d educators
of both classes have protested against it. The question has thus been
stated: The deaf and the blind "have nothing in common in the matter of
education, and the bringing of the two classes together is a prolific
source of friction and compromise."[266] The blind, it seems, are the
worst sufferers, as they are in a minority, are often considered only a
department or class in an institution designed primarily for the deaf,
and consequently receive less attention than they should.[267] However,
this arrangement has not been adopted as a deliberate policy on the part
of the state: rather, it was begun when the school was young, pupils of
both classes few, and one plant was thought adequate; and was allowed to
continue as a makeshift till separate schools could be created. As the
states have grown in population and resources, most have seen the wisdom
of severing the blind from the deaf; and even in the states where the
dual school is retained it is probably only a question of time till
provision will be made for the separate education of the two classes,
and eventually there will be independent schools for each in all the
states.

PROVISION FOR THE DEAF-BLIND

In 1824 at the school for the deaf at Hartford, Connecticut, the first
deaf-blind pupil in America began to receive instruction. To-day the
names of certain illustrious deaf-blind persons are known over the
civilized world.[268] Such children are provided for at present more
often in schools for the deaf than in schools for the blind, only one or
two schools for the latter class instructing them. The deaf-blind,
however, do not form a large class, and only in a small number of
schools are they to be found.[269] In certain cases where the school is
only for the deaf, special permission with a special appropriation has
to be obtained, but there has been little difficulty met here from the
legislatures. To certain of the deaf-blind individual benefactions have
been made, as legacies, donations and subscriptions, sometimes given to
the institutions to hold in trust; and in some cases these funds are for
life.

PROVISION FOR THE FEEBLE-MINDED DEAF

In many of the schools for the deaf a problem has arisen in connection
with a number of feeble-minded children more or less defective in speech
or hearing who have sought to gain admittance. Educators of the deaf
have been called upon to give considerable attention to this class, and
it has been a serious qu