TWO THEORIES OF KNOWLEDGE 67 



Experience by the blind ought therefore to be very 

 great. Observations made on the experiences of 

 the blind and of those to whom vision has been 

 restored are not very numerous, but many of these 

 recorded by Platner, the friend of Leibniz, and others 

 are of the highest value, and remarkably confirm 

 the view for which we have been contending. 



Undoubtedly, so far as we are aware, the most 

 valuable contribution to this aspect of the dis- 

 cussion is to be found in a little volume recently 

 published in Paris under the title Le Monde des 

 Aveugles. The author, M. Pierre Villey, is himself 

 blind. In the interests of Science he has cast aside 

 the delicacy and reserve which have generally 

 prevented the blind from analysing or at least 

 from discussing the import of their experiences. 

 He is also fortunately possessed of a philosophic 

 and highly cultivated intellect, and has not failed 

 to make himself acquainted with the general 

 course of metaphysical speculation. 



The present writer has been in correspondence 

 with M. Villey, whose conclusions remarkably 

 confirm the view for which this essay contends, 

 and he finds that M. Villey recognises the truth 

 of that view. Individual quotations would only 

 detract from the cumulative effect of his argument, 

 but we may refer in particular to the interesting 



