In Southern and Central Europe the number of blind males exceed the females; in Northern Europe, on the contrary, the females exceed the males.

INSTRUCTION OF THE BLIND.-Although individuals among the blind have, in all ages, attained to a fair amount of education, yet it does not seem that the idea of making provision for their education, as a class, entered into the minds of either Greek or Roman. They procured a precarious subsistence by begging by the wayside, or at the entrance of the temples; but there was no one who would teach them more honorable means of obtaining a livelihood, or rescue them from the inseparable evils connected with a life of mendicancy. Nor amid the noble and philanthropic reforms introduced by christianity, was there any provision made for the training and instruction of the blind. They begged on as before, though now frequenting the doors of christian churches, instead of heathen temples, and asking alms in the name of Christ instead of Esculapius. There were in each age, however, some, who feeling themselves moved by the impulse of genius, sought for more elevated society, and more ennobling pursuits, than the beggar's position and employment. The first public provision ever made for the blind is believed to have been the founding of the Hospice des Quinze-Vingts at Paris, by Louis IX., better known as St. Louis, in 1260. It was established by the kindhearted monarch for the benefit of his soldiers who, in the campaigns in Egypt, had suffered from ophthalmia. As its name implies, it was intended for fifteen score or three hundred blind persons; though for many years past, the number of inmates has been about 400, including the families of the blind, who are also domiciled within its walls. Its annual income is about $80,000. The allowance to a blind man is $89 per annum; if he is married this is increased to $110; if he has one child, $120; if two, $130.50; and so on, adding $10.50 for each child. Besides these, it has about six hundred pensioners, who do not reside at the hospital, but receive according to their age and circumstances, $20, $30 or $40 per annum, to aid in their support; some of those entitled to a residence in the Hospice, prefer to remain with their families, in other parts of the city; to these a pension of $50 per annum is paid; no instruction is attempted, and the temptations to a life of indolence are such as to render this asylum any thing but a model institution.

A similar, but less extensive institution, was established at Chartres, in the latter part of the thirteenth century; and in 1350, was No. 10-[VOL. IV. No. 1.]—9.

further endowed by king John, so as to accommodate 120 blind persons. From a variety of causes, the number of inmates dwindled, till in 1850 there were but ten.

During the sixteenth century, thoughtful and benevolent men, who had seen with interest the sad fate of the blind, sought to devise a process for their instruction, but with no great success. Attempts were made to print for them in intaglio, that is, with letters depressed below the surface; but finding these illegible to the touch, experi ments were made with raised letters, which were so constructed as to slide in grooves; these proving inconvenient, an attempt was made by Pierre Moreau, in 1640, to cast letters in lead, of more convenient form, but from some cause his plan was not successful.

In 1670, the Padre Lana Terzi, a Jesuit of Brescia, who had already published an essay on the instruction of deaf-mutes, appeared before the public with a treatise on the instruction of the blind.

Nearly a century later the Abbé Deschamps, and Diderot, the associate of D. Alembert in the Encyclopedia, proposed plans for their instruction in reading and writing.

In 1780, Weissemburg, a blind man of Mannheim, in Germany, published geographical maps in relief.

It was not, however, till 1784, that Valentine Haüy, "the Apostle of the Blind," as the French people have appropriately named him, commenced his labors in their behalf. Attracted at first to humanitarian labors, by the brilliant example of the Abbé De l-Epée, and to this particular department of them, by seeing a burlesque concert of blind performers, he devoted himself to the mode of instructing the blind, with a zeal and ardor which gathered new strength from every obstacle. His first pupil was a young blind beggar, whom he paid a stipend, in place of his acquisitions by begging, and who soon proved an apt scholar. The approbation of the Academy of Sciences and Arts, and the patronage of the Philanthropic Society, encouraged him to further exertions, and in 1786, his pupils, 24 in number, were called to exhibit their attainments, in the presence of the king and royal family, at Versailles. The royal patronage was secured for the new enterprise, and for a while all went on prosperously; the school increased in numbers and popularity, its pupils became eminent as musicians or mathematicians, and Haüy and his school were objects of interest to all.

In 1791 a change came. The Revolution was fairly inaugurated, the Philanthropic Society was broken up, and many of its members were wandering homeless, in foreign lands. The school for the blind was taken under the patronage of the state, and its support decreed;

but as one assembly succeeded another, and the reign of terror made the nation bankrupt, the sum decreed for its support was paid only in assignats, which, ere long, became almost worthless. Haüy and his blind pupils worked at the printing press, procured in their more fortunate days, and eked out existence by the severest toil. It is said that Haüy for more than a year confined himself to a single meal a day, that his pupils might not starve. At length brighter days began to dawn, and prosperity seemed about to revisit them; when they were startled with the intelligence, that the Directory had united them with the inmates of the Hospice Quinze-Vingts, and that thenceforth these unfortunate children were to be exposed to the infectious example of the indolence and vice, so rife, at that time, in that great asylum. Overwhelmed by this intelligence, Haüy, who could not bear to see the fruits of seventeen years of arduous toil thus wasted, resigned his office as superintendent, and after a brief but unsuccessful effort at private teaching, went, at the invitation of the Czar, to St. Petersburg, where he founded an institution for the blind, which still exists.

