Effects of Working in Compressed Air, Part 3

Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine
by George M. Gould, M.D., Walter L. Pyle, M.D.

(Page 32 of 50)

Eleven such lessons were given, at intervals of three or four days, until she had acquired all the elements of speech, Miss Sullivan in the meantime practicing with the child on the lessons received. The first word spoken was arm, which was at once associated with her arm; this gave her great delight. She soon learned to pronounce words by herself, combining the elements she had learned, and used them to communicate her simple wants. The first connected language she used was a description she gave Miss Fuller of a visit she had made to Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, in all over 200 words. They were, all but two or three, pronounced correctly. She now, six years afterward, converses quite fluently with people who know nothing of the manual alphabet by placing a couple of fingers on the speaker's lips, her countenance showing great intentness and brightening as she catches the meaning. Anybody can understand her answers."

In a beautiful eulogy of Helen Keller in a recent number of Harper's Magazine, Charles Dudley Warner expresses the opinion that she is the purest-minded girl of her age in the world.

Edith Thomas, a little inmate of the Perkins Institute for the Blind, at South Boston, is not only deaf and dumb but also blind. She was a fellow-pupil with Helen Keller, and in a measure duplicated the rapid progress of her former playmate. In commenting on progress in learning to talk the Boston Herald says: "And as the teacher said the word 'Kitty' once or twice she placed the finger-tips of one hand upon the teacher's lips and with the other hand clasped tightly the teacher's throat; then, guided by the muscular action of the throat and the position of the teeth, tongue, and lips, as interpreted by that marvelous and delicate touch of hers, she said the word 'Kitty' over and over again distinctly in a very pretty way. She can be called dumb no longer, and before the summer vacation comes she will have mastered quite a number of words, and such is her intelligence and patience, in spite of the loss of three senses, she may yet speak quite readily.

"Her history is very interesting. She was born in Maplewood, and up to the time of contracting diphtheria and scarlet fever, which occurred when she was four years old, had been a very healthy child of more than ordinary quickness and ability. She had attained a greater command of language than most children of her age. What a contrast between these 'other days,' as she calls them, and the days which followed, when hearing and sight were completely gone, and gradually the senses of speech and smell went, too! After the varied instruction of the blind school the little girl had advanced so far as to make the rest of her study comparatively easy. The extent of her vocabulary is not definitely known, but it numbers at least 700 words. Reading, which was once an irksome task, has become a pleasure to her. Her ideas of locality and the independence of movement are remarkable, and her industry and patience are more noticeable from day to day. She has great ability, and is in every respect a very wonderful child."

According to recent reports, in the vicinity of Rothesay, on the Clyde, there resides a lady totally deaf and dumb, who, in point of intelligence, scholarship, and skill in various ways, far excels many who have all their faculties. Having been educated partly in Paris, she is a good French scholar, and her general composition is really wonderful. She has a shorthand system of her own, and when writing letters, etc., she uses a peculiar machine, somewhat of the nature of a typewriter.

Among the deaf persons who have acquired fame in literature and the arts have been Dibil Alkoffay, an Arabian poet of the eighth century; the tactician, Folard; the German poet, Engelshall; Le Sage; La Condamine, who composed an epigram on his own infirmity; and Beethoven, the famous musician. Fernandez, a Spanish painter of the sixteenth century, was a deaf-mute.

All the world pities the blind, but despite their infirmities many have achieved the highest glory in every profession. Since Homer there have been numerous blind poets. Milton lost none of his poetic power after he had become blind. The Argovienne, Louise Egloff, and Daniel Leopold, who died in 1753, were blind from infancy. Blacklock, Avisse, Koslov, and La Mott-Houdart are among other blind poets. Asconius Pedianus, a grammarian of the first century; Didyme, the celebrated doctor of Alexandria; the Florentine, Bandolini, so well versed in Latin poetry; the celebrated Italian grammarian, Pontanus; the German, Griesinger, who spoke seven languages; the philologist, Grassi, who died in 1831, and many others have become blind at an age more or less advanced in their working lives.

Probably the most remarkable of the blind scientists was the Englishman, Saunderson, who in 1683, in his first year, was deprived of sight after an attack of small-pox. In spite of his complete blindness he assiduously studied the sciences, and graduated with honor at the University of Cambridge in mathematics and optics. His sense of touch was remarkable. He had a collection of old Roman medals, all of which, without mistake, he could distinguish by their impressions. He also seemed to have the ability to judge distance, and was said to have known how far he had walked, and by the velocity he could even tell the distance traversed in a vehicle. Among other blind mathematicians was the Dutchman, Borghes (died in 1652); the French astronomer, the Count de Pagan, who died in 1655; Galileo; the astronomer, Cassini, and Berard, who became blind at twenty-three years, and was for a long time Professor of Mathematics at the College of Briancon.

In the seventeenth century the sculptor, Jean Gonnelli, born in Tuscany, became blind at twenty years; but in spite of his infirmity he afterward executed what were regarded as his masterpieces. It is said that he modeled a portrait of Pope Urban VIII, using as a guide his hand, passed from time to time over the features. Lomazzo, the Italian painter of the eighteenth century, is said to have continued his work after becoming blind.

Several men distinguished for their bravery and ability in the art of war have been blind. Jean de Troczow, most commonly known by the name of Ziska, in 1420 lost his one remaining eye, and was afterward known as the "old blind dog," but, nevertheless, led his troops to many victories. Froissart beautifully describes the glorious death of the blind King of Bohemia at the battle of Crecy in 1346. Louis III, King of Provence; Boleslas III, Duke of Bohemia; Magnus IV, King of Norway, and Bela II, King of Hungary, were blind. Nathaniel Price, a librarian of Norwich in the last century, lost his sight in a voyage to America, which, however, did not interfere in any degree with his duties, for his books were in as good condition and their location as directly under his knowledge, during his blindness as they were in his earlier days. At the present day in New York there is a blind billiard expert who occasionally gives exhibitions of his prowess.