PHYSIOLOGIC AND FUNCTIONAL ANOMALIES. 7 page

deaf girls to make them speak as hearing children do, and called Miss

Sullivan's attention to it. Miss Sullivan left for her charge, and from

time to time made reports to Dr. Anagnos the principal of the Perkins

School, which mentioned the remarkable mind which she found this little

Alabama child possessed. The following year Miss Sullivan brought the

child, then eight years old, to Boston, and Mrs. Keller came with her.

They visited Miss Fuller's school. Miss Sullivan had taught the child

the manual alphabet, and she had obtained much information by means of

it. Miss Fuller noticed how quickly she appreciated the ideas given to

her in that way.

"It is interesting to note that before any attempt had been made to

teach the child to speak or there had been any thought of it, her own

quickness of thought had suggested it to her as she talked by hand

alphabet to Miss Fuller. Her mother, however, did not approve Miss

Fuller's suggestion that an attempt should be made to teach her speech.

She remained at the Perkins School, under Miss Sullivan's charge,

another year, when the matter was brought up again, this time by little

Helen herself, who said she must speak. Miss Sullivan brought her to

Miss Fuller's school one day and she received her first lesson, of

about two hours' length.

"The child's hand was first passed over Miss Fuller's face, mouth, and

neck, then into her mouth, touching the tongue, teeth, lips, and hard

palate, to give her an idea of the organs of speech. Miss Fuller then

arranged her mouth, tongue, and teeth for the sound of i as in it. She

took the child's finger and placed it upon the windpipe so that she

might feel the vibration there, put her finger between her teeth to

show her how wide apart they were, and one finger in the mouth to feel

the tongue, and then sounded the vowel. The child grasped the idea at

once. Her fingers flew to her own mouth and throat, and she produced

the sound so nearly accurate that it sounded like an echo. Next the

sound of ah was made by dropping the jaw a little and letting the child

feel that the tongue was soft and lying in the bed of the jaw with the

teeth more widely separated. She in the same way arranged her own, but

was not so successful as at first, but soon produced the sound

perfectly."

"Eleven such lessons were given, at intervals of three or four days,

until she had acquired all the elements of speech, Miss Sullivan in the

meantime practicing with the child on the lessons received. The first

word spoken was arm, which was at once associated with her arm; this

gave her great delight. She soon learned to pronounce words by herself,

combining the elements she had learned, and used them to communicate

her simple wants. The first connected language she used was a

description she gave Miss Fuller of a visit she had made to Dr. Oliver

Wendell Holmes, in all over 200 words. They were, all but two or three,

pronounced correctly. She now, six years afterward, converses quite

fluently with people who know nothing of the manual alphabet by placing

a couple of fingers on the speaker's lips, her countenance showing

great intentness and brightening as she catches the meaning. Anybody

can understand her answers."

In a beautiful eulogy of Helen Keller in a recent number of Harper's

Magazine, Charles Dudley Warner expresses the opinion that she is the

purest-minded girl of her age in the world.

Edith Thomas, a little inmate of the Perkins Institute for the Blind,

at South Boston, is not only deaf and dumb but also blind. She was a

fellow-pupil with Helen Keller, and in a measure duplicated the rapid

progress of her former playmate. In commenting on progress in learning

to talk the Boston Herald says: "And as the teacher said the word

'Kitty' once or twice she placed the finger-tips of one hand upon the

teacher's lips and with the other hand clasped tightly the teacher's

throat; then, guided by the muscular action of the throat and the

position of the teeth, tongue, and lips, as interpreted by that

marvelous and delicate touch of hers, she said the word 'Kitty' over

and over again distinctly in a very pretty way. She can be called dumb

no longer, and before the summer vacation comes she will have mastered

quite a number of words, and such is her intelligence and patience, in

spite of the loss of three senses, she may yet speak quite readily.

"Her history is very interesting. She was born in Maplewood, and up to

the time of contracting diphtheria and scarlet fever, which occurred

when she was four years old, had been a very healthy child of more than

ordinary quickness and ability. She had attained a greater command of

language than most children of her age. What a contrast between these

'other days,' as she calls them, and the days which followed, when

hearing and sight were completely gone, and gradually the senses of

speech and smell went, too! After the varied instruction of the blind

school the little girl had advanced so far as to make the rest of her

study comparatively easy. The extent of her vocabulary is not

definitely known, but it numbers at least 700 words. Reading, which was

once an irksome task, has become a pleasure to her. Her ideas of

locality and the independence of movement are remarkable, and her

industry and patience are more noticeable from day to day. She has

great ability, and is in every respect a very wonderful child."

