Chapter XII: Part 12

The subjects in the school curriculum should be varied according to the age and capacity of the pupils, but those which cultivate the powers of observation and the perceptive faculties should have a first place. Object lessons or nature study should have a large share of attention. Few people realize that a blind child knows nothing of the size, shape and appearance of common objects that lie beyond the reach of his arm. When he has once been shown how to learn their characteristics, he will go on acquiring a knowledge of his surroundings unaided by a teacher. Again, a careful drill in mental arithmetic, combining accuracy with rapidity, is essential. A good command of English should be cultivated by frequent exercises in composition, and by committing to memory passages of standard prose and poetry. In his secondary course, the choice of subjects must depend upon his future career. Above all, stimulate a love of good reading.

Early manual training.

From the earliest years manual dexterity should be cultivated by kindergarten work, modelling, sewing, knitting and sloyd. Blind children who have not had the advantage of this early handwork find much more difficulty when they begin a regular course in technical training. Early manual training cultivates the perceptive faculties, gives activity to the body, and prepares the hands and finger for pianoforte-playing, pianoforte-tuning and handicrafts.

Choice of occupation

Besides a good general education, the blind must have careful and detailed training in some handicraft, or thorough preparation for some profession. The trades and professions open to them are few, and if they fail in one of these they cannot turn quickly to some other line of work. Those who have charge of their education should avail themselves of the knowledge that has been gained in all countries, in order to decide wisely in regard to the trade or occupation for which each pupil should be prepared. It may be some kind of handicraft, pianoforte-tuning, school-teaching, or the profession of music; the talent and ability of each child should be carefully considered before finally deciding his future occupation. The failure to give the blind a practical education often means dependence through life.

Pianoforte-tuning.

Pianoforte-tuning as an employment for the blind originated in Paris. About 1830 Claud Montal and a blind fellow-pupil attempted to tune a piano. The seeing tuner in charge of the school pianos complained to the director, and they were forbidden to touch the works, but the two friends procured an old piano and continued their efforts. Finally, the director, convinced of their skill, gave them charge of all the school pianos, and classes were soon started for the other pupils. When Montal left the institution he encountered great prejudice, but his skill in tuning became known to the professors of the Conservatoire, and his work rapidly increased and success was assured. Montal afterwards established a manufactory, and remained at its head for many years. Tuning is an excellent employment for the blind, and one in which they have certain advantages. The seeing who excel in the business go through a long apprenticeship, and one must give the blind even more careful preparation. They must work a number of hours daily, under suitable tuition, for several years. After a careful examination by an expert pianoforte-tuning authority, every duly qualified tuner should be furnished with an official certificate of proficiency, and tuners who cannot take the required examinations ought not to be allowed to impose upon the public.

Musical training.

Music in its various branches, when properly taught, is the best and most lucrative employment for the blind. To become successful in the profession, it is necessary for the blind to have opportunities of instruction, practice, study, and hearing music equal to those afforded the seeing, with whom they will have to compete in the open market. If the blind musician is to rise above mediocrity, systematic musical instruction in childhood is indispensable, and good instruction will avail little unless the practice is under constant and judicious supervision. The musical instruction, in its several branches of harmony, pianoforte, organ and vocal culture, must be addressed to the mind, not merely to the ear. This is the only possible method by which musical training can be made of practical use to the blind. The blind music teacher or organist must have a well-disciplined mind, capable of analysing and dealing with music from an intellectual point of view. If the mental faculties have not been developed and thoroughly disciplined, the blind musician, however well he may play or sing, will be a failure as a teacher. The musical instruction must be more thorough, more analytical, more comprehensive, than corresponding instruction given to seeing persons. In 1871 Dr Armitage published a book on the education and employment of the blind, in which he stated that of the blind musicians trained in the United Kingdom not more than one-half per cent were able to support themselves, whereas of those trained in the Paris school 30% supported themselves fully, and 30% partially, by the profession of music.

Royal Normal College.

To provide a better education and improve the musical training of the blind, the Royal Normal College was established in 1872.[3] Its object was to afford the young blind a thorough general and musical education, to qualify them to earn a living by various intellectual pursuits, especially as organists, pianists, teachers and pianoforte-tuners. From the first, the founders of the college maintained that the blind could only be made self-sustaining by increasing their intelligence, bodily activity and dexterity, by inculcating business habits, by arousing their self-respect, and by creating in their minds a belief in the possibility of future self-maintenance. A kindergarten department was opened in 1881. In July 1896 Queen's Scholarship examinations were held at the Royal Normal College, for the first time, for blind students, and the institution recognized by the Education Department as a training college for blind school-teachers.

Educational needs.

From the first day a pupil enters school until he finishes his course of training, care must be taken to implant business habits. Blind children are allowed to be idle and helpless at home; they do not learn to appreciate the value of time, and in after years this is one of the most difficult lessons to inculcate. Having drifted through childhood, they are content to drift through life. The important habits of punctuality, regularity and precision should be cultivated in all the arrangements and requirements. A great effort should be made to lift the blind from pauperism. As soon as pupils enter a school, all semblance of pauper origin should be removed. They must be inspired with a desire for independence and a belief in its possibility. In the public mind blindness has been so long and closely associated with dependence and pauperism that schools for the blind, even the most progressive, have been regarded hitherto as asylums rather than educational establishments. A sad mistake in the training of the blind is the lack of an earnest effort to improve their social condition. The fact that their education has been left to charity has helped to keep them in the ranks of dependents.

