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XXIII. Case of an American Girl — deaf, dumlf and Hind*. 



Xf proofs of vigorous intellect in the deaf and dumb are admi- 

 rable, how much more wonderful are evidences of a similar na- 

 ture in persons who suffer the additional misfortune of being 

 blind ! 



I heard a benevolent lady mention the name of Julia Brace, a 

 girl about eleven years old, living in the vicinity of Hartford, who 

 is afflicted with the triple calamity of blindness, deafness, and 

 dumbness, having lost the senses of sight and hearing, by the 

 violence of a typhus fever, at the age of four years. On visiting 

 her myself, I learned that the extreme poverty and the obscurity 

 of her parents have prevented her from being known or parti- 

 cularly noticed, except by the charitable ladies of the town, and 

 a few gentlemen, who have been induced by motives of curiosity 

 to examine her conduct. The following facts and little anec- 

 dotes I relate for your amusement. 



Her form and features are regular and well proportioned. 

 Her temper is mild and affectionate. She is much attached to 

 her infant sister, often passes her hand over the mouth and eyesf 

 of the child, in order to ascertain whether it is crying, and soothes 

 its little distresses with all the assiduity and success of a talkative 

 or musical nurse. All objects which she can readily handle, she 

 applies to her lips, and rarely fails of determining their character. 

 If any thing is too large for examination in this way, she makes 

 her fingers the interpreters of the texture and properties, and is 

 seldom mistaken. She will beat apples or other fruit from the 

 tree, and select the best with as much judgement as if she pos- 

 sessed the faculty of sight. She often wanders in the field, and 

 gathers flowers, to which she is directed by the pleasantness of 

 their odour. Her sense of smelling is remarkably exquisite, and 

 appears to be an assistant guide with her fingers and lips. 



A gentleman one day gave her a small fan. She inquired of her 

 lips what it was ; and on being informed, returned it to the gen- 

 tleman's pocket. The mother observed, that Julia already pos- 

 sessed one fan : she probably thought that another would be 

 superfluous. The gentleman gave the same fan to a neighbour- 

 ing girl, whom Julia was in the habit of visiting. She went a 

 few days after, to visit her companion, whose toys she passed 

 under the review of her fingers and lips; and among other things, 

 the fan, the identity of which she instantly discovered, and again 

 restored to the pocket of the gentleman, who happened to be 

 present. 



• From the Boston Intelligencer. 



t Probably to discover whether the tnouth be distorted, or there are any 

 tears on the cheek. 



Vol. 51. No. 238. Ft&. 1818. I She 



