these to distinguish strangers from the members of his own family, and any little article which was appropriated to himself from what belonged to others. As he advanced in years, various circumstances concurred to prove that neither the auditory nerves nor retina were entirely insensible to impressions of sound and light, and that though he derived little information from these organs, he received from them a considerable degree of gratification. A key having accidentally come into his hand, he put it to his mouth; it struck on his teeth. This was to him a most important discovery. He found that the blow communicated a vibration through his head, and this, the nearest approach to sound, was hailed with delight; henceforth the striking of a key on his teeth became a daily gratification. As great was the pleasure he derived from any bright or dazzling object being held to his eyes. One of his chief amusements was to concentrate the sun's rays by means of pieces of glass, transparent pebbles, or similar substances, which he held between his eye and the light, and turned about in various directions. There were other modes by which he was often in the habit of gratifying his desire of light. He would go to any outhouse or room within his reach, shut the windows and doors, and remain there for a considerable time, with his eyes fixed on some small hole or chink which admitted the sun's rays, eagerly catching them. He would also, during the winter nights, frequently retire to a corner of a dark room, and kindle a light for his amusement. Such indeed seemed to be the degree of pleasure which he received from feasting his eyes with light, that he would often occupy himself in this manner for several hours without interruption. In this, as well as in the gratification of the other senses, his countenance and gestures displayed a most interesting avidity and curiosity. His father often remarked him employing many hours in selecting from the bed of the river, which flows within a few yards of the house, stones of a round shape, nearly of the same weight, and having a certain degree of smoothness. These he placed in a circular form on the bank, and then seated himself in the middle of the circle.

At the age of thirteen his father took him to London, wnere the operation of piercing the membrane of each tympanum of the ear was performed by Sir Astley Cooper, but without improving his hearing in the least. An operation was also performed on the left eye by Mr Saunders, but with little or no success. As there appeared still some hopes of restoring vision, his father a second time carried him to London in the year 1810, when fifteen years of age, and placed him under the charge of Mr Wardrop, an eminent surgeon. Mr Wardrop's account of the boy is so interesting that we shall give it in his own words. "This poor boy," says he, "had the usual appearance of strength and good health, and his countenance was extremely pleasing, and indicated a considerable degree of intelligence. On examin

2. Let each bed be as open and airy as possible; that is, have plenty of room for the air to play over it and about it. Closing up the front of the bed, so as to leave only a small open space, as is the case in many cottages in the country, is a plan greatly to be condemned.

3. The bed should be as open and airy during the day as the night, for during the night it absorbs impurities which should have liberty to escape after the persons rise from it.

4. On rising in the morning, open wide the curtains or doors of the bed, throw down the bed-clothes, or, what is better, hang them on screens during the day, and open the window and door, so that the air may blow freely through the house, and carry off all impurities in the atmosphere. Such precautions are especially necessary in the case of newly-built houses, where moisture and other injurious exhalations are apt to arise from the walls, the painting, and wood-work. Indeed, no recent erection ought to be inhabited till all the apartments have been wellseasoned by fires and thorough atmospheric exposure.

5. A good housewife will also take care to allow nothing to remain within doors which may cause a bad smell. All bycorners and closets should be regularly swept out, washed, and ventilated.

6. If the house consist of only one apartment, and be inhabited by several individuals, it should be limed or whitewashed once a-year, and every part of the floor and entrance passages washed weekly. All such cleansings should be in the morning, in order that the house may be quite dry before night.

7. Allow no impurities of any kind to accumulate about the door or outside of the dwelling: the odours rising from stagnant gutters and open drains are a fertile source of fever.

It may be asked, how is it to be known when a house is overheated or ill-ventilated. If, on going from an apartment to the external air, you feel a sudden chill, depend upon it the difference between the internal and external temperature is too great, and the former ought to be lowered by gradually admitting more of the external air. If, again, on coming from the open air, you are sensible of a stifling musty odour in any apartment, at once throw open the door or windows, and see for the future that a continual current be admitted, to prevent such a want of ventilation. Many people, instead of admitting the fresh air, endeavour to dissipate bad odours by artificial scents, but this is a mere temporary and injurious expedient. The evil still remains, and in a few hours it is found that such a practice has been only to substitute one offensive smell for another.

By attention to these simple but necessarily brief directions, as regards cleanliness and ventilation, much disease and suffering, loss of time through ill health, moral deterioration, and other obvious evils, might be avoided, and a vast amount of comfort and enjoyment secured.

LL knowledge is received through the medium of the senses, usually reckoned five in number-seeing, hearing, taste, smell, and touch or feeling; such, in fact, being the agents by which the mind is excited to receive or communicate ideas. A deprivation of one or more of the senses, as is well known, ordinarily leads to increased activity of the others, in consequence of the greater reliance placed upon them; nevertheless, it seems evident that any such deprivation must, less or more, cause a deficiency in the intellectual conceptions. A person who has been blind from earliest infancy can, by no process of feeling, hearing, or smelling, be made to have even moderately correct ideas of light or colours; neither does it appear to us that any one who has been always deaf can attain to anything like a proper understanding of sound. Deprivation of hearing from birth may be considered a double calamity, for it is naturally attended with deprivation of speech; and hence the deaf-mute, whatever be his acquirements, always excites our warmest compassion.

