The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-01-25
SIGHT RESTORED, BUT CANNOT
SEE.

Strange Case Of Woman who Must
Learn to Know Everything as if She
Were Baby.
| Occulists are greatly interested atpres-
| ent in the strange case of 25-year-old
girl, who has just been endowed with
vision after being blind from birth, and
| is forced to learn by sight objects thor
oughly familiar through her sense of
touch.
| Marie Duplessis was born with what
| is known as congenital double catar-
act of the eyes, which deprived her of
sight. She could distinguish light from
| darkness, but objects were entirely in
visible. In cases of blindness the other
| senses are frequently much more acute
than those of ordinary persons, and
with the girl her power of distinguish
| ing objects by touch was remarkable.
and she learned to know most of the ar
| ticles that entered into her daily life, es-
| innate their weight, and call them by
name.
| or late years operations for cataract
in the eyes have become numerous and
| comparatively simple, vision being
made possible by removing the veil
which has descended betweens the iris
and the rejecting nerves In the back of
| the organ. The cataracts were taken
| from Miss Duplessis' eyes about three
weeks ago, and in few hours floods of
| light and color distances great and
small, the varying shapes of a myriad
objects, were cast upon retinas that had
| never known anything but darkness
| and shadows. The effect was terrific
and extraordinary
For fully an hour after the operation
was performed Miss Dupessis could see
| nothing; then outlines gradually became
visible. For week objects were more
or less indistinct, although the sharp
ness of form increased each day. The
| very act of seeing was exceedingly pain
full and occasioned severe headaches
For the first few days Miss Duplessis
| could only find relief by keeping her
! eyes closed most of the time, opening
them at rare intervals for few mo-
| ments Even then she described the
sensation experienced as of the objects
she beheld striking the eyes a severe
blow.
Colors caused her acute suffering, and
of these red was the most irritating and
offensive. The forms of things were not
such a complete surprise as their color,
for she had been accustomed to COM
prehend bulk and shape by her
sense of touch, while the hundred diff
ferent tints with which we are familiar
|
prehension.
1t seemed impossible for the girl to OBJ
tain any idea of distance by using hey
vision. One of the doctors held his
hand close to her face and told her to
take hold of it. She reached out with
her hands and seized the empty air sew
eral feet away. Then bottle was
placed on a table at the other end of the
room, and when asked to reach it Miss
Duplessis extended her hands as if te
grasp it within arms reach.
Another curious series of experiments
was to induce her to name a number OF
objects placed before her, with all OF
which she was familiar through he1
sense of touch. She made errors in the
names Of almost every one, when de-
pending solely upon her sight for infor-
nation, mistaking a cat for dog, a
pencil for a key, feather buster for a
bunch of chrysanthemums. Then a ca.
nary was placed upon her finger, and
when questioned she was totally ignor.
ant as to what it was. The bird was
placed in its cage and the girl identified
it at once by feeling the bars of its little
prison. The girl was then blindfolde6
and given in turn each of the articles
that had previously been placed before
her. They were all designated by name
without an error.
Her mode of walking is greatly
changed when she uses her eyes. While
blind her steps were like those of an or
binary person, depending, as they did
entirely upon her sense of touch. She
could ascend or descend flights of steps
with little difficulty. Yet she says tina
when she looks at the floor 1t appears t.
have a steep slope, and she steps out a!
if going upstairs or ascending a hill.
Doctors say that it will take severa
months for the muscles of the girl!
eyes to be trained even beyond the rudi
mentary stage, and that never having
had sight she must observe and learn t.
know the things about her without tht
aid of touch, as if she was a baby
! Philadelphia Times.