ETC. 291 



well known case described by Mr. Cheselden. 1 The subject of this was a 

 young gentleman, who was born blind, or lost his sight so early, that he 

 had no remembrance of ever having seen; and was "couched," so says 

 Cheselden, " between thirteen and fourteen years of age." M. Magen- 

 die 2 affirms, that there is every reason to believe that the operation was 

 not for cataract, but consisted in the incision of the pupillary membrane. 

 It need hardly be remarked, that Cheselden must be the best possible 

 authority on this subject. "When he first saw," says Cheselden, a he 

 was so far from making any judgment about distances, that he thought 

 all objects whatever touched his eyes (as he expressed it), as what he 

 felt did his skin, and thought no objects so agreeable as those which 

 were smooth and regular, though he could form no judgment of their 

 shape, or guess what it was in any object that was pleasing to him. He 

 knew not the shape of any thing, nor any one thing from another, how- 

 ever different in shape or magnitude; but upon being told what things 

 were, whose form he before knew from feeling, he would carefully ob- 

 serve, that he might know them again ; but having too many objects to 

 learn at once, he forgot many of them; and (as he said), at first he 

 learned to know, and again forgot a thousand things in a day. At first 

 he could bear but very little light, and the things he saw he thought 

 extremely large ; but, upon seeing things larger, those first seen he con- 

 ceived less, never being able to imagine any lines beyond the bounds he 

 saw: the room he was in, he said, he knew to be but part of the house, 

 yet he could not conceive that the whole house could look bigger." 



A much more interesting case, in many respects, than this, which 

 has always appeared to us too poetical, was laid before the Royal So- 

 ciety of London, in 1826, by Dr. Wardrop. 3 It was that of a lady 

 born blind, who received sight at the age of forty-six, by the formation 

 of an artificial pupil. During the first months of her infancy, this 

 lady was observed to have something peculiar in the appearance of her 

 eyes; and, when about six months old, a Parisian oculist operated on 

 both eyes, with the effect of complete destruction of the one, and not 

 the slightest improvement of the other. From this time, she continued 

 totally blind, being merely able to distinguish a very light from a very 

 dark room, but without the power of perceiving even the situation of 

 the window through which the light entered; although in sunshine, or 

 bright moonlight, she knew its direction : she was, therefore, in greater 

 darkness than the boy in Cheselden's case, who knew black, white, and 

 scarlet, apart from each other; and, when in a good light, had that 

 degree of sight, which usually exists in an eye affected with cataract; 

 whilst in this lady the pupil was completely shut up, so that no light 

 could reach the retina, except such rays as could pass through the sub- 

 stance of the iris. After a third operation had been performed for 

 the formation of an artificial pupil, she returned from Dr. Wardrop's 

 house in a carriage, with her eyes covered by only a loose piece of 

 silk. The first thing she noticed was a hackney-coach passing by, 

 when she exclaimed, " What is that large thing that has passed by 



i Philosophical Transactions, No. 402, p. 477, for 1728 ; and Anatomy of the Human 

 Body, 13th edit., Lond., 1792. 



* Precis, &c., i. 95. a Philosoph. Transact., 1826, p. 529. 



