BORN BLIND AND DEAF: 33 



sible, and not altogether as an improbable event, among the 

 various physical calamities to which our species is liable. It 

 appears from the same ingenious author, that the Abbe do 

 1'Epe'e had even gone so far, a few years before his death, as 

 to offer, in some of the Continental Journals, with his charac- 

 teristical benevolence, to undertake the charge and tuition of 

 any child who might be brought into the world in these unfor- 

 tunate circumstances ; and M. Sicard has not only taken the 

 trouble to record the general principle on which the Abbe de 

 1'Epe'e intended, if this accident should occur, to have pro- 

 ceeded in the education of his pupil ; but lias added some very 

 judicious strictures of his own, on the imperfections of the plan 

 which his predecessor proposed, in such an instance, to follow. 



These 



capable of listening to what is passing around them. The organ of Smell is in- 

 sensible; and the power of Taste but imperfectly developed. The sense of see- 

 ing alone appears uninjured by the disorder ; but even from this they derive little 

 benefit. They gaze with indifference on the spectacle of Nature ; and if they 

 see, can hardly be said to perceive." 



" This disease is peculiar to the human species. All the classes of animals, 

 from the oyster to the monkey, possess a sufficient degree of intelligence, to pro- 

 cure the means of their own subsistence. The Cretin, on the other hand, 

 would die of hunger, if his wants were not provided for by the attentions of 

 others.' 1 



(Traite du Goitre et du Cretinisme, par F. E. Fodere, Ancicn Medecin des Ho- 

 pitaux civils et militaires. A Paris, an vin.J 



Since this note was written, I have received a letter from Mr Glennie, in 

 which he remarks, and, in my opinion, very justly, that the case of Mit- 

 chell is probably not so very rare an occurrence, as we might, at first, be dispo- 

 sed to imagine. " Among the various merits (he observes) of this worthy fami- 

 ly, their superiority to such prejudices as would have precluded our getting any 



information about the lad's state of mind, is deserving of peculiar notice 



I have reason to believe, that there are others in circumstances similar to young 

 Mitchell's, whose cases are, at this day, kept so secret, that they are not so 

 much as known to the inmates and members of the family to whom they belong." 



Vol. VII. E 



