This (pure) memory for mere sounds or tones has become less

strong in the now four-year-old boy, who has more to do with

ideas and concepts, although his memory in other respects is

good.

In the thirty-seventh month he sang, quite correctly, airs he

had heard, and he could sing some songs to the piano, if they

were frequently repeated with him. His fancy for this soon

passed away, and these exercises ceased. On the other hand, he

tells stories a great deal and with pleasure. His pronunciation

is distinct, the construction of the sentences is mostly

correct, apart from errors acquired from his nurse. The

confounding of the first and second persons, the "I" and "you,"

or rather his use of the one for the other, has ceased, and the

child designates himself by _I_, others by _thou_ and _you_. Men

are ordinarily addressed by him with _thou_, as his father and

uncle are; women with _you_, as are even his mother and nurse.

This continues for a long time. The boy of four years counts

objects, with effort, up to six; numbers remain for a long time

merely empty words (pp. 165, 172). In the same way, he has, as

yet, but small notion of the order of the days of the week, and

mixes up the names of them. To-day, to-morrow, yesterday, have

gradually become more intelligible to him.

Notwithstanding the aphoristic character of these extracts from a full

and detailed diary of observations, I have thought they ought to be

given, because they form a valuable supplement to my observations in the

nineteenth chapter, and show particularly how far independent thought

may be developed, even in the second and third years, while there is, as

yet, small knowledge of language. The differences in mental development

between this child and mine are no less worthy of notice than are the

agreements. Among the latter is the fact, extremely important in a

pedagogical point of view, that, the less we teach the child the simple

truth from the beginning, so much the easier it is to inoculate him

permanently with religious notions, i. e., of "miraculous revelation."

Fairy tales, ghost-stories, and the like easily make the childish

imagination, of itself very active, hypertrophic, and cloud the judgment

concerning actual events. Morals and nature offer such an abundance of

facts with which we may connect the teaching of language, that it is

better to dispense with legends. AEsop's fables combine the moral and the

natural in a manner unsurpassable. My child tells me one of these fables

every morning.

FOOTNOTES:

[D] The vowels have the Continental, not the English, sounds.

[E] Or possibly for the word _drink_, which a child of my acquaintance

called _ghing_.--EDITOR.

[F] "The First Three Years of Childhood," edited and translated by Alice

M. Christie; published in Chicago, 1885.

B.

NOTES CONCERNING LACKING, DEFECTIVE, AND ARRESTED MENTAL DEVELOPMENT IN

THE FIRST YEARS OF LIFE.

The data we have concerning the behavior of children born, living,

without head or without brain, and of microcephalous children, as well

as of idiots and cretins more advanced in age, are of great interest, as

helping us to a knowledge of the dependence of the first psychical

processes upon the development of the brain, especially of the cerebral

cortex. Unfortunately, these data are scanty and scattered.

Very important, too, for psychogenesis, are reports concerning the

physiological condition and activity of children whose mental

development has seemed to be stopped for months, or to be made

considerably slower, or to be unusually hastened.

Scanty as are the notes I have met with on this matter, after much

search, yet I collect and present some of them, in the hope that they

will incite to more abundant and more careful observation in the future

than has been made up to this time.

A good many data concerning the behavior of cretin children are to be

found in the very painstaking book, "Neue Untersuchungen ueber den

Kretinismus oder die Entartung des Menschen in ihren verschiedenen

Graden und Formen" ("New Investigations concerning Cretinism, or Human

Deterioration, in its Various Forms and Degrees"), by Maffei and Roesch

(two vols, Erlangen, 1844). But, in order that these data should be of

value, the observed anomalies and defects of the cerebral functions

ought to be capable of being referred to careful morphological

investigations of the cretin brain. As the authors give no results of

_post-mortem_ examinations, I simply refer to their work here.

I once had the opportunity myself of seeing a hemicephalus, living, who

was brought to the clinic of my respected colleague, Prof. B. Schultze,

in Jena. The child was of the male sex, and was born on the 1st of July,

1883, at noon, along with a perfectly normal twin sister. The parents

are of sound condition. I saw the child for the first time on the 3d of

July, at two o'clock. I found all the parts of the body, except the

head, like those of ordinary children born at the right time. The head

had on it a great red lump like a tumor, and came to an end directly

over the eyes, going down abruptly behind; but, even if the tumor were

supposed to be covered with skin, there would by no means be the natural

arched formation of the cranium of a newly-born child. The face, too,

absolutely without forehead, was smaller in comparison than the rest of

the body. I found now, in the case of this child, already two days old,

a remarkably regular breathing, a very cool skin--in the forenoon a

specific warmth of 32 deg. C. had been found--and slight mobility. The eyes

remained closed. When I opened them, without violence, the pupil was

seen to be immobile. It did not react in the least upon the direct light

of the sun on either side. The left eye did not move at all, the right

made rare, convulsive, lateral movements. The conjunctiva was very much

reddened. The child did not react in the least to pricks of a dull

needle tried on all parts of the body, and reacted only very feebly to

pinches; not at all to sound-stimuli, but regularly to stronger,

prolonged cutaneous stimuli; in particular, the child moved its arms

after a slap on the back, just like normal new-born children, and

uttered very harsh, feeble tones when its back was rubbed. When I put my

finger in its mouth vigorous sucking movements began, which induced me

to offer the bottle--this had not yet been done. Some cubic centimetres

of milk were vigorously swallowed, and soon afterward the breast of a

nurse was taken. While this was going on I could feel quite distinctly

with my finger, under the chin, the movements of swallowing. It was easy

to establish the further fact that my finger, which I laid in the hollow

of the child's hand, was frequently clasped firmly by the little

fingers, which had well-developed nails. Not unfrequently, sometimes

without previous contact, sometimes after it, the tip of the tongue, and

even a larger part of the tongue, was thrust out between the lips, and

once, when I held the child erect, he plainly gave a prolonged yawn.

Finally, the fact seemed to me very noteworthy that, after being taken

and held erect, sometimes also without any assignable outward occasion,

the child inclined its head forward and turned it vigorously both to the

right and to the left. When the child had sucked lustily a few times, it

opened both eyes about two millimetres wide, and went on with its

nursing. An assistant physician saw the child sneeze.

These observations upon a human child, two days old, unquestionably

acephalous, i. e., absolutely without cerebrum, but as to the rest of

its body not in the least abnormal, prove what I have already advanced

(vol. i, p. 203), that the cerebrum takes no part at all in the first

movements of the newly-born. In this respect the extremely rare case of

an acephalous child, living for some days, supplies the place of an

experiment of vivisection. Unfortunately, the child died so early that I

could not carry on further observations and experiments. The report of

the _post-mortem_ examination will be published by itself.

Every observer of young children knows the great variety in the rapidity

of their development, and will agree with me in general that a slow and

steady development of the cerebral functions in the first four years,

but especially in the first two years, justifies a more favorable

prognosis than does a very hasty and unsteady development; but when

during that period of time there occurs a complete and prolonged

interruption of the mental development, then the danger is always great

that the normal course will not be resumed. So much the more

instructive, therefore, are the cases in which the children after such a

standstill have come back to the normal condition. Four observations of

this kind have been published by R. Demme ("19. Bericht ueber das

Jenner'sche Kinderspital in Bern, 1882," S. 31 bis 52). These are of so

great interest in their bearing on psychogenesis, and they confirm in so

striking a manner some of the propositions laid down by me in this book,

that I should like to print them here word for word, especially as the

original does not appear to have found a wide circulation; but that

would make my book altogether too large. I confine myself, therefore, to

this reference, with the request that further cases of partial or total

interruption of mental development during the first year of life, with a

later progress in it, may be collected and made public.

It is only in rare cases that microcephalous children can be observed,

while living, for any considerable length of time continuously. In this

respect a case described by Aeby is particularly instructive.

A microcephalous boy was born of healthy parents--he was their first

child--about four weeks too soon. His whole body had something of

stiffness and awkwardness. The legs were worse off in this respect than

the arms; they showed, as they continued to show up to the time of his

death, a tendency to become crossed. The boy was never able to stand or

walk. He made attempts to seize striking objects, white or

party-colored, but never learned actually to hold anything. The play of

feature was animated. The dark eyes, shining and rapidly moving, never

lingered long upon one and the same object. The child was much inclined

to bite, and always bit very sharply. Mentally there was pronounced

imbecility. In spite of his four years the boy never got so far as to

produce any articulate sounds whatever. Even simple words like "papa"

and "mamma" were beyond his ability. His desire for anything was

expressed in inarticulate and not specially expressive tones. His sleep

was short and light; he often lay whole nights through with open eyes.

He seldom shed tears; his discomfort was manifested chiefly by shrill

screaming. He died of pulmonary paralysis at the end of the fourth year.

The autopsy showed that the frontal lobes were surprisingly small, and

that there was a partial deficiency of the median longitudinal fissure.

The fissure did not begin till beyond the crown of the head, in the

region of the occiput. The anterior half of the cerebrum consequently

lacked the division into lateral hemispheres. It had few convolutions

also, and the smoothness of its surface was at once obvious. The _corpus

callosum_ and the _fornix_ were undeveloped. "The gray cortical layer

attained in general only about a third of the normal thickness, and was

especially weakly represented in the frontal region." The cerebellum not

being stunted, seemed, by the side of the greatly shrunken cerebrum,

surprisingly large.

In this case the microcephalous of four years behaves, as far as the

development of will is concerned, like the normal boy of four months.

The latter is, in fact, superior to him in _seizing_, while the former

in no way manifests any advantage in a psychical point of view.

Two cases of microcephaly have been described by Fletcher Beach (in the

"Transactions of the International Medical Congress," London, 1881, iii,

615-626).

E. R. was, in May, 1875, received into his institution at the

age of eleven years. She had at the time of her birth a small

head, and had at no time manifested much intelligence. She could

not stand or walk, but was able to move her arms and legs. Her

sight and hearing were normal. She was quiet and obedient, and

sat most of the time in her chair. She paid no attention to her

bodily needs. She could not speak and had to be fed with a

spoon. After six months she became a little more intelligent,

made an attempt to speak, and muttered something indistinctly.

She would stretch out her hand when told to give it, and she

recognized with a smile her nurse and the physician. Some four

months later she would grind her teeth when in a pleasant mood,

and would act as if she were shy when spoken to, holding her

hand before her eyes. She was fond of her nurse. Thus there was

capacity of observation, there were attention, memory,

affection, and some power of voluntary movement. She died in

January, 1876. Her brain weighed, two days after her death,

seven ounces. It is minutely described by the author--but after

it had been preserved in alcohol for six years, and it then

weighed only two ounces. The author found a number of

convolutions not so far developed as in the foetus of six

months, according to Gratiolet, and he is of opinion that the

cerebellum was further developed after the cerebrum had ceased

to grow, so that there was not an arrest of the development but

an irregularity. The cerebral hemispheres were asymmetrical, the

frontal lobes, corresponding to the psychical performances in

the case, being relatively pretty large, while the posterior

portion of the third convolution on the left side, the island of

Reil, and the operculum were very small, corresponding to the

inability to learn to speak. The author connects the slight

mobility with the smallness of the parietal and frontal

ascending convolutions.

The other case is that of a girl of six years (E. H.), who came

to the institution in January, 1879, and died in July of the

same year. She could walk about, and she had complete control of

her limbs. She was cheerful, easy to be amused, and greatly

attached to her nurse. She associated with other children, but

could not speak a word. Her hearing was good, her habits bad.

