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Astonishing Acquisitions Made by Blind Persons

We find various recompenses for blindness, or substitutes for the use of the eyes, in the wonderful sagacity of many blind persons, recited by Zahnius, in his 'Oculus Artificialis,' and others. In some, the defect has been supplied by a most excellent gift of remembering what they had seen; in others, by a delicate nose, or the sense of smelling; in others, by an exquisite touch, or a sense of feeling, which they have had in such perfection, that, as it has been said of some, they learned to hear with their eyes, so it may be said of these, that they taught themselves to see with their hands. Some have been enabled to perform all sorts of curious and subtle works in The nicest and most dexterous manner. Aldrovanus speaks of a sculptor who became blind at twenty years of age, and yet, ten years after, made a perfect marble statue of Cosmo II. de Medicis; and another of clay, like Urban VIII. Bartholin tells us of a blind sculptor in Denmark, who distinguished perfectly well, by mere touch, not only all kinds of wood but all the colours; and F. Grimaldi gives an instance of the like kind; besides the blind organist, living in Paris, who is said to have done the same. The most extraordinary of all is a blind guide, who, according to the report of good writers, used to conduct the merchants through the sands and deserts of Arabia.