2 
TRANSACTIONS OF THE TEXAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 
proportional part they play, that the observations to be here described 
were undertaken. As the title implies, the conditions were too rough to 
yield more than very general results, and it was soon decided to use the 
experiments chiefly for determining the direction in which experimental 
refinement would he profitable. We trust, however, that our results are 
not wholly without value and offer them for what they are worth. 
The literature of the subject consists of Mr. W. Hank’s Levy’s account* 
of his own power, quoted by James in“Principles of Psychology,” f Prof. 
James’ comments and discussion,! and an article by Mr. Dresslar.j; Gal- 
tong has heard of fit, but regrets that those he knows possessing the 
power were unwilling to undergo experiment. 
Levy says: “Whether within a house or in the open air, whether walk- 
ing or standing still, I can tell, although quite blind, when I am opposite 
an object, and can perceive whether it be tall or short, slender or bulky. 
* * * I can * * * often [detect] whether it be a wooden 
fence, a brick or stone wall, or a quickset hedge.” He says further: 
“Hone of the five senses have anything to do with the existence of this 
power,” which he calls “facial perception,” to indicate that the skin of 
the face is its organ. James suggests, among other things, that “the 
tympanic sense noticed on page 140, supra, comes in to help here, and 
pcssibly other forms of sensibility not yet understood.” Dresslar, by 
suitable experiments, shows that, in his subjects , possessing normal vi- 
sion, but carefully blindfolded, the tympanum is too insensitive to pres- 
sure to account for actual perceptions; that the power is lost with 
stopped ears and uncovered face, and unimpaired with covered face and 
open ears. This apparent flat contradiction of Levy by Dresslar’s re- 
sults suggested that the former might be right regarding the blind, or 
some of them; the latter in the case of those who see. 
With one exception, noted below, all our experiments were on abso- 
lutely blind subjects, attending the Texas Institute for the Blind at 
Austin. r Che apparatus consisted (a) of three wooden boards 2 feet 
broad and 6 feet 2 inches, 5 feet 8 inches and 5 feet 2 inches high, re- 
spectively, so braced that they would stand securely on reasonably level 
ground; (b) of face-covers long enough to reach from forehead to collar 
and back to the ears on either side, made of tw r o pieces of cotton cloth 
sewed together and padded evenly throughout with absorbent cotton; 
and (c) of fish skin pouches filled wfith flour, large enough to cover the 
concha, and flexible enough to penetrate a half-inch or more into the 
meatus. A watch if touching the pouches thus adjusted, could be heard; 
when the ears were stuffed with putty and covered with cotton, the 
same watch could be heard from one or two to six inches away. The 
* “Blindness and the Blind.” London. + Vol, II, p. 204. 
X Am. Jour, of Psych. § Human Faculty, p. 31. 
