e
displayed apart from the excitement of particular emotions. Whatever
their intensity, habitual and involuntary movements of this nature
should not be overlooked, and should be regarded as evidence of mental
unrest. They do not commonly appear during the first or second years
of the child's life. They are more frequent after the age of five, but
they may begin to be marked as early as the third year. With refusal
of food and refusal of sleep they form the three common neuroses of
early childhood.

Two of the three qualities which we have mentioned as characteristic
of the child's mind are concerned in the causation of habit spasm. In
the early stages the movement is sometimes due to imitation, but the
susceptibility of the child to suggestion plays the chief part in
determining its persistence. It is an interesting speculation how far
tricks of gesture, attitude, or gait are inherited and how far they
are acquired by imitation. A child by some characteristic gesture may
strikingly call to mind a parent who died in his infancy. A whole
family may show a peculiarity of gait which is at once recognisable.
It is told of the son of a famous man, who shared with his father the
distinctive family gait, that when a boy his ears were once boxed by
an old gentleman who chanced to observe him hurrying to overtake his
parent, and who resented what he took to be an act of impertinent
caricature. In the reproduction by the child of the habitual actions
of his parents, heredity is largely concerned, but imitation too plays
its part. In habit spasm the force of imitation is clearly seen. A
child who has developed a habit spasm of one sort or another will
readily serve as a model to other children. The malady will sometimes
spread through a school almost with the force of a contagious
disorder. A child affected in this way may prove an unwelcome guest.
The little visitor with a trick of contorting his mouth and grimacing
is apt to leave his small host an expert in faithfully reproducing the
action. A cough that is genuine enough in one member of the family may
produce a crop of counterfeits in brothers and sisters.

The force of suggestion acting upon the child's mind can clearly be
traced. Once his attention is focused upon the particular movement by
unwise emphasis on the part of the parents, he loses the power to
control its occurrence. This trio of common neuroses--refusal of food,
refusal of sleep, and habitual involuntary movem