In about three months he had added considerably to his stock of language, but, unluckily, he had selected his expressions from those patients who were addicted to swearing and obscene conversation. To teach him the letters of the alphabet had many times been endeavoured, but always without success; the attempt uniformly disgusted him: he was not to be stimulated by coaxing or coercion; his mind was too excursive, to submit to the painful toil of recording elementary sounds; but it may rather be inferred that he did not possess a sufficient power of attention to become acquainted with arbitrary characters. He was in good health, his pulse and bowels were regular, and his appetite was keen, but not voracious. One circumstance struck me, as very peculiar, in this boy,--he appeared to have very incorrect ideas of distance: he would frequently stretch out his hand, to grasp objects considerably beyond his reach, but this referred principally to height: he would endeavour to pluck out a nail from the ceiling, or snatch at the moon. In October he became unwell, and, at the mother's request, was discharged from the hospital. In September 1805, I again saw the boy: he was then thirteen years of age, had grown very tall, and appeared to be in good health. He recollected me immediately, and mentioned the words, school Moorfields, nasty physic. On meeting with some of the female patients, he perfectly remembered them, and seemed for the moment, much pleased at the renewal of the acquaintance. By this time, he had made comparatively, a great progress in language; he knew the names of ordinary things, and was able to tell correctly the street in which he resided, and the number of his house. His mother informed me that he was particularly fond of going to church, although he was unable to comprehend the purpose for which he went: when there, he conducted himself with great order and decorum, but was disposed to remain after the congregation had dispersed. To shew how little he understood, why he frequented a place of worship: his mother once took him to church on Sacrament-sunday, and fearful of disturbing the persons assembled, by compelling him to return home, allowed him to be a spectator of those solemn administrations. The only reflexion he made on the subject, but in disjointed expressions, was, that he thought it extremely hard, that the ladies and gentlemen should eat rolls and drink gin, and never ask him to partake. In his person he was clean, and dressed himself with neatness. Having been taught when in the hospital to use a bowl for his necessary occasions, he obstinately continued the same practice when he returned home, and could never be persuaded to retire to the closet of convenience; but the business did not terminate here, when he had evacuated his intestines into the bowl he never failed to paint the room with its contents. To watch other boys when they were playing, or to