hat they would even give a knowledge of the
boundary-lines and of the form of those things with the color of which
the patients were previously acquainted. But this improvement of the
ideas concerning distance can not lead directly to discrimination of the
limits of objects, and is itself hypothetical, inasmuch as we might
expect, _immediately_ after the operation, on account of the enormous
difference in the luminous intensity, an uncertainty in the judgment.
But such uncertainty appeared only in a slight degree in both the cases,
a thing possible only because there had already been sufficient
experiences with the eye. But these experiences, as is frequently
stated, were absolutely lacking in regard to the limits and the form of
objects. Here another thing comes in to help. Evidently, an eye that
distinguishes only colors sees these colors always only as limited; even
if it saw only a single color that occupied the whole field of vision,
the field would still be a limited one. But the colored field may be
small or large, and this difference may be noticed before the operation.
If the object--one of vivid coloring--is long and narrow, the patient,
even before the operation, will see it otherwise than if it is, with the
same coloring, short and broad. And suppose he merely observes that not
the whole field of vision is colored. If the whole field is colored,
there is, of course, an entire lack of angles; on the other hand, if the
whole field of vision is not filled by the colored object, then it
is--however faintly--divided, and the lines of division, i. e., the
indistinct boundary-lines of the objects whose color is perceived, may
be either like the natural limits of the entire field of vision, i. e.,
"round," or unlike them, i. e., "angular." If, now, the obstacle is
suddenly removed, the patient (even if he did not before the operation
distinguish angular and round by the eye) must yet perceive which of
the objects before him resemble in contour the previous field of vision,
i. e., are round, and which do not; for the round contour of his field
of vision is familiar to him. But W. had learned, through the sense of
touch, that what is not round is angular. He would, therefore, even if
he could perceive colors when the whole field of vision was filled--a
matter on which we have no information--be able to guess the outlines of
some objects soon after the operation, merely on the ground of his
experiences before it. It was