Charles Darwin
A Biographical Sketch of an Infant
(1877)
First published in Mind, 2, 285-294.
M. Taine's very interesting account of the mental development of an infant,
translated in the last number of MIND (p. 252), has led me to look over a diary
which I kept thirty-seven years ago with respect to one of my own infants. I had
excellent opportunities for close observation, and wrote down at once whatever
was observed. My chief object was expression, and my notes were used in my book
on this subject; but as I attended to some other points, my observations may
possibly possess some little interest in comparison with those by M. Taine, and
with others which hereafter no doubt will be made. I feel sure, from what I have
seen with my own infants, that the period of development of the several
faculties will be found to differ considerably in different infants.
During the first seven days various reflex actions, namely sneezing, hickuping,
yawning, stretching, and of course sucking and screaming, were well performed by
my infant. On the seventh day, I touched the naked sole of his foot with a bit
of paper, and he jerked it away, curling at the same time his toes, like a much
older child when tickled. The perfection of these reflex movements shows that
the extreme imperfection of the voluntary ones is not due to the state of the
muscles or of the coordinating centres, but to that of the seat of the will. At
this time, though so early, it seemed clear to me that a warm soft hand [p. 286]
applied to his face excited a wish to suck. This must be considered as a reflex
or an instinctive action, for it is impossible to believe that experience and
association with the touch of his mother's breast could so soon have come into
play. During the first fortnight he often started on hearing any sudden sound,
and blinked his eyes. The same fact was observed with some of my other infants
within the first fortnight. Once, when he was 66 days old, I happened to sneeze,
and he started violently, frowned, looked frightened, and cried rather badly:
for an hour afterwards he was in a state which would be called nervous in an
older person, for every slight noise made him start. A few days before this same
date, he first started at an object suddenly seen; but for a long time
afterwards sounds made him start and wink his eyes much more frequently than did
sight; thus when 114 days old, I shook a paste-board box with comfits in it near
his face and he started, whilst the same box when empty or any other object
shaken as near or much nearer to his face produced no effect. We may infer from
these several facts that the winking of the eyes, which manifestly serves to
protect them, had not been acquired through experience. Although so sensitive to
sound in a general way, he was not able even when 124 days old easily to
recognise whence a sound proceeded, so as to direct his eyes to the source.
With respect to vision, - his eyes were fixed on a candle as early as the 9th
day, and up to the 45th day nothing else seemed thus to fix them; but on the
49th day his attention was attracted by a bright-coloured tassel, as was shown
by his eyes becoming fixed and the movements of his arms ceasing. It was
surprising how slowly he acquired the power of following with his eyes an object
if swinging at all rapidly; for he could not do this well when seven and a half
months old. At the age of 32 days he perceived his mother's bosom when three or
four inches from it, as was shown by the protrusion of his lips and his eyes
becoming fixed; but I much doubt whether this had any connection with vision; he
certainly had not touched the bosom. Whether he was guided through smell or the
sensation of warmth or through association with the position in which he was
held, I do not at all know.
The movements of his limbs and body were for a long time vague and purposeless,
and usually performed in a jerking manner; but there was one exception to this
rule, namely, that from a very early period, certainly long before he was 40
days old, he could move his hands to his own mouth. When 77 days old, he took
the sucking bottle (with which he was partly fed) in his right hand, whether he
was held on the left or right arm of his nurse, and he would not take it in his
left hand [p. 287] until a week later although I tried to make him do so; so
that the right hand was a week in advance of the left. Yet this infant
afterwards proved to be left-handed, the tendency being no doubt inherited - his
grandfather, mother, and a brother having been or being left-handed. When
between 80 and 90 days old, he drew all sorts of objects into his mouth, and in
two or three weeks' time could do this with some skill; but he often first
touched his nose with the object and then dragged it down into his mouth. After
grasping my finger and drawing it down into his mouth, his own hand prevented
him from sucking it; but on the 114th day, after acting in this manner, he
slipped his own hand down so that he could get the end of my finger into his
mouth. This action was repeated several times, and evidently was not a chance
but a rational one. The intentional movements of the hands and arms were thus
much in advance of those of the body and legs; though the purposeless movements
of the latter were from a very early period usually alternate as in the act of
walking. When four months old, he often looked intently at his own hands and
other objects close to him, and in doing so the eyes were turned much inwards,
so that he often squinted frightfully. In a fortnight after this time (i.e. 132
days old) I observed that if an object was brought as near to his face as his
own hands were, he tried to seize it, but often failed; and he did not try to do
so in regard to more distant objects. I think there can be little doubt that the
convergence of his eyes gave him the clue and excited him to move his arms.
Although this infant thus began to use his hands at an early period, he showed
no special aptitude in this respect, for when he was 2 years and 4 months old,
he held pencils, pens, and other objects far less neatly and efficiently than
did his sister who was then only 14 months old, and who showed great inherent
aptitude in handling anything.
Anger. - It was difficult to decide at how early an age anger was felt; on his
eighth day he frowned and wrinkled the skin round his eyes before a crying fit,
but this may have been due to pain or distress, and not to anger. When about ten
weeks old, he was given some rather cold milk and he kept a slight frown on his
forehead all the time that he was sucking, so that he looked like a grown-up
person made cross from being compelled to do something which he did not like.
When nearly four months old, and perhaps much earlier, there could be no doubt,
from the manner in which the blood gushed into his whole face and scalp, that he
easily got into a violent passion. A small cause sufficed; thus, when a little
over seven months old, he screamed with rage because a lemon slipped away and he
could not seize it with his hands. When eleven months old, if [p. 288] a wrong
plaything was given to him, he would push it away and beat it; I presume that
the beating was an instinctive sign of anger, like the snapping of the jaws by a
young crocodile just out of the egg, and not that he imagined he could hurt the
plaything. When two years and three months old, he became a great adept at
throwing books or sticks, &c., at anyone who offended him; and so it was with
some of my other sons. On the other hand, I could never see a trace of such
aptitude in my infant daughters; and this makes me think that a tendency to
throw objects is inherited by boys.
Fear. - This feeling is probably one of the earliest which is experienced by
infants, as shown by their starting at any sudden sound when only a few weeks
old, followed by crying. Before the present one was ...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Go to the beginning of the document
Go to previous page
Go to next page
Go to the end of document
