Jasper County Democrat, Volume 7, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 July 1904 — SELECTIONS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

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TELLS COLOR BY TOUCH.

The Remarkable Gift PoueMed by a Young Frenchwoman.

At a recent meeting of the Biological Society In Faria a woman of twentytwo years demonstrated to the scientists present that she was possessed of a romurkably developed sense of touch By means of which she could tell different colors blindfolded. The subject of the experiments was a healthy Individual, without any of the nervous symptoms that so often go with remarkable gifts of this character. During the experiments her eyes were closed by u black cloth, and a physician kept his finger on her pulse to detect if there were any variations from the normal. The first tests were made with papers on which different colors had been painted. Red, blue and yellow were easily recognized. Green was described as blue and orange as red. White spaces on the paper were easily recognized. Red, blue and yellow were also recognized when painted pieces of paper were inclosed In glass tubes, so that the fingers did not come into Immediate contact with them. As a final test the subject read words painted on paper in colors, tracing the outlines of the letters with her fingers.

The young woman does not begin the experiment directly she is blindfolded. She waits a few minutes until a gaseous film forms before her eyes, as she expresses it Then she knows she can feel the colors. Then as she rubs the ends of her fingers lightly over the object the color passes before her eyes and stays there as long ns she maintains contact. During the experiments the breathing and the circulation of the young woman remained perfectly normal. The only changes noticed were Blight muscular contractions in the forearm and, at the end of the seance, heat and moisture in the hands.—New York Times.