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ttie ufe cf the eyes, in the wonderful fagacity of many blind perfons recited by Zahnius in his cculus artificially and others. In fome, the defect has been fupplicd by a moil excellent: gift of remembring whit they had feen ; as was the cafe of the fculptor mentioned by Aldrovandus. Others by a delicate riofe, or fen fe of fmelling ; as in the blind guide mentioned above, who diitinguilhcd the different fcent of the earth in thfrerent parts, and thus found his way through the fandy defarts of Arabia, fome of the earth being readied up to him at every mile p : not to mention other inilances given by Smctius P, of pcrfons whofe loft of fight has been fupplied by their nofes. Others by a fine ear, or fenfe of hearing ; as in Ri- chard Clutterbuck of Redborough in Gloccftcrfhire, who, though perfectly blind, had fo curious an ear, that he could hear the fine fend of an hour-glafs fall 1, Others by an exqui- fite touch, or fenfe of feeling, which they have had in fuch per- fection, that as it has been laid* of fome, that they learned to hear with their eyes, it may be laid of thefe, that they taught themfclves to fee with their hands r .— [° Leo Jfric. Defer. Afr. 1. 6. p. 246; Cafaub. of Enthuf c. 2. p. 45. v Mifc.
Med. I. 5. ep. 1 5. Barthol. Act. Med. T. 2. obf. 32. p. 78. 1 Plott, Hilt. Nat. Stafford, c. 8. §. 60. p. 300. * Phtt,
ioc. cit.]
Some have been enabled to perform all forts of curious and fubtile works in the niceft and molt dextrous manner, as Mar- tin Catelyn mentioned by Guiccardin, and Richard Clutter- buck by Dr Plott, who would not only take a watch in pieces, and fet it together again, and fo an organ or virgi- nals, and put them in tune ; hut would make all forts of irring-irmfical initruments, which he alfo played on by notes cut in their ufual form, and fet upon protuberant lines on a board: yet neither of thefe came near Van Eyck, the brganilt of Utrecht, who, though he had been blind from two years old, did every thing as nimbly as if he had carried his eyes in his hands, playing on all forts of inftruments". Phtt, loc. cit. Others have been enabled to take the figure and idea of a face by the touch, and mould it in wax with the utmoft exact nefs j as was the cafe of the blind fculptor mentioned by Do Piles, who thus took the likenefs of the duke de Braeclano in a dark cellar, and made a marble ftatue of king Charles I. extremely well. Vid. De Piles, Cours de Feint, p. 329. Wolf. Pfycbol. Rat. §. 162.
But the bigheft atchlevement this way is that of fevenil perfons, who have been able to diftinguifh colours by the touch; of which Schmidius has a diflertation exprefs. Scbmid* Caucus de Colore judicans.
The count of Mansfield, tho' blind, is alfo (aid to have been able to diftinguifh black from white by the touch », Van Eyck could tell in a crowd of virgins and young women which was thefaireft: yet more was performed by Peter of Maeirricht, who, as Job Meckren informs us, tho' perfectly blind, played at dice and cards, and diftinguifhed the different colours of cloth by the touch c : in which, however, he feems to have come behind J. Vermaafen of Utrecht, who had this talent in a wonderful degree. Indeed, fome u have fuppofed it was not "by die touch that he diitinguifhed, but by the exquifitenefs of his finell, which discovered the different ingredients ufed in the dying different cloths ; and the rather as he is faid to have per- formed belt fafting, which feems confirmed by the inftance of the blind man allcdged by Sturmius, who could readily diftin- guifh the dyes or colours of cloths, filks, and the like, by ap- plying them to his nofe w ; but the man of Utrecht, it is pretty evident, judged altogether by the different degrees of aiperity or roughnefs, which he felt on the furfaces of the clothes x .
— [ s Phil. Tranf. N° 114. p. 316. Barthol. Hilt. Anat. Cent. 3. hilt. 44, « Plott, Nat. Hift. Stafford, c. S §. 61. p. 300. " Boyle, ofColoui-. P. 1. c. 3. §. 1 r. w Vid. Sturm. Phyf. Elec I. 1. §. z. c. 8. pnaen. 25. Verdr. Phyf. P. 1. c. 10. §. 5. p. 226, feq. * Voter. Phyf. Exper. P. 2, §. 2. c. 1 1. qu. 2. Barthol. Hift. Rar. 40. cent. 3.]
Yet have not blind perfons any idea of vifible objects, though they can diftinguifh them by the touch 7 ; thus the gentleman couched by Mr. Chefelden, though he knew the colours afun- Jer in a good light during his blind ftatc ; yet when he faw them after couching, the faint ideas he had of them before were not fufEcient for him to know them by afterwards x .
— [y Wo'f. Pfvchol. Rat. §. 145. ■ Vid. Phil. Tranf. N° 4 02.'p. 447.]
It was even a cohfiderable time ere he could remember which was the cat, and which the dog, though often informed, with- out firft feeling them. Add, that he had no idea of diftance; hut thought that all the objects he faw touched his eyes, as what he felt did his fldn. Blindness, in farriery, is a difcafe incident to horfes, efpecially thofe of an iron-grey or dapple-grey colour, when ridden too hard, or backed too young. Phil. Tranf. N" 37. p. 730. It may be difcovercd by the walk or ftep, which, in a blind horfe, is always uncertain and unequal, for that he dares not fet down his feet boldly when led in one's hand ; though, if the fame horfe be mounted by an expert horfeman, and the horfe of himfelf be mettled, the fear of the fpur will make him go more freely ; fo that his blindnefs can hardly be perceived. Another mark whereby a horfe may be known to have loft his fight, is, that upon hearing any-body enter the liable, he Suppl. Vol. t.
