22
FIRST STEPS IN MENTAL GROWTH
sively, the fingers to extend, and twitching of the facial muscles. An unsuccessful effort was made on R.'s second day to get the child to cling to a pencil or finger while he was lifted from the bed. On his third day, R. clung to my fingers firmly enough to be half raised from the bed, and it seemed clear that if his clothing had been removed the child would have supported his weight with ease. But the child's attendants objected strenuously to such heroic performances, so there my experiments on the clinging power ended.[1] On the fourth day, if one allowed R. to clasp one's finger then pulled as if to take it away, the child would begin to fret and often made an outcry. It was noticed that both R. and J. clasped a pencil or one's finger more firmly when nursing than on other occasions.
INSTINCTIVE HAND-MOVEMENTS
Reaching and grasping.[2]—Preyer truly observes that "of all movements of the infant in the first half year, no one is of greater significance for its mental development than are the seizing movements." Preyer had in mind the significance of these movements in contributing to the mental development of the child. It may be said also that they are of great significance as regards the insight which they afford as to the nature and order of that
- ↑ See Sully's Studies of Childhood, New York, 1896, p. 17, for a humorous, yet substantially true, statement of the difficulties encountered in studying early forms of infant activity.
- ↑ Whether the first reaching and grasping shall be classed as reflexive or instinctive is more or less an arbitrary matter. The fact seems to be that they originate in spontaneous movements, i.e., consist of factors made spontaneously, then pass through reflex and instinctive stages, and later pass into truly volitional actions.
