2 ACCOUNT OF A BOY 



nece. The information which he then communicated to me 

 was extremely general ; but more than sufficient to excite all 

 my curiosity. " I have at present (says he) a patient under 

 my care, whose case is, I believe, unique. It is a boy fourteen 

 years old, who was born blind and deaf, and of course dumb. 

 His senses of touch and smell have a wonderful degree of 

 acuteness ; for by these alone he has acquired a very accurate 

 knowledge of external things, and is able to know readily his 

 old acquaintances from strangers. The powers of his mind 

 are vigorous. He is evidently capable of reflection and rea- 

 soning, and is warmly attached to his parents. He has a most 

 delicate palate, and partakes only of the most simple food. I 

 have couched one of his eyes successfully ; and he is much 

 amused with the visible world, though he mistrusts informa- 

 tion gained by that avenue. One day I got him a new and 

 gaudy suit of clothes, which delighted him beyond description. 

 It was the most interesting scene of sensual gratification I ever 

 beheld *." 



The first idea which struck me on receiving this intelligence 

 was, that so extraordinary a combination of circumstances 

 might perhaps afford a favourable opportunity of verifying or 

 of correcting, in an unequivocal manner, some of those de- 

 tails in Cheselden's celebrated narrative, about which consi- 

 derable doubts have been lately entertained, in consequence of 

 their disagreement with the results of Mr Ware's experience f . 



A 



* This letter was dated October 4. 1810. 



f Mr Ware's paper here alluded to, is to be found in the Philosophical 

 Transactions for 1801. The argument which it has been supposed to afford 

 Igainst Cheselden (founded on the case of Master W.) has always ap- 

 peared to me to prove nothing, in consequence of its aiming to prove too much. 

 Of this patient, (a boy who was restored to sight at seven years of age, after he 

 had been blind from very early infancy), we are told, that two days after the 



operation. 



tj ;■ < . 



