and unable to endure the scorn which followed the report of the commissioners, Dr. Guillié resigned in 1821. Dr. Pignier was appointed his successor, and though a man of truth and honor, his education, which had been entirely in the monkish schools, rendered him utterly unfit for the post. With the best intentions, the financial and educational condition of the school was constantly growing worse. At length in 1840, the government undertook in earnest its reform. Ordering the erection of new buildings in a more healthful location, they appointed a commission to reform and reorganize the school. On the report of that commission, M. Dufau, who had been for twenty-five years, a teacher in the institution, was appointed director, and has continued in that position up to the present time. M. Dufau is eminently qualified for the place, and has filled it with signal abili ty. Under his administration, the finances have greatly improved, the course of instruction has been lengthened and systematized, and a judicious course of elementary works having been prepared and printed in relief, the progress of his pupils has been rapid in all the studies they have undertaken. The work department has also been thoroughly reorganized, a society established for the assistance of blind workmen, and the wants of the blind very thoroughly cared for. Indeed, this school, while the oldest, is also, in every respect, the best in Europe. In order to give a just idea of the course of instruction adopted in the training of the blind, we give the following statement of the division of time, and the course of study pursued in the Paris institution, from M. Dufau's work "Des-Aveugles: The pupil rises at six o'clock in the morning; from this time till eight, he studies or works; at eight, breakfast; from half past eight till half past ten, classes; from half past ten to noon, study or work; at noon, dinner; at one o'clock, reading by divisions, according to age; from half past one to seven, musical classes, or other studies and work, this interval being only broken by a collation, at half past three; at seven, supper, after which, study and reading until nine; at nine all go to bed. Each repast is followed by a half hour's recreation. The studies are thus arranged: Primary course.-First year, reading, writing in points, sacred history, elements of music; second year, French grammar, ancient history, geography, arithmetic, elements of music, wind or string instruments; third year, French grammar, Roman history, geography, arithmetic, vocalization and singing, piano and other instruments; fourth year, grammar, arithmetic, national history, history of France, vocalization and singing, instrumental instruction. Higher course.-First and second years, rhetoric, literature, philosophy, political geography, general history, geometry, physics and cosmography, harmony, and the use of musical instruments; third and fourth years, moral science, political economy, and musical compositions, instruction on the organ or other instruments. The tuning of pianos is added to musical studies, in the last year, by those who are destined to follow that business. Those who intend to follow a trade, confine themselves to the workshop, during the second period of four years studying, two hours a day only. Among the schools for the blind on the continent, after that at Paris, those at Vienna, Berlin, Amsterdam and Lausanne, have attained the highest reputation, for the useful and thorough training of their pupils, and the number of eminent scholars which they have graduated. The British schools for the blind have never taken a high stand in their literary training. Those of Edinburg, Glasgow, Bristol, Norwich and York, devote more attention to intellectual culture than the others; but the utmost limit attained even in these is the acquisition of a knowledge of the mere rudiments of geography, arithmetic, history, and perhaps grammar. The attention of the pupil is mostly confined to industrial pursuits, basket and mat making, the manufacture of mattresses, &c. In the United States, larger and more liberal views have prevailed. The "Perkins Institution and Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind," founded at Boston, in 1833, through the influence and energetic efforts of Dr. Howe, and the munificence of Col. T. H. Perkins, has, from the first, aimed to give the blind an education, which should fit them for any position in life which their infirmity might allow them to fill; and the same spirit has pervaded the teaching of the New York, Philadelphia, Columbus, and Jacksonville schools, and to a considerable extent, the smaller institutions in other portions of the country.. The time of instruction embraces from six to eight years, and includes a course in mathematics and belles-lettres, as extensive as that in most of the colleges of the country; and a full and thorough musical training. The languages are not usually taught. There are besides the European Institutions for the blind, of which we gave an incomplete list in a previous number, [No. 9, p. 484,] of the Journal, the following, and perhaps some other asylums, industrial establishments and hospitals for the blind in Europe, in which instruction in reading or the other branches of education, is not required. In many of them the inmates are received for life: Hospice de Quinze-Vingts, Paris, has 400 inmates, 600 pensioners, income, $66,000. Society for aid of Blind Workmen, Paris, 20 inmates, income in 1850, $2,860, expenses, $1,820. Blind Sisters of St. Paul, at Vaugirard, 100 inmates. Little Blind Brothers of St. Paul, near Paris. House of Labor for the Adult Blind, Vienna, 60 inmates, income, $8,900, expenses, $7,800. Hospital for the Blind, Vienna, on the model of the Hospice QuinzeVingts. Industrial Asylum for the Adult Blind, Berlin, 20 inmates. The Crêche, or Hospital for Young Blind Children, Berlin. Hospital for the Blind, Berlin. Hospital for the Blind, St. Petersburg. These are asylums rather than hospitals. Simpson Hospital for Blind and Gouty Persons, Dublin. London. Jewish Asylum for the Indi gent Blind, London. Asylum for the Indigent Blind, These are departments of the insti- PRINTING FOR THE BLIND.