MAN 
llcate, they are lefs fenfible of cold than at any 
other period of life: hence it would appear, that 
their internal heat . is proportionally greater, and 
the quicknefs of the pulfe in children feems to ve- 
tify this opinion. Small animals, for the fame 
reafon, have unqueftionably more heat than large 
©nes; for the action of the heart and arteries in- 
treafes in proportion to the comparative fmallnefs 
of animals, which takes place in the fame as well 
as in different fpecies. The pulfe of an infant, or 
a man of diminutive ftature, is more frequent than 
that of an adult or large man. The pulfe of an 
ox is flower than that of a man ; while, on the con- 
trary, a dog's pulfe is quicker: and the motion of 
the heart in very fmall animals (as for inftance, in 
the fparrow) is fo very rapid, that the ftrokes can 
fcarcely be numbered. 
The life of an infant is very precarious till the 
age of three or four, from which time it becomes 
more fccure; and when a child arrives at it's fe- 
venth year, it is then confidered as a more certain 
life, as Buffon afferts, than at any other age what- 
ever. It appears from Simpfon's Tables, that of 
a certain number of children born at the fame 
time, a fourth part are found dead at the end of 
the firft year; more than two-thirds at the end of 
the fecbnd; and at leaft half at the end of the third : 
fo that thofe who live to be above three years old 
are indulged with a longer term than half the 
feft of their fellow-creatures. Neverthelefs, life, 
at that period, may be confidered as mere animal 
exiftence; and rather a preparation for, than an en- 
joyment of thofe fatisfadlions, both of mind and 
body, that render life of real value: and hence it 
is more natural for mankind to deplore a fellow- 
creature cut off in the bloom of life, than one dy- 
ing in early infancy; the one, by living up to 
youth, and thus wading through the diladvan- 
tageous parts of exiftence, feems to have earned a 
fhort continuance of his enjoyments; the infant, on 
the contrary, has ferved but a fhort apprenticefhip 
to pain, and, when taken away, m.ay be confidered 
as refcued from a long continuance of mifery. 
Something very particular may be remiarked in 
the growth of the human body. The embryo in 
the womb continues to increafe ftill more and 
more, till it is born : on the other hand, the child's 
growth is lefs every year till the age of puberty, 
when it feems to ftart up on a fudden. Thus, for 
inftance, the embryo, which is an inch long in the 
firft month, grows but one inch and a quarter the 
fecond; it then grows one and a half in the third; 
two and a half in the fourth; and in this manner 
it continues increafing, till, in the laft month of 
it's continuance, it is actually found to grow four 
inches. But it is otherwife with the child when 
born: if we fuppofe eighteen inches at that time, it 
grows in the firft year fix or feven inches ; in the 
fecond, but four; in the third, about three; and fo 
on, at the rate of about one inch and a half, or two 
inches each year, till it arrives at the age of pu- 
berty, when Nature feems to make one great laft 
effort to compleat her work, and unfold the whole 
animal machine. 
The evolution of the mind of a child feems to 
correfpond with that of the body. The compara- 
tive progrefs of the underftanding is greater in in- 
fants than in children of three or four years old. 
If we only refled: a moment on the amazing ac- 
quifitions which an infant makes in the firft and 
fecond years of it's life, we fhall have abundant 
reafon for admiration. Launched into a world 
« 
where all is new and unknown, the Rrft montks 
are fpent in a kind of torpid amazement; an at- 
tention diftracled by t'ne multiplicity of objeds 
that prefs to be known. The firft exertion, there- 
fore, of the little learner, is to coned the illufioris 
of the fenfes, to diillnguilli between one objecl and 
another, and to exert the memoiy fb as to know 
them again. In this manner a child of a year 
old has already made a thoufand experiments; all 
v/hich it has properly ranged, and diftinftly re- 
collects: light, heat, fire; fweccs, and bitters; 
founds, pleafing or terrible; are all diflinguiflied 
at the expiration of a very few months, Befides 
this, every perfon the child knows; every indivi- 
dual object to which it is attached, it's rattles, or 
it's bells ; may all be confidered as fo manyJeffons 
to the unfolding mind, with which ir has not be- 
come acquainted without repeated exertions of the 
underftanding. At this period of life the know- 
ledge of every objeft cannot be acquired v/ithoiit 
the fame effort which, when grown up, is em- 
ployed on the moft abft"ra6l idea : every thing the 
infant hears or fees, all the marks and charadters 
of nature, are as much unknown, and require the 
fame attention to attain, as if the reader were fer 
to learn the Arabic alphabet; and yet how foora 
does the little ftudent underftand them, ail, and 
difplay proofs of early indufcry ! 
It is a very pleafing amufement to purfue xhc 
young mind while em.ployed in it's firft attain- 
ments. At the age of one year, the fame neceffity 
that firft engaged it's faculties increafes as it's in- 
timacy witii nature enlarges: it's ftudies, there- 
fore, if the expreffion may be hazarded, are no 
way relaxed; for having experienced what afforded 
pleafure at one time, it feeks a repetition of the 
enjoyment from the fame objed ; and in order to 
procure this, that objedl muft be pointed out. 
Hence a new neceffity arifes, which, very oftejij 
neither it's little arts nor im.portunities can re- 
move ; fo that the child is at laft obliged to name 
the objefts it defires to pofTeis or avoid. 
In attempting to fpeak, Vvhich is ufually whea 
about a year old, children find a thoufand difB- 
culties. It is not till after repeated efforts that 
they are able to pronounce any one of the letters j 
nor without a confiderable exertion of the me- 
mory, that they can retain them: for this reafon 
we frequently hear them attempting a found whici?. 
they had learned, but forgot; and when they failj 
the attempt is attended with apparent confufion. 
The letters fooneft learned are thofe which are the 
eafieft in their articulation : thus A and B requim 
an obvious difpofition of the organs, and conle- 
quently their pronunciation is loon attained. 
This may perhaps be the reafon why children, 'm 
fome countries, fpealc fooner than in others; for 
the letters moft frequently occurring in the lan- 
guage of any country, being fuch as are of eaiy 
pronunciation, that language of courfe is nioft rea- 
dily attained. R and Z, which require a more 
complicated pofiticn, are learned with greater dif- 
ficulty. In this manner the children of the Ita- 
lians are faid to fpeak fooner than thofe of the 
Germans; the language of tiie former being 
fmooth and open, that of tlie latter crouded with 
confonants and guttural founds. 
In all countries, however, ciiildren are found 
able to exprefs t!:e greateft part of their wants by 
the tim^e they arrive at the age of two years ; and 
from the moment the necefilty of learning new 
words ceafes^, they relax tlieir induftry. It is thea 
