The St. Louis Republic. [volume], August 13, 1905, SUNDAY MAGAZINE, Page 8, Image 48

About The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919

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SUNDAY MAGAZINE fmr AUGUST 13, lttS
H
THE SCIENTIFIC BABY
Analyzing the Infant for the SEe
of Its Health and General Welfare
By G. STANLEY HALL, SSfT-i-
IALF a tent wry ago
a good art of the
civilized world held
or at least acted on. one
or the other of two ex
treme views alxnit chil
dren. Some actually
thought that they came
into the world utterly de
praved. Many who did
not hold Calvinistic the
ories acted as if they did.
Most of DickcnV -chool-masters
flogged incessant
ly, even if they did little
else. A famous old Ger
man icdagogue, Hatibcr
tTle. kept a record of some
seventy thousand "'''
tVwr.c over the head with
Ilihtc. hymn-lmok. etc.
cuffs, knock-downs. Miaps
in tlie ear. that he had
administered during hi-fifty-one
years of teach
ing. Evil was liouml up
in the heart of a t hild. ami
the rod was the i:re.
Al the opposite extreme stood men like Kou can.
Word-worth. Alcott in hi- famous Ho-ton School.
They held that .hildren were frohly arrived from
tiod". full of wondrous intuition-, purer ami Wttcr
than alults. ami worthy of the uttno-t reverence.
Handsome idiot-, like Ca-jer Ilau-cr. were studied
l.v .i-e men. and their fooli-lme-s interjreted as
wi doin. A- a-u.il the truth lies Wtwccti all such
extremes, although all evolutioni-ts think nearer
1... 1 .... 1 t li.. fi.r.tiir vi.C-
It is Larely a 'iurter)f aientury .-ince the lin-t the bul anticipates all human woe as it enters after the laji-o of months learns to iposc
.'-em-itie attempts to studv hildren were cgun this vale tf tears. Another says it is a snout xnumii io me lingers.
"l.v l'rcver Darwin. Tied.mann and others. Now ,f jov and triumph that marks its advent. In Altogether jt i- a curious little homunculus that
-.". niiiidlv'has the movement grown that we have fact, "it is a thin. Hat note, essentially automatic is cast by angry waves upm the shores of life, and
.. i.;m;,...1iv of more than two thou-and valuable ami reflex. iwrliuiK even attended with no sensation only fund maternal love sees m the squint-eyed.
" --- .. .. .. . ..
. v ft Ht""""""""""""""""
.a v. t Lxcsaia--
The suction apparatus
is wonderfully dcvcluped,
and. indeed, perfect at
liirth. There is. uf .ur-e.
no will, but only reile
activity in it. Whin tne
considers the niu-tles.
nerves and lnin centers
involved, it is really a
complex act. We have
recently a theory that
men's lore of smoking
is a rudimentary survival
of this primitive form of
getting nourishment.
The baby's head is,
relatively to the re-t of its
IhmIv, enormous at birth,
larger in civilized tlian
in savage races. If it
grew in the same pn
jtortions as the ImmIv. the
adult head would lcaltit
six times its present size;
but it gntws at a slower
and slower rate, and the
brain never weighs more
than an ounce or two
more than it does the tenth birthday. The arms, ami
especially the legs. are. relatively to the length of the
trunk, much shorter than they will lie. Thelegsare
lient up at the thigh a little like tho-eof quadrupeds.
There is siecial tendency to liow-lcggcdncss, and
to turn the soles of the feet inward, as .!imlcrs have
to do. The toes are flexible, and the creases on the
foot, too, suggest prehension. The luby gratis
its cup by putting all the lingers into it and shutting
them iinm the ulni. just :is an aje ocs, ana oni
ine
'- - . . . .... . a .. t?r m 1.-....-..X .V a. 1.. - a......... '.II .T .-.YTYlta
IhhiUs and m'm.irs.-4.me len lournai-. ana scores at all. A the weeks ana nifnins jiass, cnes on- now-iem. uuu .....- ..- '. " .-
of ..-..Vmic chairs in umver-iti.--andnoniwl-4.hH.ls. ferentiate to express hunger, fear, cold and manifold loveliness, and .sometimes even it is shocked at
Icvotil to ludeutics or ihild -tuilv. The child other emotions, and at la-t differentiate into scrch. first, and in morbid cases the lirst instinct oT the
h i- become a kev to interpret tho .l.vjH-t .pse-tiotis Years ago. when I took phonograph n.lls into mother is only one. f di-illtt-ion and aversion. There
...-, ,-ni.... the .ri-jin of man's 1h1v and soul in a kindergarten to collect an aortment of cries is at first little but promise and itency. but the
glUMiie-s oi it all is one 01 ine cmei jovs 01 me.
