for

useful information, we venture to recommend to the notice of those interested in the subject. To be a successful tuner it is not necessary that a person should have what is generally called a good musical ear, excellence depends more on the correctness acquired by practice, than upon any natural acuteness of the auditory nerve; in fact, those who have great quickness of hearing are often indifferent tuners. The practice of the art, however, makes great demands on the nervous system, and should not be followed by any one having a weakness in that direction. It has often struck us that much difficulty might be saved if (instead of tuning in the ordinary way by bearings) a fork were used for every note; in this way only twelve forks would be required, and while certainty would be guaranteed, the trouble would be greatly lessened. The plan would not at all interfere with the system of equal temperament, as the tuning-forks might be made of the required tones. In France great attention has been paid to the subject of tuning, and one of the late pupils of the Paris Institution for the Blind, M. Montal, has not only reached great excellence in that art, but has also acquired a considerable reputation as a manufacturer of musical instruments. He obtained a medal of the first class at the Paris International Exhibition of 1855. He also had the honour of being appointed pianoforte maker to the Emperor Napoleon and the Emperor of Brazil, and he was created a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour of France, and of the order of the Rose of Brazil. How much of the handicraftwork connected with pianofortes was done by Montal himself we are unable to say, as he employed many sighted workmen; but his success as a manufacturer is worthy of the highest praise. A few persons have obtained a moderate degree of success as blind vocalists, but efforts in this direction, for the most part, have proved failures. Why this should be, appears at first sight somewhat strange, as the absence of vision interferes in no way with the action of the voice.

On considering the subject, however, we find that there are certain matters of detail, which fully account for the circumstance. The object of an audience in attending a concert is to obtain as great an amount of pleasure as possible, and it must be admitted that contact with affliction in any form is ill calculated to promote the kind of pleasure sought, and it is therefore matter of surprise that whenever a vocalist without sight has been announced, his blindness has been made a prominent feature of the placard. Of course the idea has been to excite sympathy, but that is just what people want to have nothing to do with in a concert room. Why should not blind vocalists take their stand like other persons, simply on their professional merits? We believe that, if such a course were adopted, success in this department would be much more frequent. The use of coloured spectacles would aid very much in this endeavour; and, so far from making their misfortune known, the blind should do all in their power to conceal it, for it should be remembered that patronage always comes to the strong, and avoids the weak, and that as far as men are concerned we should conceal our defects and make the public feel the force of our excellences. In Paris there is an entertainment given every evening at a public room, named the Café des Aveugles; but all that the blind have to do in the matter is to perform the orchestral parts. There are burlesques, stage-plays without scenery, and vocal performances; but those who take part in them can see. The blind musicians are miserably paid, and we believe that the moral repute of the house is far from good. Brass and string bands have been established in various blind schools, but the pecuniary results of such undertakings have been meagre in the extreme, and with regard to the use of brass bands it may be stated that as the use of wind instruments is very injurious to the nervous system, and as the blind generally are very sensitive in this direction, any great development of such enterprises is not to be desired.

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SCULPTORS AND THEIR ART.

The sculptor's art seems to depend so much upon the sense of touch, that it is matter of surprise that its practice by the blind is not of more common occurrence. Perhaps this may be accounted for by want of opportunity, for, with the exception of the Italians, it is not at all an easy thing for any one to obtain admission to a sculptor's studio to examine the artistic processes there carried on.

Under these circumstances, we are not surprised to find that although some persons without sight have reached great excellence in sculpture, yet the number of such artists is very small. Towards the end of the seventeenth century, Roger de Piles, the eminent French painter, saw in Italy a blind man, about fifty years old, in the Justinian Palace, modelling in wax a statue of Minerva.

The Duke of Bracciano, having some doubt of his being blind, caused him to perform his work in a cellar. But this only served to show still more strikingly the force of his genius, as the bust executed in the dark apartment was a perfect imitation of the original, who was none other than the duke himself, who had allowed the sightless artist minutely to examine his features. It having been remarked that the abundance of hair on the duke's face made it much more easy to copy than if such an appendage were wanting, the blind sculptor requested and obtained permission to examine the face of one of the duke's daughters, of which he succeeded in making an exact resemblance. This artist also successfully executed a statue of Charles I. of England, and one of Pope Urban VIII., which have been highly commended. Many persons suppose that the sculptor to whom reference has been made is the same as some writers describe under the name of Giovani Gonnelli, sometimes called Gambasius, or Gambasio,

after the place of his nativity, a small town in what was formerly the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. It is said that he lost his sight at the age of twenty and remained unoccupied for ten years, when, on a sudden, he became possessed with a strong desire to model a figure, and, although he had never been taught the elements of sculpture, he succeeded so well as to astonish the most accurate judges in Italy, which is pre-eminently the land of art. He obtained the patronage of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, and of other illustrious personages. Dr. Guillie, in his work on the blind, mentions, as an instance of an eminent sculptor, the case of M. Baret, who, about the beginning of the nineteenth century, having become blind from smallpox at the age of twenty-five, continued to practise his profession, and executed works which were the admiration of the members of the French Academy. Early in the present century was born Joseph Kleinhans. He was a native of the Tyrol, in the Austrian empire, and lost his sight from smallpox at the age of five years. He early evinced a strong inclination for carving, which he manifested by cutting figures out of stray pieces of wood that fell in his way. Before the age of twelve years he executed a figure of the Saviour of life-size, which so astonished his friends, that they placed him under the instruction of Herr Nissl, an accomplished artist of Fugan, in whose studio he soon reached great perfection as a modeller and carver, and subsequently became famous throughout Germany as the "Blind Sculptor." Kleinhans' works were both numerous and varied, and it is said that he executed more than four hundred statues of the Saviour, which still exist. One of his principal works was a bust of Francis Joseph, the present Emperor of Austria, which has been generally admired, and is now preserved at Vienna. This production our blind artist completed only two months before his death, which occurred at Nauders, on July 10, 1853.

From the incidents mentioned in this article we think it may be gathered that every facility should be put in the way of the blind to enable them to develope any latent talent they may possess for the cultivation of the various branches of sculpture, and that modelling in clay and wax, and carving in wood, are quite within their reach, to which, perhaps, may also be added the execution of works in marble.

The sculptor's art is fitted to be an occupation for the well-to-do blind, and should be made one of the branches of their general education. For any one possessed of moderate taste it would be a very pleasurable employment, and for those exhibiting decided talent it might become a source of profit.

THE BLIND EMINENT IN TRADE AND MANUFACTURES. John Metcalf, the Builder and Contractor, etc.

John Metcalf, the greatest blind mechanic who ever lived, was born at Knaresborough, in Yorkshire, on the 15th of August, 1717, and, according to his autobiography, was put to a common school when four years old by his parents, of whom he speaks as being "working people." At the age of six he was attacked by smallpox, which resulted in total blindness. He soon, however, began to walk alone, and before the age of nine could find any part of his native town without a guide; going birds'-nesting with boys of his own age, climbing trees, and finding the nests by direction of his companions, were among his favorite pastimes. He often wandered alone three or four miles into the country, and as his father kept horses, he soon learnt to ride, in which he acquired such excellence that he took to following the hounds. A gentleman of the neighbourhood, named Woodburn, was very kind to Metcalf, in taking him to hunt, and lending him his dogs to go out at night when the hares were feeding,