BLINDNESS. 
statue of King Charles I. with great just- 
ness and elegance. 
However unaccountable it may appear to 
the abstract philosophers, yet nothing is 
more certain in fact, than that a blind man 
may, by the inspiration of the Muses, or ra- 
ther by the etforts of a cultivated genius, 
exhibit in poetry the most natural images 
and animated descriptions even of visible 
objects, without deservedly incurring the 
charge of plagiarism. We need not recur 
to Homer and Milton for attestations to this 
fact ; they had probably been long ac- 
quainted with the visible world before they 
had lost their sight, and their descriptions 
might be animated with all the rapture and 
enthusiasm which originally fired their bo- 
soms, when the grand and delightful objects 
delineated by them were immediately be- 
held. We are furnished with instances in 
which a similar energy and transport of de- 
scription, at least in a very considerable de- 
gree, have been exhibited by those on 
whose minds visible objects were never im- 
pressed, or have been entirely obliterated. 
Dr. Blacklock affords a surprising in- 
stance of this kind, who, though he had lost 
his sight before he was six months old, not 
only made himself master of various lan- 
guages, Greek, Latin, Italian, French ; but 
acquired the reputation of an excellent 
poet, whose performances abound with ap- 
propriate images and animated descrip- 
tions. 
Another instance, which deserves being 
recorded, is that of Dr. Henry Moyes, in 
our own country, who, though blind from 
his infancy, by the ardour and assiduity of 
his application, and by the energy of na- 
tive genius, not only made incredible ad- 
vances in mechanical operations, in music, 
and in the languages ; but acquired an ex- 
tensive acquaintance with geometry, optics 
algebra, astronomy, chemistry, and all other 
branches of natural philosophy. 
From the account of Dr. Moyes, who oc- 
casionally read lectures on philosophical 
chemistry at 'Manchester, delivered to the 
Manchester society by Dr. Bew, it ap- 
pears, that mechanical exercises were the 
favourite employment of his infant years : 
and that at a very early age he was go well 
acquainted with the use of edge-tools, as to 
be able to construct little wind-mills, and 
even a loom. By the sound, and the dif- 
ferent voices of the persons that were pre- 
sent, he was directed in his judgment of the 
dimensions of the room in which they were 
assembled ; and in this respect he deter- 
mined witli such a degree of accuracy, as 
seldom to be mistaken. His memory was 
singularly retentive ; so that he was capable 
of recognizing a person on his first speaking, 
though he had not been in company with 
him for two years. He determined with 
surprising exactness the stature, of those 
with whom he conversed, by the direction 
of their voices ; and he made tolerable con- 
jectures concerning their dispositions, by 
the manner in which they conducted their 
conversation. His eyes, though he never 
recollected his having seeD, were not totally 
insensible to intense light : but the rays re- 
fracted through a prism, when sufficiently 
vivid, produced distinguishable effects upon 
them. The red produced 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 hint, and which he described as 
conveying an idea similar to that which he 
gained by running his head over smooth po- 
lished surfaces. Such surfaces, meander- 
ing streams, and gentle declivities, were the 
figures by which he expressed his ideas of 
beauty; rugged rocks, irregular points, and 
boisterous elements, furnished him with 
expressions for terror and disgust. He ex- 
celled in the charms of conversation ; was 
happy in his allusions to visual objects • and 
discoursed on the nature, composition, and 
beauty of colours, with pertinence and pre- 
cision. 1 
This instance, and some others which have 
occurred, seem -to furnish a presumption 
that the feeling or touch of blind persons’ 
may be so improved as to enable them to 
perceive that texture and disposition of co- 
loured surfaces by which some rays of lio-ht 
are reflected and others absorbed, and” in 
this manner to distinguish colours. 
It redounds very much to the honour of 
modern times, that the public attention has 
been directed to the improvement of the 
condition of blind persons ; and that insti- 
tutions have been formed in different coun- 
tries for providing them with suitable em- 
ployment, tending not only to alleviate 
their calamity, but to render them useful. 
The first regular and systematic plan for 
this purpose was proposed by M. Hally in 
an “ Essay on the Education of the Blind,” 
•printed at Paris in the year 1786, under 
the patronage of the Academy of Sciences. 
An English translation of this essay is an- 
nexed to “Dr. Blacklock’s Poems,” printed 
at Edinburgh in 1793, 4to. The object of 
