The daily national Whig. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1847-1849, 1849-05-07
PENNSYLVANIA INSTITUTION FOR
THE INSTRUCTION OF THE BLIND.

| Among the many useful institutions which
give an enviable character to our city
whose operations are the source and cause
of perennial good--we may give place
among the foremost to the Pennsylvania In
stitution for the Instruction of the Blind. II
came into existence about twelve years ago,
and since that period has gathered within its
walls hundreds upon hundreds Of those
stricken with irremediable blindness, and its
benevolent purpose has been to make
amends to them tor the loss which want OF
vision imposes, by giving to the intellect Its
proper cultivation, and the means Of rational
enloyment--to train them to perform in dark
ness various duties requiring skill and prac-
tice--to furnish them with means of gaining
livelihood, and to send them forth into the
community again ready, to act creditable
part, and to maintain their self-dependence.
Few can know how numerous are the
difficulties ol educating those who have
reason at one entrance quite shut out,o
| and above all, when that entrance is the
portal Of vision II is only by sharpening
and amplifying other senses that these diff
cultes can be overcome, and especially by
giving to the touch a sensitiveness which is
marvellous, and TO memory strength such
as few seeing persons ever attain to. 1t
demands patient and prolonged direction !;
careful and earnest inquiry irto the mental
capacity of the student; and the adoption Of
every means that may be pressed into SER
vice 10 smooth the path in which the blind
must tread in their slow way to knowledge.
Twelve years Of practice in this duty have
made the teachers who have charge Of the
pupils expert in their duty (; and the results
are wonderful.
We spent two hours very pleasantly and
profitably at the Institution on Saturday last,
listening to the exercises of the pupils, in
speeding their productions, viewing the work.
shops, study rooms and play grounds, and
found in all, and through all, that the spirit
Of order, guided by knowledge of wants
gained by experience, prevailed. All that
could minister to ample comfort was to be
scen and yet quiet simplicity pervaded
the whole, eminently beautiful in an institu-
ton of this character. The buildings occu-
py quite a large space, and are roomy and
airy, and the play grounds attached very
spacious-those for the males being strictly
separated from those assigned to the females.
During our stay we visited the principal
public rooms, and examined the various
means which ingenuity has supplied for
compromising the Deficiencies under which
the blind labor; but we found, throughout
all, that mechanical inventions were but
subsidiary elements in the system Of educa-
ton pursued II is the direct communication
of mind with mind that is most relied on
AMI the sharpened senses Of the blind enable
them to be educated through spoken words
with fai greater rapdity than can be secured
by any osber mode Some Of the mechani-
cal expedients, especially one for cyphering,
were curious; but we understood they are
used only when there is no other way Of
communicating instruction. Theorems in
geometry are taught by means Of pierced
diagrams or rather, by tracing out the lines
Of the proposition by small holes, over which
the blind pass their fngers--a new, simple,
and most efficient mode, brought into prac-
tice BY Mr.. Thomas s Martin, The princi-
pal teacher, to whose services in its behalf
the Institution is much indebted. We have
already spoken OF his admirable invention
for the purpose Of enabling blind persons to
write with facility and correctness and we
are glad to know that energetic measures
have been taken to make it widely useful.
The mental power exhibited by the pupils
constitute the most astonishing as well as
gratifying result to US, Of the system pursued.