40 Edward Livingston Youmans. 



Very sincerely, and with earnest wishes for the success 

 of the Memoir, I am yours, 



John M. Wheelfr. 



Edward contrived to get through the fall term of 

 1838 without any break, and in November he began 

 teaching in a district school in North Greenfield. The 

 schoolhouse could not be properly warmed in the fierce 

 winter weather. The redhot stove in the middle of 

 the room and the cold currents everywhere made the 

 daytime a time of exposure, which the vicissitudes of 

 food and shelter attendant upon " boarding around " 

 among the farmers of the district did not tend to 

 counteract. After six weeks Edward was obliged to 

 relinquish his school and go to Bailston Spa for treat- 

 ment by a physician who had some reputation as an 

 oculist. Sharp caustics were applied to the eyelids, 

 and calomel was administered in large doses ; and as' 

 the patient was not warned against exposure while 

 using this drug, he took a severe cold which settled in 

 his eyes, ulcerating one eyeball severely. Sight never 

 returned to this eye except to reveal a vague differ- 

 ence between darkness and light, and the other eye 

 became almost useless. After suffering cruelly at the 

 hands of the Bailston oculist, hope of relief through 

 him was abandoned, and in the spring of 1839 Edward 

 was brought home. His case was serious, and for the 

 first time he felt its full seriousness. He had not yet 

 been aware that the peril of blindness hung over him, 

 and the shock now depressed him profoundly. It 

 meant that it might be his hard fate to be shut out 

 from the chief joys of life, never to be able to study, 

 or even to earn a scanty livelihood without painful 

 dependence upon others. The blindness continued 



