New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-03-14
INFANT MIND.
PROFESSOR sULLYs STUDIES OF MENTAL
EVOLUTION IN CHILDREN.


-, 49, egure NJ Sir Walter Scott. with his
,ormu,a for all occasions when doting parents
,r,roduced him to the latest arrival III 'he
rurserv With great deliberaton, ana an an
- ro,rc earerness he would peer into the
,o,r.sters face at last intently exclaifn'"s'
.s,yeu that Is a baby" He denied that IN 'he
course Of wears the sincerity or TINS remaiA ia"
ever been questioned, or had even oee" "
swered with any such sheer as, -" n.y. Oh co"''
..,. h.hy vou STUPID" His conclusion was
49,. huroritv was too much absorbed in infant
-,, % no discriminating But he was wrong
ho,. wat rapidly increasing body OF htera-
ture on the evolution OF MIND IN chiiuio'N
shows how the pride Of parents In the Deau'S
mr. bright savings Of their children may IAN
q highly rational and scientific turn thoue''
IN, hook which recorded great deal OF o'le'''''
.u,,o..,,at,o, was published last year C'Mental
Development in the Child ana IN 'he n"1e . ~
1r,,cseor 7 NJ. Baldwin. of Princeton University.
II Is q rather curious psychological lact 'na'
utt,a notice was paid to Professor BALDWIN
1871. - American newspapers while Professor
Su,Iv.s book has received many attentions si'ice
.ho Iordon newsuapers set the fashion professor
po,dw,n,s volume looked like the work OF
srecialist. Professor sally adds 70 inue
nendont study n popular review OF all tna' HIS
nrcdecessors Baldwin included have dohe' 'he
ENGLISH newspapers digest his work IN SUN
more elementary form, and sudoeh! so"o
Americans. who would not touch psychoios' pei
se with the tips of their fingers Tor Tear '"e'
,,,rht seen, ~ he dabbling in something learned
plunge into an encyclopaedia weltcf ol 'Vie'
Professor SuIly is not exactly fair with FRO
fessor Baldwin. The latter is no more oos'
than several of the German and frehcn a."
tborities. whom the former quotes with '"e
usual signs of respect which Englishmen al
ways pay to the Old World and refuse 10 INC
New World if possible. 1t is really the i"oi'
OF the indicative mood. upon which, as we an
know Gibbon showered some precious mar
dic,ions that one cannot make the English
language just as tentative and cautious Us o"o
would like TO make 1t in recording explorations
upon a new field 1t is really past Dehel tna'
the princeton professor overlooked the dlm-
cu,,ies in the study of baby mind, which are so
ohvious 70 the eyes Of the London professor.
In Professor Baldwns Optimistic presentment
of the subject" SAYS Professor Sully. there Is
not the slightest reference TO the difhcult WORK
NJ INTERPRETATION Child study is talked OF as
perfectly simple mode of observation. requiring
at most TO be supplemented by little expert
ment and II may be added. backed by rrm
theory" The American psychologist can reply
safely that a theory restricted TO the Vaholty
of the experimental method may well be hrrn'
and that The difficulties Of Interpretation belong
10 realm into which every scientist ventures
but where he never expects to stay until science
itself is perfect Men of science are very posi-
tive about the theory Of evolution just now.
but they might be persuaded TO throw 1t aside,
II better scheme for arranging the facts OF
nature occurred to them.
As matter Of fact. Professor Baldwin made
a distinct advance upon the methods Of all his
predecessors in the important matter Of color
distinctions Professor Suy accepts the ad-
vance, but does net acknowledge his debt. He
rightly declares that tn, problem Is anything
but the simple one 1t looks at first sight. The
pioneer in attacking 1t a German investi-
gator Professor Preyer. Of Berlin, who went
TO work methodically with his little boy Of two
years. in order to see in what order he would
discriminate colors" But the child could talk
already. and verbal associations were certainly
mingled with the efforts. which resulted at
length in his picking out yellow by way Of his
first definite answer TO the questions put to
him. NJ. Binet, Of Paris following Professor
Preyer's method, found that his child selected
blue. AS against these investigators, Professor
Baldwin raised the point that the name blue
or yellow" might fix Itself In the child's men,
DRY before other similar words and thus lead
to a choice in which color was only a subor-
dnate factor He investigated the matter "by
placing two coors opposite the child's two arms
and noting which is reached out to by right or
left arm. which IL ignored
All this, Of course. long before the child could
understand question in words. He found that
blue was most certain TO attract the baby's
attention But he seems not to have given yell
low fair test. and the further objection Of
Professor Sully that the experiments reveal
preference rather than discrimination is we'll
taken. To have shown this preference as ex-
istent in babyhood at time when the power
Of reaching after things is only beginning to be
consciously exercised is a marked achievement
in the study Of mind. one of those to which all
further effort must be secondary. 1t fixes the
direction Of future experiment in a clear and
striking way.
The most salient thing in all this study for
those who were children forty or fifty or sixty
years ago will be the reminder that they them
selves were guilty of an extraordinary number
Of things that would now attract scientific at
tention. Call to mind how the vigilant teacher
in the Old Red Schoolhouse descended upon the
budding genius whose slate covered with
drawings that had TO be labelled dog" horse, !"
man." woman for the sake Of recognition.
and then study the pictures In this book. The
forbidden pleasures of half century ago have
become vertable tests of mental evolution now.
Even the infantile scrawls interpreted by the
Joyous little prattler as a picture of his dog.
his kitten or his wooden horse. are scanned to
detect the first signs Of observation. AS these
art works Of baby gradually attain a form
recognizable to the mature mind, they are seen
10 show as much progress in seeing things as
in the ability TO handle the pencil.
The little child observes not the many char
actcristics Of a thing. but some one thing which
is impressive. 1t may forget that dog runs
on four legs while absorbed In the fact that the
creature has q curly tail or a pointed nose Pro-
fcssnr Sully tells Of one child who having