There is, at least, no greater difficulty in believing this than
in admitting that, when a female quadruped first bears young,
she knows the cry of distress of her offspring, or than in admitting
that many animals instinctively recognize and fear their enemies;
and of both these statements there can be no reasonable doubt.
It is however extremely difficult to prove that our children
instinctively recognize any expression. I attended to this point
in my first-born infant, who could not have learnt anything
by associating with other children, and I was convinced that
he understood a smile and received pleasure from seeing one,
answering it by another, at much too early an age to have learnt
anything by experience. When this child was about four months old,
I made in his presence many odd noises and strange grimaces,
and tried to look savage; but the noises, if not too loud,
as well as the grimaces, were all taken as good jokes;
and I attributed this at the time to their being preceded
or accompanied by smiles. When five months old, he seemed
to understand a compassionate, expression and tone of voice.
When a few days over six months old, his nurse pretended to cry,
and I saw that his face instantly assumed a melancholy expression,
with the corners of the mouth strongly depressed;
now this child could rarely have seen any other child crying,
and never a grown-up person crying, and I should doubt whether
at so early an age he could have reasoned on the subject.
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