The question of day-classes versus boarding-schools has been much discussed. It is claimed by some that a blind child gains more independence if kept at home and educated in a school with the seeing. This theory is not verified by practical experience. At home its blindness makes the child an exception, and often it takes little or no part in the active duties of everyday life. Again, in a class of seeing children the blind member is treated as an exception. The memory is cultivated at the expense of the other faculties, and the facility with which it recites in certain subjects causes it to make a false estimate of its attainments. The fundamental principles in different branches are imperfectly understood, from the failure to follow the illustrations of the teacher. In the playgrounds, a few irrepressibles join in active games, but most of the blind children prefer a quiet corner.

For the sake of economy, schools for deaf-mutes and the blind are sometimes united. As the requirements of the two classes are entirely separate and distinct, the union is undesirable, whether for general education or industrial training. The plan was tried in America, but has been given up in most of the states. To meet the difficulty of proper classification with small numbers, blind boys and girls are taught in the same classes. The acquaintances then made lead to intimacy in later years and foster intermarriage among the blind. Intermarriage among the blind is a calamity, both for them and for their children; some who might have been successful business men are to-day begging in the streets in consequence of intermarriage.

In every school or class there will be a certain number of young blind children who, from neglect, want of food, or other causes, are feeble in body and defective in intellect; such children are a great burden in any class or school, and require special treatment and instruction. Educational authorities should unite and have one or two schools in a healthful locality for mentally defective blind children.

More and more, in educational work for the seeing, there is a tendency to specialize, and thus enable each student to have the best possible instruction in the subjects that bear most directly on his future calling. To prepare the blind for self-maintenance, there should be an equally careful study of the ability of each child.

A scheme of education which has for its object to make the blind a self-sustaining class should include: kindergarten schools for children from 5 to 8 years of age; preparatory schools from 8 to 11; intermediate schools from 11 to 14. At 14 an intelligent opinion can be formed in regard to the future career of the pupils. They will fall naturally into the following categories:--(a) A certain number will succeed better in handicraft than in any other calling, and should be drafted into a suitable mechanical school. (b) A few will have special gifts for general business, and should be educated accordingly. (c) A few will have the ability and ambition to prepare for the university, and the special college should afford them the most thorough preparation for the university examinations. (d) Some will have the necessary talent, combined with the requisite character and industry, to succeed in the musical profession; in addition to a liberal education, these should have musical instruction, equal to that given to the seeing, in the best schools of music. (e) Some may achieve excellent success as pianoforte-tuners, and in a pianoforte-tuning school strict business habits should be cultivated, and the same attention to work required as is demanded of seeing workmen in well-regulated pianoforte factories.

The United Kingdom stands almost alone in allowing the education of the blind to depend upon charity. In the United States, each state government not only makes liberal provision for the education and training of the blind, but most of them provide grounds, buildings and a complete equipment in all departments. Although it costs much more _per capita_, from L40 to L60 per annum, the blind are as amply provided with the means of education as the seeing. The government of the United States appropriates $10,000 per annum for printing embossed books for the blind. Most of the European countries and the English colonies provide by taxation for the education of the blind.

TYPES

The earliest authentic records of tangible letters for the blind describe a plan of engraving the letters upon blocks of wood, the invention of Francesco Lucas, a Spaniard, who dedicated it to Philip II. of Spain in the 16th century. In 1640 Pierre Moreau, a writing-master in Paris, cast a movable leaden type for the use of the blind, but being without means to carry out his plan, abandoned it. Pins inserted in cushions were next tried, and large wooden letters. After these came a contrivance of Du Puiseaux, a blind man, who had metal letters cast and set them in a small frame with a handle. Whilst these experiments were going on in France, attempts had also been made in Germany. R. Weissembourg (a resident of Mannheim), who lost his sight when about seven years of age, made use of letters cut in cardboard, and afterwards pricked maps in the same material. By this method he taught Mlle Paradis, the talented blind musician and the friend of Valentin Hauy.

To Hauy belongs the honour of being the first to emboss paper as a means of reading for the blind; his books were embossed in large and small italics, from movable type set by his pupils. The following is an account of the origin of his discovery. Hauy's first pupil was Francois Lesueur, a blind boy whom he found begging at the porch door of St Germain des Pres. While Lesueur was sorting the papers on his teacher's desk, he came across a card strongly indented by the types in the press. The blind lad showed his master he could decipher several letters on the card. Immediately Hauy traced with the handle of his pen some signs on paper. The boy read them, and the result was printing in relief, the greatest of Hauy's discoveries. In 1821 Lady Elizabeth Lowther brought embossed books and types from Paris, and with the types her son, Sir Charles Lowther, Bart., printed for his own use the Gospel of St Matthew. The work of Hauy was taken up by Mr Gall of Edinburgh, Mr Alston of Glasgow, Dr Howe of Boston, Mr Friedlander of Philadelphia, and others. In 1827 James Gall of Edinburgh embossed some elementary works, and published the Gospel of St John in 1834. His plan was to use the common English letter and replace curves by angles.

