Review of The child mind in evolution. A study of developmental sequences in drawing

Abstract

Reviews the book, The child mind in evolution. A study of developmental sequences in drawing by G. Hildreth (1941). The author of this study had the good fortune to discover a series of drawings, almost the complete output, of a single child covering the period from two to twelve years of age. This child had an intense and long-sustained interest in trains, fostered by the particular conditions under which he lived. Of the entire series of 4022 drawings made available to Dr. Hildreth for study, over half of them were concerned with trains. The study consists of a detailed analysis of 149 of the 2239 train drawings, selected as representative of the successive developmental stages in mental growth. In general, Dr. Hildreth's findings are similar to those of other investigators. She has added detailed analysis of some features already mentioned by other investigators and has contributed several new features to existing knowledge of the development of this form of expression. If more information concerning the child who made the drawings had been included, perhaps it would have tended to further validate the developmental trends noted. A bibliography of 24 titles has been appended, together with traced reproductions of the 149 drawings studied. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)