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CHILD

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Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 137 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CHILD , the See also:

common See also:term for the offspring of human beings, generally below the See also:age of See also:puberty; the term is the correlative of " See also:parent," and applies to either See also:sex, though some See also:early dialectical uses point to a certain restriction to a girl. The word is derived from the A.S. cild, an old See also:Teutonic word found in See also:English only, in other Tectonic See also:languages See also:kind and its variants being used, usually derived from the Indo-See also:European See also:root See also:ken, seen in Gr. yivos, See also:Lat. genus, and Eng. " See also:kin "; cild has been held to be a modification of the same root, but the true root is kilth, seen in Goth. kilthei, womb, an origin which appears in the expressions " child-See also:birth," " to be with child," and the like; the plural in A.S. was cild, and later cildru, which in See also:northern M.E. became childre or childer, a See also:form dialectically extant, and in See also:southern English childeren or See also:children (with the plural termination -en, as in " brethren "). There are several particular uses of " child " in the English version of the See also:Bible, as of a ycung See also:man in the " See also:Song of the three See also:holy children," of descendants or members of a See also:race, as in " children of See also:Abraham," and also to See also:express origin, giving a description of See also:character, as " children of darkness." During the 13th and 14th centuries " child " was used, in a sense almost amounting to a See also:title of dignity, of a See also:young man of See also:noble birth, probably preparing for See also:knighthood. In the See also:York Mysteries of about 1440 (quoted in the New English See also:Dictionary) occurs " be he See also:churl or child," obviously referring to See also:gentle birth, cf. See also:William See also:Bellenden's See also:translation (1553) of See also:Livy (ii: 124) " than was in See also:Rome ane nobill childe . . . namit See also:Caius Mucius." The spelling " childe " is frequent in See also:modern usage to indicate its archaic meaning. See also:Familiar instances are in the See also:line of an old ballad quoted in See also:King See also:Lear, " childe See also:Roland to the dark See also:tower came," and in See also:Byron's Childe Harold. With this use may be compared the See also:Spanish and Portuguese See also:Infante and Infanta, and the early See also:French use of See also:Valet (q.v.). Child-study.—The See also:physical, psychological and educational development of children, from birth till adulthood, has provided material in See also:recent years for what has come to be regarded as almost a distinct See also:part of See also:comparative anthropological or sociological See also:science, and the literature of See also:adolescence (q.v.) and of " child-study " in its various aspects has attained consider-able proportions. In See also:England the See also:British Child Study Association was founded in 1894, its See also:official See also:organ being the Paidologist, while similar See also:work is done by the Childhood Society, and, to a certain extent, by the Parents' See also:National Educational See also:Union (which issues the Parents' See also:Review). Tn See also:America, where specially valuable work has been done, several See also:universities have encouraged the study (notably See also:Chicago, while under the auspices of See also:Professor See also:John See also:Dewey); and Professor G.

See also:

Stanley See also:Hall's initiative has led to elaborate inquiries, the See also:principal periodical for the See also:movement being the Pedagogical See also:Seminary. The impetus to this study of the child's mind and capacities was given by the classic work of educationists like J. A. See also:Comenius, J. H. See also:Pestalozzi, and F. W. A. See also:Froebel, but more recent writers have carried it much further, notably W. T. Preyer (The Mind of the Child, 1981), whose psychological studies See also:stamp him as one of the See also:chief pioneers in new methods of investigation. Other authorities of first-See also:rate importance (their chief See also:works only being given here) are J.

See also:

Sully (Studies of Childhood, 1896), See also:Earl See also:Barnes (Studies in See also:Education, 1896, 1902), J: M. See also:Baldwin (See also:Mental Development in the Child and the Race, 1895), See also:Sigismund (Kind and Welt, 1897), A. F. See also:Chamberlain n ( The Child, 1 goo), G. Stanley Hall (Adolescence, 1904; he had from 1882 been the See also:leader in America of such investigations), H. See also:Holman and R. See also:Langdon Down (See also:Practical Child Study, 1899), E. A. Kirkpatrick (Fundamentals of Child-study, 1903), and Prof. See also:Tracy of See also:Toronto (See also:Psychology of Childhood, 5th ed., 1901); while among a number of contributions See also:worth particular See also:attention may be mentioned W. B. See also:Drummond's excellent See also:summary, Introduction to Child Study (1907), which deals succinctly with methods and results; See also:Irving King's Psychology of Child Development (1906, useful for its bibliography); Prof.

See also:

David R. See also:Major's First Steps in Mental Growth (1906); and See also:Miss M. Shinn's Notes on the Development of a Child (1893) and Mrs See also:Louise E. Hogan's Study of a Child (1898), which are See also:note-worthy among individual and methodical accounts of what children will do. In such books as those cited a See also:great See also:deal of important material has been collected and analysed, and a number of conclusions suggested which See also:bear both on psychology and the science of education; but it must be See also:borne in mind, as regards a great deal of the voluminous literature of the subject, that it is often more pertinent to See also:general psychology and See also:hygiene than to any See also:special conclusions as to the essential nature of a child—whatever " a child " generically may be as the special See also:object of a special science. The child, after all, is in a transition See also:stage to an adult, and there is often a tendency in modern " child students " to interpret the phenomena exhibited by a particular child with a parti pris, or to exaggerate child-study—which is really interesting as providing the knowledge of growth towards full human equipment—as though it involved the See also:discovery of some distinct form of See also:animal, of See also:separate value on its own See also:account. Growth.—Into the psychical characteristics and development of the child and all the interesting educational problems involved it is impossible to enter here, and reference must be made to the works cited above. But a knowledge of the more important features of normal physical development has a See also:constant importance. Some of tliese, as matters of comparative See also:physiology or See also:pathology, are dealt with in other articles in this work. One of these chief matters of See also:interest is See also:weight and height, and this is naturally affected by race, See also:nutrition and environment. But while the See also:standard in different countries somewhat differs, the British See also:average for healthy children may here be followed. At birth the average weight of a baby is a little over 7 lb and the length about 20 in.

The following arc the averages for weight and height, taking the age in years of the child at the last birthday: Height, in inches. Age. I 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 11 12 13 14 15 Girls . 28.7 32'5 35 38 40.5 42.8 44'5 46'6 487 51 53'1 55.6 57'7 59'8 60'9 Boys . . 29 32'5 35 38 41 44 46 47 49 518 53'5 55 57 593 62 Weight, in pounds. Age. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 II 12 13 14 15 en_ Girls 19.8 25'5 30 3.4 39.2 41'7 47'.5 52'1 55'5 62 68 76.4 87.2 96.7 102.7 Boys . 20.5 26.5 31'2 35 41.2 44'4 49'7 54'9 60'4 67'5 72 76 7 82.6 92 106 See also CHILDREN, See also:

LAW See also:RELATING TO; CHILDREN'S COURTS; CHILDREN'S See also:GAMES; See also:INFANT; &C.

End of Article: CHILD

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