Ill 



r.l.IND. EDUCATION OF THE. 



rn.ivn. n.r.-ATIox OF TilK. 



there mut be tame fallacy, the facilitie* given by a previous know- 

 ledge of reeding and spelling must bare existed, for eren aged persons 



If 1 



Moon's system 



with all their senses cannot learn to mad w thrrr irtxmi I U they 

 could read and ipell before they loet their Bight, or if they had learned 

 to read on eome other system previously, the wonder ceases to some 

 extent The work is a good work, and require* nothing marvellous to 

 tucUin it. The London depository for the bocks on 

 is at 83, King William Street, Trafalgar Square. 



In Euston Road, near St. Pancras Church, a thoroughly practical 

 work is going forward for the amelioration of the condition of the 

 industrious blind. It U known as " The Association for promoting the 

 General Welfare " of this class of people. It has been in operation 

 about five years ; it provides means of industrial employment for those 

 who have not been so fortunate as to obtain admission, and con- 

 sequently instruction, in asylums; it supplements the education of those 

 who have had this advantage ; it teaches trades to those who have 

 learned none, and finds a market for the work, thus enabling many of 

 the adults so taught to support their families ; it supplies regular 

 work to many at their own homes; it finds workshops for others within 

 the precincts of its own bumble establishment. At present it affords 

 employment to sixty-seven blind men and women, some of whom have 

 been withdrawn from begging and destitution, and it has a list of 

 upwards of ninety candidates, who desire to be put into a similar 

 mode of earning their bread, and who will be gratified in their desire 

 when the public favour to the establishment demands more articles 

 than the present workers can supply. The town traveller and the 

 porter of the establishment are both blind, yet they traverse crowded 

 thoroughfares, and walk long distances, self-dependent, or trusting on 

 the good-will of strangers for information and direction. Blind agents 

 are also employed in selling the goods manufactured in several towns 

 in different parts of the kingdom. This society is assisted by subscrip- 

 tions and donations, for from the waste of materials and the slowness 

 of the learners it cannot be Belt-supporting. The foundress of this 

 truly beneficent association is Hiss Gilbert, a daughter of the bishop of 

 Chichester, herself blind, and a contributor of 20002. to its endowment 

 fund ; for more than a year she worked the plan alone. Its control is 

 now made over to a committee of influential men, and it may be 

 hoped that the practical wisdom which devised its plans will be carried 

 out with that ability which will ensure success commensurate with ita 

 object. The above account of this excellent charity is abridged from 

 an article in ' Household Words.' 



Charities for the blind also exist which grant annuities under 

 certain conditions. The oldest of these is Hetherington's, it was estab- 

 lished in 1774; the other is the Blind Man's Friend, established by 

 Mr. Day ; in October 1858 there were 2500 applicants waiting for this 

 charity. 



It appears that voluntary benevolence, together with the provision 

 made under the Poor Law Act, by which the blind may be maintained 

 during education in the asylums established, will in the course of time 

 provide for the training in industrial pursuits of all the blind who 

 require such aid. Great has been the progress towards this end during 

 the last twenty-five years. The intellectual training will doubtless 

 keep pace with the industrial, now that the public are aware how much 

 can be done. The increase of books is also certain, with so many com- 

 petitors for public favour in the field. It has been already stated that 

 the Scriptures are published in four distinct systems. Attention 

 should now be directed to the publication of a good reading-book on 

 secular knowledge, the subjects of which should be consecutive, pro- 

 gressive, and systematic. The republication of some existing school- 

 book is more desirable than the preparation of an original work for 

 many reasons; but it should not be a miscellaneous collection of 

 lessons without plan or arrangement on every variety of topic in suc- 

 cession, tending to bewilder and excite rather than to satisfy the mind. 

 The moral tone of the inmates of the various schools is a subject of 

 special mention in many of the accounts we have received, yet it is 

 thought some advantages would arise from a stricter classification, so 

 as to prevent the young blind from mingling with the adults and 

 the aged. In the workshop the restraint which is necessary for the 

 young is irksome to the older inmates, and the exercise nf M tlirir 

 goud principles is requisite to prevent the rising of a rebellious spirit. 

