to those blind persons who, for want of work, have been compelled
to solicit alms, or who may be likely to be tempted to do so. To
cause those unacquainted with a trade to be instructed in some
industrial art, and to introduce trades hitherto unpractised by the
blind. Also, to support a Circulating Library consisting of books
in various systems of relief print, to the advantages of which the
indigent blind shall be admitted free of charge, and others upon
payment of the subscription required by the Committee. To enable
blind musicians to show that the loss of sight does not prevent
their being efficient organists and scientific musicians. To
collect and disseminate information relative to the physical,
mental, moral, and religious conditions of the blind; and to
promote among individuals and institutions seeking to ameliorate
the condition of the blind, a friendly interchange of information
calculated to advance the common cause."

Rule 16 also provides, "That with a view to increase the funds and
extend the utility of the Association, the Committee shall have
power to receive into connection with the Association other kindred
institutions, and shall seek to form auxiliaries in various parts
of the kingdom."

The Association will probably never be called upon to undertake
anything with regard to music, as the field is now so well and
fully occupied by the Royal Normal College; but the rule is quoted
exactly as it stands in order to show the breadth of the original
design, which design should be kept steadily in view. It is most
desirable that among those who may direct the Association there
should always be some persons who should make it their special
object to study the condition of the blind, and in this study the
knowledge of the following facts will be found of service, viz.--

_1st._ That many blind persons after leaving the schools are,
although instructed in some trade, reduced to begging or driven to
the workhouse, not through their own fault, but simply for the want
of any regular employment in their trade.

_2d._ That children constitute but a small proportion of the blind;
as about nine-tenths of the 30,000 blind in the United Kingdom
become so above the age of twenty-one, and are then ineligible for
admission to most blind