48 On restoration of sight to persons bom blind. [Jan. 



contained in the 8th Section of the 2nd Book of Mr. Locke in his 

 chapter on Perception. " Suppose a man born blind, and now adult, 

 and taught by the touch to distinguish between a cube and a sphere 

 of the same metal, and suppose the cube and the sphere placed on a 

 table, and the blind man be made to see ; (quaere : whether by his 

 sight before he touched them he could now distinguish and tell which 

 is the globe and which the cube ?) to which the acute and judicious 

 proposer answered — No." 



A pandit, 18 years of age, native of Saugor, was born blind ; his 

 mother states that she had kept him in a dark room until the 10th 

 day of her confinement, when on taking him to the door and expos- 

 ing his eyes to the light, she discovered the pearly appearance of the 

 pupils peculiar to cataract, and that he has always been blind. He 

 is intelligent and cheerful, and has been in the habit of finding his 

 way about Saugor and the adjoining country for many years, fre- 

 quently singing, of which he is very fond. He had little or no incli- 

 nation to undergo the operation, — at least not sufficient to overcome 

 the fear which he entertained. He could perceive the light, and had 

 acquired the habit of rotating the head constantly in progression in 

 a regular and curious manner to the right and left, with a view, I 

 imagine, of admitting the light to the retina obliquely between the 

 circumference of the cataract and the under edge of his iris. It was 

 a long time before his relations could persuade him to submit to an 

 operation. He had requested to be taken to me some months previ- 

 ous ; was gratified at being told that he might be made to see like other 

 people ; but the slight inconvenience attending the introduction of a 

 few drops of the solution of belladonna into the lids, and my holding 

 the lids to try how they should be supported, annoyed him — and he 

 said he would much sooner go home and eat his dinner. " What do 

 I want with being restored to sight ?" His mother likewise expressed 

 her disbelief as to a person born blind being made to see. The prin- 

 cipal pandit of the muhallah at length overruled the objections. The 

 operation was performed on the 28th of August. He complained of 

 but little pain, and indeed there was scarcely any inflammation what- 

 ever produced by the operation. He immediately became conscious 

 of a considerable increase of light. 



The eye-balls, as in all cases of congenital cataract, moved about 

 without any control, which, together with a very prominent brow and 

 much spasmodic action of the lids, offered some obstacles. So little 

 irritation had occurred, that I operated on the 30th August on the left 

 eye, which resembled the former operation in every particular. No 

 inflammation followed, but the right eye had become inflamed, in 