 Separate establishments for children and adults, or an entire separation 

 in the same building seems desirable. At Norwich there is such a 

 provision. The inmates of Henshaw's asylum, at Manchester, are not 

 restricted as to age, and are in for life, but the old are not separated 

 from the young, consequently they cannot have that quietude which 

 age and infirmity require. In one or two of the establishments drill 

 and gymnastics receive attention. These physical exercises are highly 

 commended by Dr. Blacklock, as giving confidence, and they should 

 be universally cultivated among the young blind. It is a question 

 worthy of some consideration by the managers of our asylums, as 

 to what extent blind teachers can be eligibly employed in the various 

 departments. As far as the communication and transmission of ideas 

 are concerned, the blind teacher may possess some advantages over 

 the seeing one, yet circumstances arise in which the evils attendant 

 on the want of sight counterbalance these advantages. In the tchool- 

 roow we find bad habiU and positions of the body ; in the icorkthop, 

 badly shaped articles and waste of materials; in the mnticai ,i.,'-t 

 mtnt, wrong positions of the hands, and a bad system of fingering, with 



an awkward attitude and distortion of the countenance in singing. It 

 cannot be expected that Mind teachers should be aware of these 

 things. An exact record of the after-life of all the pupils should In- 

 kept in every asylum for the blind. Such records are the result nf 

 the care and attention of teachers, and of the application and attain- 

 ments of pupils, and the blind themselves should know that such an 

 account of their future course will be recorded, and published for the 

 satisfaction of those who generously support these establishment* for 

 their benefit 



The number of blind men who have become eminent is laiy 

 some account of them we must refer to the work of Dr. Ouillio . u tin- 

 ' Instruction of the Blind,' tn blind James Wilson's ' Biography of 

 the Blind,' to the first volume of the ' Pursuit of Knowledge under 

 Difficulties ;' and to Dr. Kitto's ' Lost Senses Blindnem ;' in these 

 works we read of philosophers, mathematicians, divines, musicians, 

 rhetoricians, lawyers, historians, poets, naturalists, road surveyors, 

 mechanics, travellers, and even sculptors, who laboured under the 

 infirmity of blindness. 



The addition of deafness to blindness seems almost to flint out a 

 human being from the external world. It is difficult to conceive how 

 the mind of a deaf, dumb, and blind person can be occupied much 

 more difficult to say how it can be improved and educated. Yet there 

 are many cases of this three-fold deprivation known, and there are 

 always one or more such instances undergoing instruction in our 

 blind or deaf and dumb institutions. The case of Jama .'/<' /,.//. tin- 

 son of a Scotch clergyman, which was in\ estigated by Dugald Stewart, 

 Mr. Wardrop, and Dr. Spurzheim, is the best known ; Julia Braee, a 

 pupil in the asylum for the deaf and dumb at Hartford, Conn< . 

 is another instance of the same kind; Virtorint Jforiawau, a pupil in 

 the Imperial Institution for the deaf and dumb of Paris, was another 

 sufferer under this accumulated calamity; Laura Bridgrma* , a |>npil 

 of Dr. Howe, in the Boston Asylum for the blind, is not only il< 

 in these senses, but also in that of smell. She has had companions 

 in the same affliction in Olirtr Cwnrttt and Luey Reed. Ettuard 

 Meyitre, of Lausanne, is another case of the kind. He too has met 

 with an instructor. Each of these instances is a history in itself of a 

 mind sealed up, but unsealed by the indefatigable zeal and skill of 

 their respective teachers. Space is not allowed us to go into the 

 manifold processes which patience and enterprise invented for con- 

 quering the difficulties which interposed between these minds and the 

 world without. The results are not merely satisfactory, they are 

 marvellous. 



The blind are not a moody or a discontented class fun, frolic, and 

 mischief are as inherent in them as in others. We extract a few 

 anecdotes from an interesting pamphlet published some years back by 

 Mr. Anderson, who passed many years of his life as teacher and 

 superintendent in the several asylums of Edinburgh, York, and Man- 

 chester, which show their vivacious habits. 



" Romping, jumping, laughing, and screaming, are as delightful to 

 them as with boys and girls who see. The cross-bow, bow and arrow, 

 trundling each other in a wheelbarrow, spinning tope, and to those 

 who have a glimmer of light, called ' blinkers,' marbles, and a kind of 

 cricket, all afford ample amusement, while there is no want of the 

 visual boyish plotting and mischief. The girls also enjoy their play- 

 hours very much, and contrive to stand in as much need of the needle 

 as their more favoured sisters of sight. 



" A girl at York took up a book lying beside me, turned up her 

 face towards the gaslight above my head, and playfully observed, as 

 she whirled over the leaves, ' Dear me, sir, what bad gas this is, I 

 can't see to read a word by it ! ' The same girl standing near the fire, 

 heard a companion trying to decipher some of the letters of the book 

 in relief, ' Let me see, said the latter, ' what's this h i t, t e r ; 

 bit what does that mean ? ' ' Sit a little nearer the light, my dear/ 

 said her fireside companion, ' I know you don't see very well, Jane." 

 The tone of this indicated genuine play nil mischief. 



" A young man at the Edinburgh asylum, born blind, was at all 

 times the essence of cheerfulness. He was one of our moet correct 

 ' messengers,' and a good collector of accounts, of which from the 

 amount of our annual sales, we had many. He, as well as several 

 others, could easily take from four to eight of these at a time. Coming 

 along the passage whistling he was always whistling he began to 

 grope about for his hat, which, not finding on its usual peg, he cried 

 to a companion, whose foot he heard not far off, ' Willie, coni' 

 man, and look for my hat, ye see better than me.' The one was as 

 blind as the other. 



" It is a remarkable fact that the blind scarcely ever hurt themselves, 

 either against furniture, or in play. At Edinburgh they w t 

 stantly walking about the crowded streets. There were four or fire 

 ' messengers,' whose business it was to carry home all the goods sold 

 baskets, mattresses, rope-mats; and not only did they ilo this with 

 the greatest exactness, but they were daily in the habit of going to all 

 parts of the city, Lcith, Portobello, and environs, to take measure 

 for bedding. I have many times had the dimensions of two, and even 

 three beds brought to me all on memory with a precision not ex- 

 ceeded by the most expert workman, including the exact allowance of 

 so many inches to be cut out for the bed-posts. 



" I had occasion one evening, at Edinburgh, to send out one of these, 

 blind men with a mattress. I gave him the bill with it, that he might 



