Gaspar Hauser plainly saw whole groups. This faculty of seeing in the dark, was but the result of the exercise of sight he was compelled to make, during the many years he had been bebarred from light; and the organ of sight had been extended by the necessity of catching the rays of light, which occasionally gleamed in his cell; but when free, he found the light was so powerful, that he continually kept his hands before his eyes till he gradually became accustomed to it.

His sense of hearing was equally acute; he had lived in such perfect repose, that the sound of the human voice made him startle. Wanswietten had forbidden the cannon to be fired near the royal palaces, after the birth of a prince; he thought the noise might affect the infant's brain; but what the newly-born babe could not give utterance to, Gaspar Hauser felt, and expressed. At a later period, the human voice made his head ache; the sound of a bell, or striking of a clock, nearly threw him into convulsions, and when these ceased, he remained in a state of stupor. It was some time ere these sounds reached his intelligence, and awakened his attention: when the clock struck Gaspar Hauser fell into a state of deep meditation.

A few weeks after his arrival at Nuremburg, a wedding passed under the window of his tower, accompanied by a band of music. Gaspar Hauser was motionless; he seemed transformed

H

into a statue; his eyes and ears appeared to follow the musical sounds, when at a great distance: it was no longer heard, and he yet sought to catch the last vibrations of the pleasing sounds, as though his soul could reach this celestial harmony.

Being one day taken to a military parade, Gaspar Hauser was so near the great drum, and so terrified at the noise, that he fell into convulsions, and was carried back to his tower. The celebrated Wanswietten, judiciously recommended, that children should be kept from great noise, as the brain might be so strongly affected by it, as to bring on idiotcy.

Gaspar Hauser complained so bitterly of noise, that he sometimes regretted his solitary cell. The sense of smelling was very acute: what other people could only smell near them, Gaspar Hauser smelt at a very great distance.

All medical men, who have given their attention to the physical education of children, have strenuously recommended that they should not be allowed to remain in apartments where the smell of flowers, or any other odour, could affect them. The experiment made on Gaspar Hauser, shews the propriety of this advice; the only smell he could bear, was that of bread, fennel, and aniseed: he disliked walking; the scent of the trees and plants brought on fever: he could distinguish a pear tree from an apple

tree, or plum tree, merely by smelling the leaves. The varnish on paintings, and even the ink he used, affected him painfully; ifa cheese were placed near him, he was sick; vinegar had the same effect, and wine was not less disagreeble. Odours, that are generally considered bad, were to him more bearable; raw meat had a smell that he found horrible.

Walking with Professor Daumer, near а church-yard, he was so powerfully affected, by the smell of the dead, that he was seized with fever, and shivering fits, which at the time, his companion was unable to account for, and he did not perceive any particular smell; this fever was succeeded by violent perspiration; he complained greatly of intense heat, and his sight was affected.

This sensitiveness of Gaspar Hauser, is most fertile in instruction; we are not always ready to acknowledge the influence of the emanations of the earth, covered with the remains of vegetable and animal matter; we often think the cause of our sufferings far distant, while it is in the impure air we breathe. Persons who remain confined in the same apartment, and seek to avoid the effects of physical agents, are immediately affected, if they are near any place where the air is impure. How often have those who followed their friends to their last abode, been seized on the borders of the grave with a

disease occasioned by the impurity of the air, which has ceased to have an effect on gravediggers, accustomed to live in an atmosphere impregnated with miasms, and to be constantly among the remains of human beings !

Is it surprising that children should be so subject to disease, when the air is loaded with miasm, and acting so powerfully on youthful organizations?

Gaspar Hauser having lived so long away from the deleterious influence of the air, was unprotected from the miasms emanating from putrified bodies. All the senses that had not been exercised, caused him great pain, whenever they were brought into action: if the touch was to correct the errors of the sight, it was by painful experience; for instance, he put his fingers into the flame of a candle, and burnt them; he touched the snow, and appeared to suffer from the cold; he sought to reach the steeple of a church, and made great efforts to attain it. He had no knowledge of distances, and his total ignorance of optical laws, and perspective often misled him; he could not understand why trees at the end of an avenue appeared smaller than the others; when he came near these trees, he touched them, and examined them most carefully as in children, the touch rectified the errors of sight.

On his arrival at Nuremburg, the inhabitants seemed to take great interest in Gaspar Hauser;

and hearing that he was in a state of childishness, they gave him various playthings; and as he could not speak, or understand what was said to him, he was greatly taken up with his playthings, which furnished him with new ideas: the wooden horses pleased him very much, but as his intelligence was developed, he cared less for toys, and seemed anxious to learn and communicate with others.

He learnt to speak like young children; first naming the objects before him; conjunctions, prepositions, and pronouns, were not known to him: he said 'Gaspar very well'; 'Gaspar, good boy'; always speaking of himself in the third person.

An individual, who like limself, had spent his childhood and infancy in a dungeon, in which fresh air scarcely ever penetrated, must necessarily be very sensitive, and suffer considerably from changes of temperature: during a storm, all his limbs were convulsed; he trembled, and shuddered; his limbs were relaxed, and he felt pressure on his head while the storm lasted, he remained in this state; the lightening hurt his eyes; he felt a pricking sensation, which lasted about half an hour, then his nose bled, and he was relieved. He could tell how long a storm would last; if it was to be long, his hands and feet were cold; this extreme sensibility diminished as he became more accustomed to live with his fellow creatures.