According to recent reports, in the vicinity of Rothesay, on the Clyde,

there resides a lady totally deaf and dumb, who, in point of

intelligence, scholarship, and skill in various ways, far excels many

who have all their faculties. Having been educated partly in Paris, she

is a good French scholar, and her general composition is really

wonderful. She has a shorthand system of her own, and when writing

letters, etc., she uses a peculiar machine, somewhat of the nature of a

typewriter.

Among the deaf persons who have acquired fame in literature and the

arts have been Dibil Alkoffay, an Arabian poet of the eighth century;

the tactician, Folard; the German poet, Engelshall; Le Sage; La

Condamine, who composed an epigram on his own infirmity; and Beethoven,

the famous musician. Fernandez, a Spanish painter of the sixteenth

century, was a deaf-mute.

All the world pities the blind, but despite their infirmities many have

achieved the highest glory in every profession. Since Homer there have

been numerous blind poets. Milton lost none of his poetic power after

he had become blind. The Argovienne, Louise Egloff, and Daniel Leopold,

who died in 1753, were blind from infancy. Blacklock, Avisse, Koslov,

and La Mott-Houdart are among other blind poets. Asconius Pedianus, a

grammarian of the first century; Didyme, the celebrated doctor of

Alexandria; the Florentine, Bandolini, so well versed in Latin poetry;

the celebrated Italian grammarian, Pontanus; the German, Griesinger,

who spoke seven languages; the philologist, Grassi, who died in 1831,

and many others have become blind at an age more or less advanced in

their working lives.

Probably the most remarkable of the blind scientists was the

Englishman, Saunderson, who in 1683, in his first year, was deprived of

sight after an attack of small-pox. In spite of his complete blindness

he assiduously studied the sciences, and graduated with honor at the

University of Cambridge in mathematics and optics. His sense of touch

was remarkable. He had a collection of old Roman medals, all of which,

without mistake, he could distinguish by their impressions. He also

seemed to have the ability to judge distance, and was said to have

known how far he had walked, and by the velocity he could even tell the

distance traversed in a vehicle. Among other blind mathematicians was

the Dutchman, Borghes (died in 1652); the French astronomer, the Count

de Pagan, who died in 1655; Galileo; the astronomer, Cassini, and

Berard, who became blind at twenty-three years, and was for a long time

Professor of Mathematics at the College of Briancon.

In the seventeenth century the sculptor, Jean Gonnelli, born in

Tuscany, became blind at twenty years; but in spite of his infirmity he

afterward executed what were regarded as his masterpieces. It is said

that he modeled a portrait of Pope Urban VIII, using as a guide his

hand, passed from time to time over the features. Lomazzo, the Italian

painter of the eighteenth century, is said to have continued his work

after becoming blind.

Several men distinguished for their bravery and ability in the art of

war have been blind. Jean de Troczow, most commonly known by the name

of Ziska, in 1420 lost his one remaining eye, and was afterward known

as the "old blind dog," but, nevertheless, led his troops to many

victories. Froissart beautifully describes the glorious death of the

blind King of Bohemia at the battle of Crecy in 1346. Louis III, King

of Provence; Boleslas III, Duke of Bohemia; Magnus IV, King of Norway,

and Bela II, King of Hungary, were blind. Nathaniel Price, a librarian

of Norwich in the last century, lost his sight in a voyage to America,

which, however, did not interfere in any degree with his duties, for

his books were in as good condition and their location as directly

under his knowledge, during his blindness as they were in his earlier

days. At the present day in New York there is a blind billiard expert

who occasionally gives exhibitions of his prowess.

Feats of Memory.--From time to time there have been individuals,

principally children, who gave wonderful exhibitions of memory, some

for dates, others for names, and some for rapid mental calculation.

Before the Anthropological Society in 1880 Broca exhibited a lad of

eleven, a Piedmontese, named Jacques Inaudi. This boy, with a trick

monkey, had been found earning his livelihood by begging and by solving

mentally in a few minutes the most difficult problems in arithmetic. A

gentleman residing in Marseilles had seen him while soliciting alms

perform most astonishing feats of memory, and brought him to Paris. In

the presence of the Society Broca gave him verbally a task in

multiplication, composed of some trillions to be multiplied by

billions. In the presence of all the members he accomplished his task

in less than ten minutes, and without the aid of pencil and paper,

solving the whole problem mentally. Although not looking intelligent,

and not being able to read or write, he perhaps could surpass any one

in the world in his particular feat. It was stated that he proceeded

from left to right in his calculations, instead of from right to left

in the usual manner. In his personal appearance the only thing

indicative of his wonderful abilities was his high forehead.

