64 ACCOUNT OF A BOY 



and outer half, the humours are of a dark grey. The pupils 

 contract and dilate as usual, on varying the quantity of light. 



It is not easy to determine the exact degree of vision which 

 he now enjoys. He sees those bodies only which have consi- 

 derable brightness, or dark-coloured bodies placed on a bright 

 ground. Consequently, of the various objects which usually 

 surround him, he sees such only as are not very minute, and 

 are placed within a short distance of his eyes. He could 

 distinguish a crown-piece at the distance of two or three feet, 

 and a person's face at the distance of six. But it seems obvi- 

 ous, that he does not perceive distinctly the limits of any ob- 

 ject, however bright. For as soon as, guided by his own ob- 

 scure vision, he has reached any thing with his hands, he no 

 longer regards it with his eyes ; but, as if he were yet totally 

 blind, examines it solely with his fingers, tongue, lips, and 

 nose. 



That he can now distinguish differences in the kinds of 

 light or in colours, seems very evident from an amusement in 

 which, his sister told me, he sometimes indulges, — matching 

 bodies of the same colour together. One day, for example, 

 having a bunch of the flowers of wild mustard in his hand, he 

 was observed to approach an officer who was near him, and, 

 with a smile, placed the flowers in contact with the yellow 

 part of his epaulette. Frequently, too, he is seen gathering in 

 the fields a number of flowers of the same kind ; the blue-bot- 

 tle, for example, or the corn-poppy, or the marigold. It ap- 

 pears, however, that it is only the brighter colours he is capa- 

 ble of distinguishing ; and of these red seems to be his favou- 

 rite. A red object attracts his notice more, and he looks at 

 it longer, than any other. Of the female parishioners who 

 pass the manse on their road to church on Sunday, he is most 

 apt to follow those who are dressed in red cloaks. Miss Mit- 

 chell 