Which of the senses could be most conveniently spared, has probably been with most persons a subject of occasional consideration, and it is only when the merits of each are compared that we have a thorough notion of their value. Had we never possessed eyes, then should we never have beheld the glories of the sun, moon, and stars; the beauteous earth we tread, fields, flowers, colours, the magnificent ocean, or the face of those we love. Had we been deaf from birth, then should we never have heard sounds, music, language, nor have been able to hold com

munication by speech; of the tones of affection we should never have been conscious. Had we been deficient in taste, we should have been exposed to injury in eating that which should be rejected as food; and along with a deprivation of the kindred sense of smell, we should have been constantly in a state of difficulty and danger. It would be needless to speculate on the deprivation of feeling, for we cannot conceive that life should exist for any length of time with such a deficiency. Great as we must deplore the misfortune of those who labour under an irremediable privation of any of the senses, we must in as great a degree admire that Providential care which provides a measure of compensatory happiness. Although stricken with blindness and shut out from being a spectator of nature's marvellous handiwork, how usually superior is the enjoyment of har monious sounds, how exquisite the love of music! The deaf, too, have their enjoyments, and are at least blest with a pleasing unconsciousness of the loss which they sustain. Lamentable, indeed, is the fate of those who have been deprived of the two more important senses-seeing and hearing; yet that even blind deaf-mutes, with no other senses to rely upon than smell, taste, and feeling, may enjoy a qualified happiness, and be susceptible of moral cultivation, has been shown in several well-accredited instances. One of the most remarkable cases of the kind is that of James Mitchell, the story of whose blameless and interesting life we propose in the first place to lay before our readers.

man.

JAMES MITCHELL.

JAMES MITCHELL was born in the year 1795 at Ardclach, a parish in the north of Scotland, of which his father was clergyHe was the youngest except one of seven children, and neither his parents nor his brothers or sisters had any deficiency in the senses. Soon after birth, his mother discovered that he was blind, from his manifesting no desire to turn his eyes to the light. On inspection, it was observed that it was blindness caused by cataract; both the lenses were opaque, a cloudy pearl-like substance resting over the retina or seeing part of each eye. This was a sufficiently distressing discovery, but how much greater was the anguish of the poor mother when she soon after found that her infant was deaf as well as blind! Excluded from all ordinary means of direction, the child was guided only by feeling and natural impulse-an object so helpless as to require constant and careful attention. Fortunately, his constitution was otherwise sound: he learned to walk like other children, by being put to the ground and left to scramble to his feet, holding by any objects near him.

While between one and two years of age, he began to evince considerable acuteness in touch, taste, and smell, being able by

these to distinguish strangers from the members of his own family, and any little article which was appropriated to himself from what belonged to others. As he advanced in years, various circumstances concurred to prove that neither the auditory nerves nor retina were entirely insensible to impressions of sound and light, and that though he derived little information from these organs, he received from them a considerable degree of gratification. A key having accidentally come into his hand, he put it to his mouth; it struck on his teeth. This was to him a most important discovery. He found that the blow communicated a vibration through his head, and this, the nearest approach to sound, was hailed with delight; henceforth the striking of a key on his teeth became a daily gratification. As great was the pleasure he derived from any bright or dazzling object being held to his eyes. One of his chief amusements was to concentrate the sun's rays by means of pieces of glass, transparent pebbles, or similar substances, which he held between his eye and the light, and turned about in various directions. There were other modes by which he was often in the habit of gratifying his desire of light. He would go to any outhouse or room within his reach, shut the windows and doors, and remain there for a considerable time, with his eyes fixed on some small hole or chink which admitted the sun's rays, eagerly catching them. He would also, during the winter nights, frequently retire to a corner of a dark room, and kindle a light for his amusement. Such indeed seemed to be the degree of pleasure which he received from feasting his eyes with light, that he would often occupy himself in this manner for several hours without interruption. In this, as well as in the gratification of the other senses, his countenance and gestures displayed a most interesting avidity and curiosity. His father often remarked him employing many hours in selecting from the bed of the river, which flows within a few yards of the house, stones of a round shape, nearly of the same weight, and having a certain degree of smoothness. These he placed in a circular form on the bank, and then seated himself in the middle of the circle.

At the age of thirteen his father took him to London, wnere the operation of piercing the membrane of each tympanum of the ear was performed by Sir Astley Cooper, but without improving his hearing in the least. An operation was also performed on the left eye by Mr Saunders, but with little or no success. As there appeared still some hopes of restoring vision, his father a second time carried him to London in the year 1810, when fifteen years of age, and placed him under the charge of Mr Wardrop, an eminent surgeon. Mr Wardrop's account of the boy is so interesting that we shall give it in his own words. "This poor boy," says he, "had the usual appearance of strength and good health, and his countenance was extremely pleasing, and indicated a considerable degree of intelligence. On examin