ANIMALS. -7 



bled a solid body. Till then, he only considered 

 it as a flat surface variously shadowed ; but when 

 he began to perceive that these kind of shadings 

 actually represented human beings, he then be- 

 gan to examine, by his touch, whether they had 

 not the usual qualities of such bodies, and was 

 greatly surprised to find what he expected a very 

 unequal surface, to be smooth and even. He 

 was then shewn a miniature picture of his father, 

 which was contained in his mother's watch-case, 

 and he readily perceived the resemblance ; but 

 asked, with great astonishment, how so large a 

 face could be contained in so small a compass ? it 

 seemed as strange to him as if a bushel was con- 

 tained in a pint vessel. At first, he could bear 

 but a very small quantity of light, and he saw 

 every object much greater than the life ; but in 

 proportion as he saw objects that were really 

 large, he seemed to think the former were dimi- 

 nished; and although he knew the chamber 

 where he was, was contained in the house, yet 

 until he saw the latter, he could not be brought 

 to conceive how a house could be larger than 

 a chamber. Before the operation he had no great 

 expectations from the pleasures he should receive 

 from a new sense ; he was only excited by the 

 hopes of being able to read and write : he said, 

 for instance, that he could have no greater plea- 

 sure in walking in the garden, with his sight, 

 than he had without it, for he walked there at 

 his ease, and was acquainted with all the walks. 

 He remarked also, with great justice, that his 

 former blindness gave him one advantage over 