Although she could pick up objects and play with them, it did

not occur to her to feed herself. She could take notice and

observe, and could remember certain persons. Her brain weighed,

two days after death, 20-1/2 ounces, and was, in many respects,

as simple as that of an infant; but, in regard to the

convolutions, it was far superior to the brain of a monkey--was

superior also to that of E. R. The ascending frontal and

parietal convolutions were larger, corresponding to the greater

mobility. The third frontal convolution and the island of Reil

were small on both sides, corresponding to the alalia. The

author is of opinion that the ganglionic cells in this brain

lacked processes, so that the intercentral connections did not

attain development.

A more accurate description of two brains of microcephali is given by

Julius Sander in the "Archiv fuer Psychiatrie und Nerven-Krankheiten" (i,

299-307; Berlin, 1868), accompanied by good plates. One of these cases

is that of which an account is given by Johannes Mueller (in the

"Medicinische Zeitung des Vereins fuer Heilkunde in Preussen," 1836, Nr.

2 und 3).

In the full and detailed treatises concerning microcephali by Karl Vogt

("Archiv fuer Anthropologie," ii, 2, 228) and Von Flesch ("Wuerzburger

Festschrift," ii, 95, 1882) may be found further data in regard to more

recent cases.

Many questions of physiological and psychological importance in respect

to the capacity of development in cases of imperfectly developed brain

are discussed in the "Zeitschrift fuer das Idioten-Wesen" by W. Schroeter

(Dresden) and E. Reichelt (Hubertusburg).

But thus far the methods of microscopical investigation of the brain are

still so little developed that we can not yet with certainty establish a

causal connection, in individual cases, between the deviations of

microcephalic brains from the normal brain and the defects of the

psychical functions. The number of brains of microcephali that have been

examined with reference to this point is very small, although their

scientific value, after thorough-going observation of the possessors of

them during life, is immense. For microcephalous children of some years

of age are a substitute for imaginary, because never practicable,

vivisectory experiments, concerning the connection of body and mind.

To conclude these fragments, let me add here some observations

concerning a case of rare interest, that of the microcephalous child,

Margarethe Becker (born 1869), very well known in Germany. These

observations I recorded on the 9th of July, 1877, in Jena, while the

child was left free to do what she pleased.

The girl, eight years of age, born, according to the testimony of her

father, with the frontal fontanelle (fonticulus anterior) closed and

solid, had a smaller head than a child of one year. The notes follow the

same order as that of the observations.

_Time, 8.15 A. M._--The child yawns. She grasps with animation at some

human skulls that she sees on a table near her, and directs her look to

charts on the walls. She puts her fingers into her nostrils, brushes her

apron with both hands, polishes my watch, which I have offered her and

she has seized, holds it to one ear, then to one of her father's ears,

draws her mouth into a smile, seems to be pleased by the ticking, holds

the watch to her father's other ear, then to her own other ear, laughs,

and repeats the experiment several times. Her head is very mobile.

The child now folds a bit of paper that I have given her, rolls it up

awkwardly, wrinkling her forehead the while, chews up the paper and

laughs aloud. Saliva flows from her mouth almost incessantly. Then the

child begins to eat a biscuit, giving some of it, however, to her father

and the attendant, putting her biscuit to their lips, and this with

accuracy at once, whereas in the former case the watch was held at first

near the ear, to the temple, and not till afterward to the ear itself.

The girl is very lively; she strikes about her in a lively manner with

her hands, sees charts hanging high on the walls, points to them with

her finger, throws her head back upon her neck to see them better, and

_moves her fingers in the direction of the lines_ of the diagrams. At

last weariness seems to come on. The child puts an arm around the neck

of her father, sits on his lap, but is more and more restless.

_8.50._--Quiet. To appearance, the child has fallen asleep.

_8.55._--Awake again. The child _sees_ well, _hears_ well, _smells_

well; obeys some few commands, e. g., she gives her hand. But with this

her intellectual accomplishments are exhausted. She does not utter a

word.

Kollmann, who saw this microcephalous subject in September, 1877,

writes, among other things, of her ("Correspondenzblatt der

Deutschengesellschaft fuer Anthropologie," Nr. 11, S. 132):

"Her gait is tottering, the movements of the head and

extremities jerky, not always co-ordinated, hence unsteady,

inappropriate and spasmodic; her look is restless, objects are

not definitely fixated. The normal functions of her mind are far

inferior to those of a child of four years. The eight-year-old

Margaret speaks only the word _Mama_; no other articulate sound

has been learned by her. She makes known her need of food by

plaints, by sounds of weeping, and by distortion of countenance;

she laughs when presented with something to eat or with toys. It

is only within the last two years that she has become cleanly;

since then her appetite has improved. Her nutrition has gained,

in comparison with the first years of life, and with it her

comprehension also; she helps her mother set the table, and

brings plates and knives, when requested to do so, from the

place where they are kept. Further, she shows a tender sympathy

with her microcephalous brother; she takes bread from the table,

goes to her brother's bedside and feeds him, as he is not of

himself capable of putting food into his mouth. She shows a very

manifest liking for her relatives and a fear of strangers. When

taken into the parlor she gave the most decided evidences of

fear; being placed upon the table she hid her head in her

father's coat, and did not become quiet until her mother took

her in her arms. This awakening of mental activity shows that,

notwithstanding the extremely small quantity of brain-substance,

there exists a certain degree of intellectual development with

advancing years. With the fourth year, in the case of M.,

independent movements began; up to that time she lay, as her

five-year-old brother still lies, immovable in body and limbs,

with the exception of slight bendings and stretchings."

Richard Pott, who (1879) likewise observed this microcephalous subject,

found that she wandered about aimlessly, restlessly, and nimbly, from

corner to corner [as if], groping and seeking; yet objects held before

her were only momentarily fixated, scarcely holding her attention; often

she did not once grasp at them. "The girl goes alone, without tottering

or staggering, but her locomotive movements are absolutely without

motive, having no end or aim, frequently changing their direction.

Notwithstanding her size, the child gives the impression of the most

extreme helplessness." She was fed, but was not indifferent as to food,

seeming to prefer sour to sweet. She would come, indeed, when she was

called, but seemed not to understand the words spoken to her; she spoke

no word herself, but uttered shrill, inarticulate sounds; she felt shame

when she was undressed, hiding her face in her sister's lap. The

expression of her countenance was harmless, changeable, manifesting no

definite psychical processes.

The statements contradictory to those of Kollmann are probably to be

explained by the brevity of the observations.

Virchow ("Correspondenzblatt," S. 135), in his remarks upon this case,

says: "I am convinced that every one who observes the microcephalic

child will find that psychologically it has nothing whatever of the ape.

All the positive faculties and qualities of the ape are wanting here;

there is nothing of the psychology of the ape, but only the psychology

of an imperfectly developed and deficient little child. Every

characteristic is human; every single trait. I had the girl in my room a

few months since, for hours together, and occupied myself with her; I

never observed anything in her that reminds me even remotely of the

psychological conditions of apes. She is a human being, in a low stage

of development, but in no way deviating from the nature of humanity."

From these reports it is plain to be seen that for all mental

development an hereditary physical growth of the cerebrum is

indispensable. If the sensuous impressions experienced anew in each case

by each human being, and the original movements, were sufficient without

the development of the cerebral convolutions and of the gray cortex,

then these microcephalous beings, upon whom the same impressions

operated as upon other new-born children, must have had better brains

and must have learned more. But the brain, notwithstanding the

peripheral impressions received in seeing, hearing, and feeling, could

not grow, and so the rudimentary human child could not learn anything,

and could not even form the ideas requisite for articulate voluntary

movement, or combine these ideas. Only the motor centers of lower rank

could be developed.

In peculiar contrast with these cases of genuine microcephaly stands the

exceedingly remarkable case, observed by Dr. Rudolf Krause (Hamburg), of

a boy whose brain is not at all morbidly affected or abnormally small,

but exhibits decidedly the type of the brain of the ape. The discoverer

reported upon it to the Anthropological Society ("Correspondenzblatt

a.a. O., S. 132-135) the following facts among others:

"The skull and brain belonged to a boy who was born on the 4th

of October, 1869, the last of four children. Paul was scrofulous

from his youth. He did not get his teeth until the end of his

second year, and they were quite brown in color and were soon

lost. According to the statement of Paul's mother, he had

several successive sets of teeth. It was not until the fifth

year that he learned to walk. He was cleanly from the third

year, but not when he felt ill. His appetite was always good up

to his last sickness of four weeks. His sleep was habitually

undisturbed. He was of a cheerful temperament, and inclined to

play; as soon as he heard music he would dance, and sing to the

music in rather unmelodious tones. When teased he could be very

violent; he would throw anything he could lay his hands on at

the head of the offender. He liked the company of others,

especially of men. By the time he was four years old he had

learned to eat without help. Paul was very supple, was fond of

climbing, and had great strength in his arms and hands

especially; these had actually a horny appearance, and thus

reminded one of the hands of the chimpanzee. He could sit on the

ground with his legs wide apart. His gait was uncertain, and he

was apt to tumble; he ran with knees bent forward and legs

crooked; he was fond of hopping, and seemed particularly

ape-like when doing so. The great-toe of each foot stood off at

an angle from the foot, and thus gave the impression of a

prehensile toe. I thought at first that this deviation had its

origin in the fact that the child, on account of his uncertainty

in walking, wanted to get a broader basis of support; but I

afterward gave up that opinion, because I have never found an

instance of a similar habit in other children with diseased

heads, e. g., hydrocephalous children. Paul could speak but

little, could say hardly any words except _Papa_ and _Mama_, and

even these he did not until late learn to pronounce in two

syllables; he uttered for the most part only sounds that

resembled a grunt. He imitated the barking of a dog by the sound

_rrrrrr_. He frequently stamped with feet and hands, clapped his

hands together, and ejaculated a sort of grunting sound, just as

I have observed in the case of gorillas and chimpanzees.

"Paul was smaller than children of his age; on his right eye he

had from his youth a large leucoma; the eyelids had generally a

catarrhal affection, and were in a state of suppuration. The

head looked sore; the forehead was small. Paul had a strongly

marked tendency to imitation. His whole being, his movements,

were strikingly ape-like. He was decidedly neglected by his

parents, was generally dirty in appearance, and I really think

the early death of the child was induced by the slight care

taken of him. Paul was taken sick at the beginning of December,

1876, with an acute bronchial catarrh, and died on the 5th of

January, 1877, at the age of seven and a quarter years.

"If you look at the cranium and the brain here, which belonged

to the child just described, there are lacking in the first

place all the characteristics of microcephaly. The cranium

possesses a capacity of 1,022 cubic centimetres, and the brain

weighs 950 grammes; they do not deviate, therefore, from the

normal condition. But let the cranium, where it is laid open by

the saw, be observed from within, and we notice an _asymmetry of

the two hemispheres of the brain_; the cranium is pushed

somewhat forward and to the right. The _partes orbitales_ of the

frontal bone are higher and more arched than is usual, in

consequence of which the _lamina cribrosa_ of the ethmoid bone

lies deeper, and room is given for the well-known conformation

of the ethmoidal process in the brain. The cerebral convolutions

are plainly marked upon the inner surface of the cranium. The

facial cranium shows no deviations. There is no prognathism. The

formation of the teeth alone is irregular; one pre-molar tooth

is lacking above and below in the jaw, and, in fact, there is no

place for it. The incisors and the pre-molar teeth are

undergoing change.

