Chapter XX: Summary of Results (3)

_16th Month._--He is often heard to beg, or rather order, _Mamma
opatz_ (play the piano). If I do not at once obey, he moves his
little hands like a piano-player and begs _tatata_, _tatata_,
imitating the music. He likes also to hear songs sung, and can
already tell some of them, as _Gigagack_, _kucka_ _tralla_. He
joins in singing the last of these.

_17th Month._--He speaks his own name correctly, and when asked
"Where is Adolph?" he points to his breast. As he is always
addressed in the third person, i. e., by his name, he does not
know any personal pronouns.

The syllable _ei_ he often changes to _al_; e. g., he says
_Papagal_ instead of "Papagei."

He had some grapes given to him for the first time, and he at
once called them _mammut_ (berries). Being asked, "How do you
like them?" he pressed his hand on his heart in an ecstasy of
delight that was comical, crying _ach! ach!_

_18th Month._--He comprehends and answers questions; e. g.,
"Where are you going?" _Zu Tuhl_ (to the chair). "What is that?"
_Bett tuddu_, i. e., a bed for sleeping. "Who gave you this?"
_Mamma_, _Pappa_.

He can now say almost any word that is said to him, often
mutilating it; but, if pains be taken to repeat it for him, he
pronounces it correctly. He often tacks on the syllable _ga_, as
if in endearment, _mammaga_, _pappaga_, _nianiaga_. The _forming
of sentences is also beginning_, for he joins two words
together, e. g., _Mamma kommt_ (comes), _Papa gut_ (good),
_Ferd_ (for _Pferd_) _halt_ (horse stop). He says _wiebacka_ for
Zwieback (biscuit), _Brati_ for Braten (roast meat), Goossmama
for Grossmama (grandmamma). He pronounces correctly "Onkel Kuno,
Suppe, Fuchs, Rabe, Kameel."

When others are conversing in his presence, he often says to
himself the words he hears, especially the last words in the
sentence. The word "Nein" (no) he uses as a sign of refusal;
e. g., "Will you have some roast meat?" _Nein_. _Ja_ (yes),
on the other hand, he does not use, but he answers in the
affirmative by repeating frequently with vehemence what he
wants, e. g., "Do you want some roast?" _Brati, Brati_
(i. e., I do want roast).

He gives names to his puppets. He calls them Grandmamma,
Grandpapa, Uncle Kuno, Uncle Gruenberg, gardener, cook, etc. The
puppets are from his Noah's ark.

Now appear his first attempts at drawing. He draws, as he
imagines, all kinds of animals: ducks, camels, tigers. He lately
made marks, calling out _Torch und noch ein Torch_ (a stork and
another stork). (cf. pp. 172, 247.)

The book of birds is his greatest delight. I have to imitate the
notes of birds, and he does it after me, showing memory in it.
He knows at once stork, woodpecker, pigeon, duck, pelican,
siskin, and swallow. The little verses I sing at the same time
amuse him, e. g., "Zeislein, Zeislein, wo ist dein Haeuslein?"
(Little siskin, where is your little house?); and he retains
them when he hears them often. Russian words also are repeated
by him.

For the first time I observe the attempt to communicate to
others some experience of his own. He had been looking at the
picture-book with me, and when he went to the nurse he told her,
_Mamma, Bilder, Papagei_ (Mamma, pictures, parrot).

_19th Month._--From the time he was a year and a half old he has
walked alone.

He speaks whole sentences, but without connectives, e. g.,
_Niana Braten holen_ (nurse bring roast); _Caro draussen wauwau_
(Caro outside, bow-wow); _Mamma tuddut_ (sleeps, inflected
correctly); _Decke um_ (cover over); _Papa koppa Stadt_ (Papa
driven to city); _Mamma sitzt tuhl_ (Mamma sits chair); _Adolph
bei Mama bleiben_ (Adolph stay with mamma); _Noch tanzen_ (more
dance); _Pappa Fuchs machen_ (Papa make fox).

Certain words make him nervous. He does not like the refrain of
the children's song of the goat. If I say "Darum, darum, meck,
meck, meck," he looks at me indignantly and runs off. Sometimes
he lays his hand on my mouth or screams loudly for the nurse. He
gives up any play he is engaged in as soon as I say "darum,
darum." _Pax vobiscum_ has the same effect.

The songs amuse him chiefly on account of the words,
particularly through the imitations of the sounds of animals.

He knows the songs and asks of his own accord for _Kucku Esaal_,
_Kater putz_, _Kucku tralla_, but commonly hears only the first
stanza, and then wants a different song. Lately, however, he
listened very earnestly to the three stanzas of "Moepschen," and
when I asked "What now?" he answered _Noch Mops_ (more Mops).
Playing with his puppets, he hummed to himself, _tu, tu, errsen,
tu tu errsen_. I guessed that it was "Du, du liegst mir im
Herzen," which he had on the previous day wanted to hear often
and had tried to repeat.

_20th Month._--Now for the first time _ja_ is used for affirmation,
chiefly in the form _ja wohl_ (yes, indeed, certainly), which he
retains. "Do you want this?" _Ja wohl._

Being asked "Whose feet are these?" he answers correctly, _Mine_;
but no personal pronouns appear yet. He often retains a new and
difficult word that he has heard only once, e. g., "Chocolade."

