continued--'Oh! this is wonderful!--I have not seen such things for
three years.' Of course, I was extremely surprised, for though I
had imagined that a long course of mesmerisation might benefit the
boy, I was entirely unprepared for so rapid an improvement in his
vision. My chief object had been to develop the faculty of sight in
sleep-waking; and I can assure my readers, that this increase of
visual power in the natural state was to me a kind of miracle, as
astonishing as it was unsought. My poor patient was in a state of
absolute enchantment. He grinned from ear to ear, and called out,
'Das ist praechtig!' (This is charming!) Two ladies now passed
before us, when he said, 'Da sind zwei fraeuenzimmer!' (There go two
ladies!) 'How dressed?' I asked. 'Their clothes are of a dark
colour,' he replied. This was true. I took my patient to a
summer-house that commanded an extensive prospect. I fear almost to
state it, but, nevertheless, it is perfectly true, that he saw and
pointed out the situation of a village in the valley below us. I
then brought Johann back to the house, when, in the presence of
several members of my family, he recognised, at first sight,
several small objects, (a flowerpot, I remember, amongst other
things,) and not only saw a little girl, one of our farmers'
children, sitting on the steps of a door, but also mentioned that
she had a round cap on her head. In the house, I showed Johann a
book, which, it will be remembered, he could not distinguish before
mesmerisation, and he named the object. But, though making great
efforts, he could not read one letter in the book. Having
ascertained this, I once more threw Johann into the mesmeric state,
with a view to discover how far a second mesmerisation could
strengthen his natural eyesight. As soon as I had awaked him, at
the interval of half an hour, I presented him with the same book,
(one of Marryat's novels,) when he accurately told me the larger
letters of the title-page, which were as follows--'Outward Bound.'
Johann belonging to an institution of the blind situated at some
distance from our residence, I had unhappily only the opportunity
of mesmerising him three times subsequently to the above successful
trial. The establishment, also, of which he was a member, changed
masters; and