In 1832 the Edinburgh Society of Arts offered a gold medal for the best method of printing for the blind, and it was awarded to Dr Edmond Fry of London, whose alphabet consisted of ordinary capital letters without their small strokes. In 1836 the Rev. W. Taylor of York and John Alston in Glasgow began to print with Fry's type. Mr Alston's appeal for a printing fund met with a hearty response, and a grant of L400 was made by the treasury; in 1838 he completed the New Testament, and at the end of 1840 the whole Bible was published in embossed print. In 1833 printing for the blind was commenced in the United States at Boston and Philadelphia. Dr S.G. Howe in Boston used small English letters without capitals, angles being employed instead of curves, while J.R. Friedlander in Philadelphia used only Roman capitals. About 1838 T.M. Lucas of Bristol, a shorthand writer, and J.H. Frere of Blackheath, each introduced an alphabet of simpler forms, and based their systems on stenography. In 1847 Dr Moon of Brighton brought out a system which partially retains the outline of the Roman letters. This type is easily read by the adult blind, and is still much used by the home teaching societies. The preceding methods are all known as line types, but the one which is now in general use is a point type.

In the early part of the 19th century Captain Charles Barbier, a French officer, substituted embossed dots for embossed lines. The slate for writing was also invented by him.

Apparatus for writing Braille.

Braille Alphabet. The black dots represent the raised points of the sign in their position in relation to the group of six.]

Barbier arranged a table of speech sounds, consisting of six lines with six sounds in each line. His rectangular cell contained two vertical rows of six points each. The number of points in the left-hand row indicates in which horizontal line, and that in the right-hand row in which vertical line, of the printed table the speech sound is to be found.

Louis Braille, a pupil and afterwards a professor of the Institution Nationale des Jeunes Aveugles, Paris, studied all the various methods in which arbitrary characters were used. Barbier's letter, although it gave a large number of combinations, was too long to be covered by the finger in reading, and Louis Braille reduced the number of dots. In 1834 Braille perfected his system. Dr Armitage considered it was the greatest advance that had ever been made in the education of the blind.

The Braille alphabet consists of varying combinations of six dots in an oblong, of which the vertical side contains three, and the horizontal two dots.

. .
. .
. .

There are 63 possible combinations of these six dots, and after the letters of the alphabet have been supplied, the remaining signs are used for punctuation, contractions, &c.

"For writing, a ruler is used, consisting of a metal bed either
grooved or marked by groups of little pits, each group consisting of
six; over this bed is fitted a brass guide, punched with oblong holes
whose vertical diameter is three-tenths of an inch, while the
horizontal diameter is two-tenths. The pits are arranged in two
parallel lines, and the guide is hinged on the bed in such a way that
when the two are locked together the openings in the guide correspond
exactly to the pits in the bed. The brass guide has a double row of
openings, which enables the writer to write two lines; when these are
written, he shifts his guide downwards until two little pins, which
project from the under surface at its ends, drop into corresponding
holes of a wooden board; then two more lines are written, and this
operation is repeated until the bottom of the page is reached. The
paper is introduced between the frame and the metal bed. The
instrument for writing is a blunt awl, which carries a little cap of
paper before it into the grooves or pits of the bed, thereby producing
a series of little pits in the paper on the side next the writer. When
taken out and turned over, little prominences are felt, corresponding
to the pits on the other side. The reading is performed from left to
right, consequently the writing is from right to left; but this
reversal presents no practical difficulty as soon as the pupil had
caught the idea that in reading and writing alike he has to go
_forwards_.

"The first ten letters, from 'a' to 'j,' are formed in the upper and
middle grooves; the next ten, from 'k' to 't,' are formed by adding
one lower back dot to each letter of the first series; the third row
is formed from the first by adding two lower dots to each letter; the
fourth row, similarly, by adding one lower front dot.

"The first ten letters, when preceded by the prefix for numbers, stand
for the nine numbers and the cipher. The same signs, written in the
lower and middle grooves, instead of the upper and middle, serve for
punctuation. The seven last letters of each series stand for the seven
musical notes--the first series representing quavers, the second
minims, the third semibreves, the fourth crotchets. Rests,
accidentals, and every other sign used in music can be readily and
clearly expressed without having recourse to the staff of five lines
which forms the basis of ordinary musical notation, and which, though
it has been reproduced tor the blind, can only be considered as
serving to give them an idea of the method employed by the seeing, and
cannot, of course, be written. By means of this dotted system, a blind
man is able to keep memoranda or accounts, write his own music, emboss
his own books from dictation, and carry on correspondence."

The Braille system for literature and music was brought into general use in England by Dr T.R. Armitage. Through his wise, untiring zeal and noble generosity, every blind man, woman and child throughout the English-speaking world can now obtain not only the best literature, but the best music.

In America there are two modifications of the point type, known as New York point and American braille. In each of these the most frequently recurring letters are represented by the least number of dots.

The original Braille is used by the institutions for the blind in the British empire, European countries, Mexico, Brazil and Egypt.

APPLIANCES FOR EDUCATIONAL WORK

The apparatus for writing point alphabets has already been described. Frank H. Hall, former superintendent of the School for the Blind, Jacksonville, Ill., U.S.A., has invented a Braille typewriter and stereotype maker; the latter embosses metal plates from which any number of copies can be printed. An automatic Braille-writer has been brought out in Germany, and William B. Wait (principal of the Institution for the Blind in New York City) has invented a machine for writing New York point. These machines are expensive, but A. Wayne of Birmingham has brought out a cheap and effective Braille-writer. H. Stainsby, secretary of the Birmingham institution, and Wayne have invented a machine for writing Braille shorthand.

Many boards have been constructed to enable the blind to work arithmetical problems. The one which is most used was invented by the Rev. W. Taylor. The board has star-shaped openings in which a square pin fits in eight different positions. The pin has on one end a plain ridge and on the other a notched ridge; sixteen characters can be formed with the two ends. The board is also used for algebra, another set of type furnishing the algebraic symbols.

