tly the
utterance, then _ba_, finally _pa_ almost invariably given correctly.
Further, these results were obtained:
Words said to him. Response.
bitte _bis_, _bits_, _bit_, _bets_, _beest_,
_be_, _bi_, _bit-th_ (Eng., _th_).
hart _hatt_, _att_, _haat_.
Fleisch _da-ich_, _dai-s-ch_, _dai-s-j_.
ma _moe_, _ma_.
In _bits_ appears with perfect distinctness (as already in the fifteenth
month) the very rare _ts_ = _z_. The "hart" was once only confounded
with "haar," and responded to by grasping at the hair. The _bits_ soon
served to add force to the putting together of the hands in the attitude
of begging; it is thus the first attempt at the employment of a German
word to denote a state of his own, and that the state of desire. The
other words said to him, and illustrated by touching and putting the
hands upon objects, could not be given by him in response. When he was
to say "weich" (soft), "kalt" (cold), "nass" (wet), he turned his head
away in repugnance, as formerly. To "nass" he uttered in reply, once
only, _na_. Smacking, when made for him, was imitated perfectly. The
early morning hours, in which the sensibility of the brain is at its
highest, are the best adapted to such experiments; but these experiments
were not multiplied, in order that the independent development might not
be disturbed.
The progress in the discrimination of words heard, and in the firm
retention of what has been repeatedly heard, is shown particularly in
more prompt obedience, whether in abstaining or in acting.
To the list of objects correctly pointed out upon request are added
"leg, nail, spoon, kettle," and others. It is noteworthy, too, that now,
if the syllables _pa_ and _ma_, or _papa_ and _mamma_, are prefixed to
the names of the known parts of the face and head, the child points
these out correctly; e. g., to the question "Where is Mamma-ear," the
child responds by taking hold of the ear of his mother, and to
"papa-ear," of that of his father; so with "nose, eye," etc. But if
asked for "mamma-beard," the child is visibly embarrassed, and finally,
when there is a laugh at his hesitation, he laughs too.
The old tricks, "How tall is the child?" and "Where is the little
rogue?" which have not been practiced for months past, have been
retained in memory, for when in the eighty-second week I brought out
both qu
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