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will prick up his ears, and move them backwards and forward's) as miftrufting every tiling, and being in continual alarmV theleaftnoife Diet. Rtilt. T. i. in voc. D. Lower firft {hewed the caufe of the ordinary blinincfl in horfes, which is a fpongy excrefcence, growing in one, fome- times 111 two or three places of the uvea, which beins at length overgrown, covers the pupil when the horfe is brought into the light, tho' in a dark liable, it dilates again. Ray, Philof. Lett p. 28.
BLINKS, among antient fportlmen, denoted boughs broken down from trees, and thrown in the way where deer are likely to pafs, to hinder their running > j or rather to mark which way a deer runs, to be a guide to the hunter ».— [ ■ Siirm. Etym. Ant. in voc. Jac. Law Diet, in voc. b Trev. Diet. Univ. T. I. p. 1248. voc. brifces.]
BLINKING of beer, in Lincolnfllire, lignifies letting the wort ftand for fome time in the vat, till it have acquired fome de- gree of acidity, in order to difpofe it to fine, and be ready for drinking the quicker. Skin. Etym. Angl. in voc. blink.
CLISSOM, among husbandmen, corruptly called bloffim, is the act of a ram when coupling with a ewe. Sizw.'Etym. in voc.
BLISTER, {Cyel.) in the animal ceconomy, denotes a thin blad- der raifed on the fkin, and full of a watry or other humour. Blifters are fymptoms ufualiy enfuing on burns, fcalds, and cauftic matters applied to the skin. Cajl. Lex. Med. p. 74?. voc. vcflcatio.
' Fis difputed among furgeons, whether blifters, in cafe of burns, are to be opened, or not ? Some advife it, to prevent further ulcerations underneath ; others, unlefs they be large, difl'uadeit, as creating the patient needlcfs pain. Vid. Jmtcb. Confp. Chir. tab. ji. p. 103.
Blisteii is more peculiarly ufed, in medicine, for that raifed by an epifpaitic, or veficatory, laid for that purpofe on the moulders, arms, legs, or other parts. Vid. Qinc, Fharmac. P- 2. §■ 571. &§. 412. p. 167, feq.
Dr. Morgan endeavours to difcard the method of drefTmg blif- ten, by which nothing is gained, but the plaguing and tor- menting the patient, and depriving him of the benefit of a much greater difcharge, which would be at lead three to one, were the fame plafter left on for four or five days, or as long as it will draw off any thing j and then, when it has done running, taking it off, and applying a plafter of melilot, or rather of diachylum, once for all, till the part is quite well and healed. Indeed, when a biijier is firft rifen, if it do not break and run of itfelf, it may be proper to raife the lower end of the plafter a little, to fnip the bladder, and let out the water ; but if the fureeon has made the plafter ftrong enough, this is commonly done of itfelf, without help », It is ufualiy objected, that a ftrong epifpaftic left on five or fix days, mull deeply corrode the nefh under it, and thereby endanger a mor- tification. But this, according to the author laft cited, is fo far from being true, that, on the contrary, it prevents the worft accidents ufualiy happening in bliftcring, which are what they czWftoughs, or deep ftrong incruftations of a fharp fait and adhelive matter, covering the whole furface of the fleftl where the plafter had been applied. Now, this is always occafioned by an unfeafonable removal of the epifpaftic, while the humour is in full flow, and ftrongly feeding to the part j and the humour, thus fuddenly checked and thrown back for want of a fufEcient drain, forms this flough b . — [ a Morg, Mech. Praa. Phyf. p. 176. b Morg. lib. cit p. 177.]
Blister is alfo ufed improperly for the medicine, by whofe operation the veficle is raifed ; which is more properly called a veficatory, or bliftcring plajlcr. See Vesicatory, Cycl. Pharmaceutical writers give divers forms of blijlers, blifering flafters, bhftering pajles, and the like. Vid. Boerb. Lib. de Mat. Med. p. 33. £>tiinc. Pharm. p. 356, feq. The operation and effect: of blijlers in curing fevers, is by fome refolved into the pain which they excite ; by others into the ingrefs of the particles of the cantharides into the blood ; by others into the quantity of hot, iharp, and fait lymph dif- charged ; by others into the condenfation of the blood, and ftoppage of the rarefaction, whereby the fpirits are difpofed to be plentifully feparated c . Dr. Cockburn, who refutes all thefe fyftems, accounts for it from the cantharides woundino- the nerves or canals whereby the fpirits are conveyed to the heart li ; Dr. Morgan from the fubtile, hot, active falts of the flies, ftrongly attracted by the ferum, and carried with it thro' the feveral glands and fecretory duifts of the body, where they act by diffolving, attenuating, and rarefying the vifcid cohe- fions of the lymph and ferum, and ftimulating the nervous coats of the veffels, whereby they are induced to throw off their ftagnating vifcidities, and reftore the free drain of the lymph from the arteries to the veins ; and at the fame time, by fcouring and cleanfing the cxpurgatory glands, brini on criti- cal fweats and urines <v — [ c Morg. Philof. Princ Med. p. 229, feq. " Vid. Phil. Tranf. N° 25 2. p. I 73, feq. = Morg.
Fhilof. Princ. Med. p. 303, feq.]
BLISTERING, in medicine and furgery, denotes an operation whereby a blifter is raifed on the cuticula, and a quantity of ferum evacuated therefrom, by means of certain cauftic medi- cines, efpecially cantharides, applied in form of plafter there- on, fund. Confp. Chirurg. tab. 72. p. 507,/cq. See the article Blister.
5 B, MKJisrint
