

to restore the Deaf and Dumb to hearing. 305 



ing to a seton applied to the back of the neck, which dried up, in 

 the course of time certain feculent humors (certaines humidites ex- 

 crementitielles) with which the head was filled. Although he makes 

 no mention of deafness, it is impossible to attribute her dumbness to , 

 any other cause. The supposition is confirmed by the fact that he 

 relates it in connection with another cure of accidental deafness.* 



2. The next observation was communicated to Lazarus Riviere 

 by Desgrands Pres, a physician of Grenoble* A wandering beggar 

 arrived by night at Pousenac, with his sick (deaf mute) child, who 

 was suffering under a continued fever. For several days, they were 

 charitably entertained and provided for, but at length the father, de- 

 spairing of the child's life, abandoned him to his fate and secretly 

 left the place. The patient however was cured, and on his full re- 

 covery was employed to take care of the sheep. Some years after- 

 wards, he received a blow on the occiput, which fractured the bone 



g 



in several places ; but the wound, under the care of an able surgeon, 

 was fortunately healed. In proportion as the cure advanced, the 

 sense of hearing recovered the exercise of its functions, so that the 



■ 



man began to mutter a few words, and in a short time he was able 

 to hear and speak distinctly. This power he retained to the end 

 of his life. 



3. The third case is that of a young man, deaf and dumb from 

 birth, the son of a laborer of Chartres. At the age of twenty four 

 years he suddenly began to speak, to the great astonishment of the 

 whole town. It was ascertained from him that three or four months 

 before, he had heard the sound of the bells, and was extremely sur- 

 prised by this new and unknown sensation ; and that subsequently, 

 an aqueous discharge had taken place from his left ear, after which 

 he heard perfectly with both. For three or four months he listened 

 without speaking ; this time he spent in repeating to himself the 

 terms which he heard, and in becoming acquainted with the pronun- 

 ciation of words and the ideas attached to them. At the end of that 

 period believing himself sufficiently acquainted w r ith language, he 

 broke silence and began to speak, although very imperfectly. 



Able theologians immediately questioned him with respect to his 

 past condition, especially bis ideas of God, the soul, and the moral 

 quality of actions. Of these last subjects, he seemed not to have 

 the slightest notion. Although he had been present at mass and 



* Curationum medicinalium, Centwrim septem 



Vol. XXX.—No. 2. 39 