.1. . i...n. 1...1 n.. i.n ,.n.. ,-rx' tin. .liiMr.-n w.-n- The iirst teeth mark an eiMH-li. Ine ne" iniant
til. 11 .I1V1V ...... . .-. ...., ... -.. ... . ".....,..
-.. h.ni.v there. One denraved voting kinderg.irt- of a few weeks craves somctiung nam u one ana
tier, houexer. actually pinched a child to make it
cry for the K-nelit of scicme. and was promptly
retired. Xow we have a voluminous Italian look
on the voiie of the infant during the first months
of life, and one of its coiulu-ions is that .ill babie-iu-t
1-e ienuittti1 ti try occ:i-ion.dly. 1-ccan-e
this is their chief fnn of e.eni-e. and Kvau-e it
if not epoch-making. ntribution- -trengtheiis and improves the voice, dcvc'oj.- tlie
tirculalorv sv-tctn. ana lones ine nnii mi ine
e -t. ct- . t ..:!.: t... t ....t.. ..i.i ... ... ...t ..f ...! ..- i...
eve. V civilica l.tnil oi ine csi, ami "hhiii nu itr -iiniv, a- i .it me .- v , ...--
last ear or two -oieti.-- have las-n --tabli-hel.
among vho-e meniKrs are found -ouif of the nio-t
biilliant names in letters and science in Italy.
1'ol.ind. ItoliLiuia. while in Uuia. Japan. India and
Argentine the work is King pu-hed with eiithu-M.i-ui.
The l-'remh "' A." .ki.'-''W""- ''
forlv.de. by its l.nv, the study of the origin of l.m
g nge. ha- now ..jvned it- procc-cslings ti contribu
tions to tin- theme irom iaiy nnguisiic-.
Iiniiortani
have 1h'-ii made m this ju-ld ti the -mtject- oi Iis
c.i -e. religion, the development of siety. of in-Itt-trv;
nd km ledge of the . hild nature i- rapidlv
becoini the ha-:- of education.il thought and bids
fair to give the burine-s of teaching a more pro
s'. sin.il and scientt.ic character than it In- ever
d ne in the pa-t. 'I here were critu- galore and
u.turallv. Ki.itj-e much of the cjrlv work as
rude placer minings N'-'W new iiic!!im1- ! great
l li'.icv and accuracy have dewlot-cd. and the
hild i- bung revealed to the world a- al-out the
most int resttng thing in i'. ami t the op.-n -e-.ime
t a grc-il m.iiiy of the mv-liiie- ! hum in natu'e.
and c-uiiouslv enough, in ny of the m : outsjxd.cn
.uand.im in u are now recounting the triiitnph-
t the movement in liter.ituie. or repre-mting it in
loll ges and univcrsiti .
Sluding children d.-c- n t mean t..king babi.-s
into the ila -ren for de:nn-tration or :inai;-is
o! any kind It d.i-snot dellowcror impair parental
loe. Xei babies are inj-treel bv anything th.it :.ny
iarcnt or conij'cnt prjing -j-c-ciali-t wants t --.V
joct them to. X mother eotild jbi ibiy object,
but coii.d onlv welcome the -erviee- of th'c-e -ji-rt-.
("unoudv enough, one undrc.iun !-: u-nlt
.f unking chihlren more mleie-titig ha- often been
noted namely, parent- are more- ..n.ous to h.e
t'le-m. and -ome he.idu.ey. at le-a-f. ha- already I'o'n
tn.de again-t trice suicide which our ngonu- I're-t-Icltt
-o deplore-.
l.ct me tr then, a- biictlx a- 1 .in. l give :ho-e
who have n t follow eI wli..t his K n done -nine
gcicr.u idea of it all. At birth the infant .liters
into a new world : which. ecii had he been intc-lli-gent.
he could have had no more knowledge than
we have of the -tate of the -on! after dc.i.li. It i- a
t 11 world with a lower t.mjrature, a world -f
hard thing- In-te.iil of one of fluid pre lire
t -mI in all direction-.
