Dripread - Book

They change
their minds too often. They get angry one moment and forgive the next.
They are impulsive, and when they do commit crimes they are done on the
impulse of the moment. A blond radiates his personality about him. The
brunette, on the other hand as a rule, likes to concentrate on one
subject. He is a specialist. He prefers his home and family, and his
pleasures are more often lectures and kindred entertainments than those
of a lighter order. He learns slowly, but he retains what he knows far
better than does the blond."

HOW THE BABY'S MIND DEVELOPS.

In his book on "The Development of the Intellect," Mr. H. W. Brown
presents a conspectus of the observations of Prof. Preyer on the mind of
the child which shows chronologically the gradual development of the
senses, intellect and will of the growing child and presents in a
condensed form the result of a great number of careful observations.

It is recorded that sensibility to light, touch, temperature, smell and
taste are present on the first day of infant life. Hearing, therefore,
is the only special sense which is not active at this time. The child
hears by the third or fourth day. Taste and smell are senses at the
first most active, but they are differentiated. General organic
sensations of well being or discomfiture are felt from the first, but
pain and pleasure as mental states are not noted till at or near the
second month.

The first sign of speech in the shape of utterance of consonant sounds
is heard about the end of the second month, these consonants being
generally "m," "r," "g," or "t." All the movements of the eyes become
co-ordinate by the fourth month, and by this time the child begins to
have the "feeling of self," that is, he looks at his own hands and looks
at himself in the mirror. The study of the child's mind during the first
year shows conclusively that ideas develop and reasoning processes occur
before there is any knowledge of words or of language; though it may be
assumed that the child thinks in symbols, visual or auditory, which are
clumsy equivalents for words. By the end of the year the child begins to
express itself by sounds--that is, speech begins. The development of
this speech capacity is, according to Preyer, in accordance with the
development of the intellectual powers. By the end of the second year
the child's power of speech is practically acquired.

THE WONDERFUL HUMAN BRAIN.

According to the novel computations of a renowned histologist, who has
been calculating the aggregate cell forces of the human brain, the
cerebral mass is composed of at least 300,000,000 of nerve cells, each
an independent body, organism, and microscopic brain so far as concerns
its vital functions, but subordinate to a higher purpose in relation to
the functions of the organ; each living a separate life individually,
though socially subject to a higher law of function.

The lifetime of a nerve cell he estimates to be about sixty days, so
that 5,000,000 die every day, about 200,000 every hour, and nearly 3,500
every minute, to be succeeded by an equal number of their progeny; while
once in every sixty days a man has a new brain.

MOURNING COLORS THE WORLD OVER.

Black is by no means the only color used by man to express grief or
mourning for the dead. In the South Sea Islands the natives express
sorrow and hope by stripes of black and white. Grayish brown, the color
of the earth to which the dead return, is used in Ethiopia. Pale brown,
the color of withered leaves, is the mourning of Persia. Sky-blue, to
express the assured hope that the deceased has gone to heaven, is the
mourning of Syria, Cappadocia, and Armenia. Deep blue in Bokhara. Purple
and violet, to express "kings and queens to God," was the color of
mourning for cardinals and kings of France. The color of mourning in
Turkey is violet. White (emblem of hope) is the color of mourning in
China. Henry VIII. wore white for Anne Boleyn. The ladies of ancient
Rome and Sparta wore white. It was the color of mourning in Spain till
1498. Yellow is the color of mourning in Egypt and in Burmah. Anne
Boleyn wore yellow mourning for Catharine of Aragon.

CURIOUS FACTS ABOUT HAIR.

The hair of men is finer than that of women.

The average weight of a head of hair is from 5 to 12 ounces.

On an average head there are about 1,000 hairs to the square inch.

Hair will stretch about one-fourth of its length and retract nearly to
its

The Handy Cyclopedia of Things Worth Knowing / A Manual of Ready Reference