s
misdirected sympathy is one of the hardest things the blind adult has to
bear, and often when I urge a man to go out among his friends as he did
when he could see, he answers, "I can't do it just yet. I can't bear the
pitying tone. It would make me lose my grip, and I must not let go." And
sometimes I go to his friends and explain the situation, and persuade
them to call on their friend, take him out with them, talk to him of the
ordinary, commonplace happenings, keeping their sympathy well disguised,
or, rather, showing a comprehending sympathy, a sympathy that recognizes
a brave man's effort to accept his fate unwhimperingly.

Another popular belief is that the blind are naturally very religious.
Unfortunately, this belief seems to be shared by those who selected many
of the books to be printed in raised types, since about one-half of the
books selected are of a religious character. The blind are naturally
introspective, and their power of concentration is greater than that of
the average person, but I have not found them to be unusually religious.
I do not think that blindness increases or decreases the religious
tendency.

A third fallacy is that the blind can tell colors by feeling. This is
absolutely impossible. I have heard of men who could tell the difference
of color in horses, but, upon questioning them closely, I found that the
texture of the hair varied in light and dark colored animals. Of course,
there is an odor about some colored dyes, such as black and indigo blue.
Some of the blind are themselves responsible for fostering this belief,
but they do it to test the credulity of the public, and they do not know
the real harm they are doing to the cause.

It is a common belief, too, that all blind people like music, and are
especially gifted in this art. I do not believe that the percentage of
really musical blind people is greater than that of persons who see.
Sometimes a blind man or woman will study music either as a pastime, or
in the hope of making a living, but the lack of eyesight does not
increase or diminish one's musical ability.

In the lecture on the psychology of blindness, I endeavored to prove
that the blind were not possessed of greater faculties than their seeing
fellows, but that loss of eyesight made it imperative to cultivate the
remaining senses to a very high degree, and that such cultivation led to
a greater keenness in the interpretation of the information furnished
the remainin