1178 



TOUCH. 



gained, the individual becomes able, by a fur- 

 ther period of diligent application, to recog- 

 nise the combination of letters in syllables 

 and words, without forming a separate idea 

 of each letter, just as we see to take place in 

 the child learning to read by eyesight ; and 

 the pupil in time acquires the power of read- 

 ing line after line, by passing the point of the 

 finger consecutively over each, with consider- 

 able rapidity. Now when this power has 

 once been thoroughly acquired, it is found 

 that the size of the type may be gradually 

 diminished, so that at last it may be reduced 

 to one but little larger than that of an ordi- 

 nary folio Bible, which is read at least as 

 rapidly as the words can be spoken.* As an 

 instance of the readiness and nicety of dis- 

 crimination which is frequently acquired by 

 those who are chiefly dependent upon this 

 sense for their knowledge of the outward 

 world, we may advert to the well-known case 

 of Laura Bridgman ; who, though destitute of 

 sight, hearing, and smell, is able to recognise 

 individuals with whom she has once been 

 well acquainted, by feeling their hands, even 

 after a long distance of time. It is related of 

 Carolan,the celebrated blind Irish bard, that on 

 accidentally grasping, at an interval of some 

 years, the hand of a female to whom he had 

 been formerly attached, he at once exclaimed, 

 with strong emotion, " This is the hand of 

 Bridget Cruise." A lady, who became blind, 

 and soon afterwards deaf and dumb, in conse- 

 quence of an attack of confluent small-pox, and 

 whose case is recorded in the Annual Register 

 for 1758, seems to have very speedily acquired 

 a remarkable exaltation of the sensibility she 

 retained. Like James Mitchell (see SMELL, 

 p. 702.), she could distinguish strangers from 

 acquaintance by the smell ; but she required 

 the further help of the touch to distinguish 

 one friend from another. " When they came 

 in, they used to present their hands to her as 

 a means for making themselves known. The 

 form and the warmth of the hand generally 

 furnished the differences which she distin- 

 guished ; but sometimes she would span the 

 wrist and measure the fingers. A lady with 

 whom she was well acquainted, coming in upon 

 a very hot day after having walked a mile, 

 presented her hand as usual ; she examined it 

 longer than ordinary, and seemed to doubt to 

 whom it belonged ; but at length she said, 

 * I think it is Mrs. M. ; but she is warmer 

 to-day than I ever felt her before.'" -|- 



* It is worthy of remark, that, when the idea of 

 teaching the blind to read from raised characters 

 was first being carried into practice, it was thought 

 requisite by many to adopt a new alphabet of sim- 

 pler forms, instead of the ordinary letters, in order 

 that they might be more readily discriminated. 

 This plan, however, was subject to the disadvantage 

 that the teacher as well as the pupil was compelled 

 to learn this new alphabet ; and as it was soon found 

 that the ordinary Roman capitals, reduced to their 

 simplest forms, could be discriminated by the blind 

 with very little more trouble than the best set of 

 new signs that could be devised, the idea of a spe- 

 cial alphabet for their use has been given up. 



t " Lost Senses," vol. ii. p. 81. 



Of this lady it is positively affirmed that 

 she was able to distinguish colours by the 

 touch. " A lady, who was nearly related to 

 the sufferer, having an apron on, which ac- 

 cording to the fashion of the time, was em- 

 broidered with silk of different colours, asked 

 her if she could tell her what colour it was ; 

 and after applying her fingers attentively to 

 the figures of the embroidery, she replied that 

 it was red, blue, and green ; but whether 

 there were other colours in the apron, the 

 writer of the account does not remember. 

 The same lady having a pink ribbon on her 

 head, and being desirous still further to 

 satisfy her curiosity and her doubts, asked 

 her what colour that was ? After feeling it 

 for some time, her cousin answered that it 

 was a pink colour. This answer was the more 

 surprising, as it showed that she was not 

 only capable of distinguishing different colours, 

 but different shades of the same colour."* It 

 is probable that in this and similar cases, the 

 difference of hue is indicated by some diffe- 

 rence of surface, which becomes appreciable 

 to a refined touch. Of course, it can only be 

 to a person who has once enjoyed sight, and 

 who can therefore form ideas of colour, that 

 such ideas could be suggested by the sense of 

 touch ; and a new set of associations must be 

 formed by habit between the tactile qualities 

 of the surface, and the visual conception 

 called up by its designation. Those who 

 have been born blind must be utterly incapable 

 of forming any such conceptions, and distinc- 

 tions of colour can be to them nothing more 

 than names ; yet even such have been able to 

 discriminate by the touch between stuffs of 

 different hues, which were similar in other 

 respects. That such a power should be 

 attained seems the less difficult of belief, when 

 it is \ borne in mind that all colour depends 

 upon the molecular arrangement of the par- 

 ticles of the surfaces of bodies ; so that there 

 is no great improbability much less an im- 

 possibility in the asserted discrimination of 

 these by a touch rendered delicate by con- 

 stant practice, and by the habit of attending to 

 its minutest indications. It is well known 

 that Dr. Saunderson, the celebrated blind pro- 

 fessor of mathematics at Cambridge, not only 

 acquired a very accurate knowledge of medals", 

 but could even distinguish genuine medals 

 from imitations, more certainly than most 

 connoisseurs in full possession of their senses ; 

 and this power must have depended on pecu- 

 liarities of their surface, too minute to be ap- 

 preciated by an ordinary touch, and not dis- 

 tinguished by the sight. 



Not only does the sense of touch, in its 

 simplest form, undergo this remarkable exalta- 

 tion, but also the muscular sense, which is em- 

 ployed in combination with it in the acquire- 

 ment of information respecting the forms, di- 

 mensions, distances, &c. of objects. Of this, 

 the case of the lady just cited affords an apt 

 illustration : " To amuse herself in the mourn- 

 ful solitude and darkness to which she had 



* Op. cit. p. 79. 



