1804. | 
appears, that the difference between night 
aud day are indiftinétly perceptibie ; but 
no object of vifion can either be diftinguith- 
ed or perceived. 
In addition to this calamitous privation, 
the poor child had early the misfortune of 
being deprived of its mother; and from 
circumftances, partly arifing from necef- 
fary attentions to the management of a 
numerous family, and partly, perhaps, 
from miftaken calculations of the comfort 
and accommodation of the child herfelf, 
fhe feems to have been, for a confiderable 
time at leaft, refigned to the exclufive, 
and almoft /ecluded, care of a nurfe who, 
perhaps, had not all the difpolitions, and 
cannot be expeéted to have had all the 
knowledge and refle€tion, which the pe- 
culiar circumftances of the nurfling might 
require. . 
One ferious miftake, it is obvious, has 
been committed. It feems to have been 
the univerfal praétice to direét and manage 
the unfortunate child by the fenfe of touch 
alone. No appeal feems to have been 
made to any of the other fenfes.. That 
of hearing, in particuiar, feems fo entire'y 
to have been negle&ted, that the necefiity 
of comprehending, and confequently of 
imitating, the diftin&tions of enunciated 
found, feems hardly to have been prefent- 
ed. The guiding hand feems, on every 
occafion, to have been fubftituted for the 
inviting voice. How much of the addi- 
tional calamity is to be attributed to this 
caufe, I fhall not pretend to determine ; 
but certain it is, that the poor child has 
attained her feventh year, without making 
any intelligible efforts towards the exer- 
cife of the faculty of {peech. 
While I was at Glafgow, the obferva- 
tions I had occafion to make ‘* on the 
Caufes and Cure of Natural and Habitual 
Impediments,’ during my ‘* Courfe of 
Leétures on the Science and Practice of 
Elocution,"’ occafioned me to be applied 
to by the father of this unfortunate child ; 
and [ accordingly vifited her, in company 
with a medical triend, of philofophical and 
fcientific celebrity, whofe curiofity, like 
my own, was confiderably excited by the 
particulars we had heard of this very ex- 
traordinary cafe. 
Of the dreadful ravages which the virus 
of the fmall-pox had made, it ‘may eafily 
be inferred, from the faéts already (tated, 
that the child prefented a very lamentable 
{fpeGtacle. Her. general health, however, 
did not appear to be affected. Her growth 
and proportions are remarkably beyond 
the ordinary ftandard of her years; and 
her robuft and maiculine figure formed 
a moft ftriking contrait to the delicate 
Cafe of a Child blind ana {peechleft. 
517 
fymmetry of two beautiful and diminu- 
tive fifters, the fmalleft of which was but 
two years younger than herfelf. Her ani- 
mal {pirits appeared to be high and irre- 
gular ; and fhe was full of boilterous ac~ 
tivity, which fometimes approached al. 
moft to fiercenefs, and fometimes fubfided 
into abfolute inattention, and apparent 
inanity. In thefe tranfitions, however, 
and this wildnefs of deportment, neither 
my profeflional friend nor myfelf could dif- 
cover any indications, either of deficiency 
or derangement of the fenforial faculty, 
that could account for the want of arti- 
culative utterance, even if deficiencies and 
derangements of that defcription could be. 
admitted as fufficient folutions of the phe- 
nomenon. ‘The mingled boldnefs and pre- 
caution with which fhe climbed. over the 
tables and other furniture ; the fkill with 
which fhe balanced herfelf upon the feats, 
and backs, and frames of the chairs, 
which the fucceffively inverted in all pof- 
fible directions; and the addrefs with 
which fhe recovered herfelf, when in dan, 
ger of lofing her equilibrium, confpired, 
with a variety of other feats and circum- 
ftances, to preclude all idea of any other 
degree of imbecility, than the mere com- 
plicated privations of vifion and difcourfe 
might naturally be expeéted to produce. 
Nor can any inferences be drawn that 
would invalidate this conclufion, from her 
intervals\of her apparent inanity: if z#- 
anity that can be called, which is evidently 
nothing more than the paufe of phvfical 
exbaufiion, when boifterous exertion has 
fatigued her mufcles, or diflipated her 
animal fpirits. Then, indeed, fhe feats 
herfelf upon the ground, and, fwaying 
her head from fide to fide, with a fort of 
finuous ofcillation, begins to beat time 
witb her left knee, while fhe hums, in a 
low and plaintive tone, a fort of imperfect 
tune: always, I believe, the fame, though 
of this I cannot be certain. But in this 
I can difcover no, other indication than 
the effort of a mind contraéted in its 
{phere of aétivity by phyfical privations, 
to vary according to its various means 
its occupations and its amufements, 
But ii idiotcy, or if derangement be not 
the caufe that has precluded this unfortu- 
nate child from the ufe of fpeech, to what 
other circumftance fhall be attributed the 
privation. 
The perfuafion of the family feems to 
be, that this fecond and more aggravated 
calamity has refulted from the ravages of 
the fame difeafe which deprived the infant 
of its fight. Asa fecondary confequence, 
this may, perhaps, have been the cafe; 
but of the primary or pbyfical apa 
. ) 
& 
