Moto-sensory development : observations on the first three years of a child / by George V. N. Dearborn.
- Dearborn, George Van Ness, 1869-
- Date:
- 1910
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Moto-sensory development : observations on the first three years of a child / by George V. N. Dearborn. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.
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![road I can feel only running, stamping, and the rumble of wheels. By placing my hand on a person's lips and throat I gain an idea of many specific vibrations, and interpret them [that is, emotional expressions, aside from spoken words]. ****** The utterances of animals, though wordless, are eloquent to me. ****** To continue, I know the flop of liquid in a pitcher. So if I spill my milk I have not the excuse of ignorance. I am also familiar with the pop of a cork, the splutter of a flame, the tick-tack of the clock, the metallic swing of the wind-mill, the labored rise and fall of the pump, the voluminous spurt of the hose, the deceptive tap of the breeze at door and window, and many other vibra- tions past computing. There are tactual vibrations which do not belong to skin- touch. They penetrate the skin, the nerves, the bones, like pain, heat and cold. The beat of a drum smites me through from the chest to the shoulder-blades. The din of the train, the bridge, and grinding machinery retains its 'old-man-of- the-sea grip' upon me long after its cause has been left be- hind. If vibration and motion combine in my touch for any length of time, the earth seems to run away while I stand still. When I step off the train, the platform whirls 'round, and I find it difficult to walk steadily. Every atom of my body is a vibroscope. * ***** The thousand soft voices of the earth have truly found their way to me—the small rustle in tufts of grass, the silky swish of leaves, the buzz of insects, the hum of bees in blossoms I have plucked, the flutter of a bird's wings after his bath, and the slender rip- ping vibration of water running over pebbles. Once having been felt, these loved voices rustle, buzz, hum, flutter and rip- ple in my thought forever, an undying part of happy mem- ories. Does anyone doubt the advantages of developing a sense that will enlarge one's intrinsic and extrinsic horizon in ways like these? Can one easily exaggerate the importance of a sensibility that will, like this, put the unrolling personality](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21175019_0070.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
