Scientific American Supplement, No. 358, November 11, 1882Various
Science
Scientific American Supplement, No. 358, November 11, 1882
Various
Science -- Periodicals
Hitherto the same word would often be employed to express several or
many associated meanings, and no words appeared to have been entirely
invented. The powers of association and inference were well developed.
For instance, the child received many presents on its birthday, and
being pleased said "bursta" (=Geburtstage); afterward when similarly
pleased it would say the same word. Again, when it injured its hand it
was told to blow upon it, and on afterward knocking its head it blew
into the air. At this age also the power of making propositions advanced
considerably, as was shown, for instance, by the following sentence on
seeing milk spilt upon the floor: "Mime atta teppa papa oï," which was
equivalent to "Milch fort (auf den) Teppich, Papa (sagte) pfui!" But
it is interesting that at this age words were learnt with an erroneous
apprehension of their meaning; this was particularly the case with
pronouns--"dein Bett," for example, being supposed to mean "das grosse
Bett." All words which were spontaneously acquired seemed to be
instances of onomatopoeia. Adverbs were first used in the twenty-seventh
month, and now also words which had previously been used to express
a variety of associated or generic meanings, were discarded for more
specific ones. In the twenty-eighth month prepositions were first used,
and questions were first asked. In the twenty-ninth month the chief
advance was in naming self with a pronoun, as in "give me bread;" but
the word "I" was not yet spoken. When asked: "Wer ist mir?" the child
would say its own name. Although the child had long been able to say its
numerals, it was only in this month that it attained to an understanding
of their use in counting. In the thirty-second month the word "I" was
acquired, but still the child seemed to prefer speaking of itself in the
third person.
The long disquisition on the acquirement of speech is supplemented by
a chapter conveying the observations of other writers upon the same
subject. This is followed by an interesting chapter on the development
of self-consciousness, and the work concludes with a summary of results.
There are also lengthy appendices on the acquirements of correct vision
after surgical operations by those who have been born blind, and on the
mental condition of uneducated deaf mutes; but we have no space left to
go into these subjects. Enough, we trust, has been said to show
that Professor Preyer's laborious undertaking is the most important
contribution which has yet appeared to the department of psychology with
which it is concerned. GEORGE J. ROMANES.
* * * * *
THE RACIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF MAN.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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