Q(jB of THE EXTERNAL SENSES.
language of Vifion. The vifible objeHs which thisnoble profpeH prefentecl to him did not now ap-pear as touching, or as clofe upon his eye. Theydid not now appear of the fame magnitude withthofe fmall objecds to which, for fome time afterthe operation, he had been .accuft'omed, in thelittle chamber where he was confined. Thofe newvifible objects at once, and as it were of their ownaccord, alfumed both the diftance and the ma<r-
' O
nitude of the great tangible objects which theyreprefented. He had now, therefore, it wouldfeem, become completely mailer of the languageof Vifion, and he had become fo in the courfe ofa year; a much lliorter period than that in whichany perfon, arrived at the age of manhood, couldcompletely acquire any foreign language. It would'appear too, that lie had made very confiderableprogrefs even in the two firft months. He beganat that early period to underhand even the feebleperfpeHive of Painting; and though at firft hecould not diftinguifh it from the ftrong perfpec-tive of Nature, yet he could not have been thusimpofed upon by fo imperfefl an imitation , if thegreat principles of Vifion had not beforehand beendeeply impreffed upon his mind, and if he hadnot, either by the alfociation of ideas, or byfome other unknown principle, been ftrongly de-termined to expefl certain tangible obje£!s in con-fequence of the vifible ones which had been pre-fented to him. This rapid progrefs, however,may, perhaps, be accounted for from that fitnefsof reprefen ration, -which has already been taken
notice