The Country of the Blind

Wells' imagination in the Country of the Blind is consistent with our knowledge from neuroscience about the development of primary sensory cortex in the brain.

The fabulous capabilities of the blinds, in the absence of visual ability, is in accord with Dr. Penfield's finding in 1951 (2nd ed., 1954). Stimulating the brain of patients with severe epilepcy, he created an accurate map of primary sensory cortex, so-called a sensory homunculus [2]. The sensory homunculus, the little man inside the brain, is a pictorial representation of the anatomical devisions of primary sensory cortex. The primary sensory cortex is divided between different body parts - head, lips, hands, feet, and sex organ. The amount of devoted region to a given body part is proportional to how richly innervated the region is. If a body part is deprived, for instance the eyes in our story, the region devoted to this part is shrinked by the expansion of other senses, as we read in the story how the senses of hearing, smell, taste, and touch of the blinds are enhanced. The weakness of our sighted observer in front of all these blinds reminded me of David Cogan's statement: An island of vision is in a sea of blindness.