Although there is a record of a hospital established by St Basil at
Caesarea, Cappadocia, in the 4th century, a refuge by the hermit St
Lymnee (d. c. 455) at Syr, Syria, in the 5th century, and an institution
by St Bertrand, bishop of Le Mans, in the 7th century, the first public
effort to benefit the blind was the founding of a hospital at Paris, in
1260, by Louis IX., for 300 blind persons. The common legend is that he
founded it as an asylum for 300 of his soldiers who had become blinded
in the crusade in Egypt, but the statutes of the founder are preserved,
and no mention is made of crusaders. This Hospice des Quinze-Vingts,
increased by subsequent additions to its funds, still assists the adult
blind of France. The pensioners are divided into two classes--those who
are inmates of the hospital (300), and those who receive pensions in the
form of out-door relief. All appointments to inmates or pensions are
vested in the minister of the Interior, and applicants must be of French
nationality, totally blind and not less than forty years of age.
From the time of St Louis to the 18th century, there are records of
isolated cases of blind persons who were educated, and of efforts to
devise tangible apparatus to assist them.
Girolamo Cardan, the 16th-century Italian physician, conceived the idea
that the blind could be taught to read and write by means of touch.
About 1517 Francesco Lucas in Spain, and Rampazetto in Italy, made use
of large letters cut in wood for instructing the blind. In 1646 a book,
on the condition of the blind, was written by an Italian, and published
in Italian and French, under the title of _L'Aveugle afflige et
console_. In 1670 a book was written on the instruction of the blind by
Lana Terzi, the Jesuit. In 1676 Jacques Bernoulli, the Swiss savant,
taught a blind girl to read, but the means of her instruction were not
made known. In 1749 D. Diderot wrote his _Lettre sur les aveugles a
l'usage de ceux qui voient_, to show how far the intellectual and moral
nature of man is modified by blindness. Dr S.G. Howe, who many years
after translated and printed the "Letter" in embossed type,
characterizes it as abounding with errors of fact and inference, but
also with beauties and suggestions. The heterodox speculations contained
in his "Letter on the Blind" caused Diderot to be imprisoned three
months in the Bastille. He was released because his services were
required for the forthcoming _Encyclopaedia_. Rousseau visited Diderot
in prison, and is reported to have suggested a system of embossed
printing. J. Locke, G.W. Leibnitz, Molineau and others discussed the
effect of blindness on the human mind. In Germany, Weissembourg had used
signs in relief and taught Mlle Paradis.
Prior to the 18th century, blind beggars existed in such numbers that
they struggled for standing room in positions favourable for asking
alms. Their very affliction led to their being used as spectacles for
the amusement of the populace. The degraded state of the masses of the
blind in France attracted the attention of Valentin Hauy. In 1771, at
the annual fair of St Ovid, in Paris, an innkeeper had a group of blind
men attired in a ridiculous manner, decorated with peacock tails, asses'
ears, and pasteboard spectacles without glasses, in which condition they
gave a burlesque concert, for the profit of their employer. This sad
scene was repeated day after day, and greeted with loud laughter by the
gaping crowds. Among those who gazed at this outrage to humanity was the
philanthropist Valentin Hauy, who left the disgraceful scene full of
sorrow. "Yes," he said to himself, "I will substitute truth for this
mocking parody. I will make the blind to read, and they shall be enabled
to execute harmonious music." Hauy collected all the information he
could gain respecting the blind, and began teaching a blind boy who had
gained his living by begging at a church door. Encouraged by the
success of his pupil, Hauy collected other blind persons, and in 1785
founded in Paris the first school for the blind (the Institution
Nationale des Jeunes Aveugles), and commenced the first printing in
raised characters. In 1786, before Louis XVI. and his court at
Versailles, he exhibited the attainments of his pupils in reading,
writing, arithmetic, geography and music, and in the same year published
an account of his methods, entitled _Essai sur l'education des
aveugles_. As the novelty wore off, contributions almost came to an end,
and the Blind School must have ceased to exist, had it not been taken,
in 1791, under the protection of the state.
The emperor of Russia, and later the dowager empress, having learned of
Hauy's work, invited him to visit St Petersburg for the purpose of
establishing a similar institution in the Russian capital. On his
journey Hauy was invited by the king of Prussia to Charlottenburg. He
took part in the deliberations of the Academy of Sciences in Berlin, and
as a result a school was founded there.
Edward Rushton, a blind man, was the projector of the first institution
for the blind in England--the School for the Indigent Blind, Liverpool.
