off the Turkish yoke, and who passing (2.) Schools and Institutions for the Instruction of through Paris on his return from the East, the Blind. The instruction of the blind had never been attempted on any considerable scale, in any part of the world, before the Abbé Valentin Haüy, in 1784, commenced in Paris, France, his private school for blind pupils. Individuals who were blind had indeed educated themselves by the assistance of friends; but the great majority of those who suffered from this affliction were left to a life of dependence and depression, and often became beggars. The efforts of Haüy, and his invention of an embossed alphabet, to enable the blind to read, led to the foundation of a school for the blind in Paris, supported by the French government, in 1791, and to the organization of similar schools in England, Prussia, Austria, and Russia, about the same period. In these schools, reading and music, and some of the simpler mechanic arts, such as knitting, mat-weaving, basketmaking, etc., were taught. had devoted careful attention to the In 1831, Dr. Samuel Akerly, already well-known for his efforts in behalf of the deaf and dumb, Mr. Samuel Wood, a benevolent member of the Society of Friends, and several other gentlemen of New York, became interested in the condition of blind children in the alms-house, and made application to the New York Legislature for an act of incorporation for an institution for for the blind, which was granted. Securing the services of Dr. John D. Russ, another young physician whose aggressive benevo him in the cause of the Greeks, they commenced at first in a very humble way the instruction of the blind pauper children in the city of New York. This institution, like that of Boston, has grown to be one of the largest in the world. Dr. Russ withdrew from its superintendency after a few years, but is still its warm and efficient friend. The first systematic efforts for the education of the blind in the United States were made in Boston in 1829. Dr. John D. Fisher, a young physician of that city, while studying his profession in Paris had visited repeatedly the Institute for the Blind, and was inspired with the determination to at-lence, like that of Dr. Howe, had enlisted tempt their instruction at home. On his return to America he associated himself with a half-dozen benevolent gentlemen of Boston, among whom was William H. Prescott, the eminent historian, who was himself partially blind. These gentlemen having heard Dr. Fisher's narrative of what had been accomplished in the institution at Paris, procured from the Massachusetts In Philadelphia, Robert Vaux, a wealthy Legislature in March, 1829, a charter for an and benevolent Friend, and others who were institution to be called "The New England like-minded, after two or three years of exAsylum for the Blind," and at once under-ertion succeeded in 1833 in establishing an took to raise money for buildings and endowment. The gift by Col. Thomas H. Perkins of his valuable mansion house and lands in Pearl street, Boston, to the asylum, on condition that $50,000 should be raised by others, soon led to its liberal endowment, and to the change of its corporate name to "The Perkins Institution and Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind." It was not formally opened until 1831, when Dr. Samuel G. Howe, another young physician of Boston, who had been actively engaged in extending succor to the Greeks in their efforts to throw institution for the blind, which was at first under the charge of an able and intelligent Prussian, Mr. Julius Friedlander, who had been one of the teachers of the blind in Berlin under the direction of the celebrated Zeuné. Mr. Friedlander's death, in 1839, was a severe blow to the institution, and for the next ten years, under a variety of superintendents, it did not attain to a great success, but with the appointment of its present able and efficient superintendent, William Chapin, LL.D, it commenced a new career, and is now second to no institution for the blind in the world in its successful manage- | taught very successfully. They are generment, and the great amount of good it is per-ally instructed in some handicraft by which forming. It has connected with it an Indus- they may partially or wholly support themtrial Home for the Blind, intended for the in- selves. In the United States, while the firm and aged as well as for those who are ca- technical and musical education have not pable of partially supporting themselves. It been neglected, they are generally very well is open under certain restrictions to graduates taught in the studies which belong to what of blind institutions-those of the Philadel- we are accustomed to call secondary educaphia institution having the preference. The tion. The period of instruction varies in pupils of the Philadelphia institution are the different institutions from five to eight very well educated in music, and its weekly years. In most of the larger and older concerts are largely attended by the best institutions it is eight years, and includes a musical connoisseurs of the city, and have course of mathematics and belles-lettres, proved a considerable source of revenue. but does not usually include the languages, though in two or three French is taught. There is usually much attention given to musical instruction, both vocal and instrumental, for which most of the blind possess a remarkable aptitude. Work-rooms are attached to all the institutions, in which the pupils are employed for some hours every day in the manufacture of mattresses, mats, tidies, baskets, paper-boxes, brooms, brushes, or the simpler articles of cabinet work. In 1837, the Ohio institution was established at Columbus, and though passing