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as an establishment for the blind, but it is matter of much 

 regret that it is maintained with the greatest difficulty. 



The asylum for the blind at Bristol was instituted in 

 1793; respecting its history up to a very recent date littl 

 is known to the writer. Its committee appears not to havi 

 contemplated any operations on a very extensive scale til 

 within the last few years. It was founded as an ' Asylum 

 or School of Industry,' and its chief support seems to have 

 been derived from legacies, donations, and payments on 

 behalf of pupils. Its benefits have been extended to nearl' 

 200 persons, most of whom, the reports state, have returnee 

 to their homes, able and willing to support themselves 

 Thirty-three pupils are at present in the asylum; 'the 

 females are boarded and lodged in the house, and the males 

 who have not friends are boarded in decent and sober fami- 

 lies in the neighbourhood of the asylum.' This institution 

 is open to blind persons from every part of the kingdom 

 the present pupils are from various counties in the wesi 

 f England. In consequence of a great augmentation o 

 the funds by two legacies which were left to the institution 

 in the years 1829 and 1830, an act of incorporation was ob- 

 tained in 1832; it having been considered by the trustees 

 in whom the above-mentioned legacies were vested, that 

 thus placed ' under the protection of legislative control," the 

 permanence of the asylum would be secured, and its useful- 

 ness extended. A new building is about to be erected 

 in the Gothic style of architecture, of which it is intended 

 that a chapel shall form a prominent feature. Abou) 

 an acre and a half of ground, eligibly situated, has been 

 purchased for the purposes of the proposed edifice, in which 

 accommodations are to be provided for eighty or a hun- 

 dred pupils. The trades which have been hitherto intro- 

 duced are those which are pursued in other asylums for 

 the blind ; and the pupils remain under instruction until 

 they are qualified to support themselves by their labour. 



With the increased prosperity of this asylum the com- 

 mittee have resolved to increase its usefulness. Having 

 meditated the immediate introduction of plans for the in" 

 tellectual improvement of the blind, they mention arith- 

 metic, geography, and the mathematics, as sciences which 

 are found to be accessible to them, and particularly in- 

 viting in some instances. It appears that in effecting the 

 improvement of the pupils of this asylum, oral instruction 

 is chiefly to be depended upon, with doubtless all the help 

 which models and raised diagrams can supply ; the means 

 of imparting the requisite knowledge of reading and writing, 

 as a foundation for more important acquisitions, and as ren- 

 dering the blind in great measure independent of masters, 

 were not sufficiently evident to the committee at the time 

 when the improvements in the system were resolved upon, 

 though in their report (1834) the committee express san- 

 guine hopes that on these important subjects ' some method, 

 combining distinctness with simplicity and cheapness, will 

 in time be discovered.' How soon these hopes were to be- 

 come, to a certain extent realized, will be seen from the fol- 

 lowing notice which appeared in the 'Bristol Mirror' at the 

 commencement of the present year (1835). 'In our city 

 the blind are now taught to read" with the most simple cha- 

 racters that can be invented, and with great facility. The 

 complete success of the experiment has been witnessed at 

 the Asylum for the Blind, and at various other places, 

 where lectures have been given explanatory of the system. 