Books are prepared with raised geometrical diagrams; figures can be formed with bent wires on cushions, or on paper with a toothed wheel attached to one end of a pair of compasses.

Geography is studied by means of relief maps, manufactured in wood or paper. The physical maps and globes prepared for seeing children are used also for the blind.

Chiefly owing to the unremitting energy and liberality of Dr T.R. Armitage, in connexion with the British and Foreign Blind Association, all school appliances for the blind have been greatly improved and cheapened.

EMPLOYMENT

Reference has been made to the fact that music in its various branches furnishes the best and most lucrative employment for the blind. But those who have not the ability, or are too old to be trained for music or some other profession, must depend upon handicrafts for their support. The principal ones taught in the various institutions are the making of baskets, brushes, mats, sacks, ships' fenders, brooms and mattresses, upholstery, wire-work, chair-caning, wood-chopping, &c. Females are taught to make fancy baskets and brushes, chair-caning, knitting, netting, weaving, sewing--hand and machine--crocheting, &c. It is difficult to find employment for blind girls. It is hoped that typewriting and massage will prove remunerative.

The blind, whether educated for the church, trained as teachers, musicians, pianoforte-tuners, or for any other trade or occupation, generally require assistance at the outset. They need help in finding suitable employment, recommendations for establishing a connexion, pecuniary assistance in providing outfits of books, tools, instruments, &c., help in the selection and purchase of the best materials at the lowest wholesale rates, in the sale of their manufactured goods in the best markets, and if overtaken by reverses, judicious and timely help towards a fresh start. Every institution should keep in touch with its old pupils. The superintendent who carefully studies the successes and failures of his pupils when they go into the world, will more wisely direct the work and energies of his present and future students.

Within recent years great improvements have been made in some of the progressive workshops for the blind. At the conference in London in 1902 Mr T. Stoddart gave the following information in regard to the work in Glasgow:--"We are building very extensive additions to our workshops, which will enable us to accommodate 600 blind people. We mean to employ the most up-to-date methods, and are introducing electric power to drive the machinery and light the workshops. We have to do with the average blind adult recently deprived of sight after he has attained an age of from 25 to 40 or even 50 years. In Glasgow we have developed an industry eminently suitable for the employment of the blind, namely, the manufacture of new and the remaking of old bedding. There are industries which are purely local, where certain articles of manufacture largely used in one district are useless, or nearly so, in another; but the field in which this industry may be promoted is practically without limit. It is perhaps the employment _par excellence_ for the blind, and among other advantages it has the following to recommend it: employment is provided for the blind of both sexes and of all ages; there is no accumulation nor deterioration of stock; it yields an excellent profit, and its use is universal. We have been pushing this industry for years, our annual turnover in this particular department having exceeded L7000, and as we find it so suited to the capabilities of all grades of blind people, it is our intention to provide facilities for doing a turnover of three times that amount. Instead of the thirty sewing-machines which we have at present running by power, we hope to employ 100 blind women. At cork-fender-making, also an industry of the most suitable kind, we are at present employing about thirty workers. It is also our intention to greatly develop and extend our mat-making department."

In the United States many blind persons are engaged in agricultural pursuits, and some are very successful in commercial pursuits. When a man loses his sight in adult life, if he can possibly follow the business in which he has previously been engaged, it is the best course for him. In the present day, work in manufactories is subdivided to such an extent that often some one portion can be done by a blind person; but it needs the interest of some enthusiastic believer in the capabilities of the blind to persuade the seeing manager that blind people can be safely employed in factories.

In England, at the time of the royal commission of 1889, upwards of 8000 blind persons, above the age of 21, were in receipt of relief from the guardians, of whom no less than 3278 were resident in workhouses or workhouse infirmaries. The census returns for 1901 indicate that the number at that time was equally large. It would certainly be more economical to establish workshops where the able-bodied adult blind can be trained in some handicraft and employed.

The papers read at the various conferences show that, even under the most favourable circumstances, some are not able to earn enough for their support; nevertheless, employment improves their condition; there is no greater calamity than to live a life of compulsory idleness in total darkness. The cry of the blind is not alms but work. One of the workshops in western America has adopted the motto, "Independence through Industry," and it should be the aim of every civilized country to hasten the time when blindness and pauperism shall no longer be synonymous terms.

BIOGRAPHY

It may be interesting, in conclusion, to mention some of the names of prominent blind people in history:--

Timoleon (c. 410-336 B.C.), a Greek general.

Aufidius, a Roman senator.

Bela II. (d. 1141), king of Hungary.

John, king of Bohemia (1296-1346), killed in the battle of Crecy.

John Zizca (c. 1376-1424), Bohemian general.

Basil III. (d. 1462), prince of Moscow.

Shah Alam (d. 1806), the last of the Great Moguls.

Diodorus, the instructor of Cicero.

Didymus of Alexandria (c. 308-395), mathematician, theologian and
linguist.

Nicase of Malines (d. 1492), professor of law in the university of
Cologne. The degree of doctor of divinity was conferred on him by the
university of Louvain, and the pope granted a dispensation suspending
the law of the Church, that he might be ordained as a priest.

Ludovico Scapinelli (b. 1585), professor at the universities of
Bologna, Modena and Pisa.

James Schegkius (d. 1587), professor of philosophy and medicine at
Tubingen.

Franciscus Salinas, professor of music at the university of Salamanca,
in the 16th century.

Nicholas Bacon (16th century), doctor of laws in the university of
Brussels.

