NOVEIIBER 27, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



765 



and limited experiment, and (2) by classify- 

 ing, comparing and drawing inductions from 

 these facts. 



Continuing, the author advances the usual 

 arguments for prefering the inductive method 

 to the method of proceeding, theories in hand, 

 in scientific research. In this connection. 

 Professor Baldwin's well-known " Mental De- 

 velopment in the Child and the Race " is cited 

 as a horrible example of what is likely to 

 happen when an investigation is dominated by 

 preconceived theories. That work, Dr. Shinn 

 says, has failed to supply the theoretic basis 

 for future observations in child-study, " be- 

 cause it has, after all, no close practical rela- 

 tion to that study." However highly the 

 author may value that work on other grounds, 

 evidently she does not hold it in very high 

 esteem as a contribution to child-study. 



The author next considers the difficulty of 

 finding a satisfactory principle of classifica- 

 tion for the data of child development. The 

 analytic headings " dismember every incident 

 we would report, for the actual development 

 we are tracing is essentially synthetic, yet 

 we must needs analyze, in order to interpret." 

 All in all, a modification of the Spencerian 

 formula for the process of evolution supplies a 

 satisfactory guiding principle — viz., child de- 

 velopment is " a progressive movement con- 

 sisting of the integration of simpler activities 

 into more complex, and the differentiation of 

 specialized ones, out of generalized." The 

 validity of this principle is not discussed, 

 " because the most important part of the fol- 

 lowing thesis is a contribution to that very 

 discussion." 



Leaving the introduction and passing to the 

 body of Volume II., we have the following 

 divisions and sub-divisions : Part I., Sensi- 

 bility of the new-born (visual, auditory, der- 

 mal, etc., sensibility). Part I. may be de- 

 scribed as a condensation of the data reported 

 in Volume I. relating to the sensibility of the 

 new-born, together with numerous quotations 

 from other students of infancy — Tiedemann, 

 Kussmaul, Sigismund, Champneys, Preyer, 

 Mrs. Moore, Mrs. Hall — and from the 

 anatomical studies of Professor Flechsig in 

 explanation and confirmation of the views ex- 



pressed in the text. The principal conclu- 

 sions of Part I. are: 



The child is at birth capable of receiving im- 

 pressions in every department of sense (unless for 

 a short delay in the case of hearing) .... The 

 sensations of the new-born are very limited and 

 feeble, and seem to be simple and detached ex- 

 periences, . . . are justly to be regarded as pure 

 sensations in which there is no consciousness of 

 space, of externality or internality, of surrounding 

 objects, or of self (pp. 12, 47). 



Part n.. The Synthesis of Sense-Experience 

 (the visual-motor association series, the 

 tactile-motor association series, synthesis of 

 the visual-motor and tactile-motor associa- 

 tions, auditory associations, associations of the 

 minor special senses, feeling of a bodily self). 

 This part (the nature of which is sufficiently 

 well indicated by the heading and sub-head- 

 ings) contains, in the writer's judgment, the 

 best treatment of the topic heading the 

 chapter which has thus far appeared. 



The author's principle of classification is 

 used with great effectiveness in this part in 

 organizing and interpreting the wealth of 

 detailed observations which she had previously 

 reported. 



It is amusing to note in passing that the 

 author completely pulverizes, in the crucible 

 of over-literalness one may think. Professor 

 James's oft-quoted, " big, blooming, buzzing 

 confusion" as a description of the mental 

 state of early infancy. Her way is better: 

 it is more scientific, and it is more euphonious, 

 more poetic. She writes: 



Rather does the babe drift softly in among 

 phenomena, wrapped away from their impact in 

 a dim cloud of unconsciousness, through which 

 but the simplest and faintest gleams and echoes 

 make their way to him. . . . (Vol. II., pp. 144f. ). 



Part III. traces the Development in Dis- 

 crimination and Interpretation in the dif- 

 ferent sense-departments^ — sight, hearing, 

 touch, etc. The treatment of sight, particu- 

 larly the section on " color vision," is worthy 

 of special mention. 



Two general conclusions of the entire work 

 remain to be noted: (1) The development of 

 the senses does not follow the phylogenetic 

 parallel — though some specific phases of the 