"The two cerebral hemispheres are asymmetrical; in the region

where the parieto-occipital fissure is situated on the left

hemisphere, the two hemispheres diverge from each other and form

an edge which curves outward and backward, so that the

cerebellum remains uncovered. On the lower surface of the

frontal lobes there exists a strongly marked ethmoidal

prominence. Neither of the fissures of Sylvius is quite closed,

the left less so than the right; the operculum is but slightly

developed, and the island of Reil lies with its fissures almost

entirely uncovered. This conformation reminds us throughout of

the brain of the anthropoid apes. The two _sulci centrales sive

fissurae Rolandi_ run straight to the border of the hemisphere,

less deeply impressed than is normally the case, without forming

an angle with each other. Very strongly and deeply impressed

_sulci praecentrales_ seem to serve as substitutes for them. The

_sulcus interparietalis,_ which begins farther outward than in

the ordinary human being, receives the _sulcus

parieto-occipitalis_--a structure in conformity with the typical

brain of the ape. The _sulcus occipitalis transversus_, which is

generally lightly stamped in man, extends here as a deep fissure

across over the occipital lobe, thus producing a so-called

simian fissure, and the posterior part of the occipital lobe has

the appearance of an operculum. The _fissura calcarina_ has its

origin directly on the surface of the occipital lobe, does not

receive until late the _fissura parieto-occipitalis_, and goes

directly, on the right side, into the _fissura hippocampi_. This

abnormal structure also is typical for the brain of the ape.

"The _gyrus occipitalis primus_ is separated from the upper

parietal lobe by the _sulcus parieto-occipitalis_, a formation

that, according to Gratiolet, exists in many apes. The _gyrus

temporalis superior_ is greatly reduced on both sides, and has

an average breadth of only five millimetres; it is the one

peculiarity that recalls emphatically the brain of the

chimpanzee, which always has this reduced upper temporal

convolution.

"We have here, then, a brain that scarcely deviates from the

normal brain in volume, that possesses all the convolutions and

fissures, seeming, perhaps, richer than the average brain in

convolutions, and that is in every respect differentiated; and

notwithstanding all this it approximates, in its whole

structure, to the simian rather than to the human type. Had the

brain been placed before me without my knowing its origin, I

should have been perfectly justified in assigning this brain to

an anthropoid ape standing somewhat nearer to man than does the

chimpanzee."

No second case of this sort has thus far been observed.

C.

REPORTS CONCERNING THE PROCESS OF LEARNING TO SEE, ON THE PART OF

PERSONS BORN BLIND, BUT ACQUIRING SIGHT THROUGH SURGICAL TREATMENT. ALSO

SOME CRITICAL REMARKS.

I. THE CHESSELDEN CASE.

The following extracts are taken from the report published by Will.

Chesselden in the "Philosophical Transactions for the Months of April,

May, and June, 1728" (No. 402, London, pp. 447-450), or the

"Philosophical Transactions from 1719 to 1733, abridged by J. Eames and

J. Martyn" (vii, 3, pp. 491-493, London, 1734):

"Though we say of the gentleman that he was blind, as we do of

all people who have ripe cataracts, yet they are never so blind

from that cause but that they can discern day from night, and,

for the most part, in a strong light distinguish black, white,

and scarlet; but they can not perceive the shape of anything....

And thus it was with this young gentleman, who, though he knew

these colors asunder in a good light, yet when he saw them after

he was couched, the faint ideas he had of them before were not

sufficient for him to know them by afterward, and therefore he

did not think them the same which he had known before by those

names....

"When he first saw, he was so far from making any judgment about

distances, that he thought all objects whatever touched his eyes

(as he expressed it) as what he felt did his skin, and thought

no objects so agreeable as those which were smooth and regular.

He knew not the shape of anything nor any one thing from

another, however different in shape or magnitude; but upon being

told what things were, whose form he before knew from feeling,

he would carefully observe, that he might know them again. But,

having too many objects to learn at once, he forgot many of

them, and (as he said) at first he learned to know and again

forgot a thousand things in a day. Having often forgot which was

the cat and which the dog, he was ashamed to ask; but catching

the cat (which he knew by feeling), he was observed to look at

her steadfastly, and then, setting her down, said, 'So, puss, I

shall know you another time.' He was very much surprised that

those things which he had liked best did not appear most

agreeable to his eyes, expecting those persons would appear most

beautiful that he loved most, and such things to be most

agreeable to his sight that were so to his taste. We thought he

soon knew what pictures represented which were showed to him,

but we found afterward we were mistaken, for about two months

after he was couched he discovered at once they represented

solid bodies, when to that time he considered them only as

party-colored planes or surfaces diversified with variety of

paint; but even then he was no less surprised, expecting the

pictures would feel like the things they represented, and was

amazed when he found those parts, which by their light and

shadow appeared now round and uneven, felt only flat like the

rest, and asked which was the lying sense, feeling or seeing?

"Being shown his father's picture in a locket at his mother's

watch and told what it was, he acknowledged a likeness, but was

vastly surprised, asking how it could be that a large face could

be expressed in so little room.

"At first he could bear but very little sight, and the things he

saw he thought extremely large; but, upon seeing things larger,

those first seen he conceived less, never being able to imagine

any lines beyond the bounds he saw. The room he was in he said

he knew to be but part of the house, yet he could not conceive

that the whole house could look bigger. Before he was couched he

expected little advantage from seeing, except reading and

writing. Blindness, he observed, had this advantage, that he

could go anywhere in the dark much better than those who could

see, and after he had seen he did not soon lose this quality nor

desire a light to go about the house in the night.

"A year after first seeing, being carried upon Epsom Downs and

observing a large prospect, he was exceedingly delighted with it

and called it a new kind of seeing; and now being lately couched

of his other eye, he says that objects at first appeared large

to this eye but not so large as they did at first to the other,

and, looking upon the same object with both eyes, he thought it

looked about twice as large as with the first couched eye only,

but not double, that we can anywise discover."

Remark on the First Case.

Although this Chesselden case is the most famous of all, and the most

frequently cited, it belongs, nevertheless, to those most inaccurately

described. It is, however, not only the first in the order of time, but

especially important for the reason that it demonstrates in a striking

manner the slow acquirement of space-perception by the eye, and also the

acquirement of the first and second dimensions of space (cf. vol. i, p.

57).

II., III. THE WARE CASES.

One of these cases is that of a boy, who at the age of seven years

recovered his sight which he had lost in the first half-year of his

life. The surgeon who performed the operation, James Ware, writes

("Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society for 1801," ii,

London, 1801, pp. 382-396):

"The young W. appeared to be a healthy, perfect child; his eyes

in particular were large and rather prominent. About the end of

his first year, a number of persons passing in procession near

his father's house, accompanied with music and flags, the child

was taken to see them; but, instead of looking at the

procession, it was observed that, though he was evidently much

pleased with the music, his eyes were never directed to the

place from whence the sound came. His mother, alarmed by this

discovery, held silver spoons and other glaring objects before

him at different distances, and she was soon convinced that he

was unable to perceive any of them. A surgeon was consulted,

who, on examining the eyes, pronounced that there was a complete

cataract in each. All thoughts of assisting his sight were (for

the present) relinquished. As soon as he could speak it was

observed that when an object was held close to his eyes he was

able to distinguish its color if strongly marked, but on no

occasion did he ever notice its outline or figure. I performed

the operation on the left eye on the 29th of December, 1800. The

eye was immediately bound up, and no inquiries made on that day

with regard to his sight. On the 30th I found that he had

experienced a slight sickness on the preceding evening. On the

31st, as soon as I entered his chamber, the mother with much joy

informed me that her child could see. About an hour before my

visit he was standing near the fire, with a handkerchief tied

loosely over his eyes, when he told her that under the

handkerchief, which had slipped upward, he could distinguish the

table by the side of which she was sitting. It was about a yard

and a half from him, and he observed that it was covered with a

green cloth (which was really the case), and that it was a

little farther off than he was able to reach.... Desirous to

ascertain whether he was able to distinguish objects, I held a

letter before him at the distance of about twelve inches, when

he told me, after a short hesitation, that it was a piece of

paper; that it was square, which he knew by its corners; and

that it was longer in one direction than it was in the other. On

being desired to point to the corners, he did it with great

precision and readily carried his finger in the line of its

longest diameter. I then showed him a small oblong bandbox

covered with red leather, which he said was red and square, and

pointed at once to its four corners. After this I placed before

him an oval silver box, which he said had a shining appearance,

and presently afterward that it was round, because it had not

corners. A white stone mug he first called a white basin, but

soon after, recollecting himself, said it was a mug because it

had a handle. I held the objects at different distances from his

eye and inquired very particularly if he was sensible of any

difference in their situation, which he always said he was,

informing me on every change whether they were brought nearer to

or carried farther from him. I again inquired, both of his

mother and himself, whether he had ever before this time

distinguished by sight any sort of object, and I was assured by

both that he never had on any occasion, and that when he wished

to discover colors, which he could only do when they were very

strong, he had always been obliged to hold the colored object

close to his eye and a little on one side to avoid the

projection of the nose. No further experiments were made on that

day. On the 1st of January I found that he felt no uneasiness on

the approach of light. I showed him a table-knife, which at

first he called a spoon, but soon rectified the mistake, giving

it the right name and distinguishing the blade from the handle

by pointing to each as he was desired. He called a yellow

pocket-book by its name, taking notice of the silver lock in the

cover. I held my hand before him, which he knew, but could not

at first tell the number of my fingers nor distinguish one of

them from another. I then held up his own hand and desired him

to remark the difference between his thumb and his fingers,

after which he readily pointed out the distinctions in mine

also. Dark-colored and smooth objects were more agreeable to him

than those which were bright and rough. On the 3d of January he

saw from the drawing-room window a dancing bear in the street

and distinguished a number of boys that were standing round him,

noticing particularly a bundle of clothes which one of them had

on his head. On the same evening I placed him before a

looking-glass and held up his hand. After a little time he

smiled and said he saw the shadow of his hand as well as that of

his head. He could not then distinguish his features; but on the

following day, his mother having again placed him before the

glass, he pointed to his eyes, nose, and mouth. The young W., a

remarkably intelligent boy (of seven years), gave the most

direct and satisfactory answers to every question that was put

to him, and, though not born blind, certainly had not any

recollection of having ever seen. The right eye was operated

upon a month after the left, but without the least success."

In regard to the other case, Ware writes: "In the instance of a

young gentleman from Ireland, fourteen years old, from each of

whose eyes I extracted a cataract in the year 1794, and who,

before the operation, assured me, as did his friends, that he

had never seen the figure of any object, I was astonished by the

facility with which, on the first experiment, he took hold of my

hand at different distances, mentioning whether it was brought

nearer to or carried farther from him, and conveying his hand to

mine in a circular direction, that we [Ware and another

physician] might be the better satisfied of the accuracy with

which he did it." In this case, as in others of like nature,

Ware could not, "although the patients had certainly been blind

from early infancy," satisfy himself "that they had not, before

this period, enjoyed a sufficient degree of sight to impress the

image of visible objects on their minds, and to give them ideas

which could not afterward be entirely obliterated."

Ware found, moreover, that, in the case of two children between seven

and eight years of age, both blind from birth, and on whom no operation

had been performed, the knowledge of colors, limited as it was, was

sufficient to enable them to tell whether colored objects were brought

nearer to or carried farther from them; for instance, whether they were

at the distance of two inches or four inches from their eyes; and he

himself observes that they were not, in strictness of speech, blind,

though they were deprived of all useful sight.

Remarks on the Second and Third Cases.