Count de Pagan of Avignon (b. 1604), mathematician of note.

John Milton (1608-1674), the poet.

Rev. Richard Lucas (1648-1715), prebendary of Westminster.

Nicholas Saunderson (q.v.; 1682-1739).

John Stanley (1713-1786), Mus. Bac. Oxon., was born in London in 1713.
At seven he began to study music, and made such rapid progress that he
was appointed organist of All-Hallows, Bread Street, at the age of
eleven. He graduated as Mus. Bac. at Oxford when sixteen, and was
organist of the Temple church at the age of twenty-one. He composed a
number of cantatas, and after the death of Handel he superintended the
performance of Handel's oratorios at Covent Garden. He received the
degree of doctor of music, and was master of the king's band.

Leonard Euler (1707-1783), the celebrated mathematician and
astronomer.

John Metcalf (b. 1717), road-builder and contractor.

Sir John Fielding (d. 1780), eminent lawyer and magistrate.

Thomas Blacklock (q.v.; 1721-1791), Scottish scholar and poet.

Francois Huber (1750-1831), Swiss naturalist, noted for his
observations on bees.

Edward Rushton (b. 1756). At six years of age he entered the Liverpool
free grammar school, and at eleven shipped for his first voyage in a
West India merchantman. On a later voyage he was shipwrecked, and owed
his life to the self-sacrifice of a negro. Rushton and the black man
swam for their lives to a floating cask; the negro reached it first,
saw Rushton about to sink, pushed the cask to the failing lad, and
struck out for the shore, but never reached it. This incident made
Rushton an enthusiastic champion through life of the cause of the
negro. During a voyage to Dominica malignant ophthalmia broke out
among the slave cargo, and Rushton caught the disease by attending
them in the hold when all others refused help. This attack deprived
him of sight, and cut short a promising nautical career at the age of
nineteen. He struggled bravely against difficulties, and besides
entering successfully into various literary engagements, maintained
himself and family as a bookseller. A volume of his poems containing a
memoir was published in 1824.

Marie Therese von Paradis (b. 1759), the daughter of an imperial
councillor in Vienna. She was a godchild of the empress Marie Therese,
and as her parents possessed rank and wealth, no expense was spared in
her education. Weissembourg, a blind man, was her tutor, and she
learned to spell with letters cut out of pasteboard, and read words
pricked upon cards with pins. She studied the piano with Richter (of
Holland) and Kozeluch. She was a highly esteemed pianist, and Mozart
wrote a concerto for her; she also attained considerable skill on the
organ, in singing and in composition. She made a concert tour of
Europe, visiting the principal courts and everywhere achieving great
success. She remained four months in England, under the patronage of
the queen. On her return to Vienna, through Paris, she met Valentin
Hauy. Towards the close of her life she devoted herself to teaching
singing and the pianoforte with great success.

James Holman (q.v.; 1786-1857), traveller.

William H. Prescott (q.v.; 1796-1859), the American historian.

Several early 19th-century musicians held situations as organists in
London; among them Grenville, Scott, Lockhart, Mather, Stiles and
Warne.

Louis Braille (1809-1852). In 1819 he went to the school for the blind
in Paris. He became proficient on the organ, and held a post in one of
the Paris churches. While a professor at the Institution Nationale des
Jeunes Aveugles, he perfected his system of point writing.

Alexander Rodenbach, Belgian statesman. When a member of the chamber
of deputies, in 1836, he introduced and succeeded in establishing by
law the right of blind and deaf-mute children to an education.

Dr William Moon (1818-1894), the inventor of the type for the blind
which bears his name.

Rev. W.H. Milburn, D.D. (1823-1903), the American chaplain, known in
the United States as "The Blind Man Eloquent." He often travelled from
thirty to fifty thousand miles a year, speaking and preaching every
day. He was three times chaplain of the House of Representatives, and
in 1893 was chosen to the chaplaincy of the senate.

Dr T.R. Armitage (b. 1824). After spending his youth on the continent,
he became a medical student, first at King's College, and afterwards
at Paris and Vienna. His career promised to be a brilliant one, but at
the age of thirty-six failing sight caused him to abandon his
profession. For the rest of his life he devoted his time and fortune
to the interests of the blind. He reorganized the Indigent Blind
Visiting Society, endowed its Samaritan fund, founded the British and
Foreign Blind Association, and, in conjunction with the late duke of
Westminster and others, founded the Royal Normal College.

Elizabeth Gilbert (b. 1826), daughter of the bishop of Chichester. She
lost her sight at the age of three. She was educated at home, and took
her full share of household duties and cares and pleasures. When she
was twenty-seven, she began to consider the condition of the poor
blind of London. She saw some one must befriend those who had been
taught trades, some one who could supply material, give employment or
dispose of the articles manufactured. In 1854 her scheme was started,
and work was given to six men in their own homes, but the number soon
increased. In 1856 a committee was formed, a house converted into a
factory, and the Association for Promoting the General Welfare of the
Blind was founded.

Rev. George Matheson, D.D. (b. 1842), preacher and writer of the
Church of Scotland. The degree of D.D. was conferred on him by the
university of Edinburgh in 1879, and he was appointed Baird Lecturer
in 1881, and St Giles' Lecturer in 1882.

Henry Fawcett (1833-1884), professor of political economy at
Cambridge, and postmaster-general.

W.H. Churchman of Pennsylvania, who was instrumental in establishing
the schools for the blind in Tennessee, Indiana and Wisconsin.

