CHILDREN BORN BLIND RESTORED TO SIGHT. gg 



plants were about four inches hi <>-h, they were secured to the 

 stakes with shreds and nails, and the mould was then 

 washed away, by a strong- current of water, from the bases 

 of their stems, so that the fibrous roots only of the plants 

 entered into the soil. The librous roots of this plant are The proper 

 perfectly distinct orija'ns from the runners, which give exis- ~ uot <h -> tinct 

 teuce, and subsequently convey nutriment, to the tuberous ners. 

 roots; and as the runners spring from the stems only of the 

 plants, which are, in the mode of culture I have described, 

 placed wholly out of the soil, the formation of tuberous 

 roots is easily prevented; and whenever this is done, numer- 

 ous blossoms will soon appear, and almost every blossom 

 will afford fruit and seeds. It appears not improbable, that Moderately 

 by introducing the farina of the small, and very early varie- perh/Tob 165 

 ties into the blossoms of those of larger size, and somewhat tainableby 

 later habits, moderately early varieties, adapted to field cul- mixture - 

 ture, and winter use, might be obtained ; and the value of 

 these to the farmer in the colder parts of the kingdom, 

 whose crop of potatoes is succeeded by one of wheat, 

 would be very great. I have not yet made any experiment 

 of this kind; but I am prepared to do it in the present 

 spring. 



V. 



An Account of two Children bom with Cataracts in their 

 Eyes, to show that their Sight teas obscured in very different 

 Degrees; with Experiments to determine the proportional 

 Knowledge of Objects acquired by them immediately after 

 the Cataracts icere removed. By Everard Home, Esq. 

 F.R.S*. 



R. Cheselden's observations on this subject, recorded Cheselden's 

 in the Phil. Trans, for the year 1728, pointed out two mate- observatioils » 

 rial facts ; that vision alone gives no idea of the figure of ob- 

 jects. or their distance from the eye, since a very intelligent 



* Phil. Trans, for 1806, Part I, p. 83. 



H 2 bov, 



