Note 24 — II. THE AGE OF IMAGINATION.

I fail to understand what Professor Mark Baldwin means by saying that an only child is wanting in imagination (op. cit., p. 358). In his emphasising of the influence of imitation and external suggestion the writer seems to have overlooked the rather obvious fact that childish imagination in its intenser and more energetic forms means a detachment from the sensible world, and that lonely children are, as more than one autobiography, as well as mother’s record, show, particularly imaginative just because of the absence of engaging activities in the real world.