Page:EB1911 - Volume 04.djvu/79

 July 1888 the Royal Institution of the Blind has obtained a new building at Tomteboda, near Stockholm.

The law of the 8th of July 1881, concerning the instruction of abnormal children, has imposed on the state the duty of establishing a sufficient number of schools for the blind in Norway as well as for the other abnormal children. All the blind of the country, from 9 years of age until the age of 21, are compelled to be educated, with a maximum of 8 years of instruction for each pupil.

The census of 1873 showed that in Finland there were 7959 blind in a total population of about 2,000,000 inhabitants, the proportion reaching the very high figure of one for every 251 of the total population. Nevertheless there were only 160 of school age. For these there are two institutions, one at Helsingfors where the instruction is given in the Swedish language, and where there are about 12 pupils, and another at Kuopio, where the instruction is given in the Finnish language, and where the pupils number about 30.

According to information received from the I.R. Central Commission for Statistics, the number of blind in the provinces represented in the Austrian Reichsrath amounted to 15,582 in the year 1884. Of these, 2345 were children up to 15 years of age, namely 433 below 5, 779 from 5 to 10, and 1113 from 10 to 15 years. The total number of institutions for blind children in Austria amounts to 8. The blind children of school age who are not placed in special institutions are compulsorily taught in the public general free schools, as far as practicable. The number of blind in the whole dominion of the crown of St Stephen was 208,391.

The number of blind persons in Italy was 21,718, according to the census of 1881, and those of school age were estimated to form 25% of the whole, or about 5429 in number. But no special cognizance of the blind is taken in the government census. There are 20 institutions, schools and workshops for the blind.

Statistics with regard to the number and condition of the blind in the Russian empire are of a very limited character, and it is only of late years that any attempt has been made to draw up any accurate returns with regard to them. The total number of the blind throughout the empire is generally reckoned at from 160,000 to 200,000, thus making 1600 to 2000 per million inhabitants. In Russia there are 21 institutions for the support of the blind.

“In Egypt the blind are very numerous in comparison with other countries, and although no exact statistics are at present obtainable on this point, it is computed that the proportion is at least one totally blind person to every 50 of the population. This is principally the result of acute ophthalmia occurring in infancy, and it is fostered by the superstitious observance which prevents the mothers from washing their children from the time of birth until they are two years old, at which late date only they are weaned. There is also a great deal of infection carelessly and ignorantly conveyed direct from eye to eye, by means of unwashed fingers, and this is accountable for the occurrence of much more eye-disease than any that may be caused by the proverbial flies. The only employment followed by the blind, both Mahommedan and Coptic (or native Christian), and that only to a limited extent, is recitation aloud—the former repeating portions of the Koran at funerals, and the latter chanting the church-ritual in their services; the blind girls and women are without occupation. Practically no education is given to the blind as a class, and anything which they learn has to be acquired orally by frequent repetition. The blind were not always so completely neglected, as the native ecclesiastical authorities (Wakf) gave an annual grant of £2000 for the continued maintenance of a school for the blind and the deaf and dumb in Cairo, which taught about 80 day-pupils; the latter years of the school were passed under the ministry of education, and it was ultimately discontinued. Such a condition of affairs appealed to Dr T. R. Armitage, and explains his motive in trying to establish some proper means for affording the blind in Egypt the necessary scholastic instruction and other training. In Egypt, as in other countries, it is occasionally very difficult, and takes some time, to start any enterprise such as this on a satisfactory and practical footing, and it was left for Mrs T. R. Armitage to be the means of successfully carrying out her husband’s wishes in this particular. In 1900 Mrs Armitage asked Dr Kenneth Scott to prepare a scheme for the education and welfare of the blind in Egypt, on lines suggested to her. This, through the British and Foreign Blind Association, was submitted to Queen Victoria, who graciously commanded it to be sent, through the foreign office, to the khedive, who in mark of approbation and encouragement generously gave a handsome donation towards its realization. The Institution for the Blind was established at Zeitoun, Cairo, early in the year 1901, through funds provided by Mrs T. R. Armitage. The object of the institution, which is wholly unsectarian in character, is to educate and train the blind mentally and physically and in industrial occupations, and at the same time to improve their moral standard, so that eventually they may become in great measure, or even completely, self-supporting.” (Dr Kenneth Scott.)

