The recent postings regarding autism reminded me of a Wisconsin fellow
named Leslie Lemke.  Leslie was severely retarded and blind.  However,
as the story goes, he sat down at the piano one night and began to play
a piece of classical music he had heard for the first time on TV that
evening.  I saw Leslie on TV a few times and was quite amazed.

The term for this ability is "Savant Syndrome".  Here is a link to
an interesting article on the topic, and to an article about Leslie:

  http://www.wismed.com/foundation/islands.htm
  http://www.wismed.com/foundation/lemke.htm

Mike Ryan
Milwaukee WI