To my question, after his grandfather had gone away, "Where is
Grandpapa now?" he answers sorrowfully, _verloren_ (lost).
(Cf. p. 145.)

In his plays he imitates the doings and sayings of adults, puts
a kerchief about his head and says, _Adolph go stable, give
oats_.

Not long ago, as he said good-night to us, he went also to his
image in the glass and kissed it repeatedly, saying, _Adolph,
good-night!_

_24th Month._--He knows a good many flowers, their names and
colors; calls pansies "the dark flowers."

He also caught the air and rhythm of certain songs, e. g.,
_Kommt a Vogel angeflogen, Du, du, liegst mir im Herzen, machst
mir viel Serzen_, and used to sing to himself continually when
he was on a walk. Now that he is four years old, on the
contrary, he hardly ever sings.

_25th Month._--Beetles have a great interest for him. He brings
a dead beetle into the parlor, and cries, "Run now!" His
astonishment is great that the creature does not run.

If he sees something disagreeable (e. g., he saw the other day
an organ-grinder with a monkey), he covers his face with his
hands weeping aloud and crying, _Monkey go away_. So, too, when
he sees strangers.

The Latin names of flowers and insects are easily retained by
him. They are not taught him, he simply hears them daily.

_26th and 27th Months._--Of his childish language he has
retained only the term _mammut_, for berries. Milk, which he
used to call _mima_, is now called _milch_ (cf., pp. 140, 157).

The child's use of the personal pronoun is strange. During my
absence an aunt of his took my place, and she addressed him for
the _first time_ with the word "Du" (thou), and spoke of herself
as "I," whereas I always called myself "Mama." The consequence
was that the boy for a long time used "thou" as the first
person, "I" as the second person, with logical consistency. He
hands me bread, saying, _I am hungry_, or, when I am to go with
him, _I come too_. Referring to himself, he says, _You want
flowers_; _you will play with Niania_. All other persons are
addressed with "I" instead of "you."

He tells his uncle, _There's an awfully pretty gentian in the
yard_. He gets the nurse occasionally to repeat the Latin names,
because they are difficult for her, and his correction of her is
very comical.

_28th Month._--He speaks long sentences. _Papa, come drink
coffee,_ _please do_. _Papa, I drive_ (for "you drive") _to
town, to Reval, and bring some parrots (Bellensittiche)_.

He often changes the form of words for fun, e. g., _guten
Porgen_ (for guten Morgen). On going out, he says, with a
knowing air, "Splendid weather, the sun shines so warm." He
alters songs also, putting in different expressions: e. g.,
instead of _Lieber Vogel fliege weiter, nimm a Kuss und a
Gruss_, Adolph sings, _Lieber Vogel fliege weiter in die Wolken
hinein_ (dear bird, fly farther, _into the clouds_, instead of
_take a kiss and a greeting_). It is a proof of logical thinking
that he asks, at sight of the moon, _The moon is in the sky, has
it wings?_

I had been sick; when I was better and was caressing him again,
he said, _Mama is well, the dear Jesus has made mama well with
sealing-wax_. "With sealing-wax?" I asked, in astonishment.
_Yes, from the writing-desk._ He had often seen his toys, when
they had been broken, "made well", as he called it, by being
stuck together with sealing-wax.

He now asks, _Where is the dear Jesus?_ "In heaven." _Can he fly
then; has he wings?_

Religious conceptions are difficult to impart to him, even at a
much later period: e. g., heaven is too cold for him, his nose
would freeze up there, etc.

He now asks questions a good deal in general, especially _What
is that called?_ e. g., _What are chestnuts called?_
"Horse-chestnuts." _What are these pears called?_ "Bergamots."
He jests: _Nein, Bergapots_, or, _What kind of mots are those?_
He will not eat an apple until he has learned what the name of
it is.

He would often keep asking, in wanton sport, _What are books
called?_ or _ducks?_ or _soup?_

He uses the words "to-day, to-morrow," and the names of the days
of the week, but without understanding their meaning.

Instead of saying "_zu Mittag gehen_" (go to noon-meal), he
says, logically, "zu Nachmittag gehen" (go to afternoon-meal).

The child does not know what is true, what is actual. I never
can depend on his statements, except, as it appears, when he
tells what he has had to eat. If riding is spoken of, e. g., he
has a vivid picture of riding in his mind. To-day, when I asked
him "Did you see papa ride?" he answered, _Yes, indeed, papa
rode away off into the woods_. Yet his father had not gone to
ride at all.

In the same way he often denies what he has seen and done. He
comes out of his father's room and I ask, "Well, have you said
good-night to papa?" _No._ His father told me afterward that the
child had done it.

In the park we see some crested titmice, and I tell the nurse
that, in the previous autumn, I saw for the first time Finnish
parrots or cross-bills here, but that I have not seen any since.
When the child's father asked later, "Well, Adolph, what did you
see in the park?" _Crested titmice, with golden crests_ (he adds
out of his own invention) _and Finnish parrots_. He mixes up
what he has heard and seen with what he imagines.

