The Washington herald., 1908-01-05

stone blind, his eyesight having been |
destroyed BY an explosion which oe-
CURED early in his chemical investiga |
tlons of the constitution of steel. He is |
Edward De Mile Campbell. since 1903 di- |
rector of the chemical laboratory Of the
University Of Michigan
The man to whom learned university
professors OF mathematics and famous
astronomers come for instruction in tile
most abstruse mathematics has been
stone blind from birth. He is Lewis b.
CARL. Of Brooklyn. famed the mathe-
matical world over as its only living au-
thority on the calculus of variations, a
branch of the science which only the
cream Of the mathematical sharps have
brains enough to conquer.
The woman whose 5000 odd Gospel
songs have gone round the world has
been stone blind since she was six
months old To-day she is nearing her
eighty-eighth birthday. and is as active
mentally and physically as she was for
ty-four years ago. when she began giving
TO Christianity such hymns as Jesus,
Keep Me Near the Cross" Rescue the
Perishing," ~ Am Thine. o Lord" and
safe Tn the Arms Of Jesus"
Blind Since Fifteen Years Old.
John B. Herreshon, famous on two con-
tinents as the modeler of the -latter-day
defenders of the Americas Cup, has not
been able to tell day from night since he
was fifteen years old, when a film began
10 spread over his eyes and soon there
after left him in total physical darkness.
For the first time in its history a blind
man has been elected to the Senate of
the United States. He Is Thomas p. Gore,
one of the first pair of toga wearers from
the new State of Oklahoma. When he
was nine years of age one eye was put
cut during a quarrel with playmate;
when he was twelve the other was de-
stroyed by another playmate accidentally
piercing it with an arrow.
For years two Of the sovereign States
of the UniOn-Canfornia and Rhode
Island-supinely did the bidding OF two
blind bosses Christopher A. Buckley
and Gen. Charles r. Brayton, respect
lively
The most popular tutor in mathematics
at Columbia University, because he is
the most successful Is DR.. Newell Perry,
whose face when he was a child of eight
on his fathers ranch in California, came
in contact with some poison, causing him
TO go blind in few weeks.
Long List of Blind.
These are only a few of the more prom
inent blind men and women who, aided
almost solely by their indomitable deter
mination 10 do so, have risen superior
TO an affiicti0n that the average man or
woman looks upon as appalling a COM
plete list of who's who among the blind
would be long, indeed, and include the
names of such well-knOwn doers as NJ,
Riggenbach. professor OF theology in the
University Of Basle: NJ. Camille Lemaire,
the French architect, who. on becoming
blind, devoted himself TO writing a his
tory of architecture DR.. Emile laval,
the French Oculist. who, since becom-
ing sightless at the age Of 6iXty-tWO.
has spent his time teaching others how
TO perform the operations for which he
was famed on the continent; Dagnia. the
organist: 10 say nothing OF the most IA
nous blind parsonage Of modern times
John Milton
Remarkable Feats of Memory.
Varied as are the careers of present day
prominent blind men, a glance at their
lives shows that the success Of each
that he has been able TO develop his
memory TO perform feats that deserve
classification among the phenomena Of
the mind
one OF the problems in Mr. Carns
book on Calculus of Variations takes
US several score pages. He spent three
years working out the problem, but not
until he had arrived at the correct an
swer did he commit any portion Of the
problem 70 paper by the point system.
As fast as he worked out one step of
the problem-it took him weeks. some-
times. TO do this-he stored the result
Of his IabOTs in his memory and did not
bring it forth again until he, too, could
cry Eureka In such manner he
wrote the whole Of his first book a for
midable volume of 56S pages. on which
he spent ten years. His second book,
"AfterthOughts on Calculus Of Varia-
ton" is the result Of twenty years Of
study 1t deals with the most DIFFICULT
mathematical problems known TO the hu-
man mind-prOblems that Mr.. CARL was
not able to master when he wrote his
'Variations;" hence the name, After
thoughts" And no problem in this sec
ond work. the only one OF Its kind ever
written, was committed to paper until
Mr. CARL, pacing up and down his room,
after month. year after year. in several
instances, had grasped the solution.
Gore Good In Geometry.
Senator Thomas P. Gore Is credited
with having graduated in geometry with
out drawing line or making a single
figure. Perhaps the most remarkable
demonstration Of his truly remarkable
memory was given during a debate with
Senator fernando de Soto Money, of
Mississippi. Cores native State.
Money at the time was candidate for
reelection to Congress on the Democrat
ic ticket; Gore. then a Populist, had
been selected as the party's best man TO
answer the arguments of ''the gentleman
from Mississippi"
Just before the word contest began
the blind man requested of his opponent
that a division OF time he made. Money,
who that day had met Gore for the first
time, resented the request for some rea-
son. and his reply was none too civil:
Il will speak as long as 1 please. You
are at liberty to do the same"
For three solid hours thereafter Money
let loose a veTitable flood OF talk on the
big crowd assembled for miles around
the little town of Hohenlinden to listen
TO the debate. Through il all Gore sat
with unruffled brow; then, when his op-
poneRt had run out Of breath at last.
he took the platform and held his hearers
spelbound for four solid hours Incl
dentany, he quoted. without a slip, page
after page Of his antagonists record as
set down in the Congressional Record.
this having been read to him only a day
or two before.
Buckley Once Drinker.
Though he drank himself blind before