one, and who believe that the welfare of an immortal soul may depend upon the construction of a few sentences. But besides the importance of allowing every one to read and judge for himself, let it be considered what a treasure a copy of the Bible in raised letters would be to a blind man ; how, deprived as he is of other books, he would pore over it, and study its every line and every precept; how it would be the companion of every solitary moment; how its divine and consoling doctrines would cheer and illuminate the dark night of his existence; and how he would bless and pray for those, who had kindled this beacon to throw a light across his dreary path. The lowest estimate must give more than five thousand blind persons to these United States, and surely it is as much an object and a duty to print the Scriptures for these unfortunate beings, to whom any book would be a treasure, as to print them for the heathen. As yet, only St. John's Gospel has been printed for the blind; although many attempts have been made in France and England to get the means for printing the whole New Testament; let it be then for America to effect this; let her bestow this inestimable blessing upon the blind, and their prayers will be her rich reward.

But there is another powerful motive for printing the Scriptures in tangible characters, and that is, that there are many people, who, from age or some affection of the sight, are unable to use their eyes; to such persons, a copy of the Scriptures, which they might read with their fingers, would be an invaluable blessing, especially as they may learn to read it in a week.

But we have wandered insensibly from our subject, which was a consideration of the causes which operate to prevent the French Institution from accomplishing the object proposed in educating the blind. In enumerating all of them, we might dwell upon the faults in the detail of their apparatus; but these are of minor consequence, there must be more important causes'; and one of these is the uniformity of the system, which is applied to all, without taking into consideration the disposition, talents, or the station in life of the pupil. Among an hundred who are admitted, there may be some who might make excellent mathematicians, but can never excel as weavers; there may be others who can become fine composers of music, but who never will make good baskets; on the other hand, we may see some who would become very expert at different mechanical arts and handicraft works, but who never could learn, and teach the

languages. Little regard, however, is paid to this, and as little to the pecuniary circumstances, and station in life of the friends of the pupil. If a boy is taken from the highway, where he had been a beggar; and if at the end of eight years he is sent out of the Institution with a tolerable knowledge of music, mathematics, and general science, and a superficial acquaintance with four or five different kinds of handicraft work, but without a decided dexterity and excellence in any one; if, we say, such a youth be without friends, then his situation is more desolate and miserable than when he was in a state of ignorance and indifference. He has drunk at the fountain of knowledge long enough to create a painful thirst for its waters, which cannot be gratified; he has lived in ease only long enough to make penury doubly dreary; and his mind has been so elevated, as to make a feeling of dependence the source of wretchedness. If, however, he had spent the most of his time in musical, or mathematical or classic studies, he might have attained such an excellence as to have taught them successfully; or if the tenor of his mind had been unequal to this, he might, by devoting himself wholly to some one handicraft work, have become so expert at it as to compete successfully with his seeing rivals. But neither in the Parisian, nor in any other European Institution that we are acquainted with, is this principle properly regarded. At Paris, they class the pupils without any regard to it; all are obliged to study a certain number of hours a day, to work a certain number, and to give the rest of their time to music; and if they have no ear at all for it, they must study it without an ear.

Then, their time is frittered away by an extremely minute subdivision; they give half an hour to one study,—and then they are called away by the bell to another class room, whence, after losing fifteen minutes in arranging themselves, and fixing their minds upon the subject, they are summoned in less than an hour to a third, and to a fourth.

Another great fault is, that they all devote five hours a day to handicraft work; now, this is a great deal too much for a blind man, whose object is intellectual education, and it is far too little for one who means to live by the labor of his hands. But what is worse than this, they are obliged to try to learn so many different kinds of work, that they succeed in none; they devote a few months, or a year, to making whips, another similar term to weaving, a third to net-making, and a fourth to

braiding; so that in learning how to braid, a boy forgets how to weave. Now if men, with all their senses, must give their undivided attention for seven years in order to learn any art or trade, how much more necessary is it for a blind man so to do? We would apply the same remarks to most of the European Institutions, with the exception of that of Vienna, which has not fallen under our notice. But we have yet a word for the Parisian School; and we feel constrained by a sense of duty to say it, with the hope, that considering the absolute dearth of any publications about the education of the blind, this paper may fall under the observation of those who are interested in the welfare of the Institution in Paris. There pervades that establishment a spirit of illiberality, of mysticism, amounting almost to charlatanism, that ill accords with the well known liberality of most French Institutions. There is a ridiculous attempt at mystery,-an effort at show and parade, which injures the establishment in the minds of men of sense. Instead of throwing wide open the door of knowledge, and inviting the scrutiny and the suggestions of every friend of humanity, the process of education is not explained, and the method of constructing some of the apparatus is absolutely kept a secret! We say this from personal knowledge. The same spirit leads to ungenerous treatment of those pupils who leave the Institution, who cannot procure the books which are for sale there without paying an enormous advance on the cost,-while those who remain, be their age or character what they may, are not allowed to go into the city to give lessons in music, the languages, or in any thing else. We have known some of them to study the English language secretly in their leisure hours, because those having the direction of the establishment had in their wisdom discovered, that it was an improper study for the blind!