through many changes and vicissitudes, it now takes a high rank. The department for the blind in the institution for the deaf, dumb and blind at Staunton, Va., was organized, January, 1840. Between 1842 and 1850, six more institutions for the blind were established, viz., the Kentucky Institution at Louisville in 1842, the Tennessee Institution at Nashville in 1844, the North Carolina Institution at Raleigh in 1846, the Indiana Institution at Indianapolis in 1847, the Illinois Institution at Jacksonville in 1849, and the South Carolina Institution for the Deaf, Dumb and Blind at Cedar Springs the same year. The Wisconsin Institution. was founded at Janesville, in 1850. There are now twenty-seven of these institutions in the United States, having an aggregate of about 2,200 pupils. The whole number of blind persons in the United States, according to the census of 1870, is 20,320, of whom 17,043 are natives and 3,277 of foreign birth. This includes, of course, many persons who have become blind in adult age, and who therefore were not suitable candidates for instruction in this class of institutions. Still it is believed that the proportion of blind youth who receive instruction to the whole number is not nearly so great as of the deaf inutes. Begging is so ready and profitable a resource for the blind that a very considerable proportion, especially of those of foreign birth or parentage adopt it. The table appended gives many particulars in regard to the blind institutions in this country. The education of the blind in the European institutions is for the most part confined to the mere rudiments of knowledge except in music, which is in some of them The first efforts of the American instructors of the blind were devoted to the improvement of the alphabet of raised letters, used in printing for the blind, with a view to the preparation of books for them. There were considerable difficulties to be overcome in the accomplishment of this work; the letters must have salient angles; each letter must differ sufficiently from every other to be easily recognized by the touch; yet the size of the letters must be small, or the books printed for the blind would be too cumbrous and expensive. The forms of letters used in Europe did not answer these requirements satisfactorily. Haüy's type, if well embossed, could be read with tolerable facility, but it was mech too large, and its size could not be reduced without impairing its legibility; Guillie's. was not legible at all; Gall's varied too much from the ordinary form of letter to be desirable, and the other attempts at uniting the requisite qualities failed. Each of the three American superintendents devoted his leisure to the work. Mr. Friedlander devised an alphabet, known in England as the Allston or Sans-serif Alphabet, neat in form and easily read, but somewhat too large; Dr. Russ invented one combining the ad vantages of Gall's triangular alphabet with the Illyrian letter, and with characters to make it phonetic, but it was somewhat de fective in legibility; and Dr. Howe, after repeated trials, constructed what is now known as the Boston letter, which in size, distinctness, and legibility so far surpassed every previous effort, that it has now come into general use in Europe and America. The great cost of printing, or rather embossing, works for the blind has rendered the supply scanty, and the number of books small. The American Bible Society has printed an edition of the Scriptures in the Boston letter, a benevolent gentleman having made a bequest to cover the cost of the plates, and from time to time grants are made to institutions for the blind. The American Tract Society has also printed a few of its smaller books in the same letter. Aside from these there are less than one hundred books printed or embossed for the blind. Among this small number are some text-books, a cyclopædia to be completed in twenty volumes, but not yet, we believe, quite finished, some volumes of poems, &c. Owing, probably, to their high cost and great bulk, the blind after leaving the institutions seldom use any of the books in the raised letter except the Scriptures, their tenacious memory enabling them to retain most of what is read to them by others. Writing has always been a difficult and irksome task to the blind; and various devices have been proposed to facilitate this labor, but hardly any of them have proved satisfactory. The plan adopted by the late William H. Prescott of using a frame of wires over the paper, enabled him to write in straight lines, but no corrections could be made, nor could the scribe read what he had written. The use of inks which would leave an elevated surface has been tried, but without much satisfaction; small printing machines have also been used, but are not convenient. Within a few years past another process has been introduced, which, despite the apparent objections to it, proves far more serviceable and convenient than any other yet devised. By this invention, known as "Braillé's system," from its inventor, M. Louis Braillé, a French teacher of the blind, or rather by an American modification of it, they are soon enabled to read and write with great facility, and by the addition of a single character, music can be printed or copied by the blind far more readily than a seeing person can do it in the ordinary way. The plan is based upon a series of funda mental signs, comprising the first ten letters of the alphabet; none of these consist of less than two nor more than four dots. A second series is formed by placing one dot at the left of each fundamental sign; a third by placing two dots under each sign; a fourth by placing one dot under the right of each. These signs designate, besides the alphabet, the double