In 1790 Rushton suggested to the literary and philosophical society of
which he was a member, the establishment of a benefit club for the
indigent blind. The idea was communicated to his friend, J. Christie, a
blind musician, and the latter thought the scheme should also include
the instruction of young blind persons. They circulated letters amongst
individuals who would be likely to give their assistance, and the Rev.
Henry Dannett warmly advocated the undertaking. It was mainly due to his
co-operation and zeal that Messrs Rushton and Christie's plan was
carried out, and the Liverpool asylum was opened in 1791. Thomas
Blacklock of Edinburgh, a blind poet and scholar, translated Hauy's work
on the _Education of the Blind_. He interested Mr David Millar, a blind
gentleman, the Rev. David Johnston and others in the subject, and after
Blacklock's death the Edinburgh Asylum for the Relief of the Indigent
and Industrious Blind was established (1793). Institutions were
established in the United Kingdom in the following order:--
School for the Indigent Blind, Liverpool 1791
Royal Blind Asylum, Edinburgh 1793
Bristol Asylum 1793
School for the Indigent Blind Southwark (now
removed to Leatherhead) 1799
Norwich Asylum and School 1805
Richmond Asylum, Dublin 1810
Aberdeen Asylum 1812
Molyneux Asylum, Dublin 1815
Glasgow Asylum and School 1827
Belfast School 1831
Wilberforce School, York 1833
Limerick Asylum 1834
London Society for Teaching the Blind to Read, St
John's Wood, N. 1838
Royal Victoria School for the Blind,
Newcastle-on-Tyne 1838
West of England Institute for the Blind, Exeter 1838
Henshaw's Blind Asylum, Manchester 1839
County and City of Cork Asylum 1840
Catholic Asylum, Liverpool 1841
Brighton Asylum 1842
Midland Institute for the Blind, Nottingham 1843
General Institute for the Blind, Birmingham 1848
Macan Asylum, Armagh 1854
St Joseph's Asylum, Dublin 1858
St Mary's Asylum, Dublin 1858
Institute for the Blind, Devonport 1860
South Devon and Cornwall Institute for the Blind,
Plymouth 1860
School for the Blind, Southsea 1864
Institute for the Blind, Dundee 1865
South Wales Institute for the Blind, Swansea 1865
School for the Blind, Leeds 1866
College for the Sons of Gentlemen, Worcester 1866
Northern Counties Institute for the Blind, Inverness 1866
Royal Normal College and Academy of Music for the
Blind, Upper Norwood 1872
School for the Blind, Sheffield 1879
Barclay Home and School for Blind Girls, Brighton 1893
Homes for Blind Children, Preston 1895
North Stafford School, Stoke-on-Trent 1897
Many of the early institutions were asylums, and to the present day
schools for the blind are regarded by the public as asylums rather than
as educational establishments. With nearly all these schools workshops
were connected. In 1856 Miss Gilbert, the blind daughter of the bishop
of Chichester, established a workshop in Berners Street, London, and
since that date workshops have been started in many of the provincial
towns.
After the beginning of the 19th century, institutions for the blind were
established in various parts of Europe. The institution at Vienna was
founded in 1804 by Dr W. Klein, a blind man, and he remained at its head
for fifty years. That of Berlin was established in 1806, Amsterdam,
Prague and Dresden in 1808, Copenhagen in 1811. There are more than 150
on the European continent, most of them receiving aid from the
government, and being under government supervision.
The first school for the blind in the United States was founded in
Boston, Mass., chiefly through the efforts of Dr John D. Fisher, a young
physician who visited the French school. It was incorporated in 1829,
and in honour of T.H. Perkins (1764-1854) who gave his mansion to the
institution was named the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts Asylum
(now School) for the Blind. Aid was granted by the state from the
beginning. In 1831 Dr Samuel G. Howe (q.v.) was appointed director,
and held that position for nearly forty-four years; being succeeded by
his son-in-law Michael Anagnos (d. 1906), who established a kindergarten
for the blind at Jamaica Plain, in connexion with the Perkins
Institution. Dr Howe was interested in many charitable and sociological
movements, but his life-work was on behalf of the blind. One of his most
notable achievements was the education of Laura Bridgman (q.v.) who
was deaf, dumb and blind, and this has since led to the education of
Helen Keller and other blind deaf-mutes. The New York Institution was
incorporated in 1831, and the Pennsylvania Institution was founded at
Philadelphia by the Society of Friends in 1833. The Ohio was founded at
Columbus in 1837, Virginia at Staunton in 1839, Kentucky at Louisville
in 1842, Tennessee at Nashville in 1844, and now every state in the
Union makes provision for the education of the blind.