The Dickinson press., 1895-08-10
A BLIND SURGEON,
PerfOrmn Difficult Operations
Though He Has Seen Nothing
Since birth.

Though He Has Seen Nothing
Since birth.
When james Il. Cooke, of Hunting
ton avenue, was two months old both
of his eyes We're ruined by blunder-
ing doctor, who administered Il wrong
medicine. Since then lie has been
totally blind. He is now thirty-two
years of age, and he IS consulted in
difficult cases by the most eminent Of
the regular physicians of Boston. He
has performed the present week two
very delicate and difficult surgical
operations, and in both cases the pa
tients are doing well. He locates a
disease by his sensitive touch, and he
tells the colors of goods in the same
way, singular as it may appear A
lady who had eight or ten samples Of
dress goods, each about three inches
square and of different colors and
shades of colors, handed them to DR..
Cooke the other day, and lie ut once
told accurately the color and even the
shade of quality of each, and selected
the samples of best quality. When
handed several national bank and gov
ernment currency bills, he at once told
the denomination of each, and the col
or, whether green or black. He tells
the complexion of a person by touch
Ing the skin. 1t is difficult to believe
that blind man could do this, but he
he Is seen to do it, and accurately,
too.
DIR. Cooke went among Buffalo Bills
Indians the other day, and designat-
eu their character by their voices,
spoken il: the Indian dialect He has
three diplomas from colleges Of this
and foreign countries and four certi-
flcatcs of commendation from institu-
tions where he has taken special
courses of study. lie went through
course of study under the famous
Weir Mitchell.
Before DR.. Cooke was 81 years Of age
he was employed by Il large tobacco
house to select the raw tobacco for
them. He never failed in getting the
best quality and the most desirable
color-aH by the touch. From this
source he earned over $1,000, which
paid his expenses at a university in
Tennessee. where he stood at the head
of his class. From the Tennessee uni
versity he entered medical school,
where he was to the fore all through
the class. He has taken special stud
iSo III uNc ClucF luSlltItlOuS, Il part
OF them i'll Europe. To attain all that
this remarkable man has accomplished
In the higher classics and professional
studies of the college required large
and firmly knit brain. perseverance
and self-reliance to an unusual degree.
The two women patients that he
operated upon last week are both do
Ing well. In one case a large tumor
was removed; the other was a still
more difficult and delicate case. When
lifting out the tllmor, Dr. Cooke found
that lie had twenty-four forceps hold
ing veins and arteries. He tied blood
vessels quickly and removed the for
ceps. He takes up and ties severed ar
tries in difficult cases more rapidly
than any Of the clear-seeing surgeons.
lie has no idea of the appearance Of
the moon and planets and stars, nor
of the sun; and night and day are all
the same to him. except the stiffness
of the night does not escape his atten-
tioli: He is a hard working and un-
tagging student. He has typewrit-
err to whom he dictates. His wife
writes medical prescriptions in Latin.
-Roston Correspondence of the Hart
ford Times.