ALLEGED ABNORMAL SIGHT.

Evening Star, Issue 3493, 4 May 1874, Page 3

ALLEGED ABNORMAL SIGHT.

The ‘Sydney Morning Herald’ publishes the following letter, signed by four medical men, concern ng the case of alleged abnormal sight in S; dney : The attention of the public has been repeatedly called of late to the alleged extra ordinary power possessed by the son of Mr Bine, of distinguishing color and felling the form of engravings, photographs, and letters when blindfolded,- and even when the objects are covered with glass. The opportunity of witnessing some of the phenomena of this supposed extra visual perception was afforded to four of us, medic-.! practitioners of this city, by Mr Hollander,, of Bourke street, Surrey-hills, a few evenings ago, and we desire to place before the public the result of our joint observations of the case. We may at once acknowledge that our experiments were neither as prolonged jor as complete as.could be desired ; that we arrived an hour late, and that the boy was perhaps fatigued by bis previous performance, and possibly.made jiervous by the number of spectators and friends present. Still we consider that we are justified in asserting that no evidence was given by him of faculties which would not be easily acquired by any other child of his age equally sharp-sighted and intelligent. Upon the suggestion that an;, experiment should be made as to the boy’s power of reading or distinguishing color with . hands, and the teat articles placed beneath a table cloth, we : were informed by Mr Bone that this was : beyond his reach. In several experiments with objec s upon the table cloth, and easily >tp be seen by every one around, it was no- ; ticed that no power of perception was displayed, when the pads of cotton wadding and bandage were to us satisfactorily arranged below the orbit; that great intolerance of a very slight pressure of the fingers of an ex- ; perimenter was shown; and'a constant desire on the part of the bo- to lift and rearrange , the bandages with his hands and the muscles ; which raise the eyebrows and forehead, and ; that the ribjects under exam nation were only i recognised when placed in the exact axis of ! vision, downward and beneath the bandage, i corresponding; to the position > and varying •with the direction of his head. : We are unanimous as the result of pur ohi servations on this particular occasion, in con- > eluding that there was' nothing approaching !the marvellous in the exhibition of Mr Bone’s son; that objects were only distinIguished; by him was ip -a position to I see them ; and few exper njeritg .of sharp-sighted persons, like some success I ML’ performed by one [of our party, in the | ar t of seeing from beneath a bandage and jcotton-wadding pads placed so as to appar- • eutly effectually blindfold, would upon this : point satisfy all but certain philosphers of : the marvel-loving and credulous type, j G. Portescue, M.B , Lond. i < , , TER, .>PENi.-ER. M.Ja.CiIS.-.; i ’ P. ifc. QuaiF ', M. D, ’ ' ’ I E.-'S. Pattison, M. R. C. P.. and L. R.'c! S.