Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1817-11-14

1 Before :Gy experiments were made, care
WAS taken 70 have her cye-llds shut, and
gold beater's skin cemen;ed oysr them
goggles and a handkerchief were then
tied over the gold beater's skin. Seyer-
al piece, of cOloured silk were placed
before her +; and, passing her fingers over
them, she readily tod the different shade
aud poin;ed 0u; the patterns of various
prints. A small glass vial was put in,o
he" hands, containing several pieces of
silk, Of different colours, and she discri,
minated, in like manner. tie various
shades through the vial. Some letters
were produced, the direc ions Of which
she readily decl phered, through a piece
of common window glass, placed At equal
distances bstwcen the Cbrect j. her face,
her 6ngers touching the glass. With a
magrhyins 9 lass. placed in the same sl-
tua;ion, her powers OF di.cernment ap-
pcared ta be increased. She also dies
cribed the features of several individuals
in the company, as reflected in locking
glass placed on hei knee. The faculty
which, it is said, she pa Sesses Of dlstin-
gushing objects when placed behind her,
was not, on the present occasion, at all
in operation, tor whenever her attention
was called to an object not placc;i in a
direct liue downwards from her face, she
uniformly failed to ascertain any Of its
qualities her powers seemed also gone,
when any thing cpake INTERVIEWED be-
tween her face and the object she endea-
vOurs d to recognize.
Thus. says the Liverpool editor, the
cs'e remains envelrped in mystery, in
whatever lighted it is viewed. Against
the theory Of the touch alone being con
ce,ne,l, is the fact we have just stated,
that, as lar as our observation goes, she
requires an uninterrupted commuuica
ton between her face and the object ex-
amiued, which could not be necessary Il
the ideas were conveyed to the brain. as
snme have supposed through the nerves
Of the fingers. On tn other hand, we
can scarcely conceive It possible that she
could see through the usual channel, af-
ter, the means We have described, had
been adopted to keep down the eys-lids.
We have heard it suggested as possible,
that the pupil of the eye, il the lachrymal
duo. were considerably enlarged, nigh;
be presented doyn the uostrils, so as to
afford the means Of vision through this
medium but on this point we dare not
undertake to offer any decided opinion /;
al we can venture upon is, that allow
ing the anatomical possibility of the fact,
the phenomena we witnessed may be ca
silly explained"
Milton, say. the Federal Republican,
in his beautiful apostrophe to blindness,
laments that sight was not like feeling,
diltuscd through every pore that so
important sense in other words should
be Cou6ned t" So small part Of the hu-
man body. We presume that these facts,
so gravely detailed, will set all our phi
losophers IN an uproar they must be
accounted for, as matter OF course, and
VIC shall have new theories, new sys-
| TENS, new explanations they viii en-
deavor 10 shew, we presume, that it is no
new thing for man to see with his I'm
gers ends, but perfectly correspondent
TO their system-nay, it will be we'll if
they DO not declare that they inherit this
property themselves. Before our philo-
sophers, however, proceed to these
lengths, We would recommend to their
cUu,ider alton the advice Of DIR. Johnson,
who declares that in all philosophical de-
bates, "tks first object is to be satisfied
Of the Sr!Stsncs Of the fact" There
seems sOrr OF a nau,a for miracles in
our day, If which inposters avail Them
selves 10 sport with public crrtulity.