THE BLIND 3 ot 



Belgium. 8 schools; 6 workshops. Most of the blind work in their families. Educa- 

 tion is not compulsory, but facilities are given by the government to send children to in- 

 stitutions. The state and provinces pay 600 francs a year for any child between 6 and 18 

 so sent. The law of 1891 regulates the manner of payment, and the freedom of parents in 

 choosing an institution. 



Denmark. 2 schools; 4 workshops. Education is not compulsory. The schools are 

 supported by the state, the workshops by private associations. On leaving school at 18 

 or 20 pupils are apprenticed to a seeing master for 3 years, the institution paying 300 kronen, 

 and young musicians are given further training for 3 or 4 years; they are furnished with tools 

 or musical instruments, and looked after by different societies. Since 1901, to counteract 

 ophthalmia neonatorum, midwives are ordered to use the Crede method, and blindness from 

 this cause has decreased. 



France. 30 schools; II workshops. One school is national, and five departmental, the 

 rest private, receiving pupils with bursaries from departments and communes. The "In- 

 stitution Nationale des Jeunes Aveugles" gives assistance in obtaining situations, and so 

 does the "Association Valentin Haiiy" of Paris. The law of 1909 provided compulsory 

 assistance up to 16, and two new laws are being proposed. Ophthalmia neon, is decreasing 

 in many mairies; notices are distributed pointing out its danger and the need of immediate 

 treatment. 



Norway. 2 schools. Education is compulsory, and schools receive state aid. There 

 is a Union for assisting the blind. Midwives are instructed to treat antiseptically for 

 ophth. neon. 



Sweden. 6 schools; 4 workshops. By act of 1896, education is compulsory up to 14. 

 Four schools are state-supported. On leaving school, pupils receive grant of tools; and the 

 state gives 25,000 kronen to an Association for After-care. Ophth. neon, is decreasing; the 

 Crede method is prescribed by law in maternity hospitals and is in general use. 



Switzerland. 3 schools; 7 workshops. All institutions are private except the school at 

 Zurich. Special Associations have been created in cantons which have no schools or work- 

 shops. The new Civil Code prescribes that all abnormal persons if teachable shall receive 

 instruction, but all cantons are not yet able to carry out this provision. Each canton has 

 special legislation covering ophth. neon. In Vaud, where the strictest measures have been 

 taken for over 40 years, it has almost disappeared. 



Austria-Hungary. 17 schools; 2 workshops in Austria; 6 schools, 4 workshops in Hun- 

 gary. Also II Homes, partly workshops. Instruction is compulsory between 6 and 14. 

 The Austrian Ministry of Instruction provides annually 17,000 crowns for the blind; and 

 the "Imperial Royal Institution" has its own funds under state administration. Four 

 schools are supported by Austrian provinces, and one by city of Vienna, while others receive 

 small grants. In Hungary 2 schools are partly state-supported; and the Society for .the 

 Relief of the Blind in Budapest receives 8,000 crowns from the city. Ophth. neon, is a 

 notifiable disease, and pamphlets about it are largely circulated. 



German Empire. According to Taschenbuch fur Blinderlehrer 1912, there are 33 institu- 

 tions, providing instruction for 2,763 .perspns. In Saxony, it may be noticed, the school in 

 Dresden has been moved to Altendorf, a suburb of Chemnitz, where a colony of 300 blind 

 and 500 feeble-minded are housed in 40 associated buildings. This combination of the 

 blind and the feeble-minded is much to be deplored. 



Russia. 32 schools; 7 workshops. Trie schools are supported to the extent of 5 per 

 cent by the state, and 25 per cent by municipal grants, besides invested funds. 



Egypt. 4 schools; helped by State and municipal funds. A Society for After-care has 

 been formed at Cairo. Ophthalmologic hospitals have been created, fixed and ambulatory. 



United Kingdom. A new impetus has been given to the education of the blind in 

 the United Kingdom, by Triennial Conferences of all those who are interested in their 

 welfare, and the founding of " The College of Teachers of the Blind " in 1908. 



Previous to 1902, conferences had been convened at irregular intervals; but in that 

 year the Gardner Trust arranged for one to be held in London, and since that date im- 

 portant gatherings have taken place in Edinburgh, Manchester and Exeter. An im- 

 portant result of the Edinburgh Conference was the appointment of a National Em- 

 ployment Committee to discuss means of providing more work for those who had re- 

 ceived manual training. It is estimated the workshops in the United Kingdom supply 

 places for about 3,210, and there are large numbers who would gladly work if more 

 accommodation were provided. The National Employment Committee drafted a bill, 

 which, if passed, will make it the duty of borough and county councils to provide ade- 

 quate and suitable provision for the technical training and employment of needy blind 

 persons over sixteen years of age who are capable of receiving instruction. 



The College of Teachers was founded in 1908, to raise the status of teachers of the 



