Wide attention has been attracted by two students at Northwestern
University, one of them stone blind, the other deaf and dumb, by reason
of their marvelous demonstrations in “seeing” and “hearing.” Wiletta
Huggins, deaf and dumb, can hear with her fingertips, or by placing a
pole against a speaker’s chest and feeling the vibrations. Professor
Robert H. Gault is conducting a series of experiments with her that may
eventually lead to teaching deaf mutes to talk. No less remarkable are
the achievements of the blind student, Carl Bostrom, who has so trained
his facial nerves and ears that he can “see” things that are denied those
who have the use of their eyes. In a crowded court room, he could tell,
by the sound of a prisoner’s voice, whether or not he was telling the
truth. Also, with uncanny accuracy, he told the dimensions of the room,
located the doors and windows, and calmly announced that on one side of
the room only men were standing, and on the other only women.
“I can tell by the sounds,” he said—“little sounds that most people miss.
There is a difference in the noises made by men and women.”
A reporter asked him how many persons there were in the court.
He listened acutely, then said, “Seventy-five.”
The reporter guessed one hundred. Another guess estimated the number at
sixty. The persons in the room were counted. There were exactly eighty
two.