H.L. Hall, founder of the workshops and home for the blind in
Philadelphia; by his energetic management he raised the standard of
work for the adult blind throughout America.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--See also W.H. Levy, _Blindness and the Blind_ (1872);
J. Wilson, _Biography of the Blind_ (1838); Dr T.R. Armitage,
Education and Employment of the Blind (2nd ed., 1882); R.H. Blair,
_Education of the Blind_ (1868); M. Anagnos, _Education of the Blind_
(1882); H.J. Wilson, _Institutions, Societies and Classes for the
Blind in England and Wales_ (1907); Guillie, _Instruction and
Amusements of the Blind_ (1819); Dr W. Moon, _Light for the Blind_
(1875); R. Meldrum, _Light on Dark Paths_ (2nd ed., 1891); Dr H. Roth,
_Prevention of Blindness_ (1885), and his _Physical Education of the
Blind_ (1885); _Report of Royal Commission_ (1889); Gavin Douglas,
_Remarkable Blind Persons_ (1829); John Bird, _Social Pathology_
(1862); M. de la Sizeranne, _The Blind in Useful Avocations_ (Paris,
1881), _True Mission of Smaller Schools_ (Paris, 1884), _The Blind in
France_ (Paris, 1885), _Two Years' Study and Work for the Blind_
(Paris, 1890), and _The Blind as seen by a Blind Man_ [translated by
Dr Park Lewis] (Paris, 1893); Dr Emile Javal, _The Blind Man's World_
[translated by Ernest Thomson] (Paris, 1904); Prof. A. Mell,
_Encyklopadisches Handbuch des Blindenwesens_ (Vienna, 1899).
(F. J. C.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] There are no late returns for Iceland, but the last available
statistics gave 3400 per million. A paper written in 1903 on
blindness in Egypt stated that 1 in every 50 of the population was
blind.

[2] Previous returns from Finland have shown a much larger number of
blind persons, but these statistics were supplied by the British
consul in St Petersburg from the last census.

[3] Its principal (responsible, with Dr Armitage, the duke of
Westminster and others, for its foundation) was Sir F.J. Campbell,
LL.D., F.R.G.S., F.S.A., himself a blind man, who, born in Tennessee,
U.S.A., in 1832, and educated at the Nashville school, and afterwards
in music at Leipzig and Berlin, had from 1858 to 1869 been associated
with Dr Howe at the Perkins Institution, Boston. He was knighted in
1909.

BLISS, CORNELIUS NEWTON (1833- ), American merchant and politician, was born at Fall River, Massachusetts, on the 26th of January 1833. He was educated in his native city and in New Orleans, where he early entered his step-father's counting-house. Returning to Massachusetts in 1849, he became a clerk and subsequently a junior partner in a prominent Boston commercial house. Later he removed to New York City to establish a branch of the firm. In 1881 he organized and became president of Bliss, Fabyan & Company, one of the largest wholesale dry-goods houses in the country. A consistent advocate of the protective tariff, he was one of the organizers, and for many years president, of the American Protective Tariff League. In politics an active Republican, he was chairman of the Republican state committee in 1887 and 1888, and contributed much to the success of the Harrison ticket in New York in the latter year. He was treasurer of the Republican national committee from 1892 to 1904, and was secretary of the interior in President McKinley's cabinet from 1897 to 1899.

BLISTER (a word found in many forms in Teutonic languages, cf. Ger. _Blase_; it is ultimately connected with the same root as in "blow," cf. "bladder"), a small vesicle filled with serous fluid raised on the skin by a burn, by rubbing on a hard surface, as on the hand in rowing, or by other injury; the term is also used of a similar condition of the skin caused artificially, as a counter-irritant in cases of inflammation, by the application of mustard, of various kinds of fly (see CANTHARIDES) and of other vesicatories. Similar small swellings, filled with fluid or air, on plants and on the surface of steel or paint, &c., are also called "blisters."

BLIZZARD (origin probably onomatopoeic, cf. "blast," "bluster"), a furious wind driving fine particles of choking, blinding snow whirling in icy clouds. The conditions to which the name was originally given occur with the northerly winds in rear of the cyclones crossing the eastern states of America during winter.

BLOCK, MARK ELIEZER (c. 1723-1799), German naturalist, was born at Ansbach, of poor Jewish parents, about 1723. After taking his degree as doctor at Frankfort-on-Oder he established himself as a physician at Berlin. His first scientific work of importance was an essay on intestinal worms, which gained a prize from the Academy of Copenhagen, but he is best known by his important work on fishes (see ICHTHYOLOGY). Bloch was fifty-six when he began to write on ichthyological subjects. To begin at his time of life a work in which he intended not only to give full descriptions of the species known to him from specimens or drawings, but also to illustrate each species in a style truly magnificent for his time, was an undertaking the execution of which most men would have despaired of. Yet he accomplished not only this task, but even more than he at first contemplated. He died at Carlsbad on the 6th of August 1799.

BLOCK, MAURICE (1816-1901), French statistician, was born in Berlin of Jewish parents on the 18th of February 1816. He studied at Bonn and Giessen, but settled in Paris, becoming naturalized there. In 1844 he entered the French ministry of agriculture, becoming in 1852 one of the heads of the statistical department. He retired in 1862, and thenceforth devoted himself entirely to statistical studies, which have gained for him a wide reputation. He was elected a member of the Academie des Sciences Morales et Politiques in 1880. He died in Paris on the 9th of January 1901. His principal works are: _Dictionnaire de l'administration francaise_ (1856); _Statistique de la France_ (1860); _Dictionnaire general de la politique_ (1862); _L'Europe polilique et sociale_ (1869); _Traite theorique et pratique de statistique_ (1878); Les Progres de l'economie politique depuis Adam Smith_ (1890); he also edited from 1856 _L'Annuaire de l'economie politique et de la statistique_, and wrote in German _Die Bevolkerung des franzosischen Kaiserreichs_ (1861); Die Bevolkerung Spaniens und Portugals_ (1861); and _Die Machtstellung der europaischen Staaten_ (1862).

