the child is of small size, 

 physically weak, lacking in control and endurance, with poorly developed senses, a cartilagi- 

 nous skeleton, low specific gravity, and a relatively large head. Without teeth that have cut 

 the gum, he acquires a temporary and later a permanent set. In common with other mammals 

 at this stage his natural food is milk. His respiration and pulse are more rapid than they will 

 be in later life and his bodily temperature is higher. He is active and restless, tires easily, 

 sleeps much and recuperates readily. The securing of exercise for his muscles and the peri- 

 odic gratification of the hunger appetite chiefly concern the infant during his waking moments. 



2. RACIAL CHARACTERISTICS. In conjunction with the above set of purely mammalian 

 characteristics the child possesses still others for which a separate explanation or series of ex- 

 planations is required. They are characteristics that distinguish him radically from what he 

 will be when an adult and are "greater than the differences between some species of animals." 

 So far as we may judge, most of these characteristics are entirely useless to the infant himself 

 and hence cannot be explained upon the ground of utility. They are to be satisfactorily ac- 

 counted for only by assuming that the child is repeating physically and mentally that early 

 stage of race history when the trees were the natural dwelling places. It is the conviction of 

 the writer that the stage here indicated in the life of the child is not the pre-human brute stage, 

 as generally assumed b} r authors, but the first stage of hitman culture. The tout ensemble of 

 infantile characteristics is human rather than simian. They are of interest to the primary 

 teacher only in that they reveal the working of the biogeuetic law and explain certain traits of 

 character that persist until later life. 



Compared with the length of the body the arms of the infant are relatively long and his 

 legs short and bent. Almost from birth he can support his weight by his hands, this power 

 reaching a maximum at about three weeks of age, when infants are able to cling for from two 

 to three minutes. In grasping objects in the hands the thumb is not apposed to the fingers as 

 is done later. The ankles naturally permit the incurving of the soles of the feet, the great 

 toe stands at an angle from the others, all may be separated more or less and curved so as to 

 permit the grasping of small objects. Upon the sole may be distinctly traced the markings 

 which suggest the prehensile character of the foot. When the child is able to support its 

 /eight upon its feet, it stands more upon the outer margins of its feet and very readily be- 

 )tnes bow-legged. Its pelvic bones are narrower and longer and the spinal column lacks the 

 louble curvature. The forehead is low and retreating, the nose flat, the nostrils capacious 

 md the lower jaw projects forward. The shape of the eye-ball is that of a far-sighted eye and 

 War ophyll green is the most restful and natural color to which the eye can be subjected, Be- 

 fore birth, and generally for a few days afterward, the entire body is covered with a thick 

 growth of hair. The child often displays dislike for and resentment against artificial clothing. 

 [is methods of assault and defense are striking, scratching, pulling hair and biting, using 

 irst only his natural weapons. When able to move about his method of locomotion is upon 

 "all fours;" not yet having learned to balance himself upon his feet. He shows a fondness 

 ">r climbing up stairs, loves to be lifted aloft but displays instinctive fear of falling. For the 

 lilk there is gradually substituted a vegetable diet, to which meat will later be added. 



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