The tir-t act of everj hitman debutant, unlike
that of n.anv animal-, ha- lecn to ry n
tl .-. iun""v anl le.tmisl .irtuh h.ee' 1-eeti
written, one .tm..in philo-e j her -.i-that
thus help along the proces- f ilentitin. I lie
front teeth are cutters or biters, and suggest a
certain eliet and. therefore, mode of life. They
arc M-rvii cable in biting ot". but not in chewing,
and the whole intestinal traet is eurioti-lr adapted
to swallowing things whole. I know a mother who
recorded one button, two bugs, a caterpillar, a
-mall bullet and a lump of owl as swallowed by her
child in a -ingle da v. but all without injury. Later
lapillaries. dige-ts the fo-d. and even j.olaric- when the grinders mine and food is ma-lieaicl.
the -.til 1-etwcen p:-a-ure and pain, the two ma-ter- the digc-tie apparatus rapidly grows intolerant .!
motives of human life. This isa long story by it-elf. food thai i- utieru-lu-d. So here we have a retn.irk-
'lle ee- oiii! slow 1 v. Kai h rolls al-out inde- able adju-tmeiit of developmental stages. Tade and
fendi-ntlv of the other. Craduallv thev learn to -null are hard to study. Nut ttiey uewiop sioci...
foe us. then to follow bright moving ibje-cfs. then to
iee'mmod.ite for di-tnnee. and yet more -lowly
to iiiteipret the mazy little picture on the tiny
setina inlo all the multifarious objevt- of vision.
ILaring i- -lower yet in it- development, but can U
d tcstcil the lir-t few d i. lsrc-ait-e a Ie.it child
v ill not -tart if the hands are el.ipT-cel i-chind it.
a- a hearing one w ill.
The arm-, too. lir-t tlare al-out aimlely. -ome-time-s
hitting and even hurting the face. Ere long
thev learn the way to the mouth, and at I.i-t to
gri-p things. Kerjone know- now the curious
fact that a bali- of a week can -upjort its weight
for -ometitne by clinging to a eaiu-. but Ios,-s the
j-iwer to do -i long 1-cfo-e it e-an walk. In this
evolutionists think th. e evih-nee that man's
ante-tor- lied in the tris . and thc-e who totiM not
ling to the -h.igg -ides of their jsirents as they
Ti :! nliiiit. or -ttli'iort tllem-elxe- on Imuglr
Vouch, the mo-t extensive 1 all the senses,
mark- the skin as the lioundary I-clwtvn the ego
and the non-ego. All within it i-a part of the "me":
all without it !elongs to the "not me." All the
thousand- of tattile ImmIic- th.it are more widely
distributed over the whole lnnly later are present
in tie new-born chilel. so that it- skin U ttreniely
tn-iive. And yet. strange to say. infants bur
some kinds of invasion ot the !-ly with apparently
no mi tiring, that would cause great pain to adults.
It i- singular how lielple-s the human infant R
The chick, "the tir-t hour !" it- life, walks, peeks
accurately at fod. and the young of other animals
h.ie high endowment at birth. 'I he infant's
-oiil. whatever that may be. -cents at lirst little
more than a t.ihuUi riivii, or white piece of paper,
to be written on by experience. Xo treature i
so helpless, and yet of mtir-e none has such a long
cansr of dcvclownent. Most high animals m-ttl
fell
gle
the ground and cere .Hmtn.it. d in the strug- only a sixth, an eighth. iH-rhatis a tenth, of their
for exist. -ti. e. i-iili thoe al !e to do - -tirvivin
SL t. P-T't 'rTP'rr' '"ihji" "'iaiiTi
awrage hie to attain maturity. I ne imam, neeii
a third, or at le-a-t a fourth. Thi- prolongation of
infiim v has helped to develop .rental sympathy
and loe. and constitutes the unitte jmssibility of
iluiatton. As man evolves this plastic stage will
pro! ably grow longer instc.d of shorter.
Then" tomes the m. rvel of learning to walk.
H.i'i-s have many mod.- of creeping, hitching,
rolling It is an ej"Kh when the t hild first todilles
. step or two from its mother's knee to a chair. This
is often utuon-tiou- and ends in a tumble if the
child becomes const ious of what it is doing.
To get on end and balante along from foot
"i fo foot is afar more difikult art than walking
on tall -tilts. .,r balancing on a ttght-rojn-.
When the .hild It gin- to .ru.se alout there
CoilinnfJan ,f i5