this volume under their respective heads. The cultivation of music is also another characteristic common to the German institutions. In all of them the euphonious art is practised, and in the majority it is cultivated as a means of livelihood. The industrial employments of basket-making for males, and knitting for females, are universally adopted. The making of list shoes and straw mats, and the re-seating of chairs with cane and rush, are also very common; and we believe that brush-making is practised at Dresden and Kiel, the lathe for the work at the latter place having been procured from the Association for Promoting the General Welfare of the Blind, London. Rope-making is carried on at Hanover, and the art of turning at Munich. In the case of nearly all the foregoing establishments, their support is derived from the government of the kingdom or principality in which they are located. Sometimes, indeed, the aid given by the State is supplemented by private benevolence; but, as a rule, the blind institutions of the German empire are supported by, and are under the management of, the different local governments. The schools are open to all, irrespective of creed; but it is very much to be feared that this toleration results not so much from the exercise of true Christian charity, as from the spirit of laisser faire, to call it by no harsher name, which has been so rife in Germany and England of late. A few years ago there were at the Berlin Institution not more than forty pupils of both sexes, while at Hanover, the number was seventy, at Dresden ninety, at Hamburg eighty, and at Breslau sixty.

In Germany the blind institutions generally include both males and females, who occupy opposite wings of the same building, whereas in France, Belgium, and other Catholic countries, the two sexes inhabit premises at different parts of the city; and sometimes they are situated in different towns. It must, however, be remarked, that at L'Institution des Aveugles, Paris,

the boys and girls are located in adjoining premises.

The German institutions are remarkable for the favour shown to blind officials. The establishment of Breslau was founded and managed for nearly half a century by the celebrated Knie. At Hamburg they had also a blind director for many years, and the founder and present director of the institution at Kiel, Herr Simonon, is also without sight.

At Dresden, some years ago, the excellent director, Dr. Georgi, collected a sum of six thousand pounds, the interest of which was applied for the benefit of the pupils on their quitting the institution. Dr. Georgi lent or gave them sums of money for the purchase of tools and materials, and it is said that the sums lent were always duly repaid. He received work from some of those who lived at a distance from the institution, and remitted the money to them when the articles were sold; and it is greatly to the credit of the directors of the Saxon railways that they allowed the officials of the institution, and all blind persons, materials, and manufactured goods connected therewith, to travel free of charge.

The interest taken by the King of Saxony in the welfare of the blind is truly remarkable, for it is stated on credible authority that his Majesty used constantly to read the written journals presented by the officials to the managers of the Dresden Institution, and made marginal notes with his own hand, expressing his views on the subjects before him. This sympathy and concord between the king and the people are the more striking, as the present Royal family of Saxony are members of the Romish Church, while the great mass of the people are Lutherans.

At Berlin some attempts have been made to give employment to the blind in workshops, but without much success; and it may be also mentioned that materials are sold, and sums of money lent to the

pupils who leave the Breslau Institution, and that the establishment at Hamburg is remarkable for the excellence of the gymnastic training given to the pupils. We believe that there are four institutions for the blind at Berlin of various kinds, but that all of them are on a very small scale.

A few years ago a periodical was issued in black print at Hesse Cassel, exclusively devoted to subjects connected with the blind and the deaf and dumb which we believe still exists.

THE AUSTRIAN EMPIRE.

It is a matter of surprise that the government of so important a country as Austria should not have thought it worth while to have a census taken of the number of the blind, and other similar classes in its dominions. If, however, we consider the proportion which the number of those deprived of sight bears to the general population in countries occupying the same degrees of latitude as the Austrian territories, and if we bear in mind the ratio of the blind in the neighbouring States, we are led to infer that the proportion in Austria is about one in every one thousand of the people; and as the total population of the various countries now owning allegiance to the House of Hapsburg is about 33,000,000, the number of the blind in the empire cannot be less than 33,000. The first institution for the blind in the Austrian dominions was commenced by Dr. Klein, at Vienna, in 1804.

In 1807 a similar establishment was founded at Prague, in Bohemia, and in 1825 one was opened at Pesth, in Hungary. There are also similar schools at Lintz, in upper Austria, and Brunn, in Moravia. The mode of reading adopted in these five institutions is that of the embossed Roman type, with capitals and small letters, and the method of pricking the Roman letters

is employed for writing. There seems nothing specially remarkable in the educational appliances in use, except that bas-relief figures of animals are employed to assist in the study of natural history. These figures are, however, of little use, and are not by any means as good as stuffed specimens. Music seems to be cultivated in all the institutions as a future means of livelihood, and the industrial arts common to the establishments are basket-making, rush and straw-plaiting, the making of list shoes, and knitting; brush-making is also carried on at Brunn. All the blind schools derive their chief support from the State, and the total number of inmates is from three to four hundred. Dr. Klein, the founder of the Vienna Institution, also became its first director, in which position he occupied himself for about half a century in constant and unremitting efforts for the welfare of those committed to his charge; and although the practical results of his labours are not such as the length of time and the attention devoted to the subject might lead us to expect, yet this seems to result rather from the preference which the Germans so long gave to theory as compared with practical utility, than from any want of interest shown in the subject by Dr. Klein; as, however, things in general are now mending in Austria, we hope that the blind may share in the advantages of the change. Printing in relief does not appear to have been regularly carried on in Austria until 1831, when the publishers Treunsinsky, of Vienna, issued several volumes, which seems to have acted as an incentive to the State Government, as, soon after, books for the blind were embossed at the imperial press. In 1825 an asylum for adults was opened at Vienna for the reception of those who had passed through the educational establishment. In this asylum the inmates are boarded and lodged, and employed in some manual occupation, the object, however, being rather to amuse the workers than to derive any pecuniary advantage

from their labours. Thus, although in 1855 the number of persons in the asylum was 70, the amount of cash taken on account of sales of their work was only about £70, or one pound per annum per head; and this circumstance is rendered more remarkable from the long list of industrial employments said to be carried on, which comprises the manufacture of baskets, list shoes, umbrella frames, spinning thread, hassocks, wire work, knitting, and bookbinding, which lastnamed employment, we imagine, applies to the binding of embossed books.

The expenses of the male asylum, and of that for females, established in 1829, amounted in 1855 to about £2000, which was met by voluntary contributions, and by payments on account of inmates. This says much for the kindness of heart of the Viennese, and a little more attention to practical utility will enable them to add to the happiness of the blind, and to extend still further their sphere of usefulness.

SWITZERLAND.

Although there are no official returns of the number of blind persons in the Helvetian Republic, yet the census taken of Zurich in 1825 affords some idea of the state of the case. It is true, indeed, that the statistics were only taken in one canton, and that they were made as far back as forty-six years; but for want of more ample matter, we are obliged to accept this slender information as our guide. In the canton of Zurich it was found in the above-named year that the ratio of the blind to the general population was 1 in 1401, and accepting this as a general rule for the whole country at the present time, and taking the population at 2,510,494, we find that there are about 1780 persons without sight in the 22 cantons which form the republic of Switzerland.

The first institution for the education of the blind