Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1830-04-26

has since acquired nave ehaDieu n'H' W ~
in the sound of his conductor voice an express
sion of trouble and anguish: The light'oI Gay
caused him still greater sufterlnss. lie reuilns
noidea of his Conductors physiosnomy, nor does
he even know if he observed it; but the sound OF
his voice he tells US, he COLD distinguish among
a thousand.
"Here ends the narrative. and we now come
tothe conversation. During the first days which he
passed among men, he was in state OF continu-
al suffering He could bear no other food than
bread. He was made to take chocolate hefelt 1t
he told us, to his fingers ends. The light, the
motion, the noise around him, (and curious per.
sons were not wanting TO produce the latter ana
the variety of objects which forced themselves
upon his obser, att On, caused an ndlscrl)able pain.
a physical dstemper. but this dstemper must
have existed in the chaos of his ideas. 1t was
music that afforded him the first agreeable sensa-
ton: it was through its influence that ne expert
enced dispersion of this chaos. From this perl
cd he was enabled to perceive a,commencement
of order in the impressions by which he was as
sailed His memory has become prodiglous: he
quickly learned to name and classify objects, to
distinguish faces and to attach to each The pro-
per name which he heard pronounced. tie has
an CIR for music, and aptitude for drawing. At
first he was fond of amusing himself with wooden
horses, Of which present had been made to HIM,
when he was heard continually to repeat the ;,ord
horses. beautiful horses (ress, sc'ione ress lie
instantly gave up, when his master made him
understand this was not proper. and that 1T was
not beautiful His taste for horses has since been
replaced BY taste for study. He has begun the
study of the Latin Language, and by natural
spirit of imitation, bis master being a literary
man he is DESTROYS of following the same career.
$50 extraordinary phenomenon could not
fail to inspire independently of general curiosity
an interest of higher order, whether in obser-
wing minds or in feeling hearts, and the women
especially have expressed their feelings towards
him in little presents and letters of the most
tender kind. But the multitude of idle visits
they made to him, and especially these express
siOns of tender feeling were productive OF danger
to him, and it became necessary to withdraw
him from so many causes of distraction, and to
lead him into retirement. Accordingly he now
lives retired in the bosom of respectable fami-
ly. Pure morals, an observing mind, and a ply
Biological order, preside over his education and
instruction, in proofof which he has made i'm
mense progress in the course of the last sixteen
months"
"Here then, by the inexplicable eccentricity
of destiny without example, we have present
ed, and perhaps solved a problem, which from
the Egyptian King mentioned by Herodotus,
down to the writer's of novels, to the Emilius of
Rosseau, and the statue of Codillac, has exercis-
ed the Imagination of men. and the meditatjons
of philosophers. 1t is evident that in the pro-
found darkness, the absolute vacuty in which
Caspar Hauser was for twelve years immersed,
all the impressions of the first four years of his
| life were effaced. Never was there tabula rasa
like that which his mind presented at the age of
| ~ n hoop nfr
ceiving. But the metaphor is false, for you see
how it has reacted.
"In proportion as the sphere of his ideas en-
larged he has made continual efforts to pierce the
shades of his previous existence. They have
been useless at least as yet. necessarily try"
said he to us, g to seize the image of the arm;
but am then affected with dreadful headaches,
and feel motions in my brain which frighten me-"
have told you that his figure, his look and his
port, bore the expression of candOr, carelessness
and cOntentment. asked him if he had either
in his dungeon, or after coming out of it, expert
enced feelings of anger How could said he,
when there has never been i'll me land he pointed
| to his heart what men call anger. And this be-
ing, from whom, since the commencement. of his
moral existence, had emanated all the gentle and
benevolent affections, has all these illusions dis
sipated by the violence of an assassin. Happy.
perhaps had it been for him had he fallen under
it, should he yet fall! And yet, if, after having
been struck by the murderer, he drags himself
mechanically and squats in the corner Of a cellar,
as if he would again enter his cave, he, who in
the first moment of his social existence, had no
other wish than that of being led back to it, see
him now become social man to such degree,
that his first cry is to supcate tina. he be not again
led to it.
This assassin, only know as yourself and
and as the public know, through the medium of
newspapers. The young man they say. thought he
recognized in him the voice of his conductor. 1t
is probable that the conductor is the assassin
but il is also possible that the young man may be
deceived: for in that well remembered voice were
concentrated all his ideas of evil. Be this as it
may, it is as psychological phenomenon that
have presented his history; & not as an adventure
respecting which every one may form his own
conjectures. All that can sayis that the func-
tionary who presented him to us, and who, by
the duties of his office, was charged with direct
ing the inquiries, has informed me that for mo-