India has a large proportion of blind inhabitants, ranging from one in 600 in some provinces, to one in 400 in others, with a total of more than half a million. Until recently, little had been done in the way of organized effort to educate them, though many of the missionaries had helped individual cases. At Amritsar a large and well-organized work for the blind has been carried on for many years. This school has now been moved to Rajpur, and helps 70 blind women and children. In 1903 a government school and hospital were established at Bombay as a memorial to Queen Victoria. Reading, writing, arithmetic, tailoring, typewriting, carpentering, lathe-work and carpet-weaving are taught. There are small schools at Parantij, Calcutta, Palancottah, Calicut, Coorg, Chota-Nagpur, and at Moulmein in Burma. The memorial to Queen Victoria in Ceylon took the form of work for the blind. J. Knowles, with the help of L. Garthwaite of the Indian Civil Service, devised a scheme of oriental Braille, which has been adopted by the British and Foreign Bible Society for the production of the Scriptures in Eastern languages.

Blindness is very prevalent in China, and to eye-diseases, neglect and dirt, must be added leprosy and smallpox as causes. Blind beggars may be seen on every highway, clamouring for alms. As in India their pitiful condition attracted the attention of the missionaries. W. H. Murray, a Scottish missionary in Peking, made a simple and ingenious adaptation of the Braille symbols to the complicated system of Chinese printing, in which over 4000 characters are required. It was necessary to represent at least 408 sounds, and each one was given a corresponding Braille number. When a pupil reads the number he knows instantly the sound for which it stands. A school for the blind was established at Peking, and the version of the Scriptures printed at Peking can be read in all the provinces where the Northern Mandarin dialect is spoken (see Miss Gordon Cumming, The Inventor of the Numeral Type for China). A Braille code has recently been arranged for Mandarin, based on a system of initials and finals, by Miss Garland of the China Inland Mission. At Foochow there is a large school for boys and girls in connexion with the Church Missionary Society. At Ningpo, Amoy, Canton and Fukien work for the blind is carried on by the missionaries.

The blind in Japan have long been trained in massage, acupuncture and music, and until recently, with few exceptions, none but the blind engaged in these occupations. From three to five years are required to become proficient in massage, but a blind person is then able to support himself. In Yokohama, with a population of half a million, there are 1000 men and women engaged in massage, and all but about 100 of these are blind. In 1878 a school for the blind and deaf-mutes was established in Kyoto, and soon after one in Tokyo. Japan has four schools for the blind, and seven combined schools for the blind and deaf-mutes.

As in other Eastern countries, blindness is very prevalent in Palestine. Ophthalmic hospitals and medical attendance are now available in the larger towns, and the missionary schools have done much to inculcate habits of cleanliness, therefore there is a slight decrease in the number of the blind. The home and school for blind girls in Jerusalem is the outcome of a day school opened in 1896 by an American missionary. There is also a small school at Urfa under the auspices of the American mission in that town.

As more sensations are received through the eye than through any other organ, the mind of a blind child is vacant, and the training should begin early or the mind will degenerate. Indirectly the loss of sight results in inaction. If no one encourages a blind child to move, he will sit quietly in a corner, and when he leaves his seat will move timidly about. This want of activity produces bad physical effects, and further delays mental growth. The blind are often injured, some of them ruined for life, through the ignorance and mistaken kindness of their friends during early childhood. They should be taught to walk, to go up and down stairs, to wash, dress and feed themselves.

They should be carefully taught correct postures and attitudes, and to avoid making grimaces. They should be told the requirements of social conventions which a seeing child learns through watching his elders. They have no consciousness that their habits are disagreeable, and the earlier unsightly mannerisms are corrected the better. It is a fallacy to suppose that the other senses of the blind are naturally sharper than those of the seeing. It is only when the senses of hearing and touch have been cultivated that they partially replace sight, and such cultivation can begin with very young children.

Blind children have a stronger claim upon the public for education than other children, because they start at a disadvantage in life, they carry a burden in their infirmity, they come mostly of poor parents, and without special instruction and training they are almost certain to become a public charge during life.