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Case of a Lady born blind, who received Sight at an advanced Age by 

 the Formation of an artificial Pupil. By James Wardrop, Esq. 

 F.R.S. Edinb. Surgeon Extraordinary to the King, #c. Communi- 

 cated by the President. Read June 15, 1826. [Phil Trans. 1826, 

 Part III. p. 529.] 



The lady, the subject of this communication, shortly after her birth, 

 was perceived to be blind by a peculiar groping manner, and an ope- 

 ration was therefore, at six months of her age, performed on both her 

 eyes ; in consequence of which, she lost the whole globe of one, and 

 the pupil of the other became closed. Her blindness, up to the forty- 

 sixth year of her age, was so complete, that she could barely distin- 

 guish in sunshine, or in brightest moonlight, which way the light 

 came. This, however, being sufficient to indicate a sound state of 

 the nerve, three operations were successively performed on her eye 

 by the author, for removing a portion of the closed iris. They were 

 attended with but very slight inflammation, and proved successful in 

 imparting vision. A journal of her progress in the art of seeing, and 

 of her sensations, as expressed in her own words, from the first to 

 the forty-second day after the last operation, is given in the paper 

 before us. She appears, up to that period, to have acquired but very 

 imperfectly, if at all, the power of directing her eye to any given 

 object ; catching it only by repeated trials, and as it were searching 

 for it ; nor was she at that time yet capable of rightly appreciating 

 the distances of objects. Colours, however, forms, and relative situ- 

 ations, in angular positions, were distinguished much earlier; the 

 former immediately, the latter after very short practice. She ap- 

 peared equally delighted and bewildered by her new sense ; pleased 

 with gay colours and sparkling objects, but most profoundly and per- 

 manently affected by the grand features of nature, the clear blue 

 sky, the fields and trees. 



The author regards this case as instructive in many points, espe- 

 cially in a physiological one, as showing the possibility of preserving 

 nervous sensibility unimpaired, during so very long a period of com- 

 plete inaction. 



On the progressive Compression of Water by high Degrees of Force, 

 with some Trials of its Effects on other Fluids. By J. Perkins. 

 Communicated byW. H. Wollaston, M.D. V.P.R.S. May 25. Read 

 June 15, 1826. [Phil. Trans. 1826, Part III. p. 541.] 



Mr. Perkins first describes the machine which he employed in his 

 experiments. It consisted of a cylinder of gun-metal, 34 inches long 

 and 13| external diameter, having an internal cavity 29 inches long 

 and l inch diameter; into the upper part of which is screwed a 

 steel pump, 8 inches long and l inch external diameter, and -iVths 

 externally. The pump has a valve opening inwards at its lower ex- 

 tremity, and a conical enlargement at the top, and the piston is ren- 

 dered water-tight without stuffing. A lever apparatus is properly 