Truth has to be taught to a child. The less this is done, the
easier it is to inoculate him with religious notions, i. e., of
miraculous revelation; otherwise one must be prepared for many
questions that are hard to answer.

_29th month._--Sad stories affect him to tears, and he runs
away.

Names of animals and plants he remembers often more easily than
I do, and informs me. He reasons logically. Lately, when he
asked for some foolish thing, I said to him, "Sha'n't I bring
the moon for you, too?" _No_, said he, _you can't do that, it is
too high up in the clouds_.

_30th to 33d months._--He now often calls himself "Adolph," and
then speaks of himself in the third person. He frequently
confounds "I" and "you," and does not so consistently use the
first person for the second, and the reverse. The transition is
very gradually taking place to the correct use of the personal
pronoun. Instead of _my mamma_, he repeats often, when he is in
an affectionate mood, _your mamma_, _your mamma_.

Some new books are given to him. In the book of beetles there
are shown to him the party-colored and the gray, so-called
"sad," grave-digger (_necrophorus_). The latter now becomes
prominent in his plays. "Why is he called the sad?" I asked the
child yesterday. _Ah! because he has no children_, he answered,
sorrowfully. Probably he has at some time overheard this
sentence, which has no meaning for him, from a grown person.
Adult persons' ways of speaking are thus employed without an
understanding of them; pure verbal memory.

In the same way, he retains the names, in his new book, of
butterflies (few of them German) better than I do, however
crabbed and difficult they may be.

This (pure) memory for mere sounds or tones has become less
strong in the now four-year-old boy, who has more to do with
ideas and concepts, although his memory in other respects is
good.

In the thirty-seventh month he sang, quite correctly, airs he
had heard, and he could sing some songs to the piano, if they
were frequently repeated with him. His fancy for this soon
passed away, and these exercises ceased. On the other hand, he
tells stories a great deal and with pleasure. His pronunciation
is distinct, the construction of the sentences is mostly
correct, apart from errors acquired from his nurse. The
confounding of the first and second persons, the "I" and "you,"
or rather his use of the one for the other, has ceased, and the
child designates himself by _I_, others by _thou_ and _you_. Men
are ordinarily addressed by him with _thou_, as his father and
uncle are; women with _you_, as are even his mother and nurse.
This continues for a long time. The boy of four years counts
objects, with effort, up to six; numbers remain for a long time
merely empty words (pp. 165, 172). In the same way, he has, as
yet, but small notion of the order of the days of the week, and
mixes up the names of them. To-day, to-morrow, yesterday, have
gradually become more intelligible to him.

Notwithstanding the aphoristic character of these extracts from a full and detailed diary of observations, I have thought they ought to be given, because they form a valuable supplement to my observations in the nineteenth chapter, and show particularly how far independent thought may be developed, even in the second and third years, while there is, as yet, small knowledge of language. The differences in mental development between this child and mine are no less worthy of notice than are the agreements. Among the latter is the fact, extremely important in a pedagogical point of view, that, the less we teach the child the simple truth from the beginning, so much the easier it is to inoculate him permanently with religious notions, i. e., of "miraculous revelation." Fairy tales, ghost-stories, and the like easily make the childish imagination, of itself very active, hypertrophic, and cloud the judgment concerning actual events. Morals and nature offer such an abundance of facts with which we may connect the teaching of language, that it is better to dispense with legends. AEsop's fables combine the moral and the natural in a manner unsurpassable. My child tells me one of these fables every morning.

FOOTNOTES:

[D] The vowels have the Continental, not the English, sounds.

[E] Or possibly for the word _drink_, which a child of my acquaintance called _ghing_.--EDITOR.

[F] "The First Three Years of Childhood," edited and translated by Alice M. Christie; published in Chicago, 1885.

B.

NOTES CONCERNING LACKING, DEFECTIVE, AND ARRESTED MENTAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE FIRST YEARS OF LIFE.

The data we have concerning the behavior of children born, living, without head or without brain, and of microcephalous children, as well as of idiots and cretins more advanced in age, are of great interest, as helping us to a knowledge of the dependence of the first psychical processes upon the development of the brain, especially of the cerebral cortex. Unfortunately, these data are scanty and scattered.

Very important, too, for psychogenesis, are reports concerning the physiological condition and activity of children whose mental development has seemed to be stopped for months, or to be made considerably slower, or to be unusually hastened.

Scanty as are the notes I have met with on this matter, after much search, yet I collect and present some of them, in the hope that they will incite to more abundant and more careful observation in the future than has been made up to this time.

A good many data concerning the behavior of cretin children are to be found in the very painstaking book, "Neue Untersuchungen ueber den Kretinismus oder die Entartung des Menschen in ihren verschiedenen Graden und Formen" ("New Investigations concerning Cretinism, or Human Deterioration, in its Various Forms and Degrees"), by Maffei and Roesch (two vols, Erlangen, 1844). But, in order that these data should be of value, the observed anomalies and defects of the cerebral functions ought to be capable of being referred to careful morphological investigations of the cretin brain. As the authors give no results of _post-mortem_ examinations, I simply refer to their work here.

