ries.

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