the case of other
children, syllables different from these. Children often say several
syllables in quick succession, "then suddenly stop as if they were
thinking of something new--actually strain, as if they must exert
themselves to bring their organs to utterance, until at last a new sound
issues, and then this is repeated like the clack of a mill." Along with
this appears the frequent doubling of syllables, as in _papa_, _mama_.

The boy, at twenty months, told his father the following, with pretty
long pauses and animated gestures:
_atten--beene--titten--bach--eine--puff--anna_, i. e., "Wir waren im
Garten, haben Beeren und Kirschen gegessen, und in den Bach Steine
geworfen; dann kam Anna" (we were in the garden, ate berries and
cherries, and threw stones into the brook; then Anna came).

The observations of Sigismund are remarkable for their objectivity,
their clearness of exposition, and their accuracy, and they agree with
mine, as may easily be seen, in many respects perfectly. Unfortunately,
this excellent observer (long since deceased) did not finish his work.
The first part only has appeared. Moreover, the statements as to the
date of the first imitations (see pp. 83, 108, 109, 118, 121) are not
wholly in accord with one another.

I. E. Loebisch, likewise a physician, in his "Entwickelungsgeschichte der
Seele des Kindes" ("History of the Development of the Mind of the
Child," Vienna, 1851, p. 68), says: "Naturally the first sound formed in
the mouth, which is more or less open, while the other organs of speech
are inactive, is the sound resembling _a_, which approximates sometimes
more, sometimes less, nearly to the _e_ and the _o_.[D]

"Of the consonants the first are those formed by closing and opening the
lips: _m_, _b_, _p_; these are at first indistinct and not decidedly
differentiated till later; then the _m_ naturally goes not only before
the _a_ but also after it; _b_ and _p_ for a long time merely commence a
syllable, and rarely close one until other consonants also have been
formed. A child soon says _pa_, but certainly does not say _ab_ until he
can already pronounce other consonants also (p. 79).

"The order in which the sounds are produced by the child is the
following: Of the vowels, first _a_, _e_, _o_, _u_, of course not well
distinguished from _a_ at the beginning; the last vowel is _i_. Of the
consonants, _m_ is the first, and it passes by way of the _w_ into _b_
and _p_. But here we ma