I once had the opportunity myself of seeing a hemicephalus, living, who was brought to the clinic of my respected colleague, Prof. B. Schultze, in Jena. The child was of the male sex, and was born on the 1st of July, 1883, at noon, along with a perfectly normal twin sister. The parents are of sound condition. I saw the child for the first time on the 3d of July, at two o'clock. I found all the parts of the body, except the head, like those of ordinary children born at the right time. The head had on it a great red lump like a tumor, and came to an end directly over the eyes, going down abruptly behind; but, even if the tumor were supposed to be covered with skin, there would by no means be the natural arched formation of the cranium of a newly-born child. The face, too, absolutely without forehead, was smaller in comparison than the rest of the body. I found now, in the case of this child, already two days old, a remarkably regular breathing, a very cool skin--in the forenoon a specific warmth of 32 deg. C. had been found--and slight mobility. The eyes remained closed. When I opened them, without violence, the pupil was seen to be immobile. It did not react in the least upon the direct light of the sun on either side. The left eye did not move at all, the right made rare, convulsive, lateral movements. The conjunctiva was very much reddened. The child did not react in the least to pricks of a dull needle tried on all parts of the body, and reacted only very feebly to pinches; not at all to sound-stimuli, but regularly to stronger, prolonged cutaneous stimuli; in particular, the child moved its arms after a slap on the back, just like normal new-born children, and uttered very harsh, feeble tones when its back was rubbed. When I put my finger in its mouth vigorous sucking movements began, which induced me to offer the bottle--this had not yet been done. Some cubic centimetres of milk were vigorously swallowed, and soon afterward the breast of a nurse was taken. While this was going on I could feel quite distinctly with my finger, under the chin, the movements of swallowing. It was easy to establish the further fact that my finger, which I laid in the hollow of the child's hand, was frequently clasped firmly by the little fingers, which had well-developed nails. Not unfrequently, sometimes without previous contact, sometimes after it, the tip of the tongue, and even a larger part of the tongue, was thrust out between the lips, and once, when I held the child erect, he plainly gave a prolonged yawn. Finally, the fact seemed to me very noteworthy that, after being taken and held erect, sometimes also without any assignable outward occasion, the child inclined its head forward and turned it vigorously both to the right and to the left. When the child had sucked lustily a few times, it opened both eyes about two millimetres wide, and went on with its nursing. An assistant physician saw the child sneeze.

These observations upon a human child, two days old, unquestionably acephalous, i. e., absolutely without cerebrum, but as to the rest of its body not in the least abnormal, prove what I have already advanced (vol. i, p. 203), that the cerebrum takes no part at all in the first movements of the newly-born. In this respect the extremely rare case of an acephalous child, living for some days, supplies the place of an experiment of vivisection. Unfortunately, the child died so early that I could not carry on further observations and experiments. The report of the _post-mortem_ examination will be published by itself.

Every observer of young children knows the great variety in the rapidity of their development, and will agree with me in general that a slow and steady development of the cerebral functions in the first four years, but especially in the first two years, justifies a more favorable prognosis than does a very hasty and unsteady development; but when during that period of time there occurs a complete and prolonged interruption of the mental development, then the danger is always great that the normal course will not be resumed. So much the more instructive, therefore, are the cases in which the children after such a standstill have come back to the normal condition. Four observations of this kind have been published by R. Demme ("19. Bericht ueber das Jenner'sche Kinderspital in Bern, 1882," S. 31 bis 52). These are of so great interest in their bearing on psychogenesis, and they confirm in so striking a manner some of the propositions laid down by me in this book, that I should like to print them here word for word, especially as the original does not appear to have found a wide circulation; but that would make my book altogether too large. I confine myself, therefore, to this reference, with the request that further cases of partial or total interruption of mental development during the first year of life, with a later progress in it, may be collected and made public.

It is only in rare cases that microcephalous children can be observed, while living, for any considerable length of time continuously. In this respect a case described by Aeby is particularly instructive.

A microcephalous boy was born of healthy parents--he was their first child--about four weeks too soon. His whole body had something of stiffness and awkwardness. The legs were worse off in this respect than the arms; they showed, as they continued to show up to the time of his death, a tendency to become crossed. The boy was never able to stand or walk. He made attempts to seize striking objects, white or party-colored, but never learned actually to hold anything. The play of feature was animated. The dark eyes, shining and rapidly moving, never lingered long upon one and the same object. The child was much inclined to bite, and always bit very sharply. Mentally there was pronounced imbecility. In spite of his four years the boy never got so far as to produce any articulate sounds whatever. Even simple words like "papa" and "mamma" were beyond his ability. His desire for anything was expressed in inarticulate and not specially expressive tones. His sleep was short and light; he often lay whole nights through with open eyes. He seldom shed tears; his discomfort was manifested chiefly by shrill screaming. He died of pulmonary paralysis at the end of the fourth year.