It is a surprising thing, in the account of the former case, that

nothing whatever is said of the behavior of the patient on the first and

on the fourth day after the operation. We must assume that he passed the

first day wholly with his eyes bandaged. Further, the boy pointed out

four corners of a box, while the box had eight; yet no inference can be

drawn from this, for possibly only one side of the box was shown to him.

The most remarkable thing is the statement of the patient that he saw

the _shadow_ of his hand in the glass. This circumstance, and the

astonishing certainty, at the very first attempts to estimate

space-relations, in the discrimination of round and angular, and in the

observation that the table was somewhat farther from him than he could

reach, show what influence the mere ability to perceive colors has upon

vision in space. Before the operation, W. distinguished only striking

colors from one another; but he could perceive nearness and distance of

colored objects, within narrow limits, by the great differences in the

luminous intensity of the colors. He distinguished with certainty

dimness from brightness. Accordingly, when he noticed a decrease in the

brightness of a color, he inferred the distance of the colored object

from the eye, regulating his judgment also by touch. Thus the boy had,

before the operation, some perception of space with the eye, and it is

not much to be wondered at, considering his uncommon intelligence, that

he, soon after the operation (probably attempts at seeing were secretly

made by the patient on the first day) learned to judge pretty surely of

space-relations--much more surely than a person born blind learns to

judge in so short a time. Besides, it is not to be forgotten that, while

it is true that the cataract had become completely developed at the end

of the first year of life, there is no proof that the child was unable

to see during the first months. At that time images, as in the second

case, may have unconsciously impressed themselves, with which, at a

later period, more accurate space-ideas may have been associated,

through the sense of touch, than is the case with persons born

completely blind. Ware concludes, from his observations--

1. "When children are born blind, in consequence of having cataracts

in their eyes, they are never so totally deprived of sight as not to

be able to distinguish colors; and, though they can not see the

figure of an object, nor even its color, unless it be placed within

a very short distance, they nevertheless can tell whether, when

within this distance, it be brought nearer to or carried farther

from them.

2. "In consequence of this power, whilst in a state of comparative

blindness, children who have their cataracts removed are enabled

immediately on the acquisition of sight to form some judgment of the

distance, and even of the outline, of those strongly defined objects

with the color of which they were previously acquainted."

Both these conclusions are simply matter of fact. It only needs

explanation how the distance and outlines of objects can be known after

the operation _in consequence of_ the ability described in the first

proposition. That distance is actually estimated at once in consequence

of this power, is clear; not so with the outlines. How can round and

angular be distinguished, when only colors and gross differences of

intensity and saturation are perceived? Ware gives no solution of the

difficulty, but thinks that, because the colors appeared more intense,

the previously imperfect ideas concerning distances might be improved

and extended, so that they would even give a knowledge of the

boundary-lines and of the form of those things with the color of which

the patients were previously acquainted. But this improvement of the

ideas concerning distance can not lead directly to discrimination of the

limits of objects, and is itself hypothetical, inasmuch as we might

expect, _immediately_ after the operation, on account of the enormous

difference in the luminous intensity, an uncertainty in the judgment.

But such uncertainty appeared only in a slight degree in both the cases,

a thing possible only because there had already been sufficient

experiences with the eye. But these experiences, as is frequently

stated, were absolutely lacking in regard to the limits and the form of

objects. Here another thing comes in to help. Evidently, an eye that

distinguishes only colors sees these colors always only as limited; even

if it saw only a single color that occupied the whole field of vision,

the field would still be a limited one. But the colored field may be

small or large, and this difference may be noticed before the operation.

If the object--one of vivid coloring--is long and narrow, the patient,

even before the operation, will see it otherwise than if it is, with the

same coloring, short and broad. And suppose he merely observes that not

the whole field of vision is colored. If the whole field is colored,

there is, of course, an entire lack of angles; on the other hand, if the

whole field of vision is not filled by the colored object, then it

is--however faintly--divided, and the lines of division, i. e., the

indistinct boundary-lines of the objects whose color is perceived, may

be either like the natural limits of the entire field of vision, i. e.,

"round," or unlike them, i. e., "angular." If, now, the obstacle is

suddenly removed, the patient (even if he did not before the operation

distinguish angular and round by the eye) must yet perceive which of

the objects before him resemble in contour the previous field of vision,

i. e., are round, and which do not; for the round contour of his field

of vision is familiar to him. But W. had learned, through the sense of

touch, that what is not round is angular. He would, therefore, even if

he could perceive colors when the whole field of vision was filled--a

matter on which we have no information--be able to guess the outlines of

some objects soon after the operation, merely on the ground of his

experiences before it. It was guess-work every time, as appears from the

confounding of knife and spoon, mug and basin. The boy must have

thought, "How would it be if I felt of it?" and, as he had before the

operation frequently observed that whatever had the same contour as his

field of vision, or a contour similar to that, was round, he could,

after the operation, distinguish round and not round--a thing which a

person born blind, on the other hand, and knowing nothing of his field

of vision, because he has never had any, can never do.

On the whole, the two Ware cases are by no means so important as the

Franz (see below) and Chesselden cases, because the boy, W., had ample

opportunity up to his seventh year for learning to distinguish different

colors according to their quality and luminous intensity; because he

must have known the limits of his field of vision, and could in any

case, by means of touch, correct and relatively confirm his very

frequent attempts to guess at forms and distances by the eye. Finally,

it is not known whether he became blind before or immediately after his

birth, or, as is most probable, not till some months after birth. The

same is true of the second case.

IV, V. THE HOME CASES.

Everard Home makes the following statement in the "Philosophical

Transactions of the Royal Society," London, 1807, i, pp. 83-87, 91:

"1. William Stiff, twelve years of age, had cataracts in his

eyes, which, according to the account of his mother, existed at

the time of birth. From earliest infancy he never stretched out

his hand to catch at anything, nor were his eyes directed to

objects placed before him, but rolled about in a very unusual

manner. The eyes were not examined till he was six months old,

and at that time the cataracts were as distinct as when he was

received into the hospital. He could at that time (July 17,

1806) distinguish light from darkness, and the light of the sun

from that of a fire or candle; he said it was redder and more

pleasant to look at, but lightning made a still stronger

impression on his eyes. All these different lights he called

red. The sun appeared to him the size of his hat. The

candle-flame was larger than his finger and smaller than his

arm. When he looked at the sun, he said it appeared to touch his

eye. When a lighted candle was placed before him, both his eyes

were directed toward it, and moved together. When it was at any

nearer distance than twelve inches, he said it touched his eyes.

When moved farther off he said it did not touch them, and at

twenty-two inches it became invisible.

"On the 21st of July the operation of extracting the crystalline

lens was performed on the left eye. Light became very

distressing to his eye. After allowing the eyelids to remain

closed for a few minutes, and then opening them, the pupil

appeared clear, but he could not bear exposure to light. On my

asking him what he had seen, he said, 'Your head, which seemed

to touch my eye,' but he could not tell its shape. On the 22d

the light was less offensive. He said he saw my head, which

touched his eye. On the 23d the eye was less inflamed, and he

could bear a weak light. He said he could see several gentlemen

round him, but could not describe their figure. My face, while I

was looking at his eye, he said was round and red. From the 25th

of July to the 1st of August there was inflammation. On the 4th

of August an attempt was made to ascertain the powers of vision;

it became necessary to shade the glare of light by hanging a

white cloth before the window. The least exertion fatigued the

eye, and the cicatrix on the cornea, to which the iris had

become attached, drew it down so as considerably to diminish the

pupil. The attempt had therefore to be postponed.

"On the 16th of September the right eye was couched. The light

was so distressing to his eye that the lids were closed as soon

as it was over. The eyes were not examined with respect to their

vision till the 13th of October; the boy remained quiet in the

hospital. On this day he could discern a white, red, or yellow

color, particularly when bright and shining. The sun and other

objects did not now seem to touch his eyes as before, they

appeared to be at a short distance from him. The right eye had

the most distinct vision, but in both it was imperfect. The

distance at which he saw best was five inches. When the object

was of a bright color, and illuminated by a strong light, he

could make out that it was flat and broad; and when one corner

of a square substance was pointed out to him, he saw it, and

could find out the other, which was at the end of the same side,

but could not do this under less favorable circumstances. When

the four corners of a white card were pointed out, and he had

examined them, he seemed to know them; but when the opposite

surface of the same card, which was yellow, was placed before

him, he could not tell whether it had corners or not, so that he

had not acquired any correct knowledge of them, since he could

not apply it to the next colored surface, whose form was exactly

the same with that, the outline of which the eye had just been

taught to trace....

"2. John Salter, seven years of age, was admitted into St.

George's Hospital on the 1st of October, 1806, with cataracts in

both eyes, which, according to the accounts of his relations,

had existed from his birth. The pupils contracted considerably

when a lighted candle was placed before him, and dilated as soon

as it was withdrawn. He was capable of distinguishing colors

with tolerable accuracy, particularly the more bright and vivid

ones. On the 6th of October the left eye was couched. The eye

was allowed ten minutes to recover itself; a round piece of

card, of a yellow color, one inch in diameter, was then placed

about six inches from it. He said immediately that it was

yellow, and, on being asked its shape, said, 'Let me touch it,

and I will tell you.' Being told that he must not touch it,

after looking for some time, he said it was round. A square,

blue card, nearly the same size, being put before him, he said

it was blue and round. A triangular piece he also called round.

The different colors of the objects placed before him he

instantly decided on with great correctness, but had no idea of

their form. He saw best at a distance of six or seven inches. He

was asked whether the object seemed to touch his eye; he said,

'No,' but when desired to say at what distance it was, he could

not tell. The eye was covered, and he was put to bed and told to

keep himself quiet; but upon the house-surgeon going to him half

an hour afterward, his eye was found uncovered, and he was

looking at his bed-curtains, which were close drawn. The bandage

was replaced, but so delighted was the boy with seeing, that he

again immediately removed it. The house-surgeon could not

enforce his instructions, and repeated the experiment about two

hours after the operation. Upon being shown a square, and asked

if he could find any corners to it, the boy was very desirous of

touching it. This being refused, he examined it for some time,

and said at last that he had found a corner, and then readily

counted the four corners of the square; and afterward, when a

triangle was shown him, he counted the corners in the same way;

but in doing so his eye went along the edge from corner to

corner, naming them as he went along. Next day he told me he had

seen 'the soldiers with their fifes and pretty things.' The

guards in the morning had marched past the hospital with their

band; on hearing the music, he had got out of bed and gone to

the window to look at them. Seeing the bright barrels of

muskets, he must in his mind have connected them with the sounds

which he heard, and mistaken them for musical instruments.

Twenty-four hours after the operation the pupil of the eye was

clear. A pair of scissors was shown him, and he said it was a

knife. On being told he was wrong, he could not make them out;

but the moment he touched them he said they were scissors, and

seemed delighted with the discovery.

"From this time he was constantly improving himself by looking

at, and examining with his hands, everything within his reach,

but he frequently forgot what he had learned. On the 10th I saw

him again. He went to the window and called out, 'What is that

moving?' I asked him what he thought it was. He said: 'A dog

drawing a wheelbarrow. There is one, two, three dogs drawing

another. How very pretty!' These proved to be carts and horses

on the road, which he saw from a two-pair-of-stairs window.

"On the 19th the different colored pieces of card were

separately placed before his eye, and so little had he gained in

thirteen days that he could not, without counting their corners

one by one, tell their shape. This he did with great facility,

running his eye quickly along the outline, so that it was

evident he was still learning, just as a child learns to read.

He had got so far as to know the angles, when they were placed

before him, and to count the number belonging to any one object.

