CHESELDEN (CHESSELDEN), WILLIAM

CHESELDEN (CHESSELDEN), WILLIAM. – English anatomist and surgeon (1688–1752). He was the first to study from a psycho-physiological standpoint the behaviour of a man born blind, operated for cataract by depression of the lens, and thus resolved the problem posed by Molyneux, whether a man born blind, upon being granted sight, could, with the sole aid of the eye and without recourse to touch, distinguish a cube from a sphere. Cheselden’s experiment is of capital importance when studying the healing of the man born blind in the Gospel.