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Almost from Infancy

The name of this remarkable person was, Mademoiselle Melanie de Salignac, a young lady, who had been blind almost from her birth. Her feeling, hearing, and smell, were exquisite. She could distinguish, by the impression of the air, whether it was fine or cloudy, whether she was in an open place or a street, and whether the street was open at the end; also, whether she was in a room or not, and of what size it was. Having once gone over a house, she became so well acquainted with the diferent parts, as to be able to warn others of any danger they were exposed to, by the existence of a step, or the lowness of a door. She could thread the smallest needle, with the greatest dexterity; and could execute every sort of needle-work. She played very well at many games at cards, which she distinguished by some little mark, known to herself by the touch, but imperceptible to the sight of any other person. She had learnt, and understood very well, music, geography, geometry, and dancing. She was, indeed, extremely clever; what made her more interesting, she was modest, mild, cheerful, and affectionate. She wrote with a pin, by pricking a sheet of paper, stretched on a frame, and read what she had written, by feeling the pinmarks on the other side of the paper. She could read a book, printed on one side only; some were printed expressly or her, in this manner. In a piece of twelve or fifteen lines, if the number of letters in each word, together with the letter which it began with, was given her, she could tell every word, however oddly composed. "This fact," says Diderot, "was attested by every one of her family, by myself, and twenty other persons, still alive. She died at the age of twenty-two. She was the daughter of Madame de Blacy, a woman distinguished for the eminence of her moral qualities," and moving in a respectable sphere of life. - See Grimn's Memoirs. We now proceed to detail the following WONDERFUL IN- STANCES OF ADROITNESS OF PERSONS BORN DEFECTIVE IN