 The characters are employed not only for reading but like- 

 wise for writing, arithmetic, and music ; and they are so 

 simple, that to any book for the blind, not more than half 

 the number of types are required that are necessary to print 

 the same for those who are blessed with sight.' Should the 

 event prove as successful as is intimated in the above an- 

 nouncement, and so great a barrier to the improvement of 

 the blind be removed, it will be desirable that the different 

 institutions should unite their exertions, and set apart a 

 common fund to supply their pupils, as well as other blind 

 persons, with so powerful an auxiliary to their progress in 

 knowledge. In reply to our inquiries respecting this in- 

 vention, we hare ascertained that the characters employed 

 are stenographic, and that they are produced in relief on 

 a paper similar to Gall's. The alphabet is composed of 

 thirteen simple characters, and thirteen formed from the 

 roots of these with a crotchet-head to each. There are ten 

 double letters from the same roots, distinguished also by 

 the crotchet-head : these also represent the nine figures anil 

 the cypher, whether used as numerals or ordinals. In all 

 thirty-six characters are employed. The advantages at- 



tending the use of stenographic characters seem to be in 

 the saving of types, paper, and labour, thus materially 

 diminishing the cost of books for the blind. The disadvan- 

 tages attending the system we are speaking of appear to 

 consist chiefly in the confusion which the learner must feel 

 in having but one character employed in several offices, as 

 in the double letters, numerals, and ordinals, and in the 

 necessity that every person should be a stenographist who 

 communicates with the blind by writing. These difficulties 

 are not very great for persons to overcome who have never 

 been accustomed to a written language. The friends and 

 correspondents of the blind may readily avail themselves of 

 the simple stenography which Mr. Lucas, of Castle Street, 

 Bristol, has invented. The blind may employ types to com- 

 municate with their friends ; and it is our opinion that a 

 substitute for relief letters, for all occasions where great per- 

 manency is not requisite, may be found in characters boldly 

 written with viscid ink on common writing-paper and sanded 

 while wet. 



The manner in which the characters of Mr. Lucas are 

 employed may be seen in the following commencement of 

 St. John's Gospel, only that we give the extract in Roman 

 letters instead of using the stenographic characters, 

 t gospl b st jon, chap : 1. 



in t bgini ws t \vrd a t w ws w g, a t w ws g. t sam ws n 

 t bgini w g. 1 thins wr mad b hm, a wo hm ws nt athin 

 mad tht ws mad. in hm ws lif a 1 1 ws t lit f mn. 



It will be observed that the repetition'of numerous letters 

 is avoided ; particles are represented in most instances by 

 their initial letter, and when a word, having been once men- 

 tioned, recurs immediately, or frequently, it is represented 

 by its initial letter also. 



The ' School for the Indigent Blind' in Lqndon was esta- 

 blished in 1799 by four gentlemen of the metropolis, Messrs. 

 Ware, Bosanquet, Boddmgton, and Houlston. At first the 

 pupils were few, and it did not attract any extraordinary 

 share of public attention. About eleven years after its 

 formation, the patronage of the public enabled the mana- 

 gers to take on lease a plot of freehold ground in St. George's 

 Fields, opposite to the end of Great Surrey Street, where 

 suitable buildings were erected, within which the institu- 

 tion is still carried on. An act of parliament was obtained 

 in 1826, which invests the committee with all the rights 

 and privileges of a corporation, and they then purchased 

 the freehold of the ground on which the buildings had been 

 erected. These buildings having been found insufficient 

 for the purposes of the establishment, the committee havu 

 ately purchased an adjoining plot of ground, upon which 

 a new and enlarged building is now being erected. In 1800 

 there were only fifteen persons in the asylum : the present 

 number of inmates is 112, fifty-five males, and fifty-seven 

 females. During thirty-three years 186 persons have been 

 returned to their families enabled to provide either wholly 

 or partially for their support. The inmates are ' clothed, 

 aoarded, lodged, and instructed.' It is understood that the 

 number of persons taken into this asylum is about to be 

 augmented, and that 100 of each sex will eventually be 

 admitted. The funds of the charity are ample. The re- 

 ceipts have seldom exceeded the expenditure. In addition 

 to its annual subscriptions, donations, and legacies, it pos- 

 sesses a funded capital amounting to about 60,000/. besides 

 other available property. The articles manufactured by 

 he females are, for sale, fine and coarse thread, window- 

 sash-line, and clothes-line, fine basket-work, ladies' work- 

 jags, and other ornamental works in knitting and netting ; 

 or consumption by the pupils, knitted stockings, household 

 inen, and body linen. The occupations of the males are 

 making shoes, hampers, wicker-baskets, cradles, rope-mats, 

 me mats, and rugs for hearths and carriages. These, articles 

 ire sold at the institution, and it is said that the window- 

 ash-line is highly approved of by builders of the first emi- 

 nence. The sale of articles manufactured during the year 

 832 produced 1345/. ' Some of the pupils are also in- 

 tructed in music, and are qualified for the situation of an 

 rganist in any church or chapel, and they are also in- 

 truded in reading and writing.' (See Account of the 

 School for the Indigent Blind for the year 1832.) The 

 nformation which we have collected respecting this insti- 

 ution is chiefly derived from the. publication above re- 

 erred to. Little is said in that publication on the sub- 

 ect of intellectual education, and that little cannot be aatis- 

 actory to those who know how capable the blind are of a 



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