152 Instinct and Intelligence 



seven years of age she "occupied a place in 

 her home no higher than that of an intelligent 

 animal upon whose instruction much labour 

 had been bestowed." Her intellectual capacity, 

 so far as an opinion could be formed, remained 

 undeveloped ; her sense of touch, however, was 

 unimpaired, and she was thus able by the use 

 of her hands to feel her way about the house 

 in which she lived. Before entering the institu- 

 tion for the blind, which she did when seven 

 years of age, L. Bridgeman had been taught by 

 means of her sense of touch that is, through 

 moving the tips of her fingers over raised 

 letters to recognise words which were attached 

 to a number of articles in common use, such as 

 knives, forks, spoons, and so on. She had, 

 however, no conception of anything beyond 

 this mechanical form of knowledge, the result 

 of which, Dr. Howe observes, " was about as 

 great as if one had taught a number of tricks 

 to a clever dog." After long and patient 

 teaching, so as to exercise her sense of touch as 

 highly as possible, Dr. Howe states, Laura B. 

 seemed to have gained ideas that the symbols 

 she was employing meant definite things. 