The autopsy showed that the frontal lobes were surprisingly small, and that there was a partial deficiency of the median longitudinal fissure. The fissure did not begin till beyond the crown of the head, in the region of the occiput. The anterior half of the cerebrum consequently lacked the division into lateral hemispheres. It had few convolutions also, and the smoothness of its surface was at once obvious. The _corpus callosum_ and the _fornix_ were undeveloped. "The gray cortical layer attained in general only about a third of the normal thickness, and was especially weakly represented in the frontal region." The cerebellum not being stunted, seemed, by the side of the greatly shrunken cerebrum, surprisingly large.

In this case the microcephalous of four years behaves, as far as the development of will is concerned, like the normal boy of four months. The latter is, in fact, superior to him in _seizing_, while the former in no way manifests any advantage in a psychical point of view.

Two cases of microcephaly have been described by Fletcher Beach (in the "Transactions of the International Medical Congress," London, 1881, iii, 615-626).

E. R. was, in May, 1875, received into his institution at the
age of eleven years. She had at the time of her birth a small
head, and had at no time manifested much intelligence. She could
not stand or walk, but was able to move her arms and legs. Her
sight and hearing were normal. She was quiet and obedient, and
sat most of the time in her chair. She paid no attention to her
bodily needs. She could not speak and had to be fed with a
spoon. After six months she became a little more intelligent,
made an attempt to speak, and muttered something indistinctly.
She would stretch out her hand when told to give it, and she
recognized with a smile her nurse and the physician. Some four
months later she would grind her teeth when in a pleasant mood,
and would act as if she were shy when spoken to, holding her
hand before her eyes. She was fond of her nurse. Thus there was
capacity of observation, there were attention, memory,
affection, and some power of voluntary movement. She died in
January, 1876. Her brain weighed, two days after her death,
seven ounces. It is minutely described by the author--but after
it had been preserved in alcohol for six years, and it then
weighed only two ounces. The author found a number of
convolutions not so far developed as in the foetus of six
months, according to Gratiolet, and he is of opinion that the
cerebellum was further developed after the cerebrum had ceased
to grow, so that there was not an arrest of the development but
an irregularity. The cerebral hemispheres were asymmetrical, the
frontal lobes, corresponding to the psychical performances in
the case, being relatively pretty large, while the posterior
portion of the third convolution on the left side, the island of
Reil, and the operculum were very small, corresponding to the
inability to learn to speak. The author connects the slight
mobility with the smallness of the parietal and frontal
ascending convolutions.

The other case is that of a girl of six years (E. H.), who came
to the institution in January, 1879, and died in July of the
same year. She could walk about, and she had complete control of
her limbs. She was cheerful, easy to be amused, and greatly
attached to her nurse. She associated with other children, but
could not speak a word. Her hearing was good, her habits bad.
Although she could pick up objects and play with them, it did
not occur to her to feed herself. She could take notice and
observe, and could remember certain persons. Her brain weighed,
two days after death, 20-1/2 ounces, and was, in many respects,
as simple as that of an infant; but, in regard to the
convolutions, it was far superior to the brain of a monkey--was
superior also to that of E. R. The ascending frontal and
parietal convolutions were larger, corresponding to the greater
mobility. The third frontal convolution and the island of Reil
were small on both sides, corresponding to the alalia. The
author is of opinion that the ganglionic cells in this brain
lacked processes, so that the intercentral connections did not
attain development.

A more accurate description of two brains of microcephali is given by Julius Sander in the "Archiv fuer Psychiatrie und Nerven-Krankheiten" (i, 299-307; Berlin, 1868), accompanied by good plates. One of these cases is that of which an account is given by Johannes Mueller (in the "Medicinische Zeitung des Vereins fuer Heilkunde in Preussen," 1836, Nr. 2 und 3).

In the full and detailed treatises concerning microcephali by Karl Vogt ("Archiv fuer Anthropologie," ii, 2, 228) and Von Flesch ("Wuerzburger Festschrift," ii, 95, 1882) may be found further data in regard to more recent cases.

Many questions of physiological and psychological importance in respect to the capacity of development in cases of imperfectly developed brain are discussed in the "Zeitschrift fuer das Idioten-Wesen" by W. Schroeter (Dresden) and E. Reichelt (Hubertusburg).

But thus far the methods of microscopical investigation of the brain are still so little developed that we can not yet with certainty establish a causal connection, in individual cases, between the deviations of microcephalic brains from the normal brain and the defects of the psychical functions. The number of brains of microcephali that have been examined with reference to this point is very small, although their scientific value, after thorough-going observation of the possessors of them during life, is immense. For microcephalous children of some years of age are a substitute for imaginary, because never practicable, vivisectory experiments, concerning the connection of body and mind.

To conclude these fragments, let me add here some observations concerning a case of rare interest, that of the microcephalous child, Margarethe Becker (born 1869), very well known in Germany. These observations I recorded on the 9th of July, 1877, in Jena, while the child was left free to do what she pleased.

The girl, eight years of age, born, according to the testimony of her father, with the frontal fontanelle (fonticulus anterior) closed and solid, had a smaller head than a child of one year. The notes follow the same order as that of the observations.