An infant prodigy named Oscar Moore was exhibited to the physicians of

Chicago at the Central Music Hall in 1888, and excited considerable

comment at the time. The child was born of mulatto parents at Waco,

Texas, on August 19, 1885, and when only thirteen months old manifested

remarkable mental ability and precocity. S. V. Clevenger, a physician

of Chicago, has described the child as follows:--

"Oscar was born blind and, as frequently occurs in such cases, the

touch-sense compensatingly developed extraordinarily. It was observed

that after touching a person once or twice with his stubby baby

fingers, he could thereafter unfailingly recognize and call by name the

one whose hand he again felt. The optic sense is the only one

defective, for tests reveal that his hearing, taste, and smell are

acute, and the tactile development surpasses in refinement. But his

memory is the most remarkable peculiarity, for when his sister conned

her lessons at home, baby Oscar, less than two years old, would recite

all he heard her read. Unlike some idiot savants, in which category he

is not to be included, who repeat parrot-like what they have once

heard, baby Oscar seems to digest what he hears, and requires at least

more than one repetition of what he is trying to remember, after which

he possesses the information imparted and is able to yield it at once

when questioned. It is not necessary for him to commence at the

beginning, as the possessors of some notable memories were compelled to

do, but he skips about to any required part of his repertoire.

"He sings a number of songs and counts in different languages, but it

is not supposable that he understands every word he utters. If,

however, his understanding develops as it promises to do, he will

become a decided polyglot. He has mastered an appalling array of

statistics, such as the areas in square miles of hundreds of countries,

the population of the world's principal cities, the birthdays of all

the Presidents, the names of all the cities of the United States of

over 10,000 inhabitants, and a lot of mathematical data. He is greatly

attracted by music, and this leads to the expectation that when more

mature he may rival Blind Tom.

"In disposition he is very amiable, but rather grave beyond his years.

He shows great affection for his father, and is as playful and as happy

as the ordinary child. He sleeps soundly, has a good childish appetite,

and appears to be in perfect health. His motions are quick but not

nervous, and are as well coordinated as in a child of ten. In fact, he

impresses one as having the intelligence of a much older child than

three years (now five years), but his height, dentition, and general

appearance indicate the truthfulness of the age assigned. An evidence

of his symmetrical mental development appears in his extreme

inquisitiveness. He wants to understand the meaning of what he is

taught, and some kind of an explanation must be given him for what he

learns. Were his memory alone abnormally great and other faculties

defective, this would hardly be the case; but if so, it cannot at

present be determined.

"His complexion is yellow, with African features, flat nose, thick lips

but not prognathous, superciliary ridges undeveloped, causing the

forehead to protrude a little. His head measures 19 inches in

circumference, on a line with the upper ear-tips, the forehead being

much narrower than the occipitoparietal portion, which is noticeably

very wide. The occiput protrudes backward, causing a forward sweep of

the back of the neck. From the nose-root to the nucha over the head he

measures 13 1/2 inches, and between upper ear-tips across and over the

head 11 inches, which is so close to the eight-and ten-inch standard

that he may be called mesocephalic. The bulging in the vicinity of the

parietal region accords remarkably with speculations upon the location

of the auditory memory in that region, such as those in the American

Naturalist, July, 1888, and the fact that injury of that part of the

brain may cause loss of memory of the meaning of words. It may be that

the premature death of the mother's children has some significance in

connection with Oscar's phenomenal development. There is certainly a

hypernutrition of the parietal brain with atrophy of the optic tract,

both of which conditions could arise from abnormal vascular causes, or

the extra growth of the auditory memory region may have deprived of

nutrition, by pressure, the adjacent optic centers in the occipital

brain. The otherwise normal motion of the eyes indicates the nystagmus

to be functional.

"Sudden exaltation of the memory is often the consequence of grave

brain disease, and in children this symptom is most frequent.

