The Portland daily press., 1900-02-21
YALE'S BLIND SCHOLAR.
Remarkable Record Made b.
Alexander Cameron.
Has Had TO Struggle Against Poverty
Besides HIS Innrmity-Hss Mastered
the Classics and Hebrew and VIII
He the First Blind PHI. D.-His Mis-
fortunes.
IN. Y. Sun. }

New Haven, Feb. 16.-One Of the col.
lses celebrities, Alexander Cameron,
Yale's blind man, has packed up his
trunk and gone home to st. George. New
Brunswick. III luck has been pursuing
him Ill the past year. for he has repeated
~ gone to the hospital suffering from the
effects Of overwork, and this week the
browning calamity met hin - he went
to breakfast. He had almost reached the
door Of the restaurant when he walked
into an open sidewalk area and fell,
cutting his face 90 badly that several
stitches were necessary. This final mis-
fortune sent the blind philosopher TO his
country retreat. whsre he will employ the
next two months in writing thesis for
his DOCTORS degree on "Taotils Psrcep-
tion."
For the last three years Cameron has
been noted figure at Yale. He has been
studying philosophy In the rost-graduate
school, and has at the same time been
taking . course In the Divinity School.
so that he 10 well known TO large oircls
Of studsntsL The undergraduates knows
MI" Qulo0 WvA W otkas AoA No WIZ W w.
seen on the campus at all hours. . sturdy
figure In great coat, walking briskly
with his cane pointing In front Of him,
from one lecture hall to another. The
nsws OF the accident this week has drawn
general attention TO this remarkable
man, who has almost attained the dis.
tinotion Of Phi. d. degree. and 10 the
first blind student in America, 1t 10 said.
who has ever climbed 90 high.
Owing to the blunder Of doctor Cam
sron was deprived Of his syssight at the
age of i've years. 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 supported hims,lf entirely By leo
turing and preaching, making enough In
the summer to enable him to live at COL
lego In the winter. Good spirits and hard
study have made his progress upward pos
sible. The sAd-faosd theological students
who read TO him an hour ut . time every
day never fail TO be astopishsd at his
ohsesiness and alertness. Although Cam
eron has the dour Scotch face OF Oar.
lyle. he 10 man Of lively spseoh and
admire the sternnsss Of Milton and writes
not line Of poetry himself. an unusual
boast for q blind man; he finds the Cd.
strnotions Of Kant and Sohopsnhauar
more entertaining than the airy nothings
Of the poet.
Cameron is type of the scholar orr
morant; his appetite for knowledge grows
BY what Il fseds on. Hour by hour. fresh
ct udent volunteers knock at his door and
relieve the reader; the blind man sits In
his study afternoon and evening and
drinks from the wells Of philosophy and
theology. These studies are never intSr-
ruptsd except when he goes to the hos
more concerning the industry Of this
student when IL 10 stated that he has bsen
In the habit of attending twsnty-eigh
hour lectures a week; the average COL
lege student thinks hsI 10 Q martyr 20
learning II he attends three lectures
has acoomr lished during the last ten
years 10 amazing. He 10 now az years
old, and In addition to q thorough ool-
lege education in higher mathematics IL
master Of Hebrew, Greek, Latin and
modern languages. The almost inorsdi-
BILE labor In acquiring these languages
may be better realized when II 10 said
that be mas copied from diotation most
of the classics By means Of the machine
used by the blind IN making raised let
tiers. HEBREW was too refractory for this
i'm plement and as no blind man had ever
studied Hebrew before he was obliged to
in vent q machine Of his own. with which
he copied out the awful contents Of .
Hebrew grammar and most Of the Bible
in the original
TriRouomstry and mechanics also gave
him some trouble, but he overoame all
difficulties By dsvising a system for max
ing raised ,figuresi as for his algebra he
worked IL out in his head, from simple
factoring 10 the sinuosities Of calculus.
Before entering Carleton College he had
was graduated from Duluth Central
High school, one OF the largest high
schools in the United States. hSsd man
In his class with an all-Fonnd average OF
Us Der cent. He was class orator int0 the
bargain. At college he took four years'