_Time, 8.15 A. M._--The child yawns. She grasps with animation at some human skulls that she sees on a table near her, and directs her look to charts on the walls. She puts her fingers into her nostrils, brushes her apron with both hands, polishes my watch, which I have offered her and she has seized, holds it to one ear, then to one of her father's ears, draws her mouth into a smile, seems to be pleased by the ticking, holds the watch to her father's other ear, then to her own other ear, laughs, and repeats the experiment several times. Her head is very mobile.

The child now folds a bit of paper that I have given her, rolls it up awkwardly, wrinkling her forehead the while, chews up the paper and laughs aloud. Saliva flows from her mouth almost incessantly. Then the child begins to eat a biscuit, giving some of it, however, to her father and the attendant, putting her biscuit to their lips, and this with accuracy at once, whereas in the former case the watch was held at first near the ear, to the temple, and not till afterward to the ear itself.

The girl is very lively; she strikes about her in a lively manner with her hands, sees charts hanging high on the walls, points to them with her finger, throws her head back upon her neck to see them better, and _moves her fingers in the direction of the lines_ of the diagrams. At last weariness seems to come on. The child puts an arm around the neck of her father, sits on his lap, but is more and more restless.

_8.50._--Quiet. To appearance, the child has fallen asleep.

_8.55._--Awake again. The child _sees_ well, _hears_ well, _smells_ well; obeys some few commands, e. g., she gives her hand. But with this her intellectual accomplishments are exhausted. She does not utter a word.

Kollmann, who saw this microcephalous subject in September, 1877, writes, among other things, of her ("Correspondenzblatt der Deutschengesellschaft fuer Anthropologie," Nr. 11, S. 132):

"Her gait is tottering, the movements of the head and
extremities jerky, not always co-ordinated, hence unsteady,
inappropriate and spasmodic; her look is restless, objects are
not definitely fixated. The normal functions of her mind are far
inferior to those of a child of four years. The eight-year-old
Margaret speaks only the word _Mama_; no other articulate sound
has been learned by her. She makes known her need of food by
plaints, by sounds of weeping, and by distortion of countenance;
she laughs when presented with something to eat or with toys. It
is only within the last two years that she has become cleanly;
since then her appetite has improved. Her nutrition has gained,
in comparison with the first years of life, and with it her
comprehension also; she helps her mother set the table, and
brings plates and knives, when requested to do so, from the
place where they are kept. Further, she shows a tender sympathy
with her microcephalous brother; she takes bread from the table,
goes to her brother's bedside and feeds him, as he is not of
himself capable of putting food into his mouth. She shows a very
manifest liking for her relatives and a fear of strangers. When
taken into the parlor she gave the most decided evidences of
fear; being placed upon the table she hid her head in her
father's coat, and did not become quiet until her mother took
her in her arms. This awakening of mental activity shows that,
notwithstanding the extremely small quantity of brain-substance,
there exists a certain degree of intellectual development with
advancing years. With the fourth year, in the case of M.,
independent movements began; up to that time she lay, as her
five-year-old brother still lies, immovable in body and limbs,
with the exception of slight bendings and stretchings."

Richard Pott, who (1879) likewise observed this microcephalous subject, found that she wandered about aimlessly, restlessly, and nimbly, from corner to corner [as if], groping and seeking; yet objects held before her were only momentarily fixated, scarcely holding her attention; often she did not once grasp at them. "The girl goes alone, without tottering or staggering, but her locomotive movements are absolutely without motive, having no end or aim, frequently changing their direction. Notwithstanding her size, the child gives the impression of the most extreme helplessness." She was fed, but was not indifferent as to food, seeming to prefer sour to sweet. She would come, indeed, when she was called, but seemed not to understand the words spoken to her; she spoke no word herself, but uttered shrill, inarticulate sounds; she felt shame when she was undressed, hiding her face in her sister's lap. The expression of her countenance was harmless, changeable, manifesting no definite psychical processes.

The statements contradictory to those of Kollmann are probably to be explained by the brevity of the observations.

Virchow ("Correspondenzblatt," S. 135), in his remarks upon this case, says: "I am convinced that every one who observes the microcephalic child will find that psychologically it has nothing whatever of the ape. All the positive faculties and qualities of the ape are wanting here; there is nothing of the psychology of the ape, but only the psychology of an imperfectly developed and deficient little child. Every characteristic is human; every single trait. I had the girl in my room a few months since, for hours together, and occupied myself with her; I never observed anything in her that reminds me even remotely of the psychological conditions of apes. She is a human being, in a low stage of development, but in no way deviating from the nature of humanity."

From these reports it is plain to be seen that for all mental development an hereditary physical growth of the cerebrum is indispensable. If the sensuous impressions experienced anew in each case by each human being, and the original movements, were sufficient without the development of the cerebral convolutions and of the gray cortex, then these microcephalous beings, upon whom the same impressions operated as upon other new-born children, must have had better brains and must have learned more. But the brain, notwithstanding the peripheral impressions received in seeing, hearing, and feeling, could not grow, and so the rudimentary human child could not learn anything, and could not even form the ideas requisite for articulate voluntary movement, or combine these ideas. Only the motor centers of lower rank could be developed.

