26
FIRST STEPS IN MENTAL GROWTH
their former position at the side of his head; then he began to writhe and struggle and his mouth filled with saliva;[1] then he threw his right arm toward the watch as if to take hold of it, and finally he did get it between his first and second fingers. Here was an unmistakable effort to get his hand on the watch.
By the end of the seventeenth week, reaching and grasping were well established, needing only practice to render them sure and ready. By the end of the twentieth week, the child reached for everything, with one exception, which was held toward him. The one exception, curiously, was his nursing-bottle. And his unwillingness to reach for the bottle (which was a cylindrical eight-ounce flask) notwithstanding the fact that he would reach for practically everything else (e. g., balls, rattles, dolls, toy animals) which was held out to him, is an excellent illustration of a habit inhibiting an impulse. That is, the habitual thing in his experience with the bottle was for some one to hold it for him, leaving his arms free to do what they would. He had not been trained, as one would say, to reach for the bottle, or to hold it while nursing. So when the bottle was held before him he made no effort to grasp it, but threw back his hands and arms and cried. And it was not until the forty-third week that the child would take the bottle when it was held toward him; and even then the reaching and grasping were feeble and unwilling. Even as
- ↑ The flow of saliva which accompanied the struggling and reaching on this date was observed on several later dates. What did it mean? Whether the child was hungry and the sight of the watch set in motion the salivary glands; or whether it was a sign of a desire to mouth things, or what its real meaning was, I do not venture to say. It was noted frequently during the next two months that the mouth played a sympathetic part with the reaching, grasping, and pulling at things which were held toward him. For example, the pulling motion was accompanied frequently by opening the mouth, as if the pull at a resisting object—as one's hand—at the same time opened the mouth.
