14 ACCOUNT OF A BOY 



successor of Dr Beattie in his academical chair at Aberdeen. 

 In this letter Mr Glenn if, incloses " An Account of James 

 Mitchell, a lad in the county of Moray, born blind and 

 deaf;" drawn up, at Mr Glennie's request, by a neighbour- 

 ing clergyman. From the narrative it appears, that this is 

 the very patient who was formerly under Mr Wardrop's 

 care; and it appears farther, that although his blindness 

 returned again, not long after the operation was performed, the 

 peculiarities of his case still continue to present, under a new 

 and very different form, a subject of examination and inquiry, 

 not less interesting than if Mr Wardrop's exertions in his fa- 

 vour had been rewarded with permanent success. 



A short extract from Mr Glennie's letter will form the best 

 introduction I can prefix to the history which is to follow. 



" I send you inclosed an account of a clergyman's son who 

 was born deaf and blind. The account is imperfect as yet ; 

 but it is an accurate answer to a series of questions which I put 

 to the clergyman who has taken the trouble to draw it up. As 

 he has very obligingly offered to answer any more queries that 

 I make, I have prepared a good many additional questions, 

 that the present state of the young man's mind may be ascer- 

 tained with as much accuracy as possible. Much light might 

 have been thrown on the mental faculties, if accurate experi- 

 ments and observations had been made on patients in such cir- 

 cumstances as this unfortunate young man. I intend, if it be 

 possible, to visit him during our summer vacation ; but 

 I am sensible, that little can be done in such a case, even 

 in a visit of some days, compared with what may be ac- 

 complished by his constant attendants, if we could teach 

 them to make the proper experiments. For this purpose, 

 the only thing I can think of is, to direct the mother and 

 sister to have recourse to the narratives of some instances not 



dissimilar, 



