Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-01-25

| frog" Another child when he played
| on the floor, would sit on his heels anc
move about without rising"
Grasps Objects With Toes
Some children, parents report, USE
hands and feet almost in the same
manner, like animals. One boy car
grasp anything and walk with object:
| grasped between the toes" Another
catches hold of his bottle with both his
hands and feet, but 1.-THE feet usually
get it first" A little girl uses hands
and feet INTERCHANGEABLE. She will hole
her bottle between her clenched toes II
order to play with toys while drinking
or hold the bottle in her hand or pick
up toys with her feet"
One mother reported that her child
climbing up the corner of his playpen
instead of wrapping his arms around
the rungS used to wrap his toes ane
feet" She started using her toes AND
feet just like hands," reports another
and would pick up talcum powder
box or rubber doll with her two feet
and place it in her hands" A boy
could hang on anything he could gel
toehold on before he could walk" A
girl could pick up a safety pin or
marble with the toes or one foot"
This, DR.. Hrdlicka says, evidently
represents one of the closest connec-
tions of man with the pre-human past
Where such instances are spontaneous
and pronounced they may safely be
relegated to the realm of atavisms
Another apparently atavistic behavior
trait, he says. is the corrying of objects
in the mouth by children who run on
all fours. Here are some of the in
stances reported by parents:
Girl Acts Like Chicken.
A girl was like chicken, very care
fully going over every inch of the floor
searching for the tiniest particles to
put in her mouth. A boy, running on
all fours, picked up an apple with his
teeth. Another would run about on all
fours with bone in his mouth. A
little girl carried all her toys by hold
ing them with her teeth" Still an
other carried her sack doll in this
manner, letting it dangle as a cat
would its kitten"
He found lack of fear of height no.
table among the children who walked
on all fours, a trait characteristic of a
tree-living ancestry. One such boy, Z
years old. walked on an 8-inch cement
guard rail. 100 feet long and about 60
feet from the street beloV. A little girl
has frequently electrified US by teeter-
ing on the edge of chasm with no
more concern than If she were on a
street curb.
Still more suggestive of something
inherited, Mr.. Hrdlicka points out, are
the remarkable climbing propensities of
children. Climbing" he remarks, lis
complex, co-ordinated, objective &C
ton. The human infant has no busi-
ness to climb. He has no advantage in
doing it, except so far as it is connected
with the need and pleasure of muscu-
lar activities He falls again and again
and suffers for it, even to breaking his
bones. If he persists in climbing on
everything climbable, long before the
actions are directed by any reason,
then the manifestation can only be an
expression of something that was de-
cidedly OF use in earlier human or pro-
human times.
Bang Head to Express Anger.
Several cases were reported of chill
dren eating soap and dirt. These, DIR.
Hrdlicka says, presumably are not
traits inherited from an animal an
ceStry. but are due to some hidden Pc
culiarity Of the control nervous system.
He is eager to secure more reports, with
complete life histories of the children.
OF dirt and soap eating. Still another
unexplained phenomenon, of which
DR.. Hrdlicka wants to secure more in
stances, is that of banging the head to
express anger, JOY or tense excitement.
one OF the StrangeSt cases of chill
dren woh walk on all tours was the
following, of which there is no plausi-
bic explanation:
Every night about IL O'Clock she
woke and laughed, peal after peal OF
laughter. until about 2 o'clock. when
She grew fretful and hungry, was fed
and went to sleep again" This be-
havior started about the tenth month.
lasted for two months, and later re-
appeared in a modified fashion.
Some persons, DR.. Hrdlicka found,
tours, do so in dreams, and this opens
up the possibility of studying the YES
Cges OF the prehuman past through the
gate of dream life
A prominent Washington scientist re-
ported that in occasional dreams, when
he finds himself fleeing in terror from
some pursuer, and is in danger of being
caught, dropped on all fours, and, run
ming thus and vaulting, just as the apes
DO. he gets away from his enemy.
The sleep habits of children, DR..
Hrdlicka found, present also some
strange phenomena which can hardly
be interpreted otherwise than as throw
backs to animal behavior. Four footed
mammals sleep seldom on their backs,
but usually on their stomachs with the
feet drawn up under them This would
presumably be a most uncomfortable
position for a human being, but babies
often sleep, and insist on sleeping in
this posture.