OBJECTIVE.
89
well-established case was found to be familiar to the older compositors, of a compositor who had been an “ expert,” becoming totally blind, but continuing his work by having a boy to read long extracts of his copy to him, his cultivated powers of retention being remarkable; and it was found that his proofs were, in the main, as correct as those of his fellows. Desirous of determining the real force of this claim, a lady compositor was carefully blindfolded; and, the copy being read to her, it was found that the work could undoubtedly be thus performed, though with not quite the same correctness as ordinarily, but more rapidly, and resulting in greater fatigue. The statement of the operator was to the effect, that her whole concentration of mind was upon the two points already mentioned,— the retention of the copy, and her place in it; and this concentration she considered quite equivalent in demand to that required by the slower process of setting with the eyes open, stating that she missed the aid in keeping the place, obtained by the 8 *