INSTITUTIONS FOR THE BLIND loi 



self and his immediate friends, an idea that does not always 

 penetrate the mind of the blintl child till he meets some of the 

 rough knocks of hfe in school and out of school. 



The study of the sciences by the bUnd presents some diffi- 

 culties, inasmuch as the processes and apparatus appeal to the 

 sight. Yet the rehef models of physiology, working models of 

 machinery, and machines themselves are tangible, and will 

 give some valuable idea of the forces of nature as applied to 

 machinery. 



A former pupil of ours went to the St. Louis exposition. 

 He said that on his first visit all was confusion to him. But a 

 friend made for him a model of the grounds and the position of 

 the buildings. Then the general effect of the exposition was 

 clear to him. He could not fill in all the details, but so much 

 of the great exhibition was a great pleasure. Now this man 

 was prepared for this enjoyment by long experience and study, 

 as a blind man, in school and out. He had trained himself to 

 look outside of himself into the world around him. At one 

 time he gave in our school a very acceptable lecture upon the 

 subject of Birds. 



The study of mathematics is a difficult one to the average 

 blind student because so much depends upon mental opera- 

 tions, and so little help can be obtained from written calcula- 

 tions. Yet the science is valuable to the blind inasmuch as it 

 leads them out from mere memorizing into independent 

 thought. 



Mental science, moral science, and logic, for the more 

 advanced pupils will give opportunity for uitrospection, coun- 

 teracted by the application of thought and mind to practical 

 duty and obligation, and also to the orderly arrangement of 

 mental processes leading to right conclusions from the con- 

 ditions and circumstances which may enter into their expe- 

 rience. 



I would bespeak for our blind pupils as varied and ex- 

 tensive a training as time and ability will admit, that they may 

 be prepared for emergencies that may come to them in after 

 Hfe. We never know to what use we may put our knowledge 

 and ability till some necessity obliges us to exert ourselves 

 according to what we know and can do. Scholars in our 



