Sight to the Blind.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XL, Issue 7542, 15 May 1903, Page 7

Sight to the Blind.

fr J J startling announcement is from Paris that Professor Stiens has discovered how to give sicht to the blind. What has-been S n some way achieved is thus described by a man 'who passed through the expenence at the hands of ProInfm StiC"S :-"1 Was taken i*to a S/0^ 1, 1 aiJ d there heavilyblindlolcled. Tho doctor then struck a number of matches which I heard and flashed a lamp before me as he told me, but I was not able to perceive the faintest glimmer of lightf Dr. Stiens then connected my head with his apparatus. Immediately I began to see a dim light Dr. Stiens then connected roundmgs. The doctor then asked me if I could distinguish any object. I looked and saw a hand held up with outstretched lingers, which I could distinguish clearly. Tho light gradually became brighter and I saw other objects in the room. I could distinguish chairs and tables." It is obvious that there are other explanations of tho blindfolding experiment than that the secret of giving sight has been found ; but one may still be sceptical and interested at the same time in Dr. Stiens's theories. His idea is that sight is mental and not physical, and that a man sees, not with his eyes, but with his brain. "The eyes," says the professor, "are only an instrument for receiving images, which are conveyed to the centre of perception in the brain by the optic nerve. The blind man who perceives the size, shape, and nature of an object with his hands sees in a limited sense. If men had evolved without eyes, but with all their present brain power, they would doubtless be able to see by some other method." Some of the lower animals, Dr Stiens reminds us, have no eyes, but perceive light with their whole bodies. The professor has compared his invention to a telephone, and asserts that it will not only be .valuable in enabling the blind to see, but will convey the image of a scene miles away, as the telephone does the voice.