Remarks on the Case of Miss M'Avoy. 127 



" I have said, that neither of these data, so boldly adopted by 

 Mr. Dale and many others, have been estal)lished by such proofs 

 as a reasonable man has a right to demand, before he yields his 

 assent to a phaenonienon wiiich violates all tiie known laws of 

 nature and philosophy. It is notorious that many eminent pro- 

 fessional men have declared that she is not lilind ; and there 

 are very strong grounds for believing that, whenever the band- 

 ages, gogglers, &c. have been properly applied, the young lady 

 has not been able to exhibit her ' cuiiailar poivcrs;' and has 

 been ' deserted by the faculty.' We have the testimony of Mr. 

 Sandars corroborated by most respectable witni^'sses, to show that 

 other persons have been able to read, ascertain colours, and the 

 hour by the watch, with precisely the same apparatus applied to 

 their eyes as had been used by Miss M'Avoy: and I have found 

 to my great surprise, that it is scarcely possiijje by means of a 

 silk handkerchief, or shawl, to blindfold some persons; probably 

 owing to the prominence of the nose, the flatness of the cheek?, 

 or some peculiar conformation of the face, — a circumstance 

 which I do not pretend to explain, although it has certainly as- 

 tonished me ; because a simple bandage formed by a silk hand- 

 kerchief places me in a state of utter darkness. 



''As the blindness of Miss M'Avoy is denied by medical men, 

 ■who ought to be the most competent judges of the fact, — and 

 as all the ordinary modes of blindfolding her have been pro- 

 nounced to be imperfect, or liable to suspicion, — it would na- 

 turally tend to set the matter completely at rest, if some test 

 could be proposed, which, whilst it would impose no restraint 

 upon the lady incom|)atible with her own theory, if I mav so call 

 it, would either silence her pretensions at once, or for ever put an 

 end to the objections of the most (|ueruloiis scepticism. Such a 

 test I conceive to be extremely simple; and I shall evince the 

 sincerity of my own convictions upon the subject, by committing 

 myself entirely to the issue of the trial I am about to propose. 



" It has been repeatedly observed, that when any obstacle has 

 been interposed between the subject of her examination and her 

 face, she has uniformly failed of success: and she accounts for 

 this, by stating, that it is necessary that there should be an ' un- 

 interrupted communication between her hands and the breath oi 

 her mouth, or nostrils.' Now, although this is considered by 

 many as a mere subterfiige, I will, for tiie sake of argument, ad- 

 mit that it is really indispensal)Ie to her performance ; and shall 

 proceed to propose the test to which I have alluded. A mask 

 shall be provided, to cover the whole face, and pass under the 

 CHIN, — which latter circumstance is essential, in mv view of 

 the subject, as it will prevent the possibility of any light passing 

 ID the direction suspected by many persons, 



"The 



