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An attempt to fill a great need has here been made in the form of a well written monograph which concerns itself with psychologic knowledge of the newly born. The subject matter has been presented in five parts. The first part undertakes the discussion of birth and “psycho-physical” problems including the special importance of the psychological effect of different types of care of the suckling child, the sleep, crying, and sucking phenomena, and the amount of so-called “knowledge” in the newly born. Considerable attention has also been given to the physical structure, motor mechanisms, reflex action, and sensory possibilities which are ready for activity at the time of birth; and later in the work the author compares these findings with those further developments encountered in the same structures of the four-year-old child.
The second part describes the early progress of the child in a new world beset with difficulties and particular emphasis is placed upon the importance of both the oral and auditory zones in shaping the character and behavior of the child. Here also are presented some interesting ideas on instinct groupings including the psychologic significance of laughter, weeping and of several varieties of fear situations. This section is concluded with comments on the perceptive possibilities in children, enlarging on childhood types of attention and early powers of observation.
In the third part there is a full discussion of the instinct of possession with its different forms of expression taking into account the development of the sitting, creeping, climbing, standing, walking and learning processes as well as the evolution of the hands, the instinctive components of possession, and the libido elements in the act of grasping.
The fourth division of the subject starts with the general topic of dreams and repressions and proceeds with evolutions of the birth trauma theory, the psychology of the weaning period, and the role played by dentition, biting and mastur