TOUCH. 



1179 



been reduced, the sufferer took to working 

 with her needle; and it is remarked that her 

 needlework was uncommonly neat and exact. 

 Among many other pieces of needlework pre- 

 served in her family, was a pincushion which 

 could scarcely be equalled. She used also 

 sometimes to write ; and her writing was 

 executed with the same neatness and precision 

 as her needlework ; the characters were very 

 pretty, the lines were all even, and the letters 

 placed at equal distances from each other : 

 but the most extraordinary circumstance was, 

 that she could by some means discover where 

 a letter or a word had been omitted, and 

 would place the caret under and the word over, 

 in the right place." * This fact is obviously 

 analogous to those formerly related, in refer- 

 ence to the exaltation of the muscular sense 

 in the state of somnambulism. (See SLEEP, 

 p. 69-t.) It is by the accurate estimates which 

 they are thus enabled to form, that we find 

 the blind able to learn various handicraft arts, 

 performance on musical instruments, &c. &c., 

 which they practice with great success ; cabi- 

 net-making, turning, and even watch-making, 

 seem to be within the capacity of such as have 

 a mechanical turn ; but the greatest perfec- 

 tion of this sense is shown by those who have 

 succeeded in modelling and sculpture. Of 

 these, Giovanni Gonelli, sometimes called 

 Gambasia, from the place of his birth, deserves 

 special mention. He lost his sight at the age 

 of twenty, and remained for ten years in that 

 state, ignorant of the very elements of sculp- 

 ture. But, on a sudden, the desire of making 

 a statue came upon him ; and having handled 

 in every way a marble figure representing 

 Cosmo de Medici, he formed one of clay so 

 extremely like, that it astonished all who saw 

 it. His talent for statuary soon developed 

 itself to such a degree, that the Grand Duke 

 Ferdinand of Tuscany sent him to Rome to 

 model a statue of Pope Urban VIII., which 

 he also rendered a very striking likeness of 

 the original. He afterwards executed many 

 others with equal success ; amongst these, 

 a marble statue of our Charles I. It is re- 

 lated that the Duke of Bracciano, who had 

 seen him at work, doubted much that he was 

 completely blind, and in order to set the 

 matter at rest, he caused the artist to model 

 his head in a dark cellar. It proved a striking 



* Op. cit. p. 81. It is worthy of remark, that in 

 consequence of the strangeness of these facts to those 

 who observed them, it was long doubted whether 

 some faint remains of sight or hearing did not exist. 

 Many experiments were tried to settle this matter ; 

 but in this great caution was necessary; for some 

 of these being accidentally discovered, she fell 

 into violent convulsions, these being appar- 

 ently induced by the mental agitation she expe- 

 rienced at the thought of being suspected of insin- 

 cerity, or of being supposed capable of acting so 

 wicked a part, as to feign such infirmities. Sir Plans 

 Sloane, who attended this patient, long entertained 

 doubts respecting the facts related of her; but 

 having been permitted to satisfy himself by what- 

 ever experiments he thought proper, he at length 

 declared his conviction that she was totally blind, 

 deaf, and dumb. 



likeness. Some, however, objecting that the 

 duke's beard, which was of patriarchal ampli- 

 tude, had made the operation of producing a 

 seeming likeness too easy, the artist offered to 

 model one of the duke's daughters, which he 

 accordingly did ; and this also proved an ad- 

 mirable likeness. Dr. Guillee, who details 

 the preceding case in his " Essai sur 1'Instruc- 

 tion des Aveugles," mentions also the more 

 recent case of M. Buret, whom he calls '' one 

 of the most able sculptors of the academy; " 

 who became blind at the age of twenty-five, 

 but was not thereby deterred from pursuing 

 with much success, the course of life which he 

 had previously chosen. It is easy to be con- 

 ceived that a blind man might thus model or 

 chisel accurately under the guidance of his 

 touch, so far as mere form is concerned ; but 

 it has been thought difficult to understand 

 how he could thus discriminate and embody 

 that expression, which has been supposed to 

 be intangible* When it is remembered, how- 

 ever, that expression must at last depend upon 

 niceties of form, and can only be imitated by 

 the sculptor who is under the guidance of his 

 sight, by a minute attention to these niceties, 

 the difficulty altogether disappears. The blind 

 sculptor cannot form an idea of the expres- 

 sion of his model, as seen by the eyes of others; 

 but he may reproduce that expression with 

 complete success, by perfectly imitating the 

 form which exhibits it ; just as he may study 

 and understand the laws of optics, without 

 having ever seen the faintest ray of light. 

 The study of natural history might have been 

 supposed to be beyond the reach of the blind, 

 in consequence of the difficulty of distinguish- 

 ing specimens by the touch alone ; yet there 

 have been examples of complete success in 

 this pursuit. Thus of John Gough it is re- 

 lated, that " from an early age he showed a 

 very decided taste for zoology ; and in time 

 he began to enlarge his knowledge of organic 

 bodies by extending his researches from the 

 animal to the vegetable kingdom. To bo- 

 tanical pursuits all the time he could spare 

 from the necessary studies of the school was 

 most assiduously devoted ; and as his ardour 

 in cultivating this branch of science was never 

 relaxed, he soon conquered most of the dif- 

 ficulties which the want of sight opposed to 

 the gratification of this taste, and was even- 

 tually able to discriminate and arrange with 

 great accuracy the plants that came under his 

 notice. His usual method of examining a 

 plant was by applying the tip of his tongue to 

 its several parts. Ordinary plants he could 

 easily and readily distinguish by the touch of 

 his fingers. To evince the power of discri- 

 mination and strength of memory, which could 

 alone have enabled him to take an interest in 

 this pursuit, it is mentioned, that towards the 

 end of his life a rare plant was put into his 

 bands, which he very soon called by its name, 

 observing that he had never met with more 

 than one specimen of it, and that was fifty 



" Lost Senses," vol. ii. p. 224. 