-It was not long after Haüy commenced the instruction of his blind pupils, that he became convinced of the necessity of devising some mode of printing, by which touch might supply the place of sight to the reader; and after revolving several plans in his mind, accident finally suggested the best method. Sending his pupil Lesueur to his desk one day for some article, the young man found there a printed card of invitation, which had received an unusually strong impression; passing his fingers over the back of the paper, he distinguished the letter O, and brought the paper to Hauy to show him that he could do so. The philanthropist saw at a glance that the principle of printing for the blind was discovered, and that it was only necessary to perfect the process. He experimented for a long time on the form of letters best adapted to be read by touch, and finally adopted the Illyrian, which, from the square form of the letter, seemed to offer more distinct points of recognition than any other; but unfortunately his letters were too large, and the embossing so imperfect, as to make it difficult for those whose tactile sensibility was defective, to read them. His successor, Dr. Guillié, adopted a different form of letter in the place of the Illyrian, and boasted greatly of the perfection of his type; but the twenty-two volumes published by him were found illegible by the blind, and were mostly sold to the shops for refuse paper. Dr. Pignier, who succeeded him, probably introduced the script letter, which, with some modifications to promote greater sharpness of embossing, is still used on the continent at Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Pesth, Amsterdam and St. Petersburg, in all of which cities printing for the blind has been executed. In England, Mr. James Gall, Principal of the Edinburg Institution for the Blind, commenced, in 1826, a series of experiments with a great variety of alphabets, with a view of ascertaining which was best adapted to the purposes of the blind. The alphabet upon which he finally fixed is known as Gall's triangular alphabet. He published several small books in it, but repeatedly modified its form, till at last it approximated to the Roman alphabet. These books have never come into general use among the blind, although quite legible. They were printed in 1832, and the five following years. A more popular and attractive form of letters was adopted, nearly simultaneously, in Great Britain and in the United States. It is known in the former country as Alston's, and in the latter as the Philadelphia letter. It is the Roman capital, with a light sharp face, and deprived of the serifs or hair lines, forming a type analogous to that known among type founders and printers as sans-serif. Dr. Fry is said to have been the first to suggest its use in England, and Mr. Friedlander, the founder of the Philadelphia School for the Blind, had, at a period somewhat earlier, adopted it here. Dr. Russ, the founder of the New York Institution, devised a phonetic alphabet in 1833, which possessed considerable merit, but did not come into use to any great extent. The alphabet for the blind, which is most generally used in Great Britain and America, is the Boston letter, invented and perfected by Dr. S. G. Howe, the founder of the Perkins Institute for the Blind. Its peculiarities, which it would be easier to distinguish than to describe, are, the angular form of the letters; the rigid adherence to what printers call "lower case" letters; the marked distinction between those which are ordinarily most nearly alike in form; its compactness, and the sharpness and perfection of the embossing. On account of these qualities, which rendered it more easily legible by the blind than any other, and reduced the cost of printing, the jury on printing, at the London Crystal Palace exhibition, gave it their preference over the other styles of type for the blind. The number of books in this letter is much greater than in any other. We have already adverted to Dr. Russ' invention of a phonetic alphabet; the introduction of arbitrary characters has been repeatedly attempted in printing for the blind, and with all the advantages of large funds to prosecute the work; but it has proved practically a failure, because the blind have found it more difficult to acquire these arbitrary alphabets than the ordinary English letters; and because their use in writing or reading would only put them in communication with the few who had acquired these systems, and thus would lead to the greater isolation of the blind as a class. Three of these alphabets have been put forth in England, and in each there have been several books, (the Scriptures among the number,) published, and each has been proclaimed as an advance on every previous method of teaching the blind. They are known as Lucas', Fresre's and Moon's, the inventors being principals, respectively, of the Bristol, London and Blackheath, and Brighton Asylums for the Blind. We ought not to omit here a reference to an ingenious apparatus used as a substitute for books and manuscripts, which was the joint invention of two blind men, Messrs. Macbeath and Milue of the Edinburg Institution, in 1830. We allude to the string alphabet; a mode of designating, by the form and distance of knots, on a cord, the different letters of the alphabet; this invention, though cumbrous and capable of material improvement, was, for many years, in use in the Edinburg Institution, though never generally adopted elsewhere. The great cost of printing books for the blind, in consequence of their bulk, and the small editions required, has rendered the supply, very scanty, aside from the Scriptures and the text-books in use in the different institutions. There were in 1856 but forty-six miscellaneous books in English, printed in relief, unless we include those printed in the arbitrary characters, which aside from the Scriptures, amounted to nine volumes more. Many of them are quite small, some comprising only a very few pages; yet these fifty-five volumes, if sold at actual cost, would amount to about seventy dollars. Provision should be made by the governments of Great Britain and the United States, for a fund, to be devoted to the production of books for the blind. The variety of books, published for the blind on the continent of Europe, is still smaller. The French catalogue, which is by far the largest, contains, besides the necessary text-books, only a very few religious books, lives of the saints, &c. The Dutch catalogue has but twelve volumes in all, several of which are single books of the Scriptures; nor are the others more extensive. The printing of music for the blind, which seems a necessity, from the resource which it furnishes for a comfortable livelihood to many of them, has been a very expensive and difficult matter, so much so, |