The Red Cloud chief., 1880-12-02
How an Infant Receives Its Impress.
siOnS.

The Medical Record reprOduceS in
its current number the leading features
of the studies of Prof. w. Preyer, of
Jena. in a field as yet almost unbroken,
that is, in the psychological study of
infants. This study begins, the Pro-
fessOr says, with the observation of the
movements and sensations of a child,
and then proceeds to note the develop
ment of the different senses, the forma-
ton of speech. ETC., and the effect of
these things in awakening the intelli-
gence. The first manifestation of vol
untary motion occurs about the four
teenth week. when the infant begins to
hold up its head. After four months
the head is usually balanced well, and
at ten months the power to sit up is
acquired. Ability to stand was usually,
in the cases studied by the Professor.
gained suddenly at the end of the first
year. The first grasping motion of the
hand in the first quarter year are en-
tirely reflex and mechanical. the first
voluntary attemptto take hold of an OBJ
ject not being noticed before the seven
teenth week. The child does not show
self-consciousness, a knowledge of its
independent existence, until the second
quarter of the second year. The sensi-
bility of the skin of a newborn child is
very low, and it will give no signs of
discomfort if it be pricked on the
nose or lips or hands. The eyes. too.
close slowly when touched, and do not
close at all in the bath. An increase of
sensibility, however, appears in a day
or two after birth. All infants are deaf
at birth. because the outer ear is closed
and there is as yet no air in the middle
ear. A response to a strong sound is
observed, at the earliest, in six hours,
but often not for a day or two. The
awakening of the may be detect
ed by the blinking which q loud noise
occasions. No other organ is thought
20 contribute to the intellectual de-
selopment of the child so much as the
ear. The first perceptions are those of
light. The infant shuts its eyes as Don
IS light enters them; within q week it
turns its glance to the window, but il is
three weeks before the eyes will follow
8 light moved before them. The stupid
expression on the child's face does not
leave it until the second quarter year.
and the face grows more human and
spirited with the increase of the power
Of seeing intelligently. The power to
distinguish colors follows that of intelli-
gent attention, and light and
bright colors are preferred; but
the power to distinguish them
BY name does not come until
the beginning of the third year. The
recognition of form. size and distance
comes slowly. In the first month the
infant pays no attention to the swiftest
approach of the persons hand to its
face. and in the third year it will show
ignorance of size and no appreciation
Of distance. The Professor set down
in writing every sound uttered BY a
child during its first two years. and
which could be so represented. At
nrst only novels are heard, but even in
the first FIVE weeks these sounds are so
diversified as to express different feel
inys. Thus, the Professor SAYS, the
periodically broken cry, with knit eyes,
denotes hunger; the continuous whine.
cold; and the high, penetrating tone,
ain. The consonant m was heard in
ne seventh week. and in the seventh
,onih b.. d, n, v and rarely e, b and K
sere distinguished. Imperfect limits
lions of sound were heard in the sixth