Page:EB1911 - Volume 04.djvu/78

Rh blind were under, and 29,508 above, 21 years of age; of the former 857 were receiving instruction in 21 schools supported by the state, by the city of Paris, by some of the departments, and by some religious bodies. The four Parisian institutions are the Institution Nationale des Jeunes Aveugles, the EcoleBraille (founded in 1883), the Etablissement des Sœurs Aveugles de St Paul (founded in 1852), and that of the Frères de Saint Jean de Dieu (founded in 1875).

The number of the blind in Germany was about 39,000, or 870 per million in 1885. The number of institutions was 28, nearly all being educational, with a total of 2139 pupils. All these institutions, except two which are supported entirely by private munificence, are largely assisted by the state, the communes or the provinces. Seventeen of them derive their entire requirements from the state, so that they are quite independent of private charity, while the remainder are only supplemented from public funds so far as the private contributions fall short of the expenses.

The following extracts were made from an official communication from Hofrath Buttner, director of the institution for the blind in Dresden, to to the royal commission, concerning the care and supervision (Fursorge) of the blind after their discharge from the institution—

“When twenty years of age, the blind are usually discharged from the institution. Long experience has taught us that the care and supervision of the blind after their discharge from the institution are quite as important as their education and training in the institution. It would, in our opinion, be unjust to remove them from their sad surroundings, educate and accustom them to higher wants, and then allow them to sink backward into their former miserable way of life. After much deliberation it was decided to remain in connexion with the discharged blind, to visit them in their places of abode, to learn their wants, to study the difficulties which they experienced in supporting themselves independently, and, as far as possible, to remove their grievances. Director Georgi began this work in 1843. Director Reinhard continued it from 1867 to 1879, and the present director has followed the same path. With the knowledge of these difficulties the Fursorge (care) for discharged blind steadily advanced, and has won the confidence of the Saxon people. It was decided that, on the discharge of the blind person, the director should select a trustworthy person, residing in his future place of abode, to give him advice and practical help, to protect him from imposition, and to keep up communication with the director. If this guardian is unable to advise or help, he then writes to the director, who, if necessary, comes to the place, and this is all the easier as he travels free on all railways in Saxony. The result of these visits, as well as all communications from the guardian, the letters from the blind person, and every document relating to him, are entered in a register kept at the institution. These guardians are respectable, benevolent, practical men, capable of procuring custom for their wards. But there was no doubt that, in spite of these arrangements, the discharged blind were unable to support themselves without the assistance of capital, whether in money or outfit. The blind man can do as good work as the man who can see; but as a rule he does not work so quickly, and if the man who is not blind has to use every exertion to support himself and his family, the blind man to do the same requires some special help, without which he will either not be able to compete, or will have to lead a life of great privation.

“The first difficulty when a blind pupil is starting in life is to provide himself with the necessary tools and material. These the institution supplies to him, and continues through life to afford him moral and material help; and by this means the greater part of the blind are enabled to save money for sickness and old age. Those who cannot return to their relations cannot at once meet all their expenses, and the weak and old need special help. A part of the money for their board and lodging is paid for those who have to be settled in other places on account of the death or untrustworthiness of their relatives.

“The fund for the discharged blind is administered by the director of the institution. The number of those assisted amounts at present to about 400, who live respectably in all parts of Saxony, are almost self-supporting, and feel themselves free men. For, just as a son does not feel galled by a gift from his father, so they are not ashamed to receive assistance from their second paternal home, the institution.”

The number of the blind in Holland, according to the census of the 1st of December 1869, was 1593, or one in every 2247 of the general population. The Protestants and Roman Catholics were about equally balanced. No cognizance was taken of the blind in the census of 1879. There is only one blind institution, that of Amsterdam, with 60 pupils, with a preparatory school at Benuchem (with 20 pupils) and an asylum for adults with 52 inmates (unmarried). Besides these, there are workshops at Amsterdam, Rotterdam, the Hague, Utrecht and Middelburg.

According to the census of 1870, there were in Denmark 1249 blind (577 males and 672 females), or one blind for every 1428 persons. One institution has been established by government, i.e. the Royal Institution for the Blind, at Copenhagen; 100 children, aged to and upwards, are here educated. There is a preparatory school for blind children under 10 years of age, and an asylum for blind females, most of whom are former pupils of the royal school. An association for promoting the self-dependence of the blind assists not only former pupils of the school but every blind man or woman willing and able to work.

The number of blind persons in Sweden, according to the census of December 1880, was 3723, being at the rate of one blind person for every 1226 of the general population. At the beginning of the year 1879, the instruction of the blind in Sweden was completely separated from that of the deaf and dumb, on the grounds that it hindered the intellectual development of the blind—a conclusion which experience shows to be tolerably correct. Since