INTELLECTUAL WORK OF THE BLIND—VILLEY. 701 
development, however lacking in exactness one’s memory may be. 
It was very rarely that I found it necessary to seek the aid of other 
eyes to find my place, or to recall the form which I had given to any 
preceding sentences. Frequently I suspended the editorial work 
in the midst of the development of an idea. I left the sheet in the 
machine and sometimes after an interruption of forty-eight hours, 
or even more, took up the thought again without hesitation at the 
point at which I had left it. Moreover, I did not deprive myself 
of the opportunity of correction. The editing over, I had the matter 
read to me as many times as was necessary, dictating to my secretary 
modifications and sometimes very numerous additions, and adding 
everywhere a thousand finishing touches. I believe that I can say 
that my style was not less imperfect when I wrote the first draft 
in “braille.” On the contrary, if it was perhaps a little more 
vigorous, it was also rather stiffer. 
Finally, and this is what I particularly wish to note, the elabora- 
tion of these 1,250 very compact pages did not by any means cause 
me the prodigious labor that one might naturally expect. The one 
part which was long and tedious was the extensive preparation, all 
that which did not appear, the documentation which served as the 
basis of the work. I retain the hope that anyone who has followed 
my exposition is convinced that the undertaking can be carried 
on without any great difficulty and that thes methods which are 
open to the blind lend themselves perfectly to its accomplishment. 
They have given me, I believe, means of conforming exactly to the 
course that any person who can see, desiring to treat of the same sub- 
ject with accuracy, would be compelled to follow. In all my pro- 
ceedings I have invented nothing. Any person with sight would, 
I think, be compelled to use some form of memoranda analogous to 
mine. I simply adapted a common and almost necessary method, I 
may say, to the special conditions of the blind. This adaptation 
was a very simple one and did not demand any great effort of the 
imagination. It was developed little by little, by successive steps, in 
accordance with the needs. It sprang in a certain way from 
circumstances. 
My design, as one may suppose, is not to incite the blind to engage 
in the production of works of erudition. To succeed in this it is 
absolutely necessary to have the taste, the passion for learning, and 
most fortunately few persons are afflicted with this malady. What 
a strange life it would be if we were all metamorphosed into book- 
worms! Very fortunately, too, there are other works more accessible 
to the blind in which they have less trouble in rivaling those who 
can see. In all that I have recounted it is not necessary to see an 
example, but an experience—an experience which, certes, will not 
surprise the blind (who, at least, will see that everything here men- 
