The daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Ind. Ter. [Okla.]) 1898-1902, 1899-10-27
OLD THEORY EXPLODED.
what MAD Are MOI Sharper In Other
senses Proved ~ xaurepean
Expert.

AM tU NUNA M4MNNN1t%~ NNAN tF
1t turns ont upon scientific investiga-
ton that loss n slght does not neccs-
sarily lead to increased acuteness Of the
other seuses.
A long series OF experiments has re-
Gently been made by Prof. II. Griesbach,
Of Basic. upon the relative acuteness of
the senses Of hearing, touch, taste and
smell in the case OF the blind and those
who possess normal vision. The OBJ
~servations were made on those who
were otherwise healthy. In the differ
entietion Of tactile impressions nc re-
markable differences were observed be-
tween the seeing and the blind, or II
small differences did exist they were
IN favor Of the seeing, In those born
blind the tactile sharpness was some
what less than in the seeing and IN soms
cases the sensorium generally was
equally defective. The blind In partic-
ular feel less acutely with the tip pt
the index finger than do those who
see, and in many cases the tactile acute
ness of the two index finger tips differ.
In the blind, especially in the region Of
the hand, a stronger impression Is re-
guired to produce q tac.ile impression
than in those possessed Of sight. In
the capability Of locaizing Impressions
Of sound no difference exists between
the blind and the seeing. In both great
individual variations occur.
As a rule, in the seeing and the blind,
the use of the organ Of both sides gives
better results than the use Of one alone.
No difference In the acuteness of hear
ing exists between the blind and those
who see. No relation was observed be-
tween localizing sounds in either the
seeing or the acuteness Of hearing and
the power of the blind.
No difference was observed in the two
classes in regard to the acuteness Of
smell. In the execution of manual la
Dor the blind become fatigued sooner
than do those of equal age who see. The
blind are more fatigued with manual
than with mental work, which is not the
case with the seeing Of the same age.
If any difference exists in regard to ex-
haustion after mental labor it is in favor
of those of the same age who see.
Among the blind and the seeing there
are persons who have many, others who
have only a few, and others again who
have no ~illusory or impress
sions of touch. OF the parts of skin ex-
amined fallacious determinations were
most frequent over the sides of the
head, and least frequent on the tips of
the fingers. The number of errors in
the seeing and the blind rose with an
increase Of pressure, Errors occurred
more frequently insthe seeing and the
blind with sharp than with blunt
and in both errors were more
when the distance between
the points Of skin stimulated was small
than when it was great. These results
in many respects are opposed to gener-
ally received opinions, for it is usually
supposed that deprivation of sight leads
TO exaltation of the a~cuteness of the
other senses, especially of the touch
and hearing, yet in the 20 blind persons
examined by Prof. Griesbach this was
not observed, and it would hence APP
pear that too much reliance has been
by Psychologists on certain ex-
ceptional cases, where the sensitiveness
TO impressions on these senses has been
unusually high.-St. Louis Star.