Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1897-02-18
HIS VISION PERVERTEU.
hoy Who Writes Backward, but Sees
1t rs II Written Correctly.

A hoy Who Writes Backward, but Secs
1t rs II Written Correctly.
A remarakble case of what, for want OF
a better name, is termed perverted vision
is just now attracting much attention. in
North Adams, Mass.
The victim of this strange malady Is
John Ghidotti, 6-year-old boy who at
tends the public schools Of that city. Phys
ically and mentally, so far as scientists
and physicians can determine he in no
way differs from other boys of his age, ex-
cept that it is practically impossible for
him TO write in the ordinary manner. He.
uses his left hand, writing from right to
lsftr forming his letters and sentences back
ward
This popularity Of the boy was noticed
as soon ns he began to take writing lessons.
He learned the ktters quickly and wrote
rapidly for one so young, but his writing
was invariably in the reverse order.
Starting from the wrong side of the
page, he would cover his copybook with
characters which looked unlike anything
iealled writing, but If the page was held
before a mirror the reflection was perfectly
Iegible and appeared like ordinary writing.
Strange to say, he makes figures in the
proper manner. Yet he cannot explain
the difference between writing figures from
left TO right and letters just the reverse.
1t seems impossible to teach this child that
there is anything peculiar about his Chi
Biography, and he persists that his kand-
writing is like that Of any other person.
One may guide his right hand over a
line of copy in the proper manner, but the
moment his hand is released he Instantly
changes the pencil to his left hand and
commences to write in his, through the
looking glass fashion.
Another peculiar feature Of this pervert-
ed vision is that apparently he has, no diff
Guilty in reading the handwriting of other
persons, although there is such difference
between his own and that of others.
His teacher, Miss Alice c. Buckley, says
that he evidently tries very hard to do as
he Is told, but it is as difficult for him to
write in the ordinary manner as it would
be for another to practice his unique meth
cd. She cannot make up her mind whether
his difficulty comes from defect in his
eyes or from the fact that he is left hand
ed, but she has little hope of remedy I'M
less she can induce the child to use his
Adams, o specialist on the eye, after q
number of examinations of the boys eyes,
has arrived at the conclusion that the child
is, to use his own expression, "a freak of
nature" He does not, however, think
that there is any unusual crossing of the
nerve hbers of the eye. The doctor, in all
his years of experience, never met with an
analogous case.
Some years ago returning arctic ex-
plorer told of q number of Eskimos whom
he met in the north of Greenland, who,
when he gave them some colored litho-
graphs, persisted in hanging them upside
down, and when asked why they did so
declared that only when they were SO hung
did they appear natural
To these natives the actual individual or
object seemed to occupy proper position,
but in the case of pictures apparently they
found it necessary to reverse them in order
to appreciate them.-New York Herald.