leverly. To test his powers of analyzing chords, Mr. Joule
played him the following discordant combinations: the chord
of B flat in the left hand, with the chord of A with the
flat fifth and sharp sixth in right hand; the chord of E in
the left hand, and the chord of D, two sharps, in the right;
the chord of A, three flats, in the left hand, with that of
A, three sharps, in the right. All these chords were at once
correctly named by enumerating each note in succession from
the lowest. Mr. Seymour subsequently was called upon, and
gave a subject, which he reproduced upon the piano-forte
with great success."

From "The Glasgow (Scotland) Daily Herald," Jan. 2, 1867:--

"'Blind Tom,' the wonderful negro-boy pianist, made his
_debut_ in Glasgow yesterday, when he gave three of his
entertainments, or rather musical exhibitions, in the
Merchants' Hall,--two during the day, and one in the
evening. He is, without doubt, an extraordinary lad; born
blind, though he is now able to distinguish light from
darkness; and having a defect in some of his mental
faculties, though what that defect is it is very difficult
to say. Nature seems to have made up for these deficiencies
by endowing him with a marvellously acute ear and a
retentive memory. It is not uncommon to find blind people
with their other senses much more highly developed, and much
more susceptible of impression, than in people possessing
all their faculties; but in no case have we ever heard or
known of one with auditory nerves so fine, or with memory so
powerful, as 'Blind Tom.' Mozart, when a mere child, was
noted for the delicacy of his ear, and for his ability to
produce music on a first hearing; but Burney, in his
'History of Music,' records no instance at all coming up to
this negro boy for his attainments in phonetics, and his
power of retention and reproduction of sound.... He plays
first a number of difficult passages from the best
composers; and then any one is invited to come forward and
perform any piece he likes, the more difficult the more
acceptable, and, if original, still more preferable. Tom
immediately sits down at the piano, and produces _verbatim
et literatim_ the whole of what he has just heard. To show
that it is not at all necessary that he should be acquaint