MEMOIR or CAMl’EI;. 
■27 
and yet we are guilty of a far greater folly in the 
treatment of our own. Tiie subjects of squinting 
and stammering are also brought under review, and 
curious facts are slated with regard to them. The 
questions regarding the phenomena of the early vi- 
sion of children are puzzling, and do not seem even 
yet to be determined. It cannot be ilenied, he re- 
marks, that, with many animals, no sooner are they 
born than they enjoy the faculty of distinguishing 
objects with the utmost precision. Thus, ducklings, 
for example, not only swim from the 6rst, but they 
dart upon the flies and other insects for food, the 
moment they are hatched. They therefore judge of 
the form and distance of objects without any assist- 
ance from the sense of touch ; whilst the theories of 
Molineux, Locke, and Clieselden, concerning the 
vision of infants, would lead to very different con- 
clusions as respects their visual powers. For this 
essay the Society of Haarlem voted him their ho- 
norary medal. 
Camper had spent two years in the retirement of 
the country, when he was again called to the ardu- 
ous duties of an academical life, by the appointment 
which was conferred upon him of Professor of Me- 
dicine, Surgery, and .\natomy, in the University of 
Croningen. The proximity of this city to bis pre- 
sent habitation, the natural activity of his mind, and 
a desire to be useful to the community, concurred 
with a love of fame, which retirement had not ex- 
tinguished, in inducing him to undertake the office 
