n 1771, at
the annual fair of St Ovid, in Paris, an innkeeper had a group of blind
men attired in a ridiculous manner, decorated with peacock tails, asses'
ears, and pasteboard spectacles without glasses, in which condition they
gave a burlesque concert, for the profit of their employer. This sad
scene was repeated day after day, and greeted with loud laughter by the
gaping crowds. Among those who gazed at this outrage to humanity was the
philanthropist Valentin Hauy, who left the disgraceful scene full of
sorrow. "Yes," he said to himself, "I will substitute truth for this
mocking parody. I will make the blind to read, and they shall be enabled
to execute harmonious music." Hauy collected all the information he
could gain respecting the blind, and began teaching a blind boy who had
gained his living by begging at a church door. Encouraged by the
success of his pupil, Hauy collected other blind persons, and in 1785
founded in Paris the first school for the blind (the Institution
Nationale des Jeunes Aveugles), and commenced the first printing in
raised characters. In 1786, before Louis XVI. and his court at
Versailles, he exhibited the attainments of his pupils in reading,
writing, arithmetic, geography and music, and in the same year published
an account of his methods, entitled _Essai sur l'education des
aveugles_. As the novelty wore off, contributions almost came to an end,
and the Blind School must have ceased to exist, had it not been taken,
in 1791, under the protection of the state.

The emperor of Russia, and later the dowager empress, having learned of
Hauy's work, invited him to visit St Petersburg for the purpose of
establishing a similar institution in the Russian capital. On his
journey Hauy was invited by the king of Prussia to Charlottenburg. He
took part in the deliberations of the Academy of Sciences in Berlin, and
as a result a school was founded there.

Edward Rushton, a blind man, was the projector of the first institution
for the blind in England--the School for the Indigent Blind, Liverpool.
In 1790 Rushton suggested to the literary and philosophical society of
which he was a member, the establishment of a benefit club for the
indigent blind. The idea was communicated to his friend, J. Christie, a
blind musician, and the latter thought the scheme should also include
the instruction of young blind persons. They circulated letters amongst
individuals who would be likely to give their assistance, an