HOW A BLIND MAN SEES.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1718, 31 March 1888, Page 1

HOW A BLIND MAN SEES.

Many instances hkve been related showing that defection in any one or more of the human senses often results in developing; the corresponding inner sense. This has been more frequently observed in persons afflicted with loss of sight and hearing. One of the kind is interestingly described in a late issue of the Chicago Herald, which can be safely taken as one of the most remarkable on record. Mr Henry Hendrickson, born in Norway 43 years ago, but who has lived in the United States 40 years, was deprived of sight when six months old. He was educated at the institution for the blind in Janesville, Wis.* and is the authoi*-of-«4>ook entitled "Out of the Darkness," somewhat in explanation of the mediumship with which he is becoming endowed, although unable to account for it in any manner satisfactory to himself or conformable to the known laws of physical Bcience. The narrative states that he is well educated, a brilliant conversationalist, and with glasses which hide his completely closed eyes, one would scarcely recognise him as a blind man. For the last twenty years he has seldom used an escort, except when in great haste, and when going on territory entirely strange to him. Many people who have observed l the facility with which he moves from place to place doubt that he is totally blind, but he has been put under the severeit tests, and those who have made the investigations are convinced that he cannot see. Describing his habits to the reporter, he said: " When ia a train at full speed I can distinguish and count telegraph poles easily, and often do it as a pastime, or to determine our speed. Of course Ido not see them, but I perceive them. It is perception. Of course my perceptive qualities are not in the least impaired on account of my blindness. lam not able to explain it, but I am never in total darkness. It is the same at midnight as at midday. There is always a bright glow of light surrouuding me." A practical test was made. A thick heavy cloth was thrown ™c-r his head as he sat in his chair. This hung down on all sides to his waist. It was impossible for anyone to see through it. Then before him or behind him, it mattered not, an ordinary walking cane was held up in various positions, and in answer to the inquiry " In what position am I holding ? " he gave prompt and correct answers, without a single mistake, sometimes describing acute or oblique angles. " I have never," he said, "by the ordinary sense of sight seen an object in ray life, not the faintest glimmer of one. My sight or discernment does not come in that way. This will prove the idea to you: Take me into a strange room, one that I have never been into, and never heard about, and no matter how dark it is I can tell you the dimensions of the room very closely. Ido not feel the walls; I will touch nothing; but there is communicated to me by some strange law of perception the size and configuration of the room." He then related that being in New York in 1871 he walked from Union Square to a friend's house on Forty-first street, a long distance, with several turns, and did not make a miss. He said: " I knew the house when I came to it. I did not see it, and yet I did. lam studying shorthand, and as my hearing is very good I expect to become an expert. I had a little trouble with my writing at first, but am now able to write very well." Another remarkable illustration of his power to see without eyea is this: If one makes motions in the air like beating the time for a choir, but describing phonetic characters, he tells the characters and interprets them. What might be termed a "crucial test" of this was given the Herald reporter. Mr Hendrickson further said: "I'm a good skater, and can, when gliding over the ice swiftly, see every particle on the ice, every crack and rough spot, no matter how small and indistinct. The faster I go, tha plainer I can see. Well, I don't mean that I can see, but I perceive, or something. It is light to me, and I discern' everything."