His place was supplied for twelve years by an ignorant and incompetent director, under whom the school had nearly lost all its earlier reputation, retaining only its musical fame, and this more from the efforts of some of Haüy's old pupils, than from any new instruction.

In 1814 the government became satisfied that a great error had been committed in the union of the two institutions, and assigned separate quarters and ampler fnnds to the school for the blind, which again, under the patronage of royalty, assumed the title of the "Royal Institution for Blind Youth." A Dr. Guillié was appointed director, a man of energy and tact, but malicious, untruthful, and excessively vain. He expelled at once from the school those whose morals had been contaminated by their associations at the Hospice, and reorganized it with great pomp and parade. Every thing was done for show; manufactured articles were purchased at the bazaars, and exhibited as the work of the pupils; Latin, Greek, German, Italian and Spanish, were professedly taught, and the pupils made excellent public recitations in them by the aid of interlinear translations, while at the same time, not even the most elementary instruction in arithmetic or history, was given, and although a few pupils could play some tunes brilliantly, the great mass could not even read music.

Dr. Guillié seemed to regard any reference to Haüy as a personal insult; the very mention of his name was interdicted, and every thing he had done studiously attributed to some one else. This system of deception could not last; the government ordered an investigation,

and unable to endure the scorn which followed the report of the commissioners, Dr. Guillié resigned in 1821. Dr. Pignier was appointed his successor, and though a man of truth and honor, his education, which had been entirely in the monkish schools, rendered him utterly unfit for the post. With the best intentions, the financial and educational condition of the school was constantly growing worse. At length in 1840, the government undertook in earnest its reform. Ordering the erection of new buildings in a more healthful location, they appointed a commission to reform and reorganize the school. On the report of that commission, M. Dufau, who had been for twenty-five years, a teacher in the institution, was appointed director, and has continued in that position up to the present time. M. Dufau is eminently qualified for the place, and has filled it with signal ability. Under his administration, the finances have greatly improved, the course of instruction has been lengthened and systematized, and a judicious course of elementary works having been prepared and printed in relief, the progress of his pupils has been rapid in all the studies they have undertaken. The work department has also been thoroughly reorganized, a society established for the assistance of blind workmen, and the wants of the blind very thoroughly cared for. Indeed, this school, while the oldest, is also, in every respect, the best in Europe.

In order to give a just idea of the course of instruction adopted in the training of the blind, we give the following statement of the division of time, and the course of study pursued in the Paris institution, from M. Dufau's work "Des-Aveugles: The pupil rises at six o'clock in the morning; from this time till eight, he studies or works; at eight, breakfast; from half past eight till half past ten, classes; from half past ten to noon, study or work; at noon, dinner; at one o'clock, reading by divisions, according to age; from half past one to seven, musical classes, or other studies and work, this interval being only broken by a collation, at half past three; at seven, supper, after which, study and reading until nine; at nine all go to bed. Each repast is followed by a half hour's recreation. The studies are thus arranged: Primary course.-First year, reading, writing in points, sacred history, elements of music; second year, French grammar, ancient history, geography, arithmetic, elements of music, wind or string instruments; third year, French grammar, Roman history, geography, arithmetic, vocalization and singing, piano and other instruments; fourth year, grammar, arithmetic, national history, history of France, vocalization and singing, instrumental instruction. Higher course.-First and second years, rhetoric, literature, philosophy,

political geography, general history, geometry, physics and cosmography, harmony, and the use of musical instruments; third and fourth years, moral science, political economy, and musical compositions, instruction on the organ or other instruments.

The tuning of pianos is added to musical studies, in the last year, by those who are destined to follow that business. Those who intend to follow a trade, confine themselves to the workshop, during the second period of four years studying, two hours a day only.

Among the schools for the blind on the continent, after that at Paris, those at Vienna, Berlin, Amsterdam and Lausanne, have attained the highest reputation, for the useful and thorough training of their pupils, and the number of eminent scholars which they have graduated.

The British schools for the blind have never taken a high stand in their literary training. Those of Edinburg, Glasgow, Bristol, Norwich and York, devote more attention to intellectual culture than the others; but the utmost limit attained even in these is the acquisition of a knowledge of the mere rudiments of geography, arithmetic, history, and perhaps graminar. The attention of the pupil is mostly confined to industrial pursuits, basket and mat making, the manufacture of mattresses, &c. In the United States, larger and more liberal views have prevailed. The "Perkins Institution and Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind," founded at Boston, in 1833, through the influence and energetic efforts of Dr. Howe, and the munificence of Col. T. H. Perkins, has, from the first, aimed to give the blind an education, which should fit them for any position in life which their infirmity might allow them to fill; and the same spirit has pervaded the teaching of the New York, Philadelphia, Columbus, and Jacksonville schools, and to a considerable extent, the smaller institutions in other portions of the country.

The time of instruction embraces from six to eight years, and includes a course in mathematics and belles-lettres, as extensive as that in most of the colleges of the country; and a full and thorough musical training. The languages are not usually taught.

There are besides the European Institutions for the blind, of which we gave an incomplete list in a previous number, [No. 9, p. 484,] of the Journal, the following, and perhaps some other asylums, industrial establishments and hospitals for the blind in Europe, in which instruction in reading or the other branches of education, is not required. In many of them the inmates are received for life:

Hospice de Quinze-Vingts, Paris, has 400 inmates, 600 pensioners, income, $66,000.