The reason of his making so slow a progress was, that these

figures had never been subjected to examination by touch, and

were unlike anything he had been accustomed to see. He had got

so much the habit of assisting his eyes with his hands, that

nothing but holding them could keep them from the object.

"On the 26th the experiments were again repeated on the couched

eye. It was now found that the boy, on looking at any one of the

cards in a good light, could tell the form nearly as readily as

the color."

From these two instructive cases Home concludes:

"That, where the eye, before the cataract is removed, has only

been capable of discerning light, without being able to

distinguish colors, objects after its removal will seem to touch

the eye, and there will be no knowledge of their outline, which

confirms the observations made by Chesselden.

"That where the eye has previously distinguished colors, there

must also be an imperfect knowledge of distances, but not of

outline, which, however, will be very soon acquired, as happened

in Ware's cases. This is proved by the history of the first boy,

who, before the operation had no knowledge of colors or

distances, but after it, when his eye had only arrived at the

same state that the second boy's was in before the operation, he

had learned that the objects were at a distance and of different

colors.

"That when a child has acquired a new sense, nothing but great

pain or absolute coercion will prevent him from making use of

it."

VI. THE WARDROP CASE.

James Wardrop reports ("Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society

for 1826," iii, 529-540, London, 1826):

"A girl who was observed, during the first months of her

infancy, to have something peculiar in the appearance of her

eyes and an unusual groping manner which made her parents

suspect that she had defective vision, had an operation

performed on both eyes at the age of about six months. The right

eye was entirely destroyed in consequence. The left eye was

preserved, but the child could only distinguish a very light

from a very dark room without having the power to perceive even

the situation of the window through which the light entered,

though in sunshine or in bright moonlight she knew the direction

from which the light emanated. In this case no light could reach

the retina except such rays as could pass through the substance

of the iris. Until her forty-sixth year the patient could not

perceive objects and had no notion of colors. On the 26th of

January I introduced a very small needle through the cornea and

the center of the iris; but I could not destroy any of the

adhesions which had shut up the pupillar opening. After this

operation she said she could distinguish more light, but she

could perceive neither forms nor colors. On the 8th of February

the iris (a portion of it) was divided. The light became

offensive to her. She complained of its brightness, and was

frequently observed trying to see her hands; but it was evident

that her vision was very imperfect, for, although there was an

incision made in the iris, some opaque matter lay behind the

opening, which must have greatly obstructed the entrance of

light.

"On the 17th of February a third operation. The opening was

enlarged and the opaque matter removed. The operation being

performed at my house, she returned home in a carriage, with her

eye covered only with a loose piece of silk, and the first thing

she noticed was a hackney-coach passing, when she exclaimed,

'What is that large thing that has passed by us?' In the course

of the evening she requested her brother to show her his watch,

concerning which she expressed much curiosity, and she looked at

it a considerable time, holding it close to her eye. She was

asked what she saw, and she said there was a dark and a bright

side; she pointed to the hour of twelve, and smiled. Her brother

asked her if she saw anything more. She replied, 'Yes,' and

pointed to the hour of six and to the hands of the watch. She

then looked at the chain and seals, and observed that one of the

seals was bright, which was the case. The following day I asked

her to look again at the watch, which she refused to do, saying

that the light was offensive to her eye and that she felt very

stupid, meaning that she was much confused by the visible world

thus for the first time opened to her.

"On the third day she observed the doors on the opposite side of

the street and asked if they were red, but they were, in fact,

of an oak-color. In the evening she looked at her brother's face

and said that she saw his nose. He asked her to touch it, which

she did. He then slipped a handkerchief over his face and asked

her to look again, when she playfully pulled it off and asked,

'What is that?'

"On the sixth day she told us that she saw better than she had

done on any preceding day; 'but I can not tell what I do see. I

am quite stupid.' She felt disappointed in not having the power

of distinguishing at once by her eye objects which she could so

readily distinguish from one another by feeling them.

"On the seventh day she observed that the mistress of the house

was tall. She asked what the color of her gown was, to which she

was answered that it was blue. 'So is that thing on your head,'

she then observed, which was the case; 'and your handkerchief,

that is a different color,' which was also correct. She added,

'I see you pretty well, I think.' The teacups and saucers

underwent an examination. 'What are they like?' her brother

asked her. 'I don't know,' she replied, 'they look very queer to

me, but I can tell what they are in a minute when I touch them.'

She distinguished an orange, but could form no notion of what it

was till she touched it. She seemed now to have become more

cheerful, and she was very sanguine that she would find her

newly acquired faculty of more use to her when she returned

home, where everything was familiar to her.

"On the eighth day she asked her brother 'what he was helping

himself to?' and when she was told it was a glass of port wine,

she replied, 'Port wine is dark, and looks to me very ugly.' She

observed, when candles were brought into the room, her brother's

face in the mirror as well as that of a lady who was present;

she also walked for the first time without assistance from her

chair to a sofa which was on the opposite side of the room and

back again to the chair. When at tea she took notice of the

tray, observed the shining of the japan-work, and asked 'what

the color was round the edge?' she was told that it was yellow,

upon which she remarked, 'I will know that again.'

"On the ninth day she came down-stairs to breakfast in great

spirits. She said to her brother, 'I see you very well to-day,'

and came up to him and shook hands. She also observed a ticket

on a window of a house on the opposite side of the street ('a

lodging to let'), and her brother, to convince himself of her

seeing it, took her to the window three separate times, and to

his surprise and gratification she pointed it out to him

distinctly on each trial.

"She spent a great part of the eleventh day looking out of the

window, and spoke very little.

"On the twelfth day she went to walk with her brother. The clear

blue sky first attracted her notice, and she said, 'It is the

prettiest thing I have ever seen yet, and equally pretty every

time I turn round and look at it.' She distinguished the street

from the foot-pavement distinctly, and stepped from one to the

other like a person accustomed to the use of her eyes. Her great

curiosity, and the manner in which she stared at the variety of

objects and pointed to them, exciting the observation of many

by-standers, her brother soon conducted her home, much against

her will.

"On the evening of the thirteenth day she observed that there

was a different tea-tray, and that it was not a pretty one, but

had a dark border, which was a correct description. Her brother

asked her to look in the mirror and tell him if she saw his face

in it, to which she answered, evidently disconcerted: 'I see my

own; let me go away.'

"On the fourteenth day she drove in a carriage four miles, and

noticed the trees, and likewise the river Thames as she crossed

Vauxhall Bridge. At this time it was bright sunshine, and she

said something dazzled her when she looked on the water.

"On the fifteenth day she walked to a chapel. The people passing

on the pavement startled her, and once when a gentleman was

going past her who had a white waistcoat and a blue coat with

yellow buttons, which the sunshine brought full in her view, she

started so as to draw her brother, who was walking with her, off

the pavement. She distinguished the clergyman moving his hands

in the pulpit, and observed that he held something in them. This

was a white handkerchief.

"On the sixteenth day she went in a coach through the town, and

appeared much entertained with the bustle in the streets. On

asking her how she saw on that day, she answered: 'I see a great

deal, if I could only tell what I do see; but surely I am very

stupid.'

"On the seventeenth day, when her brother asked her how she was,

she replied: 'I am well, and see better; but don't tease me with

too many questions till I have learned a little better how to

make use of my eye. All that I can say is, that I am sure, from

what I do see, a great change has taken place, but I can not

describe what I feel.'

"On the eighteenth day, when pieces of paper one inch and a half

square, differently colored, were presented to her, she not only

distinguished them at once from one another, but gave a decided

preference to some colors, liking yellow most, and then pale

pink. When desirous of examining an object, she had considerable

difficulty in directing her eye to it and finding out its

position, moving her hand as well as her eye in various

directions, as a person when blindfolded or in the dark gropes

with his hands for what he wishes to touch. She also

distinguished a large from a small object when they were both

held up before her for comparison. She said she saw different

forms in various objects which were shown to her. On asking what

she meant by different forms, such as long, round, and square,

and desiring her to draw with her finger these forms on her

other hand, and then presenting to her eye the respective forms,

she pointed to them exactly; she not only distinguished small

from large objects, but knew what was meant by above and below.

A figure, drawn with ink, was placed before her eye, having one

end broad and the other narrow, and she saw the positions as

they really were, and not inverted.

"She could also perceive motions, for, when a glass of water was

placed on the table before her, on approaching her hand near it,

it was moved quickly to a greater distance, upon which she

immediately said: 'You move it; you take it away.'

"She seemed to have the greatest difficulty in finding out the

distance of any object; for, when an object was held close to

her eye, she would search for it by stretching her hand far

beyond its position, while on other occasions she groped close

to her own face for a thing far removed from her.

"She learned with facility the names of the different colors,

and two days after the colored papers had been shown to her, on

coming into a room the color of which was crimson, she observed

that it was red. She also observed some pictures hanging on the

red wall of the room in which she was sitting, distinguishing

several small figures in them, but not knowing what they

represented, and admiring the gilt frames. On the same day she

walked round a pond, and was pleased with the glistening of the

sun's rays on the water, as well as with the blue sky and green

shrubs, the colors of which she named correctly.

"She had as yet acquired, by the use of her sight, but very

little knowledge of any forms, and was unable to apply the

information gained by this new sense, and to compare it with

what she had been accustomed to acquire by her sense of touch.

When, therefore, a silver pencil-case and a large key were given

her to examine with her hands, she discriminated and knew each

distinctly; but when they were placed on the table, side by

side, though she distinguished each with her eye, yet she could

not tell which was the pencil-case and which was the key.

"On the twenty-fifth day after the operation she drove in a

carriage for an hour in the Regent's Park, and asked more

questions, on her way there, than usual, about the objects

surrounding her, such as, 'What is that?' 'It is a soldier,' she

was answered. 'And that? See, see!' These were candles of

various colors in a tallow-chandler's window. 'Who is that that

has passed us just now?' It was a person on horseback. 'But what

is that on the pavement, red?' It was some ladies who wore red

shawls. On going into the park she was asked if she could guess

what any of the objects were. 'Oh, yes,' she replied, 'there is

the sky; that is the grass; yonder is water, and two white

things,' which were two swans.

"When she left London, forty-two days after the operation, she

had acquired a pretty accurate notion of colors and their

different shades and names. She had not yet acquired anything

like an accurate knowledge of distance or of forms, and, up to

this period, she continued to be very much confused with every

new object at which she looked. Neither was she yet able,

without considerable difficulty and numerous fruitless trials,

to direct her eye to an object; so that, when she attempted to

look at anything, she turned her head in various directions,

until her eye caught the object of which it was in search."

Remarks on the Sixth Case.

This case has been adduced as a proof that the sense of sight is

sufficient, without aid from the sense of touch, to perceive whether an

object is brought nearer the eye or carried farther from it. But John

Stuart Mill rightly observes, in opposition to this ("Dissertations and

Discussions," ii, 113; London, 1859), that the observation we are

concerned with was not made "till the eighteenth day after the

operation, by which time a middle-aged woman might well have acquired

the experience necessary for distinguishing so simple a phenomenon."

Besides, she was very uncertain in her judgment of distances, and, in

her attempts to seize with the hand new and distant objects, she

frequently acted exactly like an infant.

VII. THE FRANZ CASE.

J. C. A. Franz, of Leipsic, communicates the following to the

"Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society" (by Sir Benjamin C.