BLOCK (from the Fr. _bloc_, and possibly connected with an Old Ger. _Block_, obstruction, cf. "baulk"), a piece of wood. The word is used in various senses, e.g. the block upon which people were beheaded, the block or mould upon which a hat is shaped, a pulley-block, a printing-block, &c. From the sense of a solid mass comes the expression, a "block" of houses, i.e. a rectangular space covered with houses and bounded by four streets. From the sense of "obstruction" comes a "block" in traffic, a block in any proceedings, and the block system of signalling on railways.

BLOCKADE (Fr. _blocus_, Ger. _Blokade_), a term used in maritime warfare. Originally a blockade by sea was probably nothing more than the equivalent in maritime warfare of a blockade or siege on land in which the army investing the blockaded or besieged place is in actual physical possession of a zone through which it can prevent and forbid ingress and egress. An attempt to cross such a zone without the consent of the investing army would be an act of hostility against the besiegers. A maritime blockade, when it formed part of a siege, would obviously also be a close blockade, being part of the military cordon drawn round the besieged place. Even from the first, however, differences would begin to grow up in the conditions arising out of the operations on land and on sea. Thus whereas conveying merchandise across military lines would be a deliberate act of hostility against the investing force, a neutral ship which had sailed in ignorance of the blockade for the blockaded place might in good faith cross the blockade line without committing a hostile act against the investing force. With the development of recognition of neutral rights the involuntary character of the breach would be taken into account, and notice to neutral states and to approaching vessels would come into use. With the employment in warfare of larger vessels in the place of the more numerous small ones of an earlier age, notice, moreover, would tend to take the place of _de facto_ investment, and at a time when communication between governments was still slow and precarious, such notice would sometimes be given as a possible measure of belligerent tactics before the blockade could be actually carried out. Out of these circumstances grew up the abuse of "paper blockades."

The climax was reached in the "Continental Blockade" decreed by Napoleon in 1806, which continued till it was abolished by international agreement in 1812. This blockade forbade all countries under French dominion or allied with France to have any communication with Great Britain. Great Britain replied in 1807 by a similar measure. The first nation to protest against these fictitious blockades was the United States. Already in 1800 John Marshall, secretary of state, wrote to the American minister in Great Britain pointing out objections which have since been universally admitted. In the following interesting passage he said:--

"Ports not effectually blockaded by a force capable of completely
investing them have yet been declared in a state of blockade.... If
the effectiveness of the blockade be dispensed with, then every port
of the belligerent powers may at all times be declared in that state,
and the commerce of neutrals be thereby subjected to universal
capture. But if this principle be strictly adhered to, the capacity to
blockade will be limited by the naval force of the belligerent and, in
consequence, the mischief to neutral commerce cannot be very
extensive. It is, therefore, of the last importance to neutrals that
this principle be maintained unimpaired. I observe that you have
pressed this reasoning on the British minister, who replies that an
occasional absence of a fleet from a blockaded port ought not to
change the state of the place. Whatever force this observation may be
entitled to, where that occasional absence has been produced by an
accident, as a storm, which for a moment blows off a fleet and forces
it from its station, which station it immediately resumes, I am
persuaded that where a part of the fleet is applied, though only for a
time, to other objects or comes into port, the very principle
requiring an effective blockade, which is that the mischief can only
be coextensive with the naval force of the belligerent, requires that
during such temporary absence the commerce to the neutrals to the
place should be free."[1]

Again in 1803 James Madison wrote to the then American minister in
London:--

"The law of nations requires to constitute a blockade that there
should be the presence and position of a force rendering access to the
prohibited place manifestly difficult and dangerous."[2]

In 1826 and 1827 Great Britain as well as the United States asserted that blockades in order to be binding must be effective. This became gradually the recognized view, and when in 1856 the powers represented at the congress of Paris inserted in the declaration there adopted that "blockades in order to be binding must be effective, that is to say, maintained by a force sufficient really to prevent access to the coast of an enemy," they were merely enunciating a rule which neutral states had already become too powerful to allow belligerents to disregard.

Blockade is universally admitted to be a belligerent right to which under international law neutrals are obliged to submit. It is now also universally admitted that the above-quoted rule of the Declaration of Paris forms part of international law, independently of the declaration. Being, however, exclusively a belligerent right, it cannot be exercised except by a belligerent force. Even a _de facto_ belligerent has the right to institute a blockade binding on neutrals if it has the means of making it effective, though the force opposed to it may treat the _de facto_ belligerent as rebels.

It is also admitted that, being exclusively a belligerent right, it cannot be exercised in time of peace, but there has been some inconsistency in practice (see PACIFIC BLOCKADE) which will probably lead governments, in order to avoid protests of neutral powers against belligerent rights being exercised in mere coercive proceedings, to exercise all the rights of belligerents and carry on _de facto_ war to entitle them to use violence against neutral infringers. This was done in the case of the blockade of Venezuela by Great Britain, Germany and Italy in 1902-1903.