In peculiar contrast with these cases of genuine microcephaly stands the exceedingly remarkable case, observed by Dr. Rudolf Krause (Hamburg), of a boy whose brain is not at all morbidly affected or abnormally small, but exhibits decidedly the type of the brain of the ape. The discoverer reported upon it to the Anthropological Society ("Correspondenzblatt a.a. O., S. 132-135) the following facts among others:

"The skull and brain belonged to a boy who was born on the 4th
of October, 1869, the last of four children. Paul was scrofulous
from his youth. He did not get his teeth until the end of his
second year, and they were quite brown in color and were soon
lost. According to the statement of Paul's mother, he had
several successive sets of teeth. It was not until the fifth
year that he learned to walk. He was cleanly from the third
year, but not when he felt ill. His appetite was always good up
to his last sickness of four weeks. His sleep was habitually
undisturbed. He was of a cheerful temperament, and inclined to
play; as soon as he heard music he would dance, and sing to the
music in rather unmelodious tones. When teased he could be very
violent; he would throw anything he could lay his hands on at
the head of the offender. He liked the company of others,
especially of men. By the time he was four years old he had
learned to eat without help. Paul was very supple, was fond of
climbing, and had great strength in his arms and hands
especially; these had actually a horny appearance, and thus
reminded one of the hands of the chimpanzee. He could sit on the
ground with his legs wide apart. His gait was uncertain, and he
was apt to tumble; he ran with knees bent forward and legs
crooked; he was fond of hopping, and seemed particularly
ape-like when doing so. The great-toe of each foot stood off at
an angle from the foot, and thus gave the impression of a
prehensile toe. I thought at first that this deviation had its
origin in the fact that the child, on account of his uncertainty
in walking, wanted to get a broader basis of support; but I
afterward gave up that opinion, because I have never found an
instance of a similar habit in other children with diseased
heads, e. g., hydrocephalous children. Paul could speak but
little, could say hardly any words except _Papa_ and _Mama_, and
even these he did not until late learn to pronounce in two
syllables; he uttered for the most part only sounds that
resembled a grunt. He imitated the barking of a dog by the sound
_rrrrrr_. He frequently stamped with feet and hands, clapped his
hands together, and ejaculated a sort of grunting sound, just as
I have observed in the case of gorillas and chimpanzees.

"Paul was smaller than children of his age; on his right eye he
had from his youth a large leucoma; the eyelids had generally a
catarrhal affection, and were in a state of suppuration. The
head looked sore; the forehead was small. Paul had a strongly
marked tendency to imitation. His whole being, his movements,
were strikingly ape-like. He was decidedly neglected by his
parents, was generally dirty in appearance, and I really think
the early death of the child was induced by the slight care
taken of him. Paul was taken sick at the beginning of December,
1876, with an acute bronchial catarrh, and died on the 5th of
January, 1877, at the age of seven and a quarter years.

"If you look at the cranium and the brain here, which belonged
to the child just described, there are lacking in the first
place all the characteristics of microcephaly. The cranium
possesses a capacity of 1,022 cubic centimetres, and the brain
weighs 950 grammes; they do not deviate, therefore, from the
normal condition. But let the cranium, where it is laid open by
the saw, be observed from within, and we notice an _asymmetry of
the two hemispheres of the brain_; the cranium is pushed
somewhat forward and to the right. The _partes orbitales_ of the
frontal bone are higher and more arched than is usual, in
consequence of which the _lamina cribrosa_ of the ethmoid bone
lies deeper, and room is given for the well-known conformation
of the ethmoidal process in the brain. The cerebral convolutions
are plainly marked upon the inner surface of the cranium. The
facial cranium shows no deviations. There is no prognathism. The
formation of the teeth alone is irregular; one pre-molar tooth
is lacking above and below in the jaw, and, in fact, there is no
place for it. The incisors and the pre-molar teeth are
undergoing change.

"The two cerebral hemispheres are asymmetrical; in the region
where the parieto-occipital fissure is situated on the left
hemisphere, the two hemispheres diverge from each other and form
an edge which curves outward and backward, so that the
cerebellum remains uncovered. On the lower surface of the
frontal lobes there exists a strongly marked ethmoidal
prominence. Neither of the fissures of Sylvius is quite closed,
the left less so than the right; the operculum is but slightly
developed, and the island of Reil lies with its fissures almost
entirely uncovered. This conformation reminds us throughout of
the brain of the anthropoid apes. The two _sulci centrales sive
fissurae Rolandi_ run straight to the border of the hemisphere,
less deeply impressed than is normally the case, without forming
an angle with each other. Very strongly and deeply impressed
_sulci praecentrales_ seem to serve as substitutes for them. The
_sulcus interparietalis,_ which begins farther outward than in
the ordinary human being, receives the _sulcus
parieto-occipitalis_--a structure in conformity with the typical
brain of the ape. The _sulcus occipitalis transversus_, which is
generally lightly stamped in man, extends here as a deep fissure
across over the occipital lobe, thus producing a so-called
simian fissure, and the posterior part of the occipital lobe has
the appearance of an operculum. The _fissura calcarina_ has its
origin directly on the surface of the occipital lobe, does not
receive until late the _fissura parieto-occipitalis_, and goes
directly, on the right side, into the _fissura hippocampi_. This
abnormal structure also is typical for the brain of the ape.

