The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-03-21
BLIND SCHOLAR OF YALE.
REMARKABLE RECORD MADE BY
ALEXANDER CAMERON.
Hns Had to Struggle Against owe
ty BESIDES His Infirmity-Hns
Mastered the Classics and Hebrew
and VIII he First Blind Pm. ID.

blind man, has packed up his trunk and
gone home to st. George, New Brunswick.
Il-luck has been pursuing him all the past
year. for he has repeatedly gone to the
hospital suffering from the effects of over
work, and this week the browning calam-
ity met him as he went to breakfast. He
had almost reached the door Of the res
taurant when he walked into an open
sidewalk area and fell. cutting his face
so badly that several stitches were neces-
sary. This final misfortune sent the blind
philosopher to his country retreat, where
he will employ the next two months In
writing a thesis for his doctors degree on
"Tactile Perception"
For the last three years Cameron has
been a noted figure at Yale. He has been
studying philosophy in the postgraduate
school. and has at the same time been
taking a course in the Divinity school,, so
that he is well known to n large circle OF
students. The undergraduate knows him
quite well by sight, for he was to be seen
on the campus at all hours, a sturdy fig
ure in a great coat, walking briskly, with
his cane pointing I'm front OF him. from
one lecture hall to another. The news of
the accident this week has drawn general
attention to this remarkable man. who
has almost attained the distinction of a
Phi. D.. degree. and is the first blind stu
dent in America, II Is said, who has ever
climbed so high.
Owing to the blunder OF a doctor Cam
eron was deprived OF hts eyesight at the
age Of 5. and since that time he has been
Obliged to struggle not only against his
innrmity. but also against poverty. While
attending lectures at Yale he has sup
ported himself entirely by lecturng and
preaching. making enough in the summer
to enable him to i've at college I'm the win
ter Good spirits and hard study have
made his progress upward possible; the
sad-faced theological students who read
70 AtD. - hA,.e a % - 49,
fail to be astonished at his cheeriness and
alertness. Although Cameron has the
dour Scotch face OF a Carlyle, he is a man
OF lively speech and keenest sense Of hu-
NOR. He does not admire the sternness OF
Milton. and writes not a line Of noetrv
himself, an unusual boast for a blind man.
he finds the distractions of Kant and
Sc%hopenhauer more entertaining than the
airy nothinrs NJ the noet
Cameron is n tyne of the scholar cor-
morant; his appetite for knowledge grows
by what II feeds on. Hour bv hf,r fresh
student volunteers knock at his door and
relieve the reader; the blind man ats in
his study afternoon and evening and
drinks from the wells of phiIosopby and
theology. These studies are never inter
rupted except when he goes to the hos
pital. IL is scarcely necessary 20 s.y
more concerning the industry Of this stn-
dent when It is stated that he has been
In the habit of attending twentv-e,ght
hour lectures In n week: the ayerax 90 COL
lege student thinks he is a martyr TO
learning II he attends three lectures a
day. The amount OF work that Cam
eron has accumulated during tho lac,
ten years is amazing. He is now p years
old, and In addition to n Thorough COL
lege education in higher mathematics ,s
master of Hebrew, Greek. Latin and mod
ern languages. The almost incred,hla
labor In acquiring these languages may
he better realized when n is sotd ina,
he has copied from dlctatton most ~ ,ha
classics by means OF the machine ,,sed
by the blind in making r,isus Iet,ars 10.
brew was too refractory for This irnnIe.
ment. and "a no blind man h,d aver
studied Hebrew before. he was obliged m
invent a machine OF his own with which
he copied out the awful contents NJ a
Hebrew grammar and most OF the piblo
I'm the original
Trigonometry and mechanics also s,vo
him some trouble. hut he overcame ali
diffcnIties NV davis,rg = system 60 no
ing raised figures. as for hts aIyebra he
worked that out IN his hena I'm, stna.
ME factoring 10 The s,nuns,,tss - 80,
lus BEFORE entering Carle,cn oottos,a ~
had ,Irsadv shown -, - :.
he was graduated from, putn,b Gar,raI
high school ona "a, r. -" hiah
schools In The rTn,,ed St,+cs "a man
In HE class ui,h 90 aW-ro, 80 n""
~ az ner cent he wa. 49, a
the bargain. AT college no took fo,r
years work IN ,hrea ena stnca -,
atty has received ths aegrc. ~ NJ
En, a. unust not ho s,'5a1rad - -.
hind mon ~ c"io~sai ,.rhfn. ."a. ~
Inc avents going or f., ~ - a
he has been taxing the -. $3.50
I'm the var hetng wosed g. g., 49,
As his ~erap0fsfber vs. a gJ@rToaS 80
! sier he rs nhart,oa - ~
of marital blood D,rtng ~ t., r
he ms hesr arta,,atntag 49, n'-'.u
renectIons ON mo vgar rrhtrb &C." 80
tic OF the mar, niayet by r. ftDIFr
,rS hut der"gatnrv 20 p,,tar G
thinks thar he BTitisb for..s 49, 49,
scattered from cane Colony 10 No. ,b,r.
desert ana ,b,t ~. ttt~hS ~ ooNa,a
inr tbe hrearh f., me w1onttra.
riaee 10 ~ IN" - -"
Of Of a a is S@o~ on 1 II. fs fashs rs the .,s sra IN son