The points upon which controversy still arises are as to what constitutes an "effective" blockade and what a sufficient notice of blockade to warrant the penalties of violation, viz. confiscation of the ship and of the cargo unless the evidence demonstrates the innocence of the cargo owners. A blockade to be effective must be maintained by a sufficient force to prevent the entrance of neutral vessels into the blockaded port or ports, and it must be duly proclaimed. Subject to these principles being complied with, "the question of the legitimacy and effectiveness of a blockade is one of fact to be determined in each case upon the evidence presented" (Thomas F. Bayard, American secretary of state, to Messrs Kamer & Co., 19th of February 1889). The British manual of naval prize law sums up the cases in which a blockade, validly instituted, ceases to be effectively maintained, as follows:--(1) If the blockading force abandons its position, unless the abandonment be merely temporary or caused by stress of weather, or (2) if it be driven away by the enemy, or (3) if it be negligent in its duties, or (4) if it be partial in the execution of its duties towards one ship rather than another, or towards the ships of one nation rather than those of another. These cases, however, are based on decisions of the British admiralty court and cannot be relied on absolutely as a statement of international law.

As regards notice the following American instructions vere given to blockading officers in June 1898:--

"Neutral vessels are entitled to notification of a blockade before
they can be made prize for its attempted violation. The character of
this notification is not material. It may be actual, as by a vessel of
the blockading force, or _constructive, as by a proclamation of the
government maintaining the blockade, or by common notoriety_. If a
neutral vessel can be shown to have had notice of the blockade in any
way, she is good prize, and should be sent in for adjudication; but
should formal notice not have been given, _the rule of constructive
knowledge arising from notoriety_ should be construed in a manner
liberal to the neutral.

"Vessels appearing before a blockaded port, having sailed without
notification, are entitled to actual notice by a blockading vessel.
They should be boarded by an officer, who should enter in the ship's
log the fact of such notice, such entry to include the name of the
blockading vessel giving notice, the extent of the blockade, the date
and place, verified by his official signature. The vessel is then to
be set free; and should she again attempt to enter the same or any
other blockaded port as to which she has had notice, she is good
prize. Should it appear from a vessel's clearance that she sailed
after notice of blockade had been communicated to the country of her
port of departure, or _after the fact of blockade had, by a fair
presumption, become commonly known_ at that port, she should be sent
in as a prize."

The passages in italics are not in accordance with the views held by other states, which do not recognize the binding character of a diplomatic notification or of constructive notice from notoriety.

The subject was brought up at the second Hague Conference (1907). The Italian and Mexican delegations submitted projects, but after a declaration by the British delegate in charge of the subject (Sir E. Satow) that blockade not having been included in the Russian programme, his government had given him no instructions upon it, the subject, at his suggestion, was dropped. A _Voeu_, however, was adopted in favour of formulating rules on all branches of the laws and customs of naval war, and a convention was agreed to for the establishment of an international Prize Court (see PRIZE). Under Art. 7 of the latter convention the Court was to apply the "rules of international law," and in their absence the "general principles of justice and equity." As soon as possible after the close of the second Hague Conference the British government took steps to call a special conference of the maritime powers, which sat from December 4, 1908 to February 26, 1909. Among the subjects dealt with was Blockade, the rules relating to which are as follow:--

Art. 1. A blockade must not extend beyond the ports and coasts
belonging to or occupied by the enemy.

Art. 2. In accordance with the Declaration of Paris of 1856, a
blockade, in order to be binding, must be effective--that is to say,
it must be maintained by a force sufficient really to prevent access
to the enemy coastline.

Art. 3. The question whether a blockade is effective is a question of
fact.

Art. 4. A blockade is not regarded as raised if the blockading force
is temporarily withdrawn on account of stress of weather.

Art. 5. A blockade must be applied impartially to the ships of all
nations.

Art. 6. The commander of a blockading force may give permission to a
warship to enter, and subsequently to leave, a blockaded port.

Art. 7. In circumstances of distress, acknowledged by an officer of
the blockading force, a neutral vessel may enter a place under
blockade and subsequently leave it, provided that she has neither
discharged nor shipped any cargo there.

Art. 8. A blockade, in order to be binding, must be declared in
accordance with Article 9, and notified in accordance with Articles 11
and 16.

Art. 9. A declaration of blockade is made either by the blockading
power or by the naval authorities acting in its name. It specifies (1)
the date when the blockade begins; (2) the geographical limits of the
coastline under blockade; (3) the period within which neutral vessels
may come out.

Art. 10. If the operations of the blockading power, or of the naval
authorities acting in its name, do not tally with the particulars,
which, in accordance with Article 9 (1) and (2), must be inserted in
the declaration of blockade, the declaration is void, and a new
declaration is necessary in order to make the blockade operative.

Art. 11. A declaration of blockade is notified: (1) to neutral powers,
by the blockading power by means of a communication addressed to the
governments direct, or to their representatives accredited to it; (2)
to the local authorities, by the officer commanding the blockading
force. The local authorities will, in turn, inform the foreign
consular officers at the port or on the coastline under blockade as
soon as possible.

Art. 12. The rules as to declaration and notification of blockade
apply to cases where the limits of a blockade are extended, or where a
blockade is re-established after having been raised.

Art. 13. The voluntary raising of a blockade, as also any restriction
in the limits of a blockade, must be notified in the manner prescribed
by Article 11.

Art. 14. The liability of a neutral vessel to capture for breach of
blockade is contingent on her knowledge, actual or presumptive, of the
blockade.