The San Francisco call., 1897-02-28
Eyes IN the Tips
Of the Fingers

IEN6lN addition to our knowledge of the
%AAtgs anatomy of the blind has just been
I%Yy made by DR.. s. Millington Miller.
Every one knows that the blind mau is
in small degree compensated for the
want of sight by acute sensibility in the
finger tips. The fingers of the blind can
never see, but with practice they come
pretty near il. They can read raised let
ters with inconceivable rapidity, and they
arrive at exact measurements of form
simply by passing their fingers swiftly
over the contour OF an object. Sanderson,
the blind professor, could detect a spuri-
Gus Roman coin by feeling it over care
Iully with his fingers. A smart blind man
can read character by touching the hand
Of a stranger. BY the combined senses of
touch and hearing he can form a shrewd
idea of the Strangers age, temper, ability
and stature. Chris Buckley once said that
he could always tell mans age by hold
ing his hand and letting him talk for
moment. There have heen blind weavers
whose touch was so keen that they could
weave rug of colored woods embracing
every variety of scroll work, and blind
mineralogists who could identity a speci-
men by the feel.
Whether the blind can tell colors by the
touch has always been a disputed ques-
tion. A very intelligent blind official of
blind asylum once said: II know the diff
ference OF colors because | remember
them, but l can't distinguish them by
touch, nor do think that any blind man
in the world ever could or did" Blind
people in the schools can tell the color of
their rods, but they 90 so by putting their
tongues to them, and distinguishing those
which have been dipped from ose which
have not. Indeed, the closest scrutiny
has failed to detect any difference of tex
ture between a piece of cloth or paper
which has been stained red and another
which has been stained green Locke's
story that blind man told him the feel
of scarlet was like The blast of trumpet
is obviously flight OF fancy.
Prescott, the blind historian, once said
that a blind mans knowledge of things
which were within his grasp was more
thorough than that of a man who could
Use his eyes; but objects at a distance he
not only could not see, but could not con-
ceive, nor could he realize their working.
Holman, the blind traveller, exalted in the
rush OF stimulating air when he stood on
the top of Adams Peak in Ceylon; but as
he could not see the foggy depths all
round, he could not be made to under
stand the consequence of a false step. His
eye did not see, and therefore his mind
did not fear.
Still, the blind mans finger tips are SO
far superior in sensitiveness to those Of the
man who sees that the contrast has pro-
voked inquiry among anatomists. DR..
Miller undertook to unravel the mystery
with scalpeI and microscope. The inner
surface of the index and middle fingers
OF the corpse of blind man were carefully
sliced off. and sections of perhaps six
teenth of an inch in thickness were placed
under a powerful microscope. In these
numbers OF Pacinis corpuscles were dis
covered. (For the benefit of the nom
medical reader, it may be explained that a
Pacini's corpuscle is the infinitesima /
body or atom in which a nerve ends }