Scientific American Supplement, No. 358, November 11, 1882Various
Science
Scientific American Supplement, No. 358, November 11, 1882
Various
Science -- Periodicals
Concerning touch, taste, and smell, there is not so much to quote,
though it appears that at birth the sense of taste is best developed,
and that the infant then recognizes the difference between sweet, salt,
sour, and bitter. Likewise, passing over a number of observations on the
feelings of hunger, thirst, satisfaction, etc., we come to the
emotions. Fear was first shown in the fourteenth week; the child had an
instinctive dread of thunder, and later on of cats and dogs, of falling
from a height, etc. The date at which affection and sympathy first
showed themselves does not appear to have been noted, though at
twenty-seven months the child cried on seeing some paper figures of men
being cut with a pair of scissors.
In the second part of the book it is remarked that voluntary movements
are preceded, not only by reflex, but also by "impulsive movements," the
ceaseless activity of young infants being due to purposeless discharges
of nervous energy. Reflex movements are followed by instinctive, and
these by voluntary. The latter are first shown by grasping at objects,
which took place in Preyer's child during the nineteenth week. The
opposition of the thumb to the fingers, which in the ape is acquired
during the first week, is very slowly acquired in the child, while, of
course, the opposition of the great toe is never acquired at all;
in Preyer's child the thumb was first opposed to the fingers on
the eighty-fourth day. Up to the seventeenth month there is great
uncertainty in finding the mouth with anything held in the hand--a
spoon, for instance, striking the cheeks, chin, or nose, instead of at
once going between the lips; this forms a striking contrast to the case
of young chickens which are able to peck grains, etc., soon after they
are hatched. Sucking is not a pure reflex, because a satisfied child
will not suck when its lips are properly stimulated, and further, the
action may be originated centrally, as in a sleeping suckling. At a
later stage biting is as instinctive as sucking, and was first observed
to occur in the seventeenth week with the toothless gums. Later than
biting, but still before the teeth are cut, chewing becomes instinctive,
and also licking. Between the tenth and the sixteenth week the head
becomes completely balanced, the efforts in this direction being
voluntary and determined by the greater comfort of holding the head in
an upright position. Sitting up usually begins about the fourth month,
but may begin much later. In this connection an interesting remark
of Dr. Lauder Brunton is alluded to ("Bible and Science," page 239),
namely, that when a young child sits upon the floor the soles of his
feet are turned inward facing one another, as is the case with monkeys.
When laid upon their faces children at earliest can right themselves
during the fifth month. Preyer's child first attempted to stand in the
thirty-ninth week, but it was not until the beginning of the second year
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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