ANIMALS. 



The last man in a file of soldiers appears in reali- 

 ty much less, perhaps ten times more diminutive, 

 than the man next to us ; however, we do not 

 perceive this difference, but continue to think 

 him of equal stature ; for the numbers we have 

 seen thus lessened by distance, and have found, 

 by repeated experience, to be of the natural size 

 when we come closer, instantly corrects the sense, 

 and every object is perceived with nearly its na- 

 tural proportion. But it is otherwise, if we ob- 

 serve objects in such situations as we have not 

 had sufficient experience to correct the errors of 

 the eye ; if, for instance, we look at men from 

 the top of a high steeple, they in that case ap- 

 pear very much diminished, as we have not had a 

 habit of correcting the sense in that position. 



Although a small degree of reflection will serve 

 to convince us of the truth of these positions, it 

 may not be amiss to strengthen them by an au- 

 thority which cannot be disputed. Mr Chesel- 

 den having couched a boy of thirteen for a cata- 

 ract, who had hitherto been blind, and thus at 

 once having restored him to sight, curiously 

 marked the progress of his mind upon that oc- 

 casion. This youth, though he had been till then 

 incapable of seeing, yet was not totally blind, but 

 could tell day from night, as persons in his situa- 

 tion always may. He could also, with a strong 

 light, distinguish black from white, and either 

 from the vivid colour of scarlet; however, he 

 saw nothing of the form of bodies, and, without 

 a bright light, not even colours themselves. He 

 was, at first, couched only in one of his eyes ; 