Brodie), (London, 1841; i, pp. 59-69):

"F. J. is the son of a physician. He is endowed with an

excellent understanding, quick power of conception, and

retentive memory. At his birth, both eyes were found to be

turned inward to such an extent that a portion of the cornea was

hidden by the inner canthus, and in both pupils there was a

yellowish-white discoloration. That the strabismus and cataract

of both eyes in this case were congenital is evident from the

testimony both of the parents and of the nurse. The latter held

a light before the eyes of the child when he was a few months

old, of which he took no notice. I ascertained also from her

that the eyeballs did not move hither and thither, but were

always turned inward, and that but rarely either the one or the

other was moved from the internal canthus.

"Toward the end of the second year, as was stated to me, the

operation of keratonyxis was performed on the right eye, upon

which a severe iritis ensued, terminating in atrophy of the

eyeball. Within the next four years two similar operations were

performed on the left eye without success. The color of the

opacity became, however, of a clearer white, and the patient

acquired a certain sensation of light, which he did not seem to

have had before the operation.

"At the end of June, 1840, the patient, being then seventeen

years of age, was brought to me. I found the condition of things

as follows: Both eyes were so much inverted that nearly one half

the cornea was hidden. The left eye he could move voluntarily

outward, but not without exertion; it returned immediately

inward when the influence of the will had ceased. The left

eyeball was of the natural size and elasticity. The patient had

not the slightest perception of light with the right eye; the

stimulus of light had no effect on the pupil. The pupil of the

left eye, which was not round, but drawn angularly downward and

inward, did not alter in dimension with the movements of the eye

nor from the stimulus of light. On examining the eye by looking

straight into it through the pupil, the anterior wall of the

capsule appeared opaque in its whole extent, and of a color and

luster like mother-of-pearl. On looking from the temporal side

in an oblique direction into the pupil, there was visible in the

anterior wall of the capsule a very small perpendicular cleft of

about one line and a quarter in length.

"This cleft was situated so far from the center of the pupil

that it was entirely covered by the iris. With this eye the

patient had a perception of light, and was even capable of

perceiving colors of an intense and decided tone. He believed

himself, moreover, able to perceive about one third of a square

inch of any bright object, if held at the distance of half an

inch or an inch from the eye, and obliquely in such a direction

as to reflect the light strongly toward the pupil. But this, I

am convinced, was a mere delusion, for all rays of light falling

in the direction of the optic axis must have been intercepted

and reflected by the opaque capsule. By these rays, therefore, a

perception of light, indeed, might be conveyed, but certainly no

perception of objects. On the other hand, it seems probable that

the lateral cleft in the capsule permitted rays of light to pass

into the interior of the eye. But as this small aperture was

situated entirely behind the iris, those rays only would have

permeated which came in a very oblique direction from the

temporal side. Admitting, then, these rays of light to pass

through the cleft, still on account of their obliquity they

could produce but a very imperfect image, because they impinged

upon an unfavorable portion of the retina. Moreover, I satisfied

myself by experiments, that the patient could not in the least

discern objects by sight. My experiments 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, an idea of the object was produced,

which was judged of and corrected according to the experience he

had gained by constant practice.

"The patient's sense of touch had attained an extraordinary

degree of perfection. In order to examine an object minutely he

conveyed it to his lips.

"On the 10th of July, 1840, I performed an operation on the left

eye. The light was so painful to him that I could not try any

experiments immediately after the operation. Both eyes were

closed with narrow strips of court-plaster, and treated with

iced water for forty-eight hours. The patient suffered from

_muscae volitantes_, and could not bear even a mild degree of

light falling on the closed lids. After the lapse of a few

weeks, the _muscae volitantes_ were greatly mitigated, and the

intolerance of light ceased.

"On opening the eye for the first time on the third day after

the operation, I asked the patient what he could see; he

answered that he saw an extensive field of light, in which

everything appeared dull, confused, and in motion. He could not

distinguish objects. The pain produced by the light forced him

to close the eye immediately.

"Two days afterward the eye, which had been kept closed by means

of court-plaster, was again opened. He now described what he saw

as a number of opaque watery spheres, which moved with the

movements of the eye, but when the eye was at rest remained

stationary, and then partly covered each other. Two days after

this the eye was again opened. The same phenomena were again

observed, but the spheres were less opaque and somewhat

transparent; their movements more steady; they appeared to cover

each other more than before. He was now for the first time able,

as he said, to look through the spheres, and to perceive a

difference, but merely a difference, in the surrounding objects.

When he directed his eye steadily toward an object, the visual

impression produced by the object was painful and very

imperfect, because the eye, on account of its intolerance of

light, could not be kept open long enough for the formation of

the idea as derived from visual sensation. The appearance of

spheres diminished daily; they became smaller, clearer, and more

pellucid, allowed objects to be seen more distinctly, and

disappeared entirely after two weeks. The _muscae volitantes_,

which had the form of black, immovable, and horizontal stripes,

appeared, every time the eye was opened, in a direction upward

and inward. When the eye was closed he observed, especially in

the evening, in an outward and upward direction, an appearance

of dark blue, violet, and red colors; these colors became

gradually less intense, were shaded into bright orange, yellow,

and green, which latter colors alone eventually remained, and in

the course of five weeks disappeared entirely. As soon as the

intolerance of light had so far abated that the patient could

observe an object without pain, and for a sufficient time to

gain an idea of it, the following experiments were made on

different days.

"_First Experiment._--Silk ribbons of different colors, fastened

on a black ground, were employed to show the complementary

colors. The patient recognized the different colors, with the

exception of yellow and green, which he frequently confounded,

but could distinguish when both were exhibited at the same time.

He could point out each color correctly when a variety was shown

him at the same time. Gray pleased him best; the effect of red,

orange, and yellow was painful; that of violet and brown not

painful, but disagreeable. Black produced subjective colors, and

white occasioned the recurrence of _muscae volitantes_ in a most

vehement degree.

"_Second Experiment._--The patient sat with his back to the

light, and kept his eye closed. A sheet of paper on which two

strong black lines had been drawn, the one horizontal, the other

vertical, was placed before him, at the distance of about three

feet. He was now allowed to open the eye, and after attentive

examination he called the lines by their right denominations.

When I asked him to point out with his finger the horizontal

line, he moved his hand slowly, as if feeling, and pointed to

the vertical; but after a short time, observing his error, he

corrected himself. The outline in black of a square [six inches

in diameter], within which a circle had been drawn, and within

the latter a triangle, was, after careful examination,

recognized and correctly described by him. When he was asked to

point out either of the figures, he never moved his hand

directly and decidedly, but always as if feeling, and with the

greatest caution; he pointed them out, however, correctly. A

zigzag and a spiral line, both drawn on a sheet of paper, he

observed to be different, but could not describe them otherwise

than by imitating their forms with his finger in the air. He

said he had no idea of those figures.

"_Third Experiment._--The windows of the room were darkened,

with the exception of one, toward which the patient, closing his

eye, turned his back. At the distance of three feet, and on a

level with the eye, a solid _cube_ and a _sphere_, each of four

inches diameter, were placed before him. I now let him open his

eye. After attentively examining these bodies, he said he saw a

_quadrangular_ and a _circular_ figure, and after some

consideration he pronounced the one a _square_ and the other a

_disk_. His eye being then closed, the cube was taken away, and

a disk of equal size substituted and placed next to the sphere.

On again opening his eye he observed no difference in these

objects, but regarded them both as disks. The solid cube was now

placed in a somewhat oblique position before the eye, and close

beside it a figure cut out of pasteboard, representing a plane

outline prospect of the cube when in this position. Both objects

he took to be something like flat quadrates. A pyramid, placed

before him with one of its sides toward his eye, he saw as a

plane triangle. This object was now turned a little, so as to

present two of its sides to view, but rather more of one side

than of the other; after considering and examining it for a long

time, he said that this was a very extraordinary figure; it was

neither a triangle, nor a quadrangle, nor a circle; he had no

idea of it, and could not describe it. 'In fact,' said he, 'I

must give it up.' On the conclusion of these experiments I asked

him to describe the sensations the objects had produced,

whereupon he said that immediately on opening his eye he had

discovered a difference in the two objects, the cube and the

sphere, placed before him, and perceived that they were not

drawings; but that he had not been able to form from them the

idea of a square and a disk, _until he perceived a sensation of

what he saw in the points of his fingers_, as if he really

touched the objects. When I gave the three bodies, the sphere,

cube, and pyramid, into his hand, he was much surprised that he

had not recognized them as such by sight, as he was well

acquainted with them by touch. These experiments prove the

correctness of the hypothesis I have advanced elsewhere on the

well-known question put by Mr. Molyneux to Locke, which was

answered by both these gentlemen in the negative.

"_Fourth Experiment._--In a vessel containing water to about the

depth of one foot was placed a musket-ball, and on the surface

of the water a piece of pasteboard of the same form, size, and

color as the ball. The patient could perceive no difference in

the position of these bodies; he believed both to be upon the

surface of the water. Pointing to the ball, I desired him to

take up this object. He made an attempt to take it from the

plane of the water; but, when he found he could not grasp it

there, he said he had deceived himself, the objects were lying

in the water, upon which I informed him of their real position.

I now desired him to touch the ball which lay in the water with

a small rod. He attempted this several times, but always missed

his aim. He could never touch the object at the first movement

of his hand toward it, but only by feeling about with the rod.

On being questioned with respect to reflected light, he said

that he was always obliged to bear in mind that the

looking-glass was fastened to the wall in order to correct his

idea of the apparent situation of objects behind the glass.

"When the patient first acquired the faculty of sight, all

objects appeared to him so near that he was sometimes afraid of

coming in contact with them, though they were in reality at a

great distance from him. He saw everything much larger than he

had supposed from the idea obtained by his sense of touch.

Moving and especially living objects, such as men, horses, etc.,

appeared to him very large. If he wished to form an estimate of

the distance of objects from his own person or of two objects

from each other without moving from his place, he examined the

objects from different points of view by turning his head to the

right and to the left. Of perspective in pictures he had, of

course, no idea; it appeared to him unnatural that the figure of

a man represented in the front of a picture should be larger

than a house or mountain in the background. All objects appeared

to him perfectly flat. Thus, although he very well knew by his

touch that the nose was prominent and the eyes sunk deeper in

the head, he saw the human face only as a plane. Though he

possessed an excellent memory, this faculty was at first quite

deficient as regarded visible objects: he was not able, for

example, to recognize visitors, unless he heard them speak, till

he had seen them very frequently. Even when he had seen an

object repeatedly he could form no idea of its visible qualities

without having the real object before him. Heretofore when he

dreamed of any persons, of his parents, for instance, he felt

them and heard their voices, but never saw them; but now, after

having seen them frequently, he saw them also in his dreams. The

human face pleased him more than any other object. Although the

newly-acquired sense afforded him many pleasures, the great

number of strange and extraordinary sights was often

disagreeable and wearisome to him. He said that he saw too much

novelty which he could not comprehend; and, even though he could

see both near and remote objects very well, he would

nevertheless continually have recourse to the use of the sense

of touch."

Final Remarks.

To the seven reports upon cases of persons born blind and afterward

surgically treated, which are here presented in abridged form from the

English originals, may be added some more recent and more accessible

ones, one by Hirschberg ("Archiv fuer Opthalmologie," xxi, 1. Abth., S.

