says fă dăt? for noise, he says noi; for Harriet, he says Häwi. This is the type of very much that is found in children's use of words. The principle is seen again in the pronunciation of a word like some. The child makes it shûm. The motor process required to produce sh before u is simple as compared with that required to produce s in some. So again horse becomes horshie, apple becomes appů, get becomes geh, farther becomes fädy, basket becomes băky, university becomes ūvůty, and so on ad libitum.

In the beginning the child universally omits ll's on the end of words, as when ball is made bäbä, tell becomes teh; fall, fä, and the like. Again, the sound denoted by r is very frequently omitted, as when broken becomes bōken, rock becomes ok, for becomes fäh, etc. Th is quite universally omitted from words like that and this. Ng is always omitted. When the following combinations are followed by other sounds, they are almost universally omitted or something put in their place, — st, ck, nd, rd, sk, ok, ru, ough, fe, ft, fr, th, ve, nk, ght, fl and others of like character. Further, certain sounds are omitted when they occur in combinations at the beginning or the end of a word which makes their production difficult, though they may be pronounced in the middle parts of words.

The prin-
ciple
illustrated
in the
child's
use of
sentences

The principle of development here in question is further illustrated when the child has learned the use of some words and has begun to construct sentences. If several words apply to different objects that have some common resemblance, he will choose the easiest word for them all. For instance, he says "suppy" for breakfast, dinner, and supper. Again, he will omit words that will make his coördinations intricate. "Mamma, fä go?" means "Mamma, where are you going?" and these instances are typical of much of the child's linguistic activity during the first three or four years. Of course, children differ greatly in

the rapidity with which complex coördinations are attained, but they must all pass along the same route, though at different rates of speed. S. was as far along in the mastery of language difficulties at twenty-one months as V. or M. were at three and one-half years, but he seemed not to skip any of the stages; he simply ran the course faster.

The order

of losing coördina

tion

While the evolution of coördination proceeds from the simple and fundamental to the complex and accessory, in dissolution just the reverse course is pursued. Disturbances of coördination are first manifested in the finest and most complex movements. Mercier has pointed out tions in that the most complex and elaborate processes fail degenerafirst and the most fundamental remain to the last. Wilson has called attention to this in discussing the phenomena occurring in alcoholic dissolution. Degeneration begins with the highest, most coördinated movements of expression,with purposive movements, and travels downward to those which are automatic. The voice becomes shaky, and control over the tongue and lips is gradually lost. The drunkard returns over the route he went up in the acquisition of speech, passing through in reverse order the stages of incoördination which he outgrew in childhood. "If the tremors descend to the limbs, they first invade the fingers (not the thumbs), spreading abroad till the whole hand shakes, and creeping up the arms. The lower limbs grow tremulous last of all, their movements being largely automatic." Mercier thus describes the process of general undoing under the influence of alcohol. Ribot, too, has emphasized this law of decay in will, whatever may be the cause, from the highest and most complex to the lowest and simplest; from the unstable and most organized to the stable and least organized. Degeneration pursues a course directly the reverse of development; it is a continuous retrogression from the highly to the relatively slightly coördinated movements.

In senescent dissolution the finer and more complex activities are the earliest to become affected. The first evidence of a motor character of the oncoming of senescence is seen in a lack of precise control of the fingers. The old man becomes shaky in his writing. Then his articulation becomes less precise. And as age proceeds the coördination of all the accessory members is gradually lost. But the vital functions may keep their vigor unabated. When the old man is wholly unable to care for himself he may still eat vigorously and enjoy his food. He has indeed returned to his second childhood. Again, in death from lack of nutrition of a person of any age dissolution proceeds from the extremities inward. One can observe cases of this sort where he can see a reversal step by step of the developmental processes, until the individual is brought back to the starting point, where all is gone but certain reflexes, as when an object is put into the palm of the hand it will be seized reflexly and carried to the mouth, just such a phenomenon as may be seen in the newborn child.

Children's

CHAPTER VIII

THE DEVELOPMENT OF INHIBITION: THE

NEUROLOGICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL VIEW

IT is a matter of everyday observation that the typical young child gives way easily to his impulses. His tears flow freely upon slight provocation; he becomes hilarious lack of in- over mere trifles; he gabbles incessantly when he hibition should maintain silence; he flies into a passion whenever he is obstructed in his undertakings; and one might mention a long list of similar excesses. The chief problem of most parents seems to be to repress these exuberant and often irritating expressions of the young. How frequently one hears a mother say of her boys and a teacher say of her young pupils, "They will drive me to distraction!" Compared with ourselves our children seem uncontrolled, heedless, and even willful. A sensitive or easily disturbed adult or one who craves quiet may expect little peace or comfort in the company of children from two to ten, who have been indulged in their spontaneity. They will be continually striving to perform tasks of an inventive or original character or in emulation of their elders, for the accomplishment of which they lack size or strength or ingenuity, and they will use every means at their command to obtain help from those who can aid them. They will be running here and there, jumping, climbing, pounding, throwing, shouting, handling everything novel within reach, and teasing one another and every living thing from which they can secure lively reactions.