vowels, peculiar compound sounds like th, and the marks of punctuation. By prefixing a sign consisting of three dots, the fundamental signs are used as numerals; by prefixing another the last seven represent musical characters, and by a sign peculiar to each octave the neces sity of designating the key to each musical sentence is avoided. It consists of a board, in a frame like that of a double slate, the surface of which is grooved horizontally and vertically by lines one-eighth of an inch apart; on this the paper is fastened by shutting down the upper half of the frame, and the points are made with an awl or bodkin, through a piece of tin perforated with six holes, an eighth of an inch apart. The perforations are made from right to left, in order that the writing when reversed may read from left to right. Books and music are now printed for the blind on this system. Most of the larger institutions have adopted it. Dr. John D. Russ, the first superintendent of the New York institution, has invented an "improved Braillé system," which seems to possess some advantages over this, but it has not been adopted, so far as we have learned, by any of the schools for the blind. Attempts have been made to furnish employment on a large scale to the blind and pay wages which should be sufficient for their support, or equalize their condition with that of seeing persons engaged in mechanical labor; but such efforts have always failed, and in the nature of the case must do so; for the deprivation of sight, though partially compensated by the greater activity of other senses, is too serious a defect to allow the blind an even start in the race for a livelihood with the seeing, and so ̈ long as the rate of wages are such that only an exceptionally active and enter prising mechanic, who has his eyesight, can make anything more than a livelihood, the blind, laboring under so many disadvantages, must necessarily fall behind in the race. (3.) Institutions for the Education and Training of Idiots and Imbeciles. These institutions are wholly the outgrowth of the philanthropy of the nineteenth century. No successful attempt had ever been made before the year 1838 to rouse and bring into activity the arrested mental development of the idiotic child. It is true that the benevolent and philanthropic St. Vincent de Paul, the founder of the order of Lazarists, gathered into his monastery a number of idiotic and imbecile youth, and by care and tenderness sought to improve their wretched condition, but he had no idea of their real condition or of the principles on which alone a successful treatment of their cases was possible. Itard, Pinel, Esquerol, and other names illustrious in psychological science, had all grappled with this difficult problem of the true method of reaching the idiot and raising him up to self-control, and all had failed. It was reserved for a young French physician, Dr. Edouard Seguin, a pupil of Îtard, to solve this problem. He gathered a few idiotic children in Paris, and proceeding on the principle that idiocy was an arrested development, a prolonged infancy, in which the infantile grace and intelligence having passed away, the feeble muscular development and mental weakness of that earliest stage of growth alone remained, he questioned nature as to her processes of development of the infant, and of elevation and education of the physical, mental, and moral powers. He found in idiot children the infantile fondness for bright colors, and availed himself of it to teach them the distinctions of color and form; he noticed their liking for playthings, and furnished them with builders' blocks, cups and balls, and other toys, by which he could instruct them in numbers, shape, and size; he developed volition, by simple physical movements, by molding the hand to grasp objects, the lips to utter sounds, by moving the lower limbs up, down, backward, forward, and laterally, by compelling them to take a step or raise hand or foot, at a signal or word of command; by the use of dumb-bells, and an infinite variety of processes repeated almost an infinite number of times; then words were taught with the aid of pictures, and new ideas, at first concrete, and afterward those of an abstract character, were instilled into their minds as fast as they could com prehend them. With all these, and beyond them, the moral nature was gradually roused by the simplest instruction and the influence of a pure example. The process was slow, and the difficulties to be conquered many, but Dr. Seguin persevered and triumphed. His processes were submitted to the most careful scrutiny by a committee of the French Institute, and by numerous teachers and psychologists who had become interested in it; but all resulted in the conviction that he alone had hit upon the philosophic and only practicable mode of rousing and developing these dormant natures. He continued to teach idiotic children in Paris with great success for ten years, and published several works on the subject of their education. His "Moral Treatment, Hygiene, and Education of Idiots," published in 1846, was recognized by all psychologists as the ablest and most philosophical work on that subject. In 1848, Dr. Seguin came to the United States, and of his labors here we shall speak further on. In 1836, Dr. Louis Guggenbühl, a Swiss physician, commenced his experiments on the education and training of cretins in Switzerland; the cretin being a somewhat deformed and physically helpless creature, his mental and moral development arrested in consequence of disease, impure air and water, but really a more tractable subject than the idiot. These experiments were conducted on the Abendberg, near the Interlaken, for fifteen or twenty years, with considerable