guess-work every time, as appears from the
confounding of knife and spoon, mug and basin. The boy must have
thought, "How would it be if I felt of it?" and, as he had before the
operation frequently observed that whatever had the same contour as his
field of vision, or a contour similar to that, was round, he could,
after the operation, distinguish round and not round--a thing which a
person born blind, on the other hand, and knowing nothing of his field
of vision, because he has never had any, can never do.

On the whole, the two Ware cases are by no means so important as the
Franz (see below) and Chesselden cases, because the boy, W., had ample
opportunity up to his seventh year for learning to distinguish different
colors according to their quality and luminous intensity; because he
must have known the limits of his field of vision, and could in any
case, by means of touch, correct and relatively confirm his very
frequent attempts to guess at forms and distances by the eye. Finally,
it is not known whether he became blind before or immediately after his
birth, or, as is most probable, not till some months after birth. The
same is true of the second case.

IV, V. THE HOME CASES.

Everard Home makes the following statement in the "Philosophical
Transactions of the Royal Society," London, 1807, i, pp. 83-87, 91:

"1. William Stiff, twelve years of age, had cataracts in his
eyes, which, according to the account of his mother, existed at
the time of birth. From earliest infancy he never stretched out
his hand to catch at anything, nor were his eyes directed to
objects placed before him, but rolled about in a very unusual
manner. The eyes were not examined till he was six months old,
and at that time the cataracts were as distinct as when he was
received into the hospital. He could at that time (July 17,
1806) distinguish light from darkness, and the light of the sun
from that of a fire or candle; he said it was redder and more
pleasant to look at, but lightning made a still stronger
impression on his eyes. All these different lights he called
red. The sun appeared to him the size of his hat. The
candle-flame was larger than his finger and smaller than his
arm. When he looked at the sun, he said it appeared to touch his
eye. When a lighted candle was placed before him, both his eyes
were directed toward it, and moved together. When it was at any
n