MAGNITUDES AND DISTANCES OF OBJECTS. 173 



ors. When pieces of paper one and a half inches 

 square differently colored, were presented to her, she 

 not only distinguished them from one another, but gave a 

 decided preference to some colors, liking the yellow most, 

 and then pale pink. 



522. When desirous of examining an object, she had 

 considerable difficulty in directing her eye to it, and finding 

 out its position, moving her hand, as well as her eye, in 

 various directions, as a person when blindfolded in the 

 dark, gropes with his hand for what he wishes to touch. 



523. She saw objects upright as we do, and not inverted. 

 She seemed to have the greatest difficulty in rinding out 

 the distance of any objects, for when the thing was held 

 close to her eye, she would search for it, by stretching 

 her hand far beyond its position, while on other occasions 

 she grasped, close to her own face, for objects far re- 

 mote." 



524. From these cases we may infer how faint the con- 

 ceptions of the unfortunate blind must be to the charms 

 and beauties of the external world, and yet having never 

 enjoyed the pleasures which we derive from sight, and 

 therefore being unable to compare their own conditions 

 with ours in this respect, they are far from feeling that 

 regret at their own situation, which we should if de- 

 prived of sight. Indeed, we believe that most persons 

 who never have enjoyed this sense, consider their con- 

 dition by far less deplorable than that of the deaf and 

 dumb. 



525. Insensibility to certain Colors. Sir David Brew- 

 ster has collected a number of instances in which the eyes 

 of persons were either totally insensible to certain colors, 

 or mistook one for another, although in every other respect 

 the visual organs were quite perfect. Some of these cases 

 are the following. 



526. Mr. Scott, who describes his own case in the 

 Philosophical Transactions, mistook pin k for pale Hue, and 

 a full red for a full green. This was a family defect, since 

 Mr. Scott's father, his maternal uncle, one of his sisters, 

 and her two sons, all mistook these colors exactly in the 

 same manner. 



15* 



