Professor Preyer's name is a
sufficient guarantee of the closeness and accuracy of any series of
observations undertaken with so much earnestness and labor, but still
we may remark at the outset that any anticipation which; the reader may
form on this point will be more than justified by his perusal of this
book. We shall proceed to give a sketch of the results which strike
us as most important, although we cannot pretend to render within the
limits of a few columns any adequate epitome of so large a body of facts
and deductions.
The work is divided into three parts, of which the first deals with the
development of the senses, the second with the development of the will,
and the third with the development of the understanding.
Beginning with the sense of sight, the observations show that light is
perceived within five minutes after birth, and that the pupils react
within the first hour. On the second day the eyes are closed upon the
approach of a flame; on the eleventh the child seemed to enjoy the
sensation of light; and on the twenty-third to appreciate the rose color
of a curtain by smiling at it. Definite proof of color discrimination
was first obtained in the eighty-fifth week, but may, of course, have
been present earlier.
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