With regard to the rest of the European Institutions, we shall not enter into a minute examination of the system followed in them; a few general remarks and criticisms will apply to all those on the continent. Before making them, we would again pay our most sincere tribute of admiration to the benevolent individuals engaged in these establishments. Their zeal and labors have been productive of immense benefit to the blind. But they have had much to contend with; they have been laboring in a new and unbroken pathway to usefulness; and it is in the hope of profiting even by their errors, that we point

them out. What they have done well and successfully, will serve us as models and guides; in what they have erred or failed, they will serve us as warning beacons.

Those Institutions, endowed and supported by the governments, in general aim too much at show and parade; their object seems to be to teach the pupils to perform such feats at the exhibition as will redound to the credit and glory of the government, rather than to their own good: there is an attempt to make them obtain a smattering of many things, rather than a thorough and useful knowledge of a few. The Institutions at St. Petersburgh and Amsterdam have dwindled into mere Asylums, and that at Madrid, if we mistake not, into nothing at all.

Those establishments, which are supported principally by the zeal and humanity of individuals, thrive much better. The one at Berlin is under the direction of Professor Zeun,-a liberal and enlightened man, who is however cramped in his operations by the prejudices of others: he believes, for instance, that the blind, when educated, make the best teachers of the blind; but he is not allowed to employ them as he would.

The Institutions in England are not under the direction of scientific men, nor is their object a scientific or intellectual education of the blind: the one in London is merely for indigent blind, and they are taught only handicraft work, and a little music; no books are used in the establishment, and no intellectual education is given. The one in Edinburgh is less objectionable in this respect, but the Liverpool and Glasgow Institutions are conducted on the same principle. It is alleged that the pupils, being all indigent, must depend solely upon the labor of their hands for a livelihood; but we maintain that this is a false view of the subject, and we shall endeavor to show that, on this principle (which has been followed hitherto in all the Institutions,) fewer blind persons will be made competent to their own support, than might be by following an opposite one. The great obstacle to the successful competition of the blind with the seeing man, for a livelihood, is the want of sight. What is the occupation then in which sight is least wanted? Is it handicraft work? Decidedly not. Can a blind man ever work so fast or so well at any trade as a seeing man, caeteris paribus? By no manner of means; but he may become, to say the least, as good a musician, as profound a mathematician, as thorough a linguist; and he may teach

these branches of knowledge as well. If then the pupil has a decided talent for music, for mathematics, for languages, let him apply himself with all his might, and during the whole season of his youth, to these studies; let him be assured that he will be more likely to attain excellence, and gain a livelihood by them, than by making carpets or rugs,-though he make them ever so well.

Manual labor should be considered as the dernier resort, the forlorn hope of the blind, and such only should be put to it, as cannot expect to attain excellence in the occupations we have already mentioned; when, however, it is resorted to, let it be with constant attention, and let not this attention be distracted by a variety of callings. There are some kinds of work in which a blind man can nearly compete with a seeing one, as in weaving; but unfortunately for him, he has not man alone as a competitor, for machinery here defies competition. There is, however, the coarse rug-weaving, and the making of mattrasses, both of which are carried on successfully in the Asylum for the Indigent Blind in Edinburgh. The mattrasses, mats, and baskets, which are manufactured in the establishment, have quite as good an appearance as any made in the city; and, enjoying a well merited reputation of being stronger and more durable, they command a higher price in the market.

The Institution in Edinburgh is decidedly of a higher order than any other in England; and it is one of its merits, that the fabrication of the articles we have just mentioned chiefly occupies the attention of the inmates. In London they attempt to teach the pupils to make shoes; and they do make them strong and well; but it is an occupation by which very few blind persons can earn even half the wages of a common journeyman; and as common journeymen in England can hardly get wages enough to keep soul and body together, it is easy to conceive that their situation must be very uncomfortable.

One word more, and we have done with the European Institutions. The blind are there treated too much as mere objects of pity; they are not taught to rely with confidence upon their own resources, to believe themselves possessed of the means of filling useful and active spheres in society.

It will be perceived, from what we have said, that the European Institutions fall far short of what should be the aim of the philanthropist in educating the blind, viz. to enable them to pass their lives pleasantly and usefully in some constant occu