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 experim