29 bis 42, 1875), one by A. von Hippel (ibid., xxi, 2. Abth., S. 101),

and one by Dufour ("Archives des Sciences physiques et naturelles,"

lviii, No. 242, April, 1877, p. 420). The cases reported here are those

most discussed. I have given them considerably in detail in order that

the reader may form an independent judgment concerning the behavior of

persons born blind and then operated upon, as that behavior is described

_before_ the modern physiological controversy over empiricism and

nativism. Helmholtz ("Physiologische Optik," Sec. 28) mentions, besides

those of Chesselden and Wardrop and Ware, which he gives in abridged

form, some other cases also. Others still may be found in Froriep's

"Notizen" (xi, p. 177, 1825, and iv, p. 243, 1837, also xxi, p. 41,

1842), partly reported, partly cited (the latter according to Franz).

In addition to the cases here given of persons born blind and then

surgically treated--persons not able to see things in space-relations

before becoming blind--one more case is to be mentioned; it is that of a

girl who in her seventh year (probably in consequence of the effect of

dazzling sunlight) lost her sight completely, but recovered it again at

the age of seventeen years after being treated with electricity. She had

to begin absolutely anew to learn to name colors like a child; all

measure of distance, perspective, size, had been lost for her _by lack

of practice_ (as O. Heyfelder relates in his work "Die Kindheit des

Menschen," second edition, Erlangen, 1858, pp. 12-15). He says, p. 12,

that the patient had been eight years blind; p. 13, that she had been

ten years so. Such cases prove the great influence of experience upon

vision in space, and show how little of this vision is inborn in

mankind.

When we compare the acquirement of sight by the normal newly-born

child and the infant with that of those born blind, we should, above

all, bear in mind that the latter in general could make use of only

_one_ eye, and also that on account of the long inactivity of the

retina and the absence of the crystalline lens, as well as in

consequence of the numerous experiences of touch, essential

differences exist. Notwithstanding this, there appears an agreement

in the manner in which in both cases vision is learned, the eye is

practiced, and the association of sight and touch is acquired. The

seventh case in particular shows plainly how strong the analogies are.

These cases are sufficient to refute some singular assertions, e. g.,

that all the newly-born must see objects reversed, as even a Buffon

("Oeuvres completes," iv, 136; Paris, 1844) thought to be the fact. My

boy, when I had him write, in his fifth year, the ordinary figures after

a copy that I set for him, imitated the most of them, to my surprise,

always in a reversed hand (Spiegelschrift, "mirror-hand"); the 1 and the

4 he continued longest to write thus, though he often made the 4 the

other way, too, whereas he always wrote the 5 correctly. This, however,

was, of course, not owing to imperfect sight, but to incomplete

transformation of the visual idea into the motor idea required for

writing. Other boys, as I am given to understand, do the same thing. For

myself, I found the distinction between "right" and "left" so difficult

in my childhood, that I remember vividly the trouble I had with it.

Singularly enough, Buffon assumed, in 1749, that the neglect of the

double images does not yet take place at the beginning of life.

Johannes Mueller, in 1826, expresses the same view. But, inasmuch as in

the first two or three weeks after the birth of a human being, in

contrast with many animals, nothing at all can as yet be distinctly

seen, it is not allowable to maintain that everything must be seen

double. Rather is it true that everything is seen neither single nor

double, since the very young child perceives, as yet, no forms

(boundary-lines) and no distances, but merely receives impressions of

light, precisely as is the case with the person born blind, in the

period directly after an operation has been performed upon his eyes.

Schopenhauer (in his treatise on "Sight and Colors," first edition,

Leipsic, 1816, p. 14) divined this truth. He says, "If a person who was

looking out upon a wide and beautiful prospect could be in an instant

wholly deprived of his intellect, then nothing of all the view would

remain for him except the sensation of a very manifold reaction of his

retina, which is, as it were, the raw material out of which his

intellect created that view."

The new-born child has, as yet, no intellect, and therefore can not, as

yet, at the beginning, see; he can merely have the sensation of light.

This opinion of mine, derived from observation of the behavior of

newly-born and of very young infants (cf. the first chapter of this

book), seems to me to be practically confirmed in an account given

by Anselm von Feuerbach in his work on Kaspar Hauser (Anspach, 1832,

p. 77).

"In the year 1828, soon after his arrival in Nuremberg, Kaspar

Hauser was to look out at the window in the Vestner Tower,

from which there was a view of a broad and many-colored summer

landscape. Kaspar Hauser turned away; the sight was repugnant

to him. At a later period, long after he had learned to speak,

he gave, when questioned, the following explanation:

"'When I looked toward the window it always seemed to me as if

a shutter had been put up close before my eyes, and that upon

this shutter a colorer had wiped off his brushes of different

colors, white, blue, green, yellow, and red, all in motley

confusion. Individual things, as I now see them, I could not,

at that time, perceive and distinguish upon it; it was

absolutely hideous to look upon.'"

By this, as well as by the experiences with persons born blind and

afterward surgically treated, it is clearly demonstrated that colors

and degrees of brightness are severally apprehended before forms and

distances can be perceived. The case must be the same with the normal

human child in the first weeks after birth.

After discrimination of the luminous sensations, the boundary-lines of

bright plane surfaces are next clearly discerned; then come forms, and,

last of all, the distances of these.

With reference to this progress of the normal infant in learning to see,

the accounts of persons born blind and afterward surgically treated are

again of great value. After the famous question put by Molyneux to

Locke, whether an intelligent person, blind from birth, would be able

immediately after an operation to distinguish a sphere from a cube by

means of the eye alone, had been answered in the negative, the opinion

was accepted as satisfactory that such a person learns the distinction

only by means of the sense of touch. Thus, the perception of difference

would come later, after the sight of different forms, only by means of

the tactual memory.

In truth, however, very many forms are discerned as different purely by

means of the eye, without the possibility of aid from any other sense.

Phenomena exclusively optical, which, like the rainbow, can not be

apprehended by touch or by hearing, are distinctly perceived by the

child at a very early period. Without touching, the different forms of

objects would be perceived by means of sight alone, and that even by a

child unable to touch, through movements of the eyes and head, changes

of bodily position, of attitude and posture, and through practice in

accommodation and in the observation of differences of brightness.

The fact correctly predicted by Molyneux, that those born blind but

afterward surgically treated can not, by means of the eye alone,

distinguish the form of a sphere from that of a cube, must accordingly

be supplemented to this extent, viz., that such persons are capable,

just as are normal children who can see, of learning this difference of

form by means of the eye alone without the direct intervention of the

sense of touch; for the co-ordination of the retinal excitations in

space and time by means of the intellect, quite independently of all

impressions from other departments of sense, is possible, and is in

countless cases actual, just as is the learning of differences of form

solely by means of the sense of touch in children who are born blind and

never learn to see.

THE END.

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and edited, with a Preface, by W. J. GREENSTREET, M. A., St. John's

College, Cambridge; Head Master of the Marling School, Stroud. 12mo.

Cloth, $1.50.

Fouillee's work is a timely and valuable contribution to the discussions

of some of the important educational questions that are at present

claiming attention in both this country and Europe.

_SYSTEMATIC SCIENCE TEACHING. A Manual of Inductive Elementary Work for

all Instructors in Graded and Ungraded Schools, the Kindergarten, and

the Home_. By EDWARD GARDNIER HOWE. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.

A thoroughly practical and reliable guide to elementary instruction in

science has long been a desideratum, and this work, embodying the

results of fourteen years of actual classroom tests, will satisfactorily

meet such a demand. The volume gives a general outline of work for the

first three years.

_THE EDUCATION OF THE GREEK PEOPLE, and its Influence on Civilization_.

By THOMAS DAVIDSON. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.

"This work is not intended for scholars or specialists, but for that

large body of teachers throughout the country who are trying to do their

duty, but are suffering from that want of enthusiasm which necessarily

comes from being unable clearly to see the end and purpose of their

labors, or to invest any end with sublime import. I have sought to show

them that the end of their work is the redemption of humanity, an

essential part of that process by which it is being gradually elevated

to moral freedom, and to suggest to them the direction in which they

ought to turn their chief efforts. If I can make even a few of them feel

the consecration that comes from single-minded devotion to a great end,

I shall hold that this book has accomplished its purpose."--_Author's

Preface_.

_THE EVOLUTION OF THE MASSACHUSETTS PUBLIC-SCHOOL SYSTEM. A Historical

Sketch in Six Lectures_. By GEORGE H. MARTIN, A. M., Supervisor of

Public Schools, Boston, Massachusetts. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.

The public discussion that arose from Professor Martin's papers upon the

topic treated in this work will make the complete collection of the

essays of much interest to a large circle of readers. In the present

volume the author aims to show the evolutionary character of the

public-school history of the State, and to point out the lines along

which the development has run and the relation throughout to the social

environment, and incidentally to illustrate the slow and irregular way

by which the people under popular governments work out their own social

and intellectual progress.

_THE PYGMIES_. By A. DE QUATREFAGES, late Professor of Anthropology at

the Museum of Natural History, Paris. With numerous Illustrations. 12mo.

Cloth, $1.75.

In this interesting volume the author has gathered the results of

careful studies of the small black races of Africa, and he shows what

the pygmies of antiquity really were. The peculiar intellectual, moral,

and religious characteristics of these races are also described.

_WOMAN'S SHARE IN PRIMITIVE CULTURE_. By OTIS TUFTON MASON, A. M.,

Curator of the Department of Ethnology in the United States National

Museum. With numerous Illustrations. 12mo. Cloth, $1.75.

"A most interesting _resume_ of the revelations which science has made

concerning the habits of human beings in primitive times, and especially

as to the place, the duties, and the customs of women."--_Philadelphia

Inquirer_.

"Mr. Mason's volume secures for woman her glory as a civilizer in the

past, and by no means denies her a glorious future."--_New York

Tribune_.

_SCHOOLS AND MASTERS OF SCULPTURE_. By A. G. RADCLIFFE, author of

"Schools and Masters of Painting." With 35 full-page Illustrations.

12mo. Cloth, $3.00.

"The art lover will find in Miss Radcliffe's work a book of fascinating

interest, and a thoroughly painstaking and valuable addition to the

stock of knowledge which he may possess on the history of the noble art

of sculpture."--_Philadelphia Item_.

"It would be difficult to name another work that would be so valuable to

the general reader on the same subject as this book."--_San Francisco

Bulletin_.

"The work is free of all needless technicalities, and will be of intense

interest to every intelligent reader, while of inestimable value to the

student of art."--_Boston Home Journal_.

_BY THE SAME AUTHOR_.

_SCHOOLS AND MASTERS OF PAINTING_. With numerous Illustrations and an

Appendix on the Principal Galleries of Europe. New edition, fully

revised, and in part rewritten. 12mo. Cloth, $3.00; half calf, $5.00.

"The volume is one of great practical utility, and may be used to

advantage as an artistic guide-book by persons visiting the collections

of Italy, France, and Germany for the first time."--_New York Tribune_.

_THE DAWN OF CIVILIZATION_. (EGYPT AND CHALDAEA.) By Prof. MASPERO.

Edited by the Rev. Prof. SAYCE. Translated by M. L. McCLURE. With Maps

and over 470 Illustrations. Quarto. Cloth, $7.50.

"The most complete account of ancient Egypt ever published."--_Chicago

Herald_.

"Professor Maspero's intimate acquaintance with Egypt and its

literature, and the opportunities offered him by his position for

several years as director of the Bulak Museum give him a unique claim to

speak with authority on the history of the Nile Valley."--_New York

Sun_.

_POPULAR ASTRONOMY: A General Description of the Heavens_. By CAMILLE

FLAMMARION. Translated from the French by J. ELLARD GORE, F. R. A. S.

With 3 Plates and 288 Illustrations. 8vo. Cloth, $4.50.

