The plates of the skull are not complete and do not fit together at
the edges. Great care needs to be taken of the soft spot thus left
exposed on the top of the head--the undeveloped place where the edges
of these bones come together. Any injury here in early life is liable
to affect the mind.

[Sidenote: State of Development]

The bony enclosures of the middle ear are unfinished and the eyes also
are unfinished. It is a question yet to be settled, whether a
new-born baby is blind and deaf or not. At a rate, he soon acquires a
sensitiveness to both light and sound, although it is three years
or more before he has amassed sufficient experience to estimate with
accuracy the distance of objects seen or herd. He can cry, suck,
sneeze, cough, kick, and hold on to a finger. All of these acts,
though they do not yet imply personality, or even mind, give evidence
of a wonderful organism. They require the co-operation of many
delicate nerves and muscles--a co-operation that has as yet baffled
the power of scientists to explain.

Although the young baby is in almost constant motion while he is
awake, he is altogether too weak to turn himself in bed or to escape
from an uncomfortable position, and he remains so for many weeks. This
constant motion is necessary to his muscular development, his control
of his own muscles, his circulation, and, very probably, to the
free transmission of nervous energy. Therefore, it is of the first
importance that he has freedom to move, and he should be given time
every day to move and stretch before the fire, without clothes on. It
is well to rub his back and legs at the same time, thus supplementing
his gymnastics with a gentle massage.