When seven hundred and seventy days old the child
could point to the colors yellow, red, green, and blue, upon these being
named.
The eyelids are first closed to protect the eyes from the sudden
approach of a threatening body in the seventh or eighth week, although,
as already observed, they will close against a strong light as early as
the second day. The explanation of their beginning to close against the
approach of a threatening body is supposed to be that an uncomfortable
sensation is produced by the sudden and unexpected appearance, which
causes the lids to close without the child having any idea of danger to
its eyes; and the effect is not produced earlier in life because the
eyes do not then see sufficiently well. On the twenty-fifth day the
child first definitely noticed its father's face; when he nodded or
spoke in a deep voice, the child blinked. This Professor Preyer calls a
"surprise-reflex;" but definite astonishment (at the rapid opening and
closing of a fan) was not observed till the seventh month. The gaze was
first fixed on a stationary light on the sixth day, and the head
was first moved after a moving light on the eleventh day; on the
twenty-third day the eyeballs were first moved after a moving object
without rotation of the head; and on the eighty-first day objects were
first sought by the eyes.
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