62 
DR. FRANZ ON THE CURE OF CONGENITAL BLINDNESS, 
possible that the portion of the retina upon which these rays impinged could have 
obtained that acuteness of sensation which is essential for the mental perception of 
the image caused by an object. Nevertheless, we will assume that the cleft in the 
capsule held the same relation to the eye in this instance, as a small hole in a card 
placed immediately before a healthy eye ; in this case the patient would not only 
have seen an object at the distance of half an inch or an inch, but even at a much 
greater distance. That he was incapable of this I have satisfied myself by repeated 
experiments, which have led me to the conclusion that his belief that he really saw 
objects resulted solely from his imagination, combined with his power of reasoning. 
In feeling an object and bringing it in contact with the eyelids and the cheek, while 
holding it close before his eye, by his refined sense of touch an idea of the object was 
produced, which was judged of and corrected according to the experience he had 
gained by constant practice. This opinion is confirmed by the observations of those 
who have known and watched him for years, and also by a fact which I have myself 
frequently observed, viz. that all well-educated blind persons, who are not absolutely 
amaurotic, endeavour to persuade others that they see more than they really can, in 
order to conceal as much as possible their deficiency in the noblest of the senses, 
and from a reluctance to be regarded as objects of compassion. 
On terminating this inquiry into the condition of the visual organ and the actual 
state of vision, I may here be allowed to mention that the patient’s sense of touch 
had attained an extraordinary degree of perfection, and that in order to examine an 
object minutely he conveyed it to his lips. The sensation produced by silk stuffs 
was most pleasing to him. He was said to possess the power of distinguishing co- 
lours by the touch, but this assertion was not confirmed by his own testimony. 
After the examination above detailed, I gave my opinion that the defect of the 
right eye was irremediable ; that the patient might obtain sight with the left eye by 
an operation ; and that the disfigurement caused by the inversion of the eyes might 
also be removed by operation. Though the left eye had been considered incurable 
like the right, there appeared to me reasonable grounds to hope for a cure, provided 
I could succeed in keeping down inflammation, which is not easy to be done in an 
eye already several times operated upon, and especially in a young plethoric subject. 
The operation was then resolved upon. 
On the 10th of July 1840, in the presence of Dr. Swaine, and with the kind assist- 
ance of Messrs. F. Fowke and F. Steinhaeuser, I made an incision in the cornea 
upwards, and introducing a pair of fine curved forceps, armed with teeth, into the 
posterior chamber, I seized the anterior wall of the capsule by passing one of the 
blades of the forceps into its small aperture, and attempted by pulling it slowly to 
separate it from its adhesion with the uvea and its peripheral connexion, in which I 
succeeded without producing a prolapsus of the vitreous body, or tearing the capsule, 
which I now removed. After this proceeding, a large piece of the lens of an opake 
colour, probably the nucleus, presented itself in the pupil, which was easily removed 
