The Blind of Various Countries-continued. How far such Objects have been carried out A Prayer for the Blind, by the Right Rev. A. T. BLINDNESS AND THE BLIND. THE CAUSES OF BLINDNESS AND HINTS FOR THE PRESERVATION OF SIGHT. As it is generally admitted that blindness is one of the greatest evils to which the human race is liable, it cannot be out of place to take into consideration the nature of the causes which produce so heavy a calamity, and the means best adapted to prevent persons being overtaken by an affliction which is dreaded alike by every class of the community. Until a comparatively recent period small-pox was the most prolific cause of loss of sight, but vaccination has deprived it to a very great extent of its sting. Small-pox, although deprived of the first place as a destructive agent, still exercises great influence in causing loss of vision. At the present time a very large proportion of the sightless owe their misfortune to the agency of this malady. To prevent blindness from small-pox, care should be taken to see that every member of the family be properly vaccinated, and it should not be thought sufficient that the operation was performed in infancy, but the process should be repeated at least every three years. Contact with persons suffering from the disease, B or lately recovered from it, should be studiously avoided, unless considerations of duty render such contact unavoidable. In such circumstances plain diet, simple non-infectives, and, above all, strong faith in the goodness of God in summoning to the post of duty, is what becomes the Christian, and is what will prove his best defence against this fearful scourge. Scrofula is a fruitful source of injury to the eyes; and it is remarkable that while vaccination has greatly limited the ravages of small-pox, it has, on the other hand, been the means of increasing the cases of scrofula. This has arisen from the use of impure virus, thus introducing into the system the germs of disease. The productive agents of scrofula are-damp and illventilated dwellings, want of cleanliness, insufficient and bad food, and intemperance of all kinds. The blind, owing their privation to this malady, have not merely to contend with the loss of sight, but they have also the misfortune of possessing very weak physical systems. This double affliction makes their position particularly painful, and everything should be done to alleviate their misfortune that can be effected by nutritious diet, pure air, moderate bodily exercise, and diversity of mental employment; and it should never be forgotten that scrofula is one of the diseases in which the evils are not confined to the immediate sufferer, but the ill effects, especially in extreme cases, descend to posterity. This consideration merits great attention, and its importance cannot be over-estimated. Measles, scarlet-fever, and typhus-fever are among the most potent enemies of sight. Measles as well as small-pox attain their greatest development among the vast populations of China, for in that empire it is estimated that fully one-third of the inhabitants die or become blind from these diseases. It is remarkable that among the Arabs measles and small-pox are almost unknown, and it has been conjectured that the reason of this exemption is to be found in the circumstance of their living so much among cattle. This hypothesis, however, is fairly open to doubt, since it often happens that contagious diseases first arise among cattle, and are thence communicated to the human beings around them; hence the wise precautions taken by civilized governments to prevent disease among animals. There can be little doubt that contact with unhealthy cattle tends to a very large extent to the increase of disease among men, and it may be therefore assumed that the true cause of the exemption of the Arabs from measles and smallpox may be found in their nomadic life, for pure air and healthy exercise are the great antidotes against disease of all kinds, especially those of a contagious nature. It may not be irrelevant to mention here that a few years ago a shopkeeper of Berlin having a son who complained that he could not see so well as usual with one of his eyes, was conducted to the establishment of Dr. Greafe. On examining the patient, the doctor said it was lucky the child had been promptly brought to him, for he declared that immediately behind the iris of the affected eye there was a tapeworm. "This parasite," he added, "would undoubtedly have soon completely destroyed the organ of vision in which it had taken up its quarters." The doctor said, "It was a wonder that such cases were not more frequent; they arose," he observed, "from eating underdone or uncooked meat, and most generally pork." "In 1867, trichiniasis having reappeared at Berlin, and seventy persons being at one time ill from having eaten of pork bought from one butcher,-Drs. Weiss and Wiessner, of Vienna, undertook many elaborate experiments, with the view of throwing additional light on the awful malady, which it would be out of place to recapitulate here. Suffice it to say that they |