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instruction, which required only time, and the modification* 

 whirh discover themselves in every course of rational 

 teaching, to be brought into successful operation. He 



I to make the si-use of touch do that for the blind 

 which thu Ablif" do 1 K|f hail made the sense of night <lo 

 for tho deaf and dumb. He wished to see the fingers of the 

 blind employed in reading written language, and for this 

 purpose he invented the noble art of printing in relief, which 

 will hand down the name of Valentine Haiiy with honour 

 to posterity, llaiiy offered to instruct gratuitously the blind 

 children who wore under the care of the Philanthropic So- 

 arty. He commenced his instructions in 1784, and taught 

 his pupils reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, composing 

 types, and printing. In 178G public exercises were performed 

 by the pupils ut Versailles, in the presence of the king ; these 

 exercises excited much astonishment, and there seemed to 

 be little doubt of the stability and success of the undertak- 

 ing. Large funds were subscribed, and the school was 

 filled with pupils ; but the commencement hod been made 

 on a scale too extensive for its regular maintenance, the 

 warmth of popular feeling cooled, and as the institution was 

 unsupported by government, Haiiy never enjoyed the fruits 

 for which he had toiled. His school was not however suf- 

 fered to fall entirely ; it was taken up by the Constituent 

 Assembly of the Revolution, and has since been supported 

 at the expense of the government. The establishment of 

 which we are speaking is the School for the Young Blind 

 at Paris. 



Previous to the time of M. Haiiy no success had been 

 obtained in the art of printing for the blind, though it had 

 been attempted in a variety of ways, and by different per- 

 sons. Letters were engraved in wood, not cut in relief, but 

 in the ordinary manner of wood-cutting. The configurations 

 of tho letters were found to be difficult to trace, possessing 

 none of the advantages which letters in relief afford. We 

 have mentioned Pierre Moreau's plan, and the cause of its 

 having been forsaken. Haiiy's was a bolder invention 

 than any other offered to the public. Not only has it never 

 been superseded, but from it have arisen all the modern 

 attempts to teach the blind reading by means of relief-cha- 

 racters. An objection has been made to the use of relief- 

 characters which deserves attention, that the fingers of 

 children soon level the uneven surfaces. Gall's experi- 

 ments (see page 83 of his work) appear to have been quite 

 successful in providing a remedy for this evil. He says 

 that his relief-letters ' may, upon a hard table, be rubbed by 

 the fingers for any length of time, and with any degree of 

 pressure and speed, without the slightest deterioration ; they 

 may even be violently beaten on a board, with the fleshy 

 part of the closed fist, and the relief will remain as perfect, 

 and will stand out as prominently as ever.' He also sug- 

 gests, as children sometimes, when learning their letters, 

 tear the reliefs with their nails, that for the sake of economy 

 the letters shall be taught in the first instance from thin 

 metallic plates. Haiiy had the satisfaction to see his system, 

 so far as it had been carried into effect, extended to other 

 countries. He formed an institution at St. Petersburg, 

 having been summoned thither by the emperor; he also 

 formed one at Berlin. Thus, though the zeal which had 

 been excited at Paris by his first operations was beginning 

 to relax, Haiiy had the pleasure of seeing similar institu- 

 tions arise in other cities in Europe and attract so considerable 

 a share of patronage as to give promise that his art would 

 not ho forgotten. 



There are at Paris two celebrated institutions for tho 

 blind. The more ancient of these is the Hopital Royale des 

 Quinse Vingti, founded by St. Louis in 1260, for the re- 

 'i-|iiiun of such of his soldiers as had lost their sight in the 

 Kast. At its first establishment it consisted of blind and 

 seeing persons, the latter being the conductors of the 

 fiiriiier. As its name indicates, it receives fifteen tcore, or 

 three hundred blind persons. This noble asylum continues, 

 as it was originally placed, under the government of the 

 grand almoner of France. To obtain admission it is neces- 



that applicants be blind and indigent; they are ad- 

 mitted from all parts of the kingdom, are lodged in the 

 ho.pital, and receive twenty-four sous (about a shilling) a 

 day fur their food anil clothing. No instruction is afforded 

 to the inmates of the (Juinzt I'm^ls ; some of them, how- 

 OX.T, execute works, which, for their ingenuity, attract and 



\e attention. 



