Mental Evolution in Man - Softcover

Romanes, George John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1230267492 ISBN 13: 9781230267494

Publisher: TheClassics.us, 2013

Synopsis

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1893 edition. Excerpt: ... an ass. These several sounds and gestures she had been taught by the nurse as noun-substantives, and she correctly applied them in every case, whether the picture-book happ2ned to be one with which she was familiar or one which she had never seen before; and she would similarly name all kinds of animals depicted on the wall-paper, chair-covers, &c., in strange houses, or, in short, whenever she met with representations of objects the nursery names of which she knew. Thus there is no doubt that, long before she could form a sentence, or in any proper sense be said to speak, this child was able to denote objects by voice and gesture. At this time, also, she correctly used a limited number of denotative words significant of actions--i.e. active verbs. Somewhat later by a few weeks she showed spontaneously the faculty of expressing an adjective. Her younger brother she had called " Ilda," and soon afterwards she extended the name to all young children. Later still, while looking over her picture-books, whenever she came upon a representation of a sheep with lambs, she would point to the sheep and say Mama-Ba, while to the lambs she would say Ilda-Ba. Similarly with ducks and ducklings, hens and chickens, and indeed with all the animals to which she had given names. Here it is evident that Ilda served to convey the generic idea of Young, and so, from having been originally used as a proper or denotative name, was now employed as an adjective or connotative name. But although it expressed a quality, the quality was one of so sensible a kind that the adjective amounted to virtually the same thing as substantive, so far as any faculty of abstraction was concerned: it was equivalent to the word Baby, when by connotative extension this comes to be...

About this edition

• Publisher: TheClassics.us
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1230267492
• ISBN 13: 9781230267494
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 154