a foreign language she was at a loss to
understand a single word.

Since the establishment of the modern high standard of blind asylums
and deaf-and-dumb institutions, where so many ingenious methods have
been developed and are practiced in the education of their inmates,
feats which were formerly considered marvelous are within the reach of
all those under tuition To-day, those born deaf-mutes are taught to
speak and to understand by the movements of the lips alone, and the
blind read, become expert workmen, musicians, and even draughtsmen. D.
D. Wood of Philadelphia, although one of the finest organists in the
country, has been totally blind for years. It is said that he acquires
new compositions with almost as great facility as one not afflicted
with his infirmity. "Blind Tom," a semi-idiot and blind negro achieved
world-wide notoriety by his skill upon the piano.

In some extraordinary cases in which both sight and hearing, and
sometimes even taste and smell, are wanting, the individuals in a most
wonderful way have developed the sense of touch to such a degree that
it almost replaces the absent senses. The extent of this compensation
is most beautifully illustrated in the cases of Laura Bridgman and
Helen Keller. No better examples could be found of the compensatory
ability of differentiated organs to replace absent or disabled ones.

Laura Dewey Bridgman was born December 21, 1829, at Hanover, N.H. Her
parents were farmers and healthy people. They were of average height,
regular habits, slender build, and of rather nervous dispositions.
Laura inherited the physical characteristics of her mother. In her
infancy she was subject to convulsions, but at twenty months had
improved, and at this time had learned to speak several words. At the
age of two years, in common with two of the other children of the
family, she had an attack of severe scarlet fever. Her sisters died,
and she only recovered after both eyes and ears had suppurated; taste
and smell were also markedly impaired. Sight in the left eye was
entirely abolished, but she had some sensation for large, bright
objects in the right eye up to her eighth year; after that time she
became totally blind. After her recovery it was two years before she
could sit up all day, and not until she was five years old had she
entirely regained her strength. Hearing being lost, she naturally never
developed any speech; however, she was taught to sew, knit, braid, and
perfo