596 



BLIND. 



Blind. inflammation, and that he felt no uneasiness on the 



v approach of light. I shewed him a table knife, which 



at first he called a spoon, but soon rectified the mis- 

 take, giving it the right name, and distinguishing the 

 blade from the handle, by pointing to each as he was 

 desired. He afterwards called a yellow pocket-book 

 by its name, taking notice of the silver-lock on the 

 cover. I held my hand before him, which he knew, 

 but could not at first tell the number of my fingers, 

 nor distinguish any one of them from another. I 

 then held up his own hand, and desired him to re- 

 mark the difference between his thumb and fingers ; 

 after which he readily pointed out the distinctions in 

 mine also. Dark coloured and smooth objects were 

 more agreeable to him than those which were bright 

 and rough. On the 3d of January, he saw, from the 

 drawing-room window, a dancing bear in the street, 

 and distinguished a number of boys that were stand- 

 ing round him, noticing particularly a bundle of 

 clothes whicli one of them had on his head. On the 

 same evening, I placed him before a looking-glass, 

 and held up his hand ; after a little time he smiled 

 and said, he saw the shadow of his hand, as well as 

 that of his head. He could not then distinguish his 

 features ; but, on the following day, his mother ha- 

 ving again placed him before the glass, he pointed to 

 his eyes, nose, and mouth, and seemed much gratified 

 with the sight." 



Mr Ware then proceeds to compare the case of 

 Master W. with that of Cheselden's patient, and to 

 deduce some general conclusions, which are altoge- 

 ther at variance with those of that celebrated anato- 

 mist. He finds that Master W., instead of at first 

 forming no judgment of distance, and thinking that 

 all objects touched his eyes, was able to distinguish, 

 at the first moment of his seeing, a table a yard and 

 a half from him ; and to prove that he had some ac- 

 curacy in his idea of distance, by saying, that it was 

 a little farther off than his hand could reach. In- 

 stead, also, of being unable to " know the figure of 

 any thing, or any one thing from another, however 

 different in shape and magnitude," Master W. knew 

 and dsscribed a letter, not only as white, but also as 

 square, because it had corners ; and an oval silver 

 box, not only as shining, but also as round, because 

 it had not corners. These observations, he says, so 

 contrary to the account we have received of Mr 

 Cheselden's patient, would have surprised him much 

 more than they did, had he not previously, in some 

 similar instances, had reason to suspect, that children, 

 from whom cataracts had been extracted,' had a no- 

 tion of distance the first moment they were enabled 

 to see. " In the instance particularly of a young 

 gentleman from Ireland," he subjoins, " fourteen 

 years old, from each ot whose eyes I extracted a ca- 

 taract, in the year 179-i, in the presence of Dr Ha- 

 milton, physician to the London hospital, and who, 

 before the operation, assured me, as did his friends, 

 that he "never had seen the figure of any object, Dr 

 Hamilton and myself were much astonished by the 

 facility with which, on the first experiment, he took 

 hold of my hand at different distances, mentioning 

 whether it was brought nearer to, or caaried further 

 from him, and conveying his hand to mine in a circu- 

 lar direction, that we might be the better satisfied of 



the accuracy with which he did it." ' In this case, 

 however, and in others of a like nature, although ' 

 the patients had certainly been blind from early in- 

 fancy, I could not satisfy myself, that they had not, 

 before this period, enjoyed a sufficient degree of sight 

 to impress the image of visible objects on their minds, 

 and to give them ideas which could not afterwards 

 be entirely obliterated. In the instance of Master W., 

 however, no suspicion of this kind could occur ; 

 since, in addition to the declaration of himself and his 

 mother, it was proved, by the testimony of the sur- 

 geon who examined his eyes in the country, that the 

 cataracts were fully formed before he was a year old. 

 And I beg leave to add farther, that on making in- 

 quiries of two children, between seven and eight years 

 of age, now under my care, both of whom have been 

 blind from birth, and on whom no operation has yet 

 been performed, I find, that the knowledge they have 

 of colours, limited as it is, is sufficient to enable them 

 to tell whether coloured objects be brought nearer to 

 or carried further from them ; for instance, whether 

 they are at the distance of two inches or four inches 

 from their eyes ; nor have either of them the slight- 

 est suspicion, as is related of Mr Cheselden's patient, 

 that coloured objects, when held before them, touch 

 their eyes." 



The conclusions of Mr Ware and of Mr Cheoel- 

 den, although they seem so much at variance with 

 each other, may, in our opinion, be perfectly recon- 

 ciled, upon the very simple supposition, that the pa- 

 tients, upon whom the observations of each were 

 made, were affected with blindness in different de- 

 grees. Mr Ware himself informs us, that all the pa- 

 tients whom he had an opportunity of examining, 

 were able to distinguish colours before they were 

 couched ; and to such a degree, as " to enable them 

 to tell, whether coloured objects be brought nearer 

 to or carried further from them." This being the 

 case, it is not at all surprising, that the moment they 

 were restored to sight they should be capable of 

 forming a tolerable estimate of distances, and even of 

 distinguishing forms which were simple and well de- 

 fined. It does not at all appear, however, that Mr 

 Cheselden's patient had so much use of his eyes be- 

 fore he was couched. He could, indeed, discriminate 

 strong colours, such as black, white, and scarlet ; 

 but he was totally unable, as this celebrated anato- 

 mist expressly informs us, to distinguish the shape of 

 any thing, and does not appear to have been in the 

 least sensible when an object was brought nearer to 

 or farther from his eyes. 



As to the fact of his supposing, when he first saw, 

 that all objects whatever touched his eyes, Mr Che- 

 selden is also express in his testimony ; and it is dif- 

 ficult to admit, either that so accurate an observer 

 could have been mistaken, or that the ingenious 

 young gentleman, whose case he describes, could have 

 been himself deceived, or have intended to deceive 

 others on this point. If he had no previous concep- 

 tion of visible distance, it is in perfect conformity to 

 the received philosophy of vision, that he should at 

 first be unable to form any distinct judgment concern- 

 ing it ; for it has been clearly shewn by Bishop Berke- 

 ley, and those who have followed him in this track of 

 investigation, that our estimate of visible distance is 



Blind. 



