At a later period the child declared that the
rhymes had been learned from a former nurse, whom it had not seen for
nearly three months. Thus the articulation was perfecting itself for
weeks before it was understood. The exercises of the child sounded like
careless reading aloud.

The book of Prof. Ludwig Struempell, of Leipsic, "Psychologische
Paedagogik" (Leipsic, 1880, 368 pages), contains an appendix, "Notizen
ueber die geistige Entwickelung eines weiblichen Kindes waehrend der
ersten zwei Lebensjahre" ("Notes on the Mental Development of a Female
Child during the First Two Years of Life"); in this are many
observations that relate to the learning of speech. These are from the
years 1846 and 1847.

In the tenth week, _ah! ah!_ was an utterance of joy; in the thirteenth,
the child sings, all alone; in the nineteenth comes the guttural
utterance, _grrr_, but no consonant is assigned to this period. In the
first half-year are heard distinctly, in the order given, _ei_, _aga_,
_eigei_, _ja_, _ede_, _dede_, _eds_, _edss_, _emme_, _meme_, _nene_,
_nein_. In the eighth month, there is unmistakable understanding of what
is said; e. g., "Where is the tick-tack?" In the ninth, _am_, _amme_,
_ap_, _pap_, are said; she sings vowels that are sung for her. In the
eleventh month, imitation of sounds is frequent, _kiss_, _kiss_; at
sight of the tea-kettle, _ssi_, _ssi_; she knows all the people in the
house; calls the birds by the strange name _tibu_. Echolalia. In the
fourteenth month, needles are called _tick_ (_stich_ = prick or stitch).
To the question, "Where is Emmy?" the child points, correctly, to
herself; says distinctly, _Kopf_ (head), _Buch_ (book), _roth_ (red),
_Tante_ (aunt), _gut_ (good), _Mann_ (man), _Baum_ (tree); calls the eye
(Auge) _ok_, Pruscinsky _prrti_, the dog _uf, uf_. In the seventeenth
month, simple sentences are spoken; she speaks to herself. In the
nineteenth month, she calls herself by her name, and counts _twei_,
_drei_, _uempf_, _exe_, _ibene_, _atte_, _neune_ (zwei, drei, fuenf,
sechs, sieben, acht, neun--2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9); in the twenty-second
month, she talks a good deal to herself, and makes very rapid progress
in the correct use of words and the formation of sentences.

From the diary kept by Frau von Struempell concerning this daughter and a
sister of this one, and kindly placed at my disposal in the original, I
take the following notes: In the eighth month, _mamma_, in the tenth,
_papa