success, and a number of institutions for cretins were started; but Dr. Guggenbühl seemed to fail in comprehending the true principle of rousing these cases of arrested development, and after a time his institution was given up, and some of his cretins went back to their old life of squalor and mendicity. In England and Scotland the fruits of Dr. Seguin's philosophical treatises and successful teaching were seen in the organization of schools and asylums for idiots at Highgate, Colchester, Baldovan, Edinburgh, and elsewhere. In the United States, attention was first called to the subject by the eloquent letters of Mr. George Sumner to one of the Boston papers, describing his visits to the schools of Dr. Seguin and M. Vallée, in Paris. These letters were published in 1845, and the attention of Dr. S. B. Woodward, of Worcester, Dr. F. F. Backus, of Rochester, N. Y., and Dr. S. G. Howe, of the Blind Institution at Boston, were called to them. The Ohio Asylum for Imbecile and Feeble Minded Youth," at Columbus, was founded in 1857, and the Kentucky Institution, at Frankfort, about the same time. The Connecticut Institution (private), at Lakeville, was opened in 1858, by Dr. Knight; and the Illinois Asylum for Idiots, at Jacksonville, in 1865. There are now in actual operation, under State organization or aid, nine institutions, and others will soon be formed. Dr. Backus, then a State senator in the New | tions on that subject-"Idiocy and its York legislature, brought in a bill to the Treatment by the Physiological Method" Senate for the establishment of an institu- (1866); and "New Facts Concerning Idtion for the training of idiots, during the iocy" (1868). He is now engaged in apsession of 1846, and Dr. Howe procured the plying the same principles to the education appointment of a commission to investigate of children generally. the condition of idiots in Massachusetts, the The "Pennsylvania Training School for same winter. Both these movements event- Feeble Minded Children," at Media, was orually resulted in the establishment of insti-ganized at first at Germantown, in 1853, by tutions for the training of idiots.--in Massa- Mr. J. B. Richards, who was for a time a teachchusetts in 1848, and in New York, by rea- er in the South Boston school, and was asson of opposition, not until 1851. Mean-sisted, after its establishment in the building time a young physician of Barre, Mass., Dr. erected by the State for its accommodation Hervey B. Wilbur, had opened a private at Media, by Dr. Seguin. It is now one of school for idiot children in his own house, the largest of this class of institutions. in July, 1848, and was endeavoring to put in practice the principles of Seguin. The Massachusetts Experimental School, which in 1851 became a permanent "School for Idiotic and Feeble Minded Youth," was first organized in South Boston in October, 1848. As we have said, Dr. Seguin visited the United States in 1848, and after spending a little time at South Boston and at Barre, returned to France, but in 1851 came again to this country, which has since been his Dr. Seguin lays down in his work on home. The New York institution, started "Idiocy" a distinction which is worth obat Albany in 1851, was organized by Dr. serving, viz., that the imbecile, though appaWilbur, who has been for almost twenty-rently more promising, is really a more two years (1873) its head, while Dr. George Brown succeeded him at Barre. The presence and aid of Dr. Seguin in these schools at their beginning was of inestimable value. He imbued the superintendents and teachers with his enthusiasm and patience as well as with his principles of education, and the really remarkable success of the American schools for training idiot children, a success vastly greater than has been attained in other countries, is due, in large measure, to the admirable works and still more admirable drill of the teachers and pupils in their presence, by Dr. Seguin. Undoubtedly he found in these teachers and superintendents those who were apt to learn, and who possessed the ability to carry out successfully the principles which he had imparted; but very few have the good fortune to be instructed by so skillful a teacher. After devoting several years to the promotion of these institutions, and the still wider introduction of the physiological method of education, Dr. Seguin settled in the practice of his profession, at first in Portsmouth, Ohio, and subsequently in New York city; but that he has not lost his interest in the education of idiots is evident from his publica hopeless subject for treatment than the helpless and wholly undeveloped idiot. Epilepsy too, which often accompanies imbecility, and sometimes idiocy, is an almost fatal barrier to improvement. It is, then, an encouraging result that, taking, as the State institutions do take, all classes, from seventy to eighty per cent. are very greatly improved, and from twenty-five to thirty per cent. become self-supporting, and as intelligent and sound of mind as the average of working men. Several have distinguished themselves by fidelity and good conduct in very trying positions. About 3,000 have been dismissed as decidedly improved and benefited since the opening of these institutions, and more than nine hundred are now under instruction. The census of 1870.gives the whole number of idiotic persons in the United States as 24,527, but on this subject the returns are not very reliable. The demented and fatuous are included, and probably also many who, though, to use an old Saxon word, underwitted, are yet far from being idiotic. On the other hand, many eccentric, feeble-minded, and perhaps really idiotic children, are omitted in consequence of the pride and sensitiveness of parents and |