The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-08-14
A REMARKABLE BLIND NAN.
He is a Student at a California Uni
VerSity.


Senses.
From the San Francisco Chronicle.
There is a blind student in the Uni
versity of California whose ability and
wonderfully trained senses almost Offset
the terrible disadvantage under which he
labors for success in the world. He can
tell the difference between daylight and
darkness only by the heat of the sun, yet
in his studies and social pleasures ne is a
leader in his class and a iovial, good
natured, optimistic young fellow who
knows there is a bright side of life, who
enjoys himself and who has hosts Of
friends.
In mental capacity he is far above the
average He is argumentative to the last
degree and participates with credit in the
debates among his associates. He is pas
sionately fond of the society of others,
and takes keen enjoyment in whist, at
which he is an adept. He is no mean an
tagonist at chess and can show people
who see, points which might be to their
advantage He is a ready letter. writer,
and when opportunity affords yields an
oar as an expert. He is close and indie
fatigable student and has determined to
make his way in life as a lawyer.
People who see the young man walking
along the streets of Berkeley unaccOm-
panied and unaided by cane wonder at
the acuteness which nutralizes his blind
ness Getting on and off the trains,
speaking now and again to an acquain
tance who may aCcost him, paying social
visits to his friends and moving, acting
and appearing as if he were, as the rest,
in full enjoyment of all his faculties, he
is a source of surprise and admiration,
which immeasurably increase when one
sees him at his studies and at the pleas
ures of his home.
The young man is Cecil Smith, men,
Der of the sophomore class of the Uni
versity and proud of the distinctive and
pretty mortarboard and gown which
mark his membership in the class. He is
about 81 years of age, slight in build and
has a splendid shaped head. His eyes are
as clear and as bright as the best, and one
hearing him speak or watching him in
the midst of conversation would never
know that his eyes are sightless and that
he governs their movement and express
siOns by an effort of will that never re-
lakes.
His blindness is the result of q serious
illness. When he was about years old
he was attacked by a fever which left
him weak and emaciated. Hewas then a
student and constant reading gradually
lyzed the optic nerves. He left the sick
room absolutely blind, and with no hope
of recovery. In due time he entered the
blind asylum at Berkeley and two years
ago matriculated at the State University.
His progress under the conditions
which must always exist for him has been
extraordinary. In all his studies he en-
ployes a reader who recites his lessons to
him The blind student has a splendid
memory, never forgetting an essential
particular in any argument which may
have been read only once. In history,
literature and science he advances
rapidly. In mathematics he finds his
greatest difficulties, but even in that he is
not by any means the last in his class.
One of his most extraordinary achieve
ments is in chemistry, as he proves him
self able to follow and understand the ex-
| periments which he cannot see. His log
| ical faculties are developed to such an ex-
| tent that where color in that particular
| field is not involved he is seldom at a loss.
In the languages he is quite as good a
student. In the debate of the college So
cieties he takes an active interest, and
from the nature of the case is superior to
most of his followers. As student his
blindness has made no particular differ
ence to him, particularly in the prepara-
tion for the career ne has outlined for
| himself. He is studiOus, more than US
ually quick-witted, and is sound in judg-
ment. II seems strange that blind man
maylsucceed so well in that direction, but
in other lines young Smiths achieve
ments seem far more extraordinary.
One of his keenest entoyments is in
writing letters to his friends, of whom he
has host. He has a typewriter and
uses it to perfection. Seldom is there
mistake. He manipulates the keys as if
he saw them all. When the letters are
I Is,r -. L.
name but that is a performance which he
| finds somewhat difficult. 1t is not be-
yOnd his powers, however, although his
signature or two or three words are the
limit to which he has yet gone.
His performances at whist astonish all
who know him. He has made that game
his favorite pastime, and plays it as
| quickly and accurately as any good player,
recognizing the cards he has and using
them always TO the best advantage He
knows instantly the value of the cards he
holds, can tell at once the colOrs and num-
Der of spots possessed and takes mis- part
of the game without the slightest iucon-
venience to any one who may be playing
with him. All these accomplishments
may seem at first glance extraordinary,
but the young student has evolved from
his own brain an elaborate system which
places them readily within his reach.
In playing whist he must, as a matter
of necessity, be told what cards the 9TH
ers in the game play at any given time,
but that is all he must be told He has a
little machine with which he punctures
each card. So fine are the tiny holes
made that none of the other players
notice them. The cards are in no way
marred for practical use, and may be
shuffled as any other ordinary pack
On one side there is the slightest of
depressiOns where the holes are made,
and on the other there is an almost i'm
perceptiblc elevation. To the usual
player there is nothing noticeable; to the
man who knows the system there is in
the tiny marks everything necessary to a
complete understanding of the cards
In marking his cards young Smith
must, of course, be told what each one is,
the color spot, and the honor it repre-
sents. The central feature of this sys-
TEN is triangle. The arrangement of
the little dots in one direction tells him
the color of the card in another direction
the honor, and in still another the spot
His sense of touch is so acute that he
has no difficulty in deciphering the char
actcr of the cards he holds in an instant.
| BY rubbing his fingers over each-they
are all marked in diagonal corners-he
finds all that il is necessary to know.
Then his marvellous memory comes into
play, and he can locate every card in his
hand without trouble or delay. He not
only does that, but can remember all that