WHAT THE BLIND CAN SEE.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 1579, 4 March 1887, Page 3

WHAT THE BLIND CAN SEE.

It has often been observed that when the body has been deprived of one of its members, the strength of the lost limb or sense has been transferred to another part of the system, so as to partly compensate for the unfortunate mischance. Some years ago a Lancashire operative lost his right arm in a terrible accident, and immediately after convalescence was discovered to be in the possession of abnormal power in the jaw, by which he becime famous for lilting ho*vy weights with his teeth and actually smashing thick mugs by means of this extraordinary gift. One-legged men are often exceptionally strong in tbe arm, while it is universally acknowledged that the power of sight is frequently transferred trom one organ to the other when either ot them has become wholly injured. These things, together with the phenomena of blindne® 9 * have puzzled philologists from reroute times, j»ud, with regard t > tbe latter, instances are on record of blind people having accomplished feats which astounded their more foitunate brethren. In a famous book publish* d soue years ago it was alleged that, notwithstanding the extraordinary achievement * of the blind, no person thus alfl cted had the power of detecting colours by tho touch. Yet a doctor who lost his sight before he was three years of age, described r*d as giving him a sensation like the touch of a saw, while other colours decreased in repugnance as they became less vivid in appearanceSeveral years ago an afflicted woman living in the west of England astonished the scientific world bytheextraordinary manner in which she could detect colours and recognise handwriting, at once dispelling the popular error and showing that there may be such an abnormal exaltation of the senses as to be equivalent to the possession of a new faculty. This blind lady, among many accomplishments, could distinguish pictures or photographs by simply feeling at them with her hands, and also describe colours with remarkable accuracy. By simply passing her hand over a photograph she could tell the sex of the person photographed, and in a similar way described some paintings and illurinations, pointing out objects that only became apparent to other persons on the minutest inspection. Her wonderful gift extended to the recognition of the handwriting of any person who had previously written witb tbe finger on her forehead, and she could faithfully tell the number of persons congregated in a room. By merely placing letters across her cheek she could inform her friends from whence they came, and when some Christmas cards reached her she truthfully delineated the colours and the various flowers which constituted the ornamentation. On one occasion she received a coloured card trom a lady of her scquaintance, and in order that she might be deceived, the envelope was addressed with the left hand, but even this ruse was discovered. When suffering from deafness and blindness the receptive impressions were so keen that thoughts and desires were at once transmitted to the brain by writing with tbe finger on her forehead. This remarkable case at once attracted the attention of noted physicians and observers of celebral phenomena, and was unanimously considered the most surprising instance of what the blind can tee.