The Archives of Pediatrics, established in 1884, was the first American journal devoted exclusively to diseases of children. Each issue for a span of many years usually contained an editorial or two. The one below is a good example of an editorial published toward the end of the 19th century.The amusement of young children is largely derived from toys and playthings. The character, therefore, of their toys becomes of importance even in the case of healthy children.One of the most noticeable peculiarities of childhood is a tendency to become attached to certain things and to cling to them most persistently. The young child loves certain nursery songs, and never tires of hearing the mother sing them over and over. He loves certain stories, and listens with minute attention to their hundredth repetition. He becomes attached to certain toys and persistently goes back to them in preference to the new and more handsome ones, and clings to the old dilapidated doll in preference to the most gorgeous new one. All this is common knowledge to every observer of children.An explanation, or a partial explanation at least, is not difficult to reach. A child's mental capacity is yet undeveloped and his comprehension is very small. He knows and appreciates the old familiar doll and its few clothes. The new one, with its closing eyes and jointed limbs and its colnplex and elaborate dress, is beyond his small comprehension. It tires him as much to investigate and unravel all its mysteries as it does his lawyer father to master an intricate case.
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