Pritchard, Rush, and other writers upon mental disorders record

interesting instances of remarkable memory-increase before death,

mainly in adults, and during fever and insanity. In simple mania the

memory is often very acute. Romberg tells of a young girl who lost her

sight after an attack of small-pox, but acquired an extraordinary

memory. He calls attention to the fact that the scrofulous and rachitic

diatheses in childhood are sometimes accompanied by this disorder.

Winslow notes that in the incipient state of the brain disease of early

life connected with fevers, disturbed conditions of the cerebral

circulation and vessels, and in affections of advanced life, there is

often witnessed a remarkable exaltation of the memory, which may herald

death by apoplexy.

"Not only has the institution of intelligence in idiots dated from

falls upon the head, but extra mentality has been conferred by such an

event Pritchard tells of three idiot brothers, one of whom, after a

severe head injury, brightened up and became a barrister, while his

brothers remained idiotic. 'Father Mabillon,' says Winslow, 'is said to

have been an idiot until twenty-six years of age, when he fractured his

skull against a stone staircase. He was trepanned. After recovering,

his intellect fully developed itself in a mind endowed with a lively

imagination, an amazing memory, and a zeal for study rarely equaled.'

Such instances can be accounted for by the brain having previously been

poorly nourished by a defective blood supply, which defect was remedied

by the increased circulation afforded by the head-injury.

"It is a commonly known fact that activity of the brain is attended

with a greater head-circulation than when the mind is dull, within

certain limits. Anomalous development of the brain through

blood-vessels, affording an extra nutritive supply to the mental

apparatus, can readily be conceived as occurring before birth, just as

aberrant nutrition elsewhere produces giants from parents of ordinary

size.

"There is but one sense-defect in the child Oscar, his

eyesight-absence, and that is atoned for by his hearing and

touch-acuteness, as it generally is in the blind. Spitzka and others

demonstrate that in such cases other parts of the brain enlarge to

compensate for the atrophic portion which is connected with the

functionless nerves. This, considered with his apparently perfect,

mental and physical health, leaves no reason to suppose that Oscar's

extravagant memory depends upon disease any more than we can suspect

all giants of being sickly, though the anomaly is doubtless due to

pathologic conditions. Of course, there is no predicting what may

develop later in his life, but in any event science will be benefited.

"It is a popular idea that great vigor of memory is often associated

with low-grade intelligence, and cases such as Blind Tom and other

'idiot savants,' who could repeat the contents of a newspaper after a

single reading, justify the supposition. Fearon, on 'Mental Vigor,'

tells of a man who could remember the day that every person had been

buried in the parish for thirty-five years, and could repeat with

unvarying accuracy the name and age of the deceased and the mourners at

the funeral. But he was a complete fool. Out of the line of burials he

had not one idea, could not give an intelligible reply to a single

question, nor be trusted even to feed himself. While memory-development

is thus apparent in some otherwise defective intellects, it has

probably as often or oftener been observed to occur in connection with

full or great intelligence. Edmund Burke, Clarendon, John Locke,

Archbishop Tillotson, and Dr. Johnson were all distinguished for having

great strength of memory. Sir W. Hamilton observed that Grotius,

Pascal, Leibnitz, and Euler were not less celebrated for their

intelligence than for their memory. Ben Jonson could repeat all that

he had written and whole books he had read. Themistocles could call by

name the 20,000 citizens of Athens. Cyrus is said to have known the

name of every soldier in his army. Hortensius, a great Roman orator,

and Seneca had also great memories. Niebuhr, the Danish historian, was

remarkable for his acuteness of memory. Sir James Mackintosh, Dugald

Stewart, and Dr. Gregory had similar reputations.

"Nor does great mental endowment entail physical enfeeblement; for,

with temperance, literary men have reached extreme old age, as in the

cases of Klopstock, Goethe, Chaucer, and the average age attained by

all the signers of the American Declaration of Independence was

sixty-four years, many of them being highly gifted men intellectually.

Thus, in the case of the phenomenal Oscar it cannot be predicted that

he will not develop, as he now promises to do, equal and extraordinary

powers of mind, even though it would be rare in one of his racial

descent, and in the face of the fact that precocity gives no assurance

of adult brightness, for it can be urged that John Stuart Mill read

Greek when four years of age.

"The child is strumous, however, and may die young. His exhibitors, who

are coining him into money, should seek the best medical care for him

and avoid surcharging his memory with rubbish. Proper cultivation of

his special senses, especially the tactile, by competent teachers, will

give Oscar the best chance of developing intellectually and acquiring

an education in the proper sense of the word."

