The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1888-01-07 00:00:00

LIGHT IN DARKNESS.
One of the distineti7e features of the present

century has been the wonderful development Of that
love for humanity which prompts and carries out
schemes for rendering comfort to the afflicted and
enables those who under Providence are deprived of
one or other of the senses which render life enjoyable
to overcome in some degree their special disability.
It is no doubt more than two centuries since attempts
were made with some success to teach the deaf and
dumb, but no movement for the thorough education
of these or of the blind was carried on to any
important extent much before the present century.
Doubtless the teaching of the blind is very different
in its character from that of the deaf mute, for in
the former the hearing is in general acute, and there
is no difficulty in viva voce instruction, while the latter
can only read by the eye and, save in exceptional
cases, are rare' capable of receiving what is
termed advanced education. The blind also have
the advantage of enjoying conversation- with their
friends, while to the deaf mute such enjoyment is
limited within a somewhat narrow compass. The
deaf mute, however, has this great advantage, that
when he has been taught to read he can enjoy him-
self with any ordinarily printed book, while the blind
have, until recently, been cut off from any such en-
joyment or means of advancement, unless the sufferer
is in a position to obtain the services of a good
reader. For them many modes have been proposed
and adopted, the first and most obvious being the
printing of books in embossed letters. It was, how-
ever, at once apparent that such books must
be like the ancient Greek manuscripts in
uncial characters, that is to say, printed
in capital letters, as the small letters would
not be so readily distinguishable to the touch even of
the blind, which is in most cases much finer than that
of those having the sense of sight. It was, however, ere
long discovered that even the blind, though naturally
having a fine sense of touch, found the discrimination
of even capital Roman letters somewhat difficult.
Moreover, many of them have to earn their living by
the use of their hands in such a way that the skin of
their fingers is hardened, and thus the sense of touch
is dulled. In a large blind school at Glasgow many
years since an alphabet was invented, the letters of
which consisted of peculiar knots made upon a long
rope, and when the rope had been knotted into the
proper wads, it was wound upon a frame, which re-
volved as the blind man or boy read it. It is obvious,
however, that such a plan as this would fail in supply-
ing any important amount of literature, for a book of
knotted rope would be expensive and extremely cum-
brous. Not to dwell further on other schemes for
blind reading, the mode now most generally adopted
is that of Dr. Moon, of Brighton, who became blind in
the year 1840, and soon perceived the need of an im-
provement in the mode of printing books for the blind.
He applied himself to the problem, and ere long
devised an alphabet, based on the English letters, but
so simple and well distinguished that the coarse touch
of a ploughman now suffices to peruse books em-
bossed in the characters. He subsequently formed
a society which has been for 40 years at work supply-
ing the blind with books which they can easily read.
Somewhere about 700 volumes, including among them
publications in 46 languages, have been issued, and
these are by no means restricted to any one class of
literature,biblical, historical, scientific and other instruc-
tive works form, no doubt, the largest proportion, but
volumes of travels, biography, tales and anecdotes, as
well as some of the best-known novels are now to be
found in this library for the blind. A free library has
also been in existence in London for many years, from
which many thousands of readers have been supplied.
In addition to these, maps and some pictures and
portraits have been embossed, and the balance sheet
shows that more than £l4OO was expended in the
work during 1886. Her Majesty is the patron of the
society, the trustees are Sir Charles H. Lowther, Lord
Mount-Temple, Dr. Moon arid -.Mrs. Moon, Dr. Moon
being also honorary treasurer and secretary, and also
superintending the large printing establishment, from
which are issued various other appliances for enabling
the blind to write to one another or to those who,
having their sight, are accustomed only to the ordinary
alphabet.