DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70302#0320
284
HISTORY OF THE SAVAGE OF AVEYN0N.
physician to the institution, was charged to commence
with him a course of medical treatment, in order that by
the combination of physical and moral remedies, the two-
fold incapacity under which he laboured, might be the
more effectually removed.
M. Itard’s first object was to attach him to social life,
by rendering it more pleasing to him than that which he
before led, without subjecting him to a change that was
too great and sudden. Like some savages in the warmer
climates, he was probably acquainted in his wild state
with only four circumstances; to sleep, to eat, to do
nothing, and to run about in the fields. To make him
happy, it was therefore necessary to put him to bed at
the close of day, to provide him abundantly with food
suited to his taste, to bear with his indolence, and to ac-
company him in his walks or rather races in the open
air. These excursions appeared more agreeable to him
when any sudden and violent change took place in the
atmosphere. He has, for example, been observed in his
chamber, directing his eyes towards the window, and fix-
ing them on the external objects. If a boisterous wind
arose, if the sun suddenly burst forth from behind a
cloud, he expressed his joy by convulsive peals of
laughter, during which all his gestures seemed to indicate
a wish to spring out of the window into the garden.
Sometimes he manifested a species of madness, wringing
his hands, gnashing his teeth, and becoming formidable
to those about him. One morning after a heavy fall of
snow, he leaped from his bed as soon as he awoke, uttered
a cry of joy, ran to the window and then to the door
with the utmost impatience, and at length escaped un-
dressed into the garden. There he manifested signs of
the highest pleasure ; he ran about, rolled in the snow,
and taking it up in both his hands, he devoured it with
excessive avidity.
In
HISTORY OF THE SAVAGE OF AVEYN0N.
physician to the institution, was charged to commence
with him a course of medical treatment, in order that by
the combination of physical and moral remedies, the two-
fold incapacity under which he laboured, might be the
more effectually removed.
M. Itard’s first object was to attach him to social life,
by rendering it more pleasing to him than that which he
before led, without subjecting him to a change that was
too great and sudden. Like some savages in the warmer
climates, he was probably acquainted in his wild state
with only four circumstances; to sleep, to eat, to do
nothing, and to run about in the fields. To make him
happy, it was therefore necessary to put him to bed at
the close of day, to provide him abundantly with food
suited to his taste, to bear with his indolence, and to ac-
company him in his walks or rather races in the open
air. These excursions appeared more agreeable to him
when any sudden and violent change took place in the
atmosphere. He has, for example, been observed in his
chamber, directing his eyes towards the window, and fix-
ing them on the external objects. If a boisterous wind
arose, if the sun suddenly burst forth from behind a
cloud, he expressed his joy by convulsive peals of
laughter, during which all his gestures seemed to indicate
a wish to spring out of the window into the garden.
Sometimes he manifested a species of madness, wringing
his hands, gnashing his teeth, and becoming formidable
to those about him. One morning after a heavy fall of
snow, he leaped from his bed as soon as he awoke, uttered
a cry of joy, ran to the window and then to the door
with the utmost impatience, and at length escaped un-
dressed into the garden. There he manifested signs of
the highest pleasure ; he ran about, rolled in the snow,
and taking it up in both his hands, he devoured it with
excessive avidity.
In