By long custom many men of letters have developed wonderful feats of

memory; and among illiterate persons, by means of points of

association, the power of memory has been little short of marvelous. At

a large hotel in Saratoga there was at one time a negro whose duty was

to take charge of the hats and coats of the guests as they entered the

dining-room and return to each his hat after the meal. It was said

that, without checks or the assistance of the owners, he invariably

returned the right articles to the right persons on request, and no

matter how large the crowd, his limit of memory never seemed to be

reached. Many persons have seen expert players at draughts and chess

who, blindfolded, could carry on numerous games with many competitors

and win most of the matches. To realize what a wonderful feat of memory

this performance is, one need only see the absolute exhaustion of one

of these men after a match. In whist, some experts have been able to

detail the succession of the play of the cards so many hands back that

their competitors had long since forgotten it.

There is reported to be in Johnson County, Missouri, a mathematical

wonder by the name of Rube Fields. At the present day he is between

forty and fifty years of age, and his external appearance indicates

poverty as well as indifference. His temperament is most sluggish; he

rarely speaks unless spoken to, and his replies are erratic.

The boyhood of this strange character was that of an overgrown country

lout with boorish manners and silly mind. He did not and would not go

to school, and he asserts now that if he had done so he "would have

become as big a fool as other people." A shiftless fellow, left to his

own devices, he performed some wonderful feats, and among the many

stories connected with this period of his life is one which describes

how he actually ate up a good-sized patch of sugar cane, simply because

he found it good to his taste.

Yet from this clouded, illiterate mind a wonderful mathematical gift

shines. Just when he began to assert his powers is not known; but his

feats have been remembered for twenty years by his neighbors. A report

says:--

"Give Rube Fields the distance by rail between any two points, and the

dimensions of a car-wheel, and almost as soon as the statement has left

your lips he will tell you the number of revolutions the wheel will

make in traveling over the track. Call four or five or any number of

columns of figures down a page, and when you have reached the bottom he

will announce the sum. Given the number of yards or pounds of articles

and the price, and at once he will return the total cost--and this he

will do all day long, without apparent effort or fatigue.

"A gentleman relates an instance of Fields' knowledge of figures.

After having called several columns of figures for addition, he went

back to the first column, saying that it was wrong, and repeating it,

purposely miscalling the next to the last figure. At once Fields threw

up his hand, exclaiming: 'You didn't call it that way before.'

"Fields' answers come quick and sharp, seemingly by intuition.

Calculations which would require hours to perform are made in less time

than it takes to state the question. The size of the computations seems

to offer no bar to their rapid solution, and answers in which long

lines of figures are reeled off come with perfect ease. In watching the

effort put forth in reaching an answer, there would seem to be some

process going on in the mind, and an incoherent mumbling is often

indulged in, but it is highly probable that Fields does not himself

know how he derives his answers. Certain it is that he is unable to

explain the process, nor has any one ever been able to draw from him

anything concerning it. Almost the only thing he knows about the power

is that he possesses it, and, while he is not altogether averse to

receiving money for his work, he has steadily refused to allow himself

to be exhibited." In reviewing the peculiar endowment of Fields, the

Chicago Record says:--

"How this feat is performed is as much a mystery as the process by

which he solves a problem in arithmetic. He answers no questions. Rapid

mathematicians, men of study, who by intense application and short

methods have become expert, have sought to probe these two mysteries,

but without results. Indeed, the man's intelligence is of so low an

order as to prevent him from aiding those who seek to know. With age,

too, he grows more surly. Of what vast value this 'gift' might be to

the world of science, if coupled with average intelligence, is readily

imagined. That it will ever be understood is unlikely. As it is, the

power staggers belief and makes modern psychology, with its study of

brain-cells, stand aghast. As to poor Fields himself, he excites only

sympathy. Homeless, unkempt, and uncouth, traveling aimlessly on a

journey which he does not understand, he hugs to his heart a marvelous

power, which he declares to be a gift from God. To his weak mind it

lifts him above his fellow-men, and yet it is as useless to the world

as a diamond in a dead man's hand."

Wolf-Children.--It is interesting to know to what degree a human being

will resemble a beast when deprived of the association with man. We

seem to get some insight to this question in the investigation of so

called cases of "wolf-children."

Saxo Grammaticus speaks of a bear that kidnapped a child and kept it a

Date: 2014-12-29; view: 667