Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 5.djvu/354

 EDUCATION

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EDUCATION

there were on 1 July, 1908, three hundred and sixty- four members of the Parish School Department, fifty- two colleges in the College Department, and fourteen seminaries in the Seminary Department. The asso- ciation publishes an annual report giving all the papers and discussions of the association and its departments. It also publishes " The Catholic Educational Associa- tion Bulletin" quarterly, which contains matters of interest to the members of the association and articles that have an important bearing on Catholic educa- tional work. The association has issued to 1908 five annual reports from the secretary's office, Columbus, Ohio. Francis W. Howard.

Education of the Blind. — Although the educa- tion of the blind as a class dates liack no further than the year 17S4, historians and statisticians generally admit that the affliction which it tends to relieve was no less prevalent before than it has been since that date. Indeed, so far from having increased, blindness appears to have in a marked degree decreased during the last hundred years.

CiENERAL Statistics of Blindness. — An exact statement of the number of blind persons in all parts of the inhabited earth is of course impossible. The estimates which publicists have formed upon the basis of census returns, as also those derived from the ob- servation of travellers, give the ratio of blind persons to the whole population in Asia 1 to 500 ; in Africa 1 to 300; in Europe 1 to 109-1 (the ratios for seventeen countries of the last-named division being, approx- imately: England, 1 to 1235; Scotland, 1 to 1118; Ireland, 1 to 870; France, 1 to 1194; Germany, 1 to 113G; European Russia, 1 to 534; Austria, 1 to 1234; Hungary, 1 to 952; Italy, 1 to 1074; Spain, 1 to 835; Denmark, 1 to 1248; Sweden, 1 to 1262; Norway, 1 to 795; Finland, 1 to 689; Belgiimi, 1 to 1229; Switz- erland, 1 to 1325; Bulgaria, 1 to 321). For the other great geographical divisions no data are available for even a fairly satisfactory approximation. (See below Blindness in the United States.) Consistently with the foregoing ratios, and with such conjectures as may be hazarded for America, Australasia, etc., it may be es- timated that the number of blind persons now living in all parts of the world is not far short of 2,500,000. A careful study of the figures shows that blindness prevails most in tropical, and least in temperate, re- gions ; more in the Eastern than in the Western Hemi- sphere. In the temperate climates of the North the blind are comparatively few; nearer the Arctic Circle, the glittering snows, the alternation from the brilliant nights of the Arctic summer to the prolonged darkness of the winter, and other conditions affect the visual organs unfavourably, while in the torrid zones the glare from desert sands and the intense heat of the sun occasion many diseases, resulting in either total or partial loss of sight.

Blindness inthe United States. — In the Western Hemi- sphere a different ratio .seems to obtain. The data, how- ever, for an accurate comparison are wanting, except in the United States (lying between the 24th and 49th par- allels of north latitude), where, accordingto the census of 1900, the ratio of the blind to the entire population is 1 to 1178. In 1890, the ratio was 1 to 1242. ^ The number of blind persons in the United States originally returned by the enumerators of the Federal Census Bureau. 1900, was 101,123; by subsequent correspon- dence with individuals, this number was reduced to 64,763 ; but the special report on " Tlie Blind and the Deaf" states that this should be consid(>re7-2 percent were males, 42 8 [M-r cent females; about 13 per cent were under, and about S7 per cent over, twenty years of age. Of the juvenile 13 percent (8.308), those entirely or partially blind before the age of two years numbered 8166.

Causes and Effects. — In a careful study of the causes of blindness Cohn of Breslau estimates that among 1000 blind there are only 220 absolutely imavoidable cases, 449 possibly avoidable, and 326 (or nearly one- third) absolutely avoidable. Blindness may result from accident or from disease. The diseases most often productive of blindness are: ophthalmia neona- torum, or inflammation of the eyes of the new-born; trachoma, often called "granular lids", and glaucom,a, and atrophy of the optic nerve. Blindness from ophthalmia of the new-born is so widespread that, according to Magnus, out of 2528 cases of total blind- ness in Germany, 1088 per cent were due to this cause. Amongthe blind undertheageof twenty the proportion is as high as 30 per cent. In the United States, between 6000 and 7000 personshave thus become blind. Thanks to improved sanitary conditions in homes, to more intelligent care on the part of midwives and nurses, and more skilful medical treatment, ophthalmia in certain countries appears as a cause of blindness in only seven per cent of the total number of cases, as against the 41 per cent recorded fifty years ago.

The function of sight can, to a certain extent, be re- placed by the use of the other senses. Stimulated by necessity and trained by education, touch, hearing, and smell take the place of vision. Having no sight to distract them, moreover, the blind cultivate their re- maining senses all the more effectually. As for the exercise of their mental faculties, although wanting some of the means by which various impressions are received, antl attention is aroused, the blind are as capable of reflection and reason as other human be- ings, while, owing to their condition, they are more frequently forced to close mental application. That blindness does not necessarily render its subjects in- tellectually inferior, may also be inferred from the number of famous persons who were blind from child- hood or early youth. A list of such examples might with little difficulty be produced, long enough and im- portant enough to show how erroneous is the idea that the physical darkness of the blind is necessarily associ- ated with intellectual darkness.

History of Enuc.\TioN of the Blind. — That no attempt was made in ancient times to instruct the blind, or in any way to cultivate their intelligences, was mainly due to the prevalent error as to their men- tal capacities. The same error, generally speaking, produced the same unfortunate results in Christian civ- ilization until as late as the end of the eighteenth century. On the other hand, the Church, from the ear- liest ages, at least made provision for their corporal needs, while here and there attempts were made to teach them various handicrafts. Among the most noted of the hospices for the poor and afflicted which began to appear in all parts of Christendom almost as soon as persecution ceased, was that established in the fourth century by Saint Basil at Ca>sarea, where special provision was made for the blind, and guides were sup- plied for them. In the fifth century, Limnipus, a her- mit of Syria, received, in cottages especially built for them, the l>lind of the surrounding country, whom he taught, among other things, to sing the praises of God. Two centuries later, towards the year 630, a refuge exclusively for the blind, such as was called m the Middle Ages a iyphlocomium, was founded at Jerusalem.

In the West, the Church was animated with similar charity. Early in the seventh century, St. Bertrand, Bishop of Le Mans, founded a hospice for the blind at Ponllieii, in the north-west of I'^rance. In the elev- enth century, William the Conqueror, in expiation of his sins, founded a nimibcr of institutions; among them four hosj)iccs for the liliiid and other infirm per- sons at Cherbourg, Koucn, Baycux and Caen respec- tively. Towards 1260, St. l.oiiis. King of France, es- tablished at Paris the Hospice des (Juinze-Vingts, where he housed and instructed three hundred blind