BLIND. 



315 



peculiar process which he cannot communicate ; 

 nevertheless, his talent is so decided, that he con- 

 stantly finds occupation. Most of the routes on 

 the Peaks of Derbyshire have been changed in con- 

 sequence of his suggestions, principally those in the 

 neighbourhood of Buxton. 



The blind have been considered in all ages as of 

 necessity cut off from participation in the business 

 and pleasures of life ; they have been made the 

 parias of society, and although the hand of char- 

 ity has ever been open to their cry, yet men have 

 shrunk from an attentive examination of their situ- 

 ation. They have often been accused of a disposi- 

 tion to atheism, but we think without sufficient 

 reason : surely the increased sense of dependence 

 must be conducive to a feeling of reverential awe 

 for a Power, about whom the imagination is ever 

 busy. That many eminent blind men have been 

 atheists, is certain ; but it is certain too, that their 

 scepticism arose in a great measure from the im- 

 proper light in which they have been regarded. 

 The dying Sanderson said to his clergyman, " you 

 talk to me of the wonders of creation, but how 

 often have I heard you express your wonder at my 

 performing things which are to me perfectly simple ; 

 how then do I know that your wonder is more rea- 

 sonable in the one case, than in the other ?" With 

 regard to what are called feelings of modesty, the 

 blind possess them in a very high degree, the spe- 

 culations of Diderot and others to the contrary not- 

 withstanding ; they are from their situation led to 

 be particularly scrupulous in their regard to les 

 convenances of society. They are exceeding orderly 

 as well in the arrangement of their ideas as of their 

 property ; hence, perhaps, their horror of theft, and 

 their respect for the property of others. The me- 

 thod of classification which they adopt, enables them 

 to bring the memory to a very high degree of per- 

 fection ; hence the astonishing instances which we 

 have of blind men retaining several thousand words, 

 without meaning, and without connection. It is 

 telated of Dr Moyes, that he would recognise by 

 their voice, persons with whom he had had but a 

 slight acquaintance, and whom he had not met for 

 more than a year. 



The want of sight makes the blind insensible to 

 the infinite variety of beauteous aspects which na- 

 ture puts on, when she comes forth blushing with 

 the hues of morn, or arrays herself in the silver 

 mantle of moonlight, or decks herself out in the 

 gorgeous robes of sunset. If, then, all the grand- 

 eur and glory of nature are lost upon them, how 

 much more insensible must they be to the ridicu- 

 lous display of human pomp and pride ; and how 

 much ought this circumstance to influence our 

 treatment of them ! The necessity of this may 

 be understood from the anecdote related by Diderot- 

 of the young blind man who was brought to trial 

 for having thrown a stone, which struck another 

 person in the head, and foi various misdemeanors. 

 " He appeared before the judge as before his equal ; 

 nor could any threats intimidate him. ' What 

 can you do to me,' cried he to M. Herault ? ' I will 

 cast you into a dungeon,' answered the magistrate. 

 'What then?' returned the blind man, 'I 

 have been living in one all my life time.' What 

 an answer 1 What a text for a man who loves to 

 moralize ! We take our leave of the world as of 

 an enchanting spectacle ; the blind man goes out of 

 it as from a dungeon ; if we have more to enjoy in 

 living than he has, at least he has less to regret in 

 dying." But Diderot here displays more ingenuity 



than observation : the blind do not die with less 

 regret than we do ; the love of life is not lessened 

 by the want of one sense, any more than it is in 

 the case of the poor by the want of wealth ; many 

 blind men possess high moral courage ; some dis- 

 play a degree of independence of character, which 

 at times degenerates into obstinacy, and excessive 

 egotism ; but they are seldom possessed of much 

 physical courage. 



Nor is the world to them a less enchanting scene 

 than it is to us, provided they have occupation. 

 Blindness is not the sole, nor the principal cause 

 of the unhappiness of the blind ; and, were they 

 not continually reminded of their inferiority by our 

 officious and unnecessary expressions of sympathy 

 and compassion, they would not feel it. They can- 

 not conceive how the sense of sight can be the 

 source of any positive pleasure to us, otherwise 

 than as it enables us to ascertain the physical qua- 

 lities of objects at a greater distance than they can 

 by the feeling. Hence they look upon the want 

 of it as a loss of advantage, and not of enjoyment. 

 There is a great deal of philosophy and of gooc 1 

 sense in the answer of a blind man to the question, 

 Whether the possession of sight would not increase 

 his happiness ? "I cannot conceive that it would," 

 said he, " in a very material degree. I suppose 

 your eyes serve with you the same purpose that my 

 hands and cane do with me ; that is, to ascertain 

 the shape and other physical qualities of bodies. 

 The only advantage you have, is the ability to do 

 this at a greater distance than I can ; now if I 

 were to choose, it would be rather to have my arm? 

 so constituted that I could reach any object which 

 you can see, than to possess what you call vision.' 

 Hence it is that we seldom find those who are born 

 blind repining after sight ; but we do see them sit- 

 ting bowed down under a sense of humiliating de- 

 pendence ; with their faculties undeveloped by 

 action, and their minds gradually degenerating into 

 imbecility, from the monotonous torpor of their 

 existence. 



As a general rule, blindness is more prevalent 

 within the torrid zone, less in the temperate, and 

 again increases towards the pole : in dry and sandy 

 soils it is more prevalent than in moist ones. Egypt 

 is the country of the blind par excellence ; different 

 writers have estimated the proportion of the blind 

 there very differently ; some say, that one man in 

 every hundred is totally or partially blind ; others 

 one in three hundred. The latter calculation is 

 probably the nearest to the truth ; but from our 

 observation of the number of men with but one 

 eye, or with distorted eyes in the Egyptian army, 

 we are inclined to think that the number of the 

 blind in Egypt must be fearfully great. The cause 

 is probably the fine sandy dust with which the air 

 is continually filled in Egypt ; and which exists to 

 such a degree, that the first cotton machinery sent 

 out from England for the Pacha Mehemet Ali, was 

 rendered useless by it in a very short time. This 

 difficulty is the greatest which his engineers have 

 had to overcome. In several countries of Europe, 

 the census gives accurately the number of the 

 blind. 



In Belgium, in 1835, out of a population of 

 4,154,922, there were 4117 blind, being one in 

 1009. In Prussia, in 1834, out of a population of 

 13,509,927, there were 9575 blind, being one in 

 1410. In this country, we have no regular statis- 

 tics on the subject, but taking Prussia as the ratio 

 we mav conclude that out of the twentv-five mil- 



