A rough sketch of modern Paris

by J. G. Lemaistre

LETTER XIII.

The young savage, or wild boy of Aveyron.—His history.—The state in which he was found, and the means used to restore him to the use of his senses.—The success with which these efforts have been attended.

Paris, January the 17th, 1801 (27 nivôse.)

MY DEAR SIR,

I resume in this letter the subject promised in my last.

The child, so well known in Europe by the name of “le jeune sauvage d’Aveyron,” or “the young savage of Aveyron,” was found in the wood of that name, at the age of eleven or twelve years, by three huntsmen, who some time before had seen the same boy at a distance. He was looking for acorns and roots, which constituted his principal food, when they perceived him: and, at the moment of being seized, he attempted to get away, by climbing up an adjoining tree. He was taken into a cottage; but, at the end of a week, he made his escape from the woman, to whose care he was intrusted, and fled to the mountains. Here he wandered about, exposed to the severest cold of winter, with no covering but a ragged shirt, hiding himself at night in the most solitary places, and in the day approaching the neighbouring villages. After leading, for some time, this vagabond life, he came of his own accord, into an inhabited house, situate in the canton of St. Sernain. Here he was seized, watched and taken care of for three days, and was then removed, first to the hospital of St. Afrique, and afterwards to that of Rhodes, where he was kept several months. At each of these places, where, of course, he was the subject of much interesting observation, he was found wild and impatient of control. He was in constant motion, and at every instant seemed to seek an opportunity of escaping. By order of the minister of the interiour, he was brought to Paris, at the end of the 8th year of the republic (about two years ago), under the care of a poor, but respectable, old man, who became so attached to him on the journey, that he shed tears at parting with him, and in going away declared, that if he ever should be deserted, he would adopt him as his child.

The physician Pinel, to whose inspection the boy was first submitted, reported, that the organs of sense in this unfortunate child were reduced, from the want of use, to such a state of debility, that, in this respect, he was inferiour to several domestic animals. His eyes, without fixing themselves, and without expression, wandered wildly from one object to another, incapable of distinguishing the nearest from the most distant objects. His organ of hearing was alike insensible of the loudest noise, or the softest harmony. The power of the voice was lowered to such a degree, that he could not make an uniform and guttural sound. The sense of smelling was so little exercised, that he received, with the same indifference, the odour of the choicest perfumes, or the nauseous stench of the filthy couch on which he lay. To conclude, the sense of touching was confined to the mere mechanical functions of taking hold of bodies.

In respect to his intellectual powers, the same physician stated him to be incapable of attention (excepting as to the objects of his immediate wants), and consequently incapable also of all those operations which are created by attention. Destitute of memory, of judgment, and of the power of imagination, and so limited, even in the ideas relative to his wants, that he had not yet learnt to open a door, or to get upon a chair, in order to reach those objects of food which were held above his grasp. In fact, destitute of every means of communication, having neither expression nor intention in the motions of his body, passing suddenly, and without any presumable cause, from the gloom of apathy, to the most immoderate fits of laughter. Insensible of every kind of moral affection, his discernment was but a calculation of gluttony; his pleasure an agreeable sensation of the organs of taste; his sense, an aptitude to produce some incoherent ideas relative to his wants—in one word, all his existence seemed purely animal.

M. Pinel afterwards compared “le sauvage d’Aveyron” with children born, or become, irrevocably idiots; and he was inclined to conclude, that this unhappy child, doomed to an incurable evil, was not susceptible either of sociality or instruction; but he expressed this opinion with considerable doubt.

Dr. Itard, physician to the national institution des sourd muets, from whose interesting little pamphlet I have taken this account, though struck with the fidelity of the picture drawn by Dr. Pinel, and the justice of his remarks, was unwilling to accede to the unfavourable conclusion with which he had closed his report. Founding his hopes first on the doubtful cause of his supposed idiotism, and next on the possibility of the cure, he humanely determined to make the education of this deserted child his particular study. This education, or moral treatment, he began, on the general principles laid down by doctors Willis and Crichton, and by professor Pinel himself, though he could not appeal to any particular precepts, as no such case had been foreseen in their works. He conceived, that he had five principal objects to effect.

1st. To attach him to social life, in rendering that life more agreeable than the one which he now led, and particularly by making it more analogous to the life which he had lately quitted.

2dly. To revive the sensibility of his nerves by the most poignant stimulants, and sometimes by exciting the liveliest affections of the mind.

3dly. To extend the sphere of his ideas, by giving him new wants, and by increasing his connection with surrounding objects.

4thly. To lead him to the use of speech, by dragging into use the power of imitation by the imperious law of necessity.

5thly. To exercise, during some time, on the objects of his physical wants, the most simple operations of his mind, and thence to lead it to objects of instruction.

Dr. Itard then fully explains the methods which he took towards these important objects, in which, by incessant care, humane treatment, and the assistance of madame Guerin (the female to whose protection, as a nurse, the child was intrusted), he has so far succeeded, that he no longer entertains any doubt of his ultimate success. It is impossible for me, within the compass of a letter, to enter into the details given on this subject. I shall therefore content myself with translating the observations, with which Dr. Itard concludes the account.

“It may be safely concluded,” says he, “from my observations, that the child, known by the name of the savage of Aveyron, is gifted with the free exercise of all his senses; that he gives continual proofs of attention, recollection, and memory; that he can compare, discern, and judge—in one word, that he can apply all the faculties of his understanding to objects relative to his instruction. It is necessary to remark, as an essential point, that these happy changes have taken place in the short space of nine months, and those too in a subject, who was thought incapable of attention. Hence we may fairly conclude, that his education is possible, if it be not already certain, from the success already obtained, independently of that which may naturally be expected from the assistance of time, which, in its constant unvarying course, seems to give to infancy all that strength and power of unfolding itself, which it takes from man in the decline of life.”

I ought, perhaps, to mention, that this unfortunate child, to whom the name of “Victor” has been given, because he listened easily to the sounds which formed that name, has already pronounced the word “lait,” milk; that he has learnt to put the letters together which compose that word; and that he regularly does so, when he wishes to drink, taking also in his hand a little cup to receive his favourite beverage. Dr. Itard assured me, that he entertained no doubt of his ultimately speaking.

He is warm, passionate, grateful, and he has already given strong proofs of his attachment to his nurse, madame Guerin. His person is not very remarkable, but his countenance is mild. His face has been cut in several places. He cannot yet use any two senses at the same time; and, to enable him to hear, it is necessary to bind his eyes. When he is angry, he makes a noise like the growling of a dog. He is now dressed like another boy; but I am told, it was long before they could persuade him to bear the restraint of clothing. I remarked, that while we were in the room, he kept his eye constantly on the door, and that the desire of escaping has not yet abandoned him.

To conclude, it seems that he has a mark in his neck, which proves, almost to a certainty, that his life was attempted in his infancy. The hapless offspring of illicit love, he was probably first wounded by the trembling hand of an unnatural mother; and then, under the supposition of being dead, thrown into the wood, where he so long wandered, and was at last discovered.

If you feel as much interested as I do on this subject, you will easily pardon the prolixity of my letter. I only regret, that I cannot send you a more perfect account.

I am, &c.