234 
B L I 
B L I 
E L I 
directed him to judge of the dimensions of 
tl^e room, and the different voices of the 
number of persons that were present. His 
distinction in these respects was very accu- 
rate, and his memory so retentive that lie 
seldom was mistaken. I have known him in- 
stantly recognize a person on first hearing 
him speak, though more than two years hau 
elapsed since the time of their last meeting. 
He determined pretty nearly the stature of 
tnose he was speaking with, by the direction 
of thetr voices; and he made tolerabie con- 
jectures respecting their tempers and dis- 
positions, by the manner in which they, con- 
ducted their conversation. It must be ob- 
served that this gentleman’s eyes were not 
totally insensible to intense light. The raws 
refracted through a prism, when sufficiently 
vivid, produced certain distinguishable effects 
on them. r l he red gave him a disagreeable 
sensation, which he compared to the touch 
of a saw. As the colours declined in vio- 
lence, the harshness lessened, until the green 
afforded a sensation that was highly pleasing 
to him, and which he described as conveying 
an idea similar to what he felt in running his 
hand over smooth polished surfaces. Polished 
surfaces, meandering streams, and gentle de- 
clivities, were the figures by which lie ex- 
pressed his ideas of beauty. ' Bugged rocks, 
irregular points, and boisterous elements, 
furnished him with expressions for terror and 
disgust. He excelled in the charms of con- 
versation ; was happy in his allusions to. visual 
objects; and discoursed on the nature, com- 
position, and beauty of colours, with perti- 
nence and precision. Dr. Moves was a 
striking instance of the power the human 
soul possesses of finding resources of satis- 
faction, even under the most rigorous cala- 
mities. Though involved ‘ in ever-during 
darkness,’ and excluded from the charming 
views of silent or animated nature ; though 
d pendant on an undertaking for the means 
ot his subsistence, the success of which was 
very precarious; in short, though destitute 
of other support than his genius, and under 
the mercenary protection of a person whose 
integrity he suspected; still Dr. Moyes was 
generally cheerful, and apparently happy. 
Indeed it must afford much pleasure to the 
feeling "heart, to observe this hilarity of tem- 
elr fife vail almost unive sally with the blind.” 
'llefe are, in short, few sciences in which the 
blind have not distinguished themselves : even 
those whose acquisition seemed essentially to 
depend upon vision, have at last yielded to 
genius and industry, though deprived of that 
advantage. Sculpture is not the most prac- 
ticable art for a blind man ; yet there are in- 
stances of persons who have taken the figure 
cf a face by the touch, and moulded it in 
wax with the utmost exactness; as was the 
£-.ase of the blind sculptor mentioned by De 
Piles, wh© thus took the likeness of the duke 
de Bracciano in a dark cellar, and made a 
marble statue of king Charles I. with great 
cl ‘gance and justness. In music, there are, 
at present, living instances how far the blind 
may proceed. In former periods we shall 
find illustrious examples how amply nature 
has capacitated the blind to excel, both in 
the scientific and practical departments of 
that enchanting ark 
Dr. Bew, in the Transactions of the Man- 
chester Society, above quoted, menti >ns an 
instance, which would be beyond belief if 
we had it not on such respectable authority. 
“ John Metcalf, a native of the neighbour- 
hood of Manchester, where he is well known, 
became blind at a very early age, so as to be 
entirely unconscious of light and its various 
effects. This man passed the younger pars 
of his life as a waggoner, and occasionally at 
a guide in intricate roads during the night, 
or when the tracks were cover, d with snow. 
Strange as this may appear to those w ho can 
see, the employment he has since under- 
taken is still more extraordinary : it is one of 
the last to which we could suppose a blind 
man would, ever turn his attention. His pre- 
sent occupation is that of a projector and 
surveyor , of highways in difficult and moun- 
tainous parts. With the assistance only of a 
long stall, I have several times met this man 
traversing the roads, ascending precipices, 
exploring valleys, ane investigating their se- 
veral extents, forms, and situations, so as to 
answer his designs in the best manner. The 
plans which he designs, and the estimates he 
makes, are done in a manner peculiar to him- 
self, and which he cannot well convey the 
meaning of to others. His abilities in this 
respect are nevertheless so great, that he 
finds constant employment. Most of the 
roads over the Peak in Derbyshire have been 
altered by his directions, particularly those 
in the vicinity of Buxton ; and he is at this 
time constructing a new one betwixt Wil- 
meslow and Gongleton, with a view to open 
a communication to the great London road, 
without being obliged to pass over the moun- 
tains.” 
