NaturaUtiittorvcat tfoUecitons/ l47 " 



■hoes upon him. He carried him at fir»t, and then tried to make him learn to 

 walk, directing the young man's feet with his own. Sometimes carried, and 

 sometimes puslied forwards, he at length made a few steps. But, after accom- 

 plishing ten or twelve, he suffered horribly, and began to cry. The man then 

 laid him on his face on the ground, and he slept. He is ignorant how long 

 these alterations were renewed ; but the ideas which he has since acquired have' 

 enabled him to discover, in the sound of his conductor's voice, an expression of' 

 trouble and anguish. The light of day caused him still greater sufferings. He 

 retains no idea of his conductor's physiognomy, nor does he even know if he ob- 

 served it ; but the sound of his voice, he tells us, he could distinguish among a 

 thousand. 



During the first days which he passed among men, he was in a state of con- 

 tinual suffering. He could bear no other food than bread. He was made to 

 take chocolate : he felt it, he told us to his fingers' ends. The light, the motion, 

 the noise around him, (and curious persons were not wanting to produce the lat- 

 ter,) and the variety of objects which forced themselves upon his observation, 

 caused an indescribable pain, a physical distemper, but this distemper must have 

 existed in the chaos of his ideas. It was music that afforded him the first agree- 

 able sensation : it was through its influence that he experienced a dispersion of 

 the chaos. From this period he was enabled to perceive a commencement of or- 

 der in the impressions by which he was assailed. His memory has become pro- 

 digious : he quickly learned to name and to classify objects, to distinguish faces, 

 and to attach to each the proper name which he heard pronounced. He has an 

 ear for music, and an aptitude for drawing. At first he was fond of amusing' 

 himself with wooden horses, of which a present had been made to him, when he 

 was heard continually to repeat the word horses, beautiful horses, {ress, scTione 

 re«s.) He instantly gave up, when his master made him understand that this' 

 was not proper, and that it was not beautiful. His taste for horses has since 

 been replaced by a taste for study. He has begun the study of the Latin Ian- 

 guage, and by a natural spirit of imitation, his master being a literary man, he is 

 desirous of following the same career. 



It was supposed, at one time, that traces were discovered of the monster who 

 had confined this unfortunate young man ; but they ended in nothing else than 

 the probability that the place of his imprisonment was in a district at the distance 

 of about 30 miles from the city of Nuremberg. 



The curiosity of the people to see a phenomenon, happily of such rare occur- 

 rence, rendered it necessary to place Hauser in retirement. Accordingly, he was 

 put under the care of a respectable family, where his education was carefully at- 

 tended to, and his mind made rapid acquirements. 



A recent notice in the Gazette de Nuremberg, relates a terrible accident which 

 has happened to young Caspar, threatening his death, and which has increased 

 the sympathy of the public, already so deeply excited. He had arranged a number 

 of books upon a table, and placed a loaded pistol on the top of them, for his defence. 

 Some of the books gave way, and, in his anxiety to catch the falling pistol, he 

 seized it so suddenly that it went off, and the ball struck the right side of his 

 head. Happily, however, it did not penetrate the bone. 



The interest excited thrroughout all classes in Germany by the misfortunes of 

 this young man is intense ; and tlie singularity of the case, as affording an illus- 

 tration of the developement of the mind, has been highly estimated by the meta- 

 physicians of that country. 



Phrenology Opinions of Scientific Men — No. Ill— Baron Cdvier. — 



" He received them (Drs. Gall and Spurzheim) with much politeness. He re- 

 quested them to dissect a brain privately for him and a few of his learned friends ; 

 and he attended a course of lectures given purposely for him and a party of his 

 selection. He listened with much attention, and appeared well-disposed towards 

 tlie doctrine ; and the writer of this article heard him express his approbation of 

 its general features, in a circle which was not particularly private. 