"M. Flammarion has produced a work that charms while it interests. He

has classified astronomy so perfectly that any person of ordinary

intelligence may learn from this book practically all that the men in

the observatories know."--_New York Times_.

"The fullest and most elaborate compendium of popular astronomy.... The

book might reasonably be pronounced the most desirable of its

kind."--_New York Sun_.

_LIFE OF SIR RICHARD OWEN_. By Rev. RICHARD OWEN. With an Introduction

by T. H. HUXLEY. 2 vols. 12mo. Cloth, $7.50.

"The value of these memoirs is that they disclose with great minuteness

the daily labors and occupations of one of the foremost men of science

of England."--_Boston Herald_.

"A noteworthy contribution to biographical literature."--_Philadelphia

Press_.

_DEAN BUCKLAND_. The Life and Correspondence of WILLIAM BUCKLAND, D. D.,

F. R. S., sometime Dean of Westminster, twice President of the

Theological Society, and first President of the British Association. By

his Daughter, Mrs. GORDON. With Portraits and Illustrations. 8vo.

Buckram, $3.50.

"Next to Charles Darwin, Dean Buckland is certainly the most interesting

personality in the field of natural science that the present century has

produced."--_London Daily News_.

"A very readable book, for it gives an excellent account, without any

padding or unnecessary detail, of a most original man."--_Westminster

Gazette._

_THE ICE AGE IN NORTH AMERICA, and its Bearings upon the Antiquity of

Man_. By G. FREDERICK WRIGHT, D. D., LL. D., F. G. S. A., Professor in

Oberlin Theological Seminary; Assistant on the United States Geological

Survey. With an appendix on "The Probable Cause of Glaciation," by

WARREN UPHAM, F. G. S. A., Assistant on the Geological Surveys of New

Hampshire, Minnesota, and the United States. New and enlarged edition.

With 150 Maps and Illustrations. 8vo, 625 pages, and Index. Cloth,

$5.00.

"Not a novel in all the list of this year's publications has in it any

pages of more thrilling interest than can be found in this book by

Professor Wright. There is nothing pedantic in the narrative, and the

most serious themes and startling discoveries are treated with such

charming naturalness and simplicity that boys and girls, as well as

their seniors, will be attracted to the story, and find it difficult to

lay it aside."--_New York Journal of Commerce_.

"One of the most absorbing and interesting of all the recent issues in

the department of popular science."--_Chicago Herald_.

"Though his subject is a very deep one, his style is so very unaffected

and perspicuous that even the unscientific reader can peruse it with

intelligence and profit. In reading such a book we are led almost to

wonder that so much that is scientific can be put in language so

comparatively simple."--_New York Observer_.

"The author has seen with his own eyes the most important phenomena of

the Ice age on this continent from Maine to Alaska. In the work itself,

elementary description is combined with a broad, scientific, and

philosophic method, without abandoning for a moment the purely

scientific character. Professor Wright has contrived to give the whole a

philosophical direction which lends interest and inspiration to it, and

which in the chapters on Man and the Glacial Period rises to something

like dramatic intensity."--_The Independent_.

"... To the great advance that has been made in late years in the

accuracy and cheapness of processes of photographic reproduction is due

a further signal advantage that Dr. Wright's work possesses over his

predecessors'. He has thus been able to illustrate most of the natural

phenomena to which he refers by views taken in the field, many of which

have been generously loaned by the United States Geological Survey, in

some cases from unpublished material; and he has admirably supplemented

them by numerous maps and diagrams."--_The Nation_.

_MAN AND THE GLACIAL PERIOD_. By G. FREDERICK WRIGHT, D. D., LL. D.,

author of "The Ice Age in North America," "Logic of Christian

Evidences," etc. International Scientific Series. With numerous

Illustrations. 12mo. Cloth, $1.75.

"It may be described in a word as the best summary of scientific

conclusions concerning the question of man's antiquity as affected by

his known relations to geological time."--_Philadelphia Press_.

"The earlier chapters describing glacial action, and the traces of it in

North America--especially the defining of its limits, such as the

terminal moraine of the great movement itself--are of great interest and

value. The maps and diagrams are of much assistance in enabling the

reader to grasp the vast extent of the movement."--_London Spectator_.

RICHARD A. PROCTOR'S WORKS.

_OTHER WORLDS THAN OURS: The Plurality of Worlds, Studied under the

Light of Recent Scientific Researches_. By RICHARD ANTHONY PROCTOR. With

Illustrations, some colored. 12mo. Cloth, $1.75.

CONTENTS.--Introduction.--What the Earth teaches us.--What we learn from

the Sun.--The Inferior Planets.--Mars, the Miniature of our

Earth.--Jupiter, the Giant of the Solar System.--Saturn, the Ringed

World.--Uranus and Neptune, the Arctic Planets.--The Moon and other

Satellites.--Meteors and Comets: their Office in the Solar

System.--Other Suns than Ours.--Of Minor stars, and of the Distribution

of Stars in Space.--The Nebulae: are they External Galaxies?--Supervision

and Control.

_OUR PLACE AMONG INFINITIES_. A Series of Essays contrasting our Little

Abode in Space and Time with the Infinities around us. To which are

added Essays on the Jewish Sabbath and Astrology. 12mo. Cloth, $1.75.

CONTENTS.--Past and Future of the Earth.--Seeming Wastes in Nature.--New

Theory of Life in other Worlds.--A Missing Comet.--The Lost Comet and

its Meteor Train.--Jupiter.--Saturn and its System.--A Giant Sun.--The

Star Depths.--Star Gauging.--Saturn and the Sabbath of the

Jews.--Thoughts on Astrology.

_THE EXPANSE OF HEAVEN_. A Series of Essays on the Wonders of the

Firmament. 12mo. Cloth, $2.00.

CONTENTS.--A Dream that was not all a Dream.--The Sun.--The Queen of

Night.--The Evening Star.--The Ruddy Planet.--Life in the Ruddy

Planet.--The Prince of Planets.--Jupiter's Family of Moons.--The

Ring-Girdled Planet.--Newton and the Law of the Universe.--The Discovery

of Two Giant Planets.--The Lost Comet.--Visitants from the Star

Depths.--Whence come the Comets?--The Comet Families of the Giant

Planets.--The Earth's Journey through Showers.--How the Planets

Grew.--Our Daily Light.--The Flight of Light.--A Cluster of

Suns.--Worlds ruled by Colored Suns.--The King of Suns.--Four Orders of

Suns.--The Depths of Space.--Charting the Star Depths.--The Star Depths

Astir with Life.--The Drifting Stars.--The Milky Way.

_THE MOON: Her Motions, Aspect, Scenery, and Physical Conditions_. With

Three Lunar Photographs, Map, and many Plates, Charts, etc. 12mo. Cloth,

$2.00.

CONTENTS.--The Moon's Distance, Size, and Mass.--The Moon's

Motions.--The Moon's Changes of Aspect, Rotation, Libration, etc.--Study

of the Moon's Surface.--Lunar Celestial Phenomena.--Condition of the

Moon's Surface.--Index to the Map of the Moon.

_LIGHT SCIENCE FOR LEISURE HOURS_. A Series of Familiar Essays on

Scientific Subjects, Natural Phenomena, etc. 12mo. Cloth, $1.75.

[Illustration: JOHN BACH McMASTER.]

_HISTORY OF THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES_, from the Revolution to the

Civil War. By JOHN BACH McMASTER. To be completed in six volumes. Vols.

I, II, III, and IV now ready. 8vo, cloth, gilt top, $2.50 each.

In the course of this narrative much is written of wars, conspiracies,

and rebellions; of Presidents, of Congresses, of embassies, of treaties,

of the ambition of political leaders, and of the rise of great parties

in the nation. Yet the history of the people is the chief theme. At

every stage of the splendid progress which separates the America of

Washington and Adams from the America in which we live, it has been the

author's purpose to describe the dress, the occupations, the amusements,

the literary canons of the times; to note the changes of manners and

morals; to trace the growth of that humane spirit which abolished

punishment for debt, and reformed the discipline of prisons and of

jails; to recount the manifold improvements which, in a thousand ways,

have multiplied the conveniences of life and ministered to the happiness

of our race; to describe the rise and progress of that long series of

mechanical inventions and discoveries which is now the admiration of the

world, and our just pride and boast; to tell how, under the benign

influence of liberty and peace, there sprang up, in the course of a

single century, a prosperity unparalleled in the annals of human

affairs.

"The pledge given by Mr. McMaster, that 'the history of the people shall

be the chief theme,' is punctiliously and satisfactorily fulfilled. He

carries out his promise in a complete, vivid, and delightful way. We

should add that the literary execution of the work is worthy of the

indefatigable industry and unceasing vigilance with which the stores of

historical material have been accumulated, weighed, and sifted. The

cardinal qualities of style, lucidity, animation, and energy, are

everywhere present. Seldom indeed has a book in which matter of

substantial value has been so happily united to attractiveness of form

been offered by an American author to his fellow-citizens."--_New York

Sun_.

"To recount the marvelous progress of the American people, to describe

their life, their literature, their occupations, their amusements, is

Mr. McMaster's object. His theme is an important one, and we

congratulate him on his success. It has rarely been our province to

notice a book with so many excellences and so few defects."--_New York

Herald_.

"Mr. McMaster at once shows his grasp of the various themes and his

special capacity as a historian of the people. His aim is high, but he

hits the mark."--_New York Journal of Commerce_.

"... The author's pages abound, too, with illustrations of the best kind

of historical work, that of unearthing hidden sources of information and

employing them, not after the modern style of historical writing, in a

mere report, but with the true artistic method, in a well-digested

narrative.... If Mr. McMaster finishes his work in the spirit and with

the thoroughness and skill with which it has begun, it will take its

place among the classics of American literature."--_Christian Union_.

* * * * *

New York: D. APPLETON & CO., 72 Fifth Avenue.

* * * * *

Transcriber's notes:

Non-ascii diacritical marks represented as follows:

[=a] a with macron

[=aa] aa with macron

[=e] e with macron

[=ee] ee with macron

[=o] o with macron

[=oo] oo with macron

[=u] u with macron

[)a] a with breve

[)e] e with breve

[)o] o with breve

[)u] u with breve

[(aa] aa with inverted breve

[(au] au with inverted breve

[(aeu] aeu with inverted breve

[(ee] ee with inverted breve

[(ei] ei with inverted breve

[(eu] eu with inverted breve

[(oi] oi with inverted breve

['=e] e with macron and acute accent

Changes to original text:

Page xxvii

... too high or too low (56),

changed "comma" to "fullstop"

Page xxix

_Organic Sensations and Emotions._

changed to "ORGANIC SENSATIONS AND EMOTIONS."

Page 50

a. _Central Dysarthria and Anarthria._

changed to [alpha]. _Central Dysarthria and Anarthria._

Page 55

e. g changed to e. g.

Page 67

inarticulto changed to inarticulate

Page 91

_hotto_ (horse, from the expression of the carter,

"hott-ho (_tt," instead ... changed to

_hotto_ (horse), from the expression of the carter,

"hott-ho" ("_tt_," instead ...

Page 103

unsually changed to unusually

Page 251

reference to the sound). changed to reference to the sound.

Page 276

microcephalus changed to microcephalous

Page 302

three several times changed to three separate times

1st Page Publications List

"SYSEMTATIC" changed to "SYSTEMATIC"

3rd Page Publications List

"A noteworthy ... literature.' changed to

"A noteworthy ... literature."

* * * * *

End of Project Gutenberg's The Mind of the Child, Part II, by W. Preyer