by a natural phenomenon. When once the
initiation has taken place, it leads to progression which goes on
steadily, and develops of its own accord. Moreover, the phenomenon is
not that of the slow and gradual progression that might be produced by
a measured and systematic external action; rather it has the
"explosive" character of unsuspected facts that establish themselves
suddenly, and make us think of the crises of physiological life, so
characteristic in the period of growth. Thus it is from one day to
another that the baby cuts a tooth, from one day to another that he
utters his first word, from one day to another that he takes his first
step; and when the first tooth has been cut, the whole set of teeth
will come; when the first word has been uttered, language will be
developed; when the first step has been taken, the power of walking
has been established once for all.

Similar crises occur in the first achievement of psychic order, which
is the beginning of progressive evolution in the inner life.

I quote the following sentences from Miss George's description of the
advent of discipline:

"In a few days that nebulous mass of whirling particles--the
disorderly children--began to take definite form. The
children seemed to begin to find their own way; in many of
the objects they had at first despised as silly playthings,
they began to discover a novel interest, and, as a result of
this new interest, they began to act as independent
individuals." Miss George's subsequent expression is: "They
became extremely individual." "Thus it came to pass that an
object of absorbing interest to one child had not the
slightest attraction for another; the children were strongly
differentiated in their manifestations of attention...." "The
battle is only definitively won, when the child discovers
some particular object which spontaneously excites great
interest in him. Sometimes this enthusiasm awakens
unexpectedly, or with curious rapidity."

"On one occasion I had tried a child with nearly all the
objects of the series without exciting the smallest spark of
interest; then I casually showed him the two tablets of red
and blue colors, and called his attention to the difference
of tint. He seized them at once with a kind of thirstiness,
and learned five different colors in a single lesson; during
the following days he took nearly all the obj