The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-10-23


bridges. At Huddersfeld one of the finest
and most substantial bridges is known to
have been constructed by him. What he
could have accomplished with organs of
sight unimpaired we can only conjecture.
REMARKABLE CASES
A namesake of our grear American tenn
perance lecture, John Cough, also an
| Eaglishman by birth, became quite cele-
brated as a bOtanist and writer on subjects
pertaining to natural philosophy. He was
totally blind from the age of years, the
sense of vision being so deadened that he
could not perceive the glare of sunlight
upon the snow on the brightest winter days
Disabled By this appalling affection, he
studied botany, his wife, brothers and sis
ters doing his reading, and arranged, by
the sense of touch alone, and without the
least aid from any living human being, one
of the largest and most valuable collec-
lions of dried herbs and grasses at that
time Q780 known in Britain.
That wonderful invention, the string
| alphabet for the blind, was invented by
man who never saw his queer-looking ma
chine, the face of his mother, or the ''glad
sunlight" of which he so feelingly wrote
David Macbeth was blind from birth, yet a
| perfect genius in a dozen different ways.
| He was an accomplished musician, a per-
feet prodigy In mathematics, aud an inven-
| tor of no mean order of merit. Besides his
string alphabet, he was the inventor of one
| of the earlier known revolving barrel
churns, of a clamp to be used by book bind
| ers in stitching leaves together, and of
self-oiling attachment for wagons and car
rlages. He could take his watch to pieces
| and put 1t together, almost as quickly as
| the man who made it could have done. 1t
was without a crystal, and by gently touch
ing the hands with the tips Of his fingers he
| could tell within one second of the time
| of day or night.
He was an expert at the national game of
cricket and was reckoned as being one of
the most valuable men in some parts of the
| game, but useless in others.
| When he died he had been engaged for
| years on the perfection of a fire-escape.
which has since, with some slight changes
and additions, made London firm indie
| pendent.
Alexander Rodenback, the Belgian poll
tician, and for long time member of the
| Belgian Lower House, was totally blind.
| Besides being noted as political economist,
| Rodenback was the author of several
| works on deaf muteism, blindness and kin
| dred subjects.
IN THE PRESENT CENTURY.
| By this time, suppose, the reader has ar
| rived at the conclusion that all the emf
| nent blind persons of history, with the sin
| gle exceptions of EusebiIs, and Torrentius
and Sanderson, lived and had their being in
the year 1701 to 1900, inclusive
The reason that have mentioned so very
| few of the eminent blind who lived prior to
the opening of the eighteenth century must
not be attributed to lack of data pointing
III that direction. There are volumes of
writings concerning the extraordinary do
lngs of blind persons from the time of
Christ, and even antedating that event.
However, l have preferred to give only
those of late date, fully substantiated by
reputable writers, believing that 1t will be
more valuable to the reader seeking for
curious and remarkable facts concerning
the human family than thousand illusions
TO semi-legendary characters.
To prove that all blind geniuses did not
die before the close Of the last century, we
will now note some of those of later date.
CHAPLAIN MILBURN.
Rev. w. H. Milburn, known throughout
the civilized world as ''the blind preacher, y
and who Is actively in the field at the pres
emit time, is one of the most remarkable
men of the age. He was born in Puila-
delphia in 1898. He totally lost the sight
OF one eye when quite young the other be-
coming badly impaired from sympathy, so
much so that it soon darkaned forever.
With spirit undaunted he studied and wa s
ordained as minister at the age of 20 and,
it is claimed. Travelled over 200, 900 miles
filling appointments in the southern states
Within the last thirty years he has
been chaplain in the House of Representa-
tives at Washington, besides filling many
other important positions. AS a writer he
is known as the author of "Ten Years of a
Preachers Life,n "Rifle AK and Saddle
bags" and Pioneer Preachers and People
of the Mississippi Valley"
THE BLIND SCULPTOR.
Vidal, the blind sculptor, is one of the
wonders OF the French capital. He has
been blind since his 2lst year. We can
quite easily understand how blind farmer
would cultivate the ground with the pillow,
spade and hoe. How he would feel around
the tender plants and gently loosen the dirt
from their roots, or how the blind Birming-
ham, Ala, miner tells, with the seuse of
touch alone, the direction and to what depth
to drill his holes before putting in a blast
but the work of Vidal stands out in bold
relief, unique. wonderful and incompara-
ble To be a sculptor 1t is generally sup
posed that one must have the mechanics
eye" and the artists taste and perspicuity.
The latter faculties Vidal has to an excep-
tional degree-even more acute, be believes,
than If the former were not lost to him for
ever. By slowly passing his hand over an
object he notes its external proportions and
| initiates them in clay in a manner which
strikes the beholder dumb with surprise. A
dog, horse, human face or anything alive OF
dead, he models with as much ease as any OF
t the dozens of Partisan sculptors who still
retain the faculty of sight.
5 From 1855 to 1875 Vidal received more
|, medals taan any other exhibitor of works
in the Paris art exhibitions. MANY of his
/ works, made in the solitude of his perpetua
4 midnight, are now on the shelves at the
> great exposition, where the blind wonder
contends in friendly rivalry with his less
unfortunate brother artists. He never
complains, is always genial and festive
when among his friends, who always speal
of and to him as though he could see, anc
well may they do SO, for he is one of thu
3 best art critics In all Paris.
THE GREAT POSTAL REFoRMER.
Henry Fawcett, the blind English post
master general, who died in 1884, was g
greater man by half after the unfortunat,
J accident which deprived him of sight thar
he ever was before. He was born in 1885
and lost his eyes in 1858 at the age of %
5 from the effect of a gunshot wound. AT
that time he was poor law student. With
} in less than ten years. through constant asso-
! citation with John Stuart Mill, he became
only second to that great author as a
J writer on political economy. In 1865, eight
} years after his misfortune, he was elected
to the House of Commons from Brighton.
aud soon became one of the leaders of that
body. His writings, mostly on political
and economic subjects, would fill a. large