Tho other Parisian establishment for the blind is the 

 Institution Roy ale (hi Jeunet Aveuglet, of which Haiiy 



was the founder. It contains about a hundred young per- 

 sons of both sexes, who are maintained an<l educated at 

 the expense of the state for eight years. 1'axing pupils 

 are al>o admitted. Some particulars respecting tl.i* institu- 

 tion appeared in the North American H 

 of which. We shall make use ; and though we do not adopt 

 all the conclusions of the writer, son. 'iggesti.ins 



there made are deserving of the attentive consideration of 

 all persons who feel an interest in the moral and intellectual 

 improvement of the blind. 



1 The institution for tho young blind is intended solely 

 for their education, and none but children betwien ten and 

 I fourteen years of age are admitted : there are one hundred 

 ! of these interesting beings in the establishment, and a 

 I more delightful spectacle cannot be imagined than a view 

 | of its interior. You see not there tin- li-il. ss, helpless 

 ; blind man dozing away his days in a chimney nook, or 

 j groping his uncertain way about the house ; but you hear 

 i the hum of busy voices you see the workshops filled with 

 j active boys, learning their trades from others as blind a* 



themselves you see the school-room* crowded with 

 i listeners taug'ht by blind teachers. When they take their 

 books you see the awakened intellect gleam from 

 1 smiling faces, and as they pass their fingers rapidly 

 the leaves, their varying countenances bespeak the van ing 

 emotions which the words of the author awaken : when thu 

 hell rings they start away to the play. ground- run along 

 the alleys at full speed, chose, overtake, and tumble eaeli 

 other about, and shout, and laugh, and caper round, with 

 all the careless heartfelt glee of boyhood. But a richer 

 treat and better sport await them: the bell again strikes, 

 and away they all hurry to the hall of music ; each one 

 brings his instrument, and takes his place ; they are all 

 there the soft flute and the shrill file the hautboy and 

 horn the cymbal and drum, with clarionet, viol, and \iolin ; 

 and now they roll forth their volume of sweet sounds, and 

 the singers, treble, base, and tenor, striking in with 

 harmony, swell into one loud hymn of gratitude and joy, 

 which arc displayed in the rapturous thrill of their voices, 

 and painted in the glowing enthusiasm of their counte- 

 nances.' 



The writer of the article referred to laments that 

 appearances of happiness and usefulness are deceptive ; that 

 real advantages are not conferred ; that with all this display 

 which carries away the heart and the feelings of the super- 

 ficial spectator, comparatively little good is done, u> may be 

 discovered by the more constant and accurate observer of 

 the methods pursued, who will ascertain that a far less 

 amount of benefit accrues to the inmates than might bo 

 expected from the extensive means of usefulness 

 in such an institution. It is stated that not one in twenty, 

 at the expiration of the time spent in learning, eight . 

 is able to earn his own livelihood. These failures are attri- 

 buted to various causes, the chief of which is one that has 

 tended to wither the fair promise of many an institution in 

 our own country. The North American Reviewer says, 

 ' We looked in vain for the improvements which ought to 

 have been made in the apparatus of Hau'y, during the thirty 

 years which had elapsed since his death : we looked in vain, 

 for none existed. A narrow and illiberal jealousy : an at- 

 tempt at secrecy and reserve met our endeavours to examine 

 the nature of this apparatus ; and when we inquired whether 

 some obvious and simple changes m:ght not be made t>-r 

 tho better, we were repelled by the sapient and reproving 

 answer, that surely if any improvements could have tVeti 

 made, such great and good men as the Abb Haiiy and his 

 successors would not have overlooked them.' Independently 

 of this spirit of illiberality, there seem to be other causes of 

 failure, as fatal to the efficiency of the institution, thonuh 

 not so offensive to the inquiring stranger. All tho pupils 

 have to spend a certain number of hours every day in study, 

 and also a certain number of hours in handicraft employ- 

 ments. Thus, if a person have a peculiar turn for somo 

 branch of mechanics, no provision is made to allow him to 

 cultivate such talent. If another possess the faculty for 

 learning languages, or for mathematics, he is not allowed 

 to follow such inclination; but he must devote himself for 

 a stated portion of every day to the acquisition of somo 

 handicraft trade. All are expected to study music ; ' and 

 if they have no car at all for it, they must study it without 

 an ear.' Another fault is tho change of employments 1o 

 which the pupils are subjected : thus a few months aro 

 given to muking whips, a few months to weaving, a lew 