"The _gyrus occipitalis primus_ is separated from the upper
parietal lobe by the _sulcus parieto-occipitalis_, a formation
that, according to Gratiolet, exists in many apes. The _gyrus
temporalis superior_ is greatly reduced on both sides, and has
an average breadth of only five millimetres; it is the one
peculiarity that recalls emphatically the brain of the
chimpanzee, which always has this reduced upper temporal
convolution.

"We have here, then, a brain that scarcely deviates from the
normal brain in volume, that possesses all the convolutions and
fissures, seeming, perhaps, richer than the average brain in
convolutions, and that is in every respect differentiated; and
notwithstanding all this it approximates, in its whole
structure, to the simian rather than to the human type. Had the
brain been placed before me without my knowing its origin, I
should have been perfectly justified in assigning this brain to
an anthropoid ape standing somewhat nearer to man than does the
chimpanzee."

No second case of this sort has thus far been observed.

C.

REPORTS CONCERNING THE PROCESS OF LEARNING TO SEE, ON THE PART OF PERSONS BORN BLIND, BUT ACQUIRING SIGHT THROUGH SURGICAL TREATMENT. ALSO SOME CRITICAL REMARKS.

I. THE CHESSELDEN CASE.

The following extracts are taken from the report published by Will. Chesselden in the "Philosophical Transactions for the Months of April, May, and June, 1728" (No. 402, London, pp. 447-450), or the "Philosophical Transactions from 1719 to 1733, abridged by J. Eames and J. Martyn" (vii, 3, pp. 491-493, London, 1734):

"Though we say of the gentleman that he was blind, as we do of
all people who have ripe cataracts, yet they are never so blind
from that cause but that they can discern day from night, and,
for the most part, in a strong light distinguish black, white,
and scarlet; but they can not perceive the shape of anything....
And thus it was with this young gentleman, who, though he knew
these colors asunder in a good light, yet when he saw them after
he was couched, the faint ideas he had of them before were not
sufficient for him to know them by afterward, and therefore he
did not think them the same which he had known before by those
names....

"When he first saw, he was so far from making any judgment about
distances, that he thought all objects whatever touched his eyes
(as he expressed it) as what he felt did his skin, and thought
no objects so agreeable as those which were smooth and regular.
He knew not the shape of anything nor any one thing from
another, however different in shape or magnitude; but upon being
told what things were, whose form he before knew from feeling,
he would carefully observe, that he might know them again. But,
having too many objects to learn at once, he forgot many of
them, and (as he said) at first he learned to know and again
forgot a thousand things in a day. Having often forgot which was
the cat and which the dog, he was ashamed to ask; but catching
the cat (which he knew by feeling), he was observed to look at
her steadfastly, and then, setting her down, said, 'So, puss, I
shall know you another time.' He was very much surprised that
those things which he had liked best did not appear most
agreeable to his eyes, expecting those persons would appear most
beautiful that he loved most, and such things to be most
agreeable to his sight that were so to his taste. We thought he
soon knew what pictures represented which were showed to him,
but we found afterward we were mistaken, for about two months
after he was couched he discovered at once they represented
solid bodies, when to that time he considered them only as
party-colored planes or surfaces diversified with variety of
paint; but even then he was no less surprised, expecting the
pictures would feel like the things they represented, and was
amazed when he found those parts, which by their light and
shadow appeared now round and uneven, felt only flat like the
rest, and asked which was the lying sense, feeling or seeing?

"Being shown his father's picture in a locket at his mother's
watch and told what it was, he acknowledged a likeness, but was
vastly surprised, asking how it could be that a large face could
be expressed in so little room.

"At first he could bear but very little sight, and the things he
saw he thought extremely large; but, upon seeing things larger,
those first seen he conceived less, never being able to imagine
any lines beyond the bounds he saw. The room he was in he said
he knew to be but part of the house, yet he could not conceive
that the whole house could look bigger. Before he was couched he
expected little advantage from seeing, except reading and
writing. Blindness, he observed, had this advantage, that he
could go anywhere in the dark much better than those who could
see, and after he had seen he did not soon lose this quality nor
desire a light to go about the house in the night.

"A year after first seeing, being carried upon Epsom Downs and
observing a large prospect, he was exceedingly delighted with it
and called it a new kind of seeing; and now being lately couched
of his other eye, he says that objects at first appeared large
to this eye but not so large as they did at first to the other,
and, looking upon the same object with both eyes, he thought it
looked about twice as large as with the first couched eye only,
but not double, that we can anywise discover."

Remark on the First Case.

Although this Chesselden case is the most famous of all, and the most frequently cited, it belongs, nevertheless, to those most inaccurately described. It is, however, not only the first in the order of time, but especially important for the reason that it demonstrates in a striking manner the slow acquirement of space-perception by the eye, and also the acquirement of the first and second dimensions of space (cf. vol. i, p. 57).

II., III. THE WARE CASES.

One of these cases is that of a boy, who at the age of seven years recovered his sight which he had lost in the first half-year of his life. The surgeon who performed the operation, James Ware, writes ("Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society for 1801," ii, London, 1801, pp. 382-396):