Bishop Burnett, in his Letters, mentions a 
blind lady, whom he saw at Geneva, who lost 
her sight at one year old, yet was eminently 
skilled in most sciences, antient and modern. 
She spoke French, German, Italian, and La- 
tin ; and played exquisitely on several mu- 
sical instruments. She wrote very legibly 
with a crayon. The means by which her fa- 
ther taught her to write was, by having let- 
ters carved in wood ; and by feeling them 
she acquired a correct idea of their form. 
The bishop saw r her write, which she did very 
fast, aided only -by a machine which held the 
paper, and kept her always in line. 
In the Annual Register for 1762, we have a 
similar account. “ A young gentlewoman of 
a good family in P'rance, now in her 18th 
year, lost her sight when only tw f o years old, 
her mother having been advised to lay some 
pigeons’ blood on her eyes, to preserve 
them in the small-pox ; w hereas, so far from 
answering the end, it ate into them. Nature, 
however, may be said to have compensated 
for the unhappy mistake, by beauty of per- 
son, sweetness of temper, vivacity of genius, 
quickness of conception, and many talents, 
which certainly much alleviate her misfor- 
tune. She plays at cards with the same rea- 
diness as others of the party. She first pre- 
pares the packs allotted to her, by pricking 
them in several parts ; yet so imperceptibly, 
that the closest inspection can scarcely dis- 
cern her indexes. She sorts the suits, and 
arranges the cards in their proper sequence, 
with the same precision, and nearly the same 
facility,, as those who have their sight. All 
she requires of those who play with her, is 
to name every card as it is played ; and these 
-he retains so exactly, that 'she frequently 
* 
performs some notable strokes, such as show 
a great combination and strong memory. 
The most wonderful circumstance is, that she 
should have learned to read and write ; but 
even this is readily believed on knowing her 
method. In writing to her, no ink is used, 
but the letters are pricked down on the pa- 
per ; and by the delicacy of her touch, feel- 
ing each letter, she follows them successive- 
ly, and reads every word with her linger ends. 
She herself in writing makes use of a pencil, 
as she could not know when her pen was dry ; 
her guide on the paper is a small thin ru- 
ler, anil of the breadth of her writing. On 
finishing a letter, she wets it, so as to fix the 
traces of her pencil, that they are not ob- 
scured or effaced ; then proceeds to fold 
and seal it, and write the direction: all by 
her own address, and without the assistance 
of any other person. Her writing is very 
straight, well cut, and the spelling no less 
correct. To teach this singular mechanism, 
the indefatigable cares of her affectionate mo- 
ther were long employed : who accustomed 
her daughter to feel letters cut in cards or 
paste-board ; brought her to distinguish an 
A from a B, and thus the whole alphabet, anp 
afterwards to spell words ; then, bv the re- 
membrance of the shape of the letters, to de- 
lineate them on paper; .and lastly, to ar- 
range them so as to form words" and sem 
tences. She has learned to play on the gui- 
tar ; and has even contrived a way of prick- 
ing down the tunes, as an assistance to her 
memory. So delicate are her organs, that in 
singing a tune, though new to her, she is able 
to name the notes. In figured dances she 
acquits herself extremely well, and in a mi- 
nuet with inimitable ease and gracefulness - 
As for the works of her sex, she has a master- 
ly hand : she sews and hems perfectly well ; 
and in all her works she threads the needles 
for herself, however small. By the watch, 
her touch never fails telling her exactly the 
hour and minute.” 
These instances afford the happiest encou- 
ragement both to those who labour under 
this misfortune, not to despair of attaining 
by perseverance the intellectual accomplish- 
ments ; and a striking admonition to parents 
not to increase, by their negligence, a cala- 
mity to which a darling child may be sub- 
jected by the dispensation of Providence. 
Some benevolent institutions have been late- 
ly established for the employment and in- 
struction of the blind poor ; and we have 
little doubt that the views of their projectors 
will, in many cases, be fully answered. 
BLINK of the ice, in sea language, de.- 
notes that bright appearance produced by the 
ice near the horizon ; and perceptible, in ap- 
proaching the ice, long before it is itself 
seen. 
BLISTER, in medicine, a thin bladder 
containing a watery humour, whether occa- 
sioned by burns, and the like accidents, or by 
vesicatories laid on different parts of the body 
for that purpose. 
Cantharides, or Spanish flies, applied in 
the form of a plaister, are chiefly used with 
this intention. See Materia IvIedica. 
BLITUM, the blite, or strawberry spi- 
nach, a genus of the digynia order and nio- 
nandria class of plants, and in the natural 
method ranking in the 12th order, holoracean 
The calyx is trilid ; no petals ; the seed is 
