ton, who died in 1863. The following account of this event we copy from the journals of the day :

"The late celebrated Abbé Carton, a Knight of Leopold, has just died at Bruges, after a short illness, in the asylum for the deaf, dumb, and blind, of which he was the founder and director. He was born in 1802 at Pitthem, in West Flanders, and after taking priest's orders, concentrated all his energies in providing for the deaf, dumb, and blind children, whose pitiable state had, from his early years, attracted his sympathies. Encouraged by the support and patronage of the late Mgr. Bousseu, Bishop of Bruges, he founded the sisterhood of the Children of Mary, a community which has been most successful in educating the children labouring under the above afflictions.

"The most interesting of all the lions of Bruges, 'that quaint old Flemish city,' as Longfellow calls it, was the acting by the deaf and dumb children of the Litany of Loretto, while the blind boys sang it. For the last twenty years the Abbé Carton has been the universally beloved and venerated director of this institution.

"He was a man of great ability, and, in spite of his arduous duties, found time to write several works of scientific and literary merit. After being exposed, clothed in his sacerdotal vestments, in a room of the asylum for two days, and being visited by a concourse of people, the body of Abbé Carton was taken to St. Saviour's cathedral for the last funeral rites, accompanied by the canons of Bruges and a regiment of infantry, the deceased being one of the Knights of the Order of Leopold. Mass having been said, the body was interred in the cemetery in presence of an immense number of persons, and a military salute was fired over the grave. The Abbé Carton was a canon of Bruges, and also of the metropolitan chapter of Paris, a member of the Royal Academy of Brussels, and of many other learned societies."

FRANCE.

Some writers have placed the number of the blind in France at 50,000. But this is evidently an overestimate, as we find from a recent return made to the government that the ratio which the number of the blind bears to the general population is 1 in 938; and as the present population of France does not exceed 38,000,000, the number of persons deprived of sight would appear to be about 42,000.

To the French nation pre-eminently belongs the credit of caring for the blind; and although a comparison of what is at present done for this class of persons in France with the organizations existing for the same object in England, America, and Germany, would tend very much to lessen the claim of the French to that proud distinction,—yet, when it is considered that more than six hundred years ago an asylum, which still exists, was founded at Paris for three hundred blind persons, and that the first movement for the education of the sightless was also inaugurated in the same city, the French must be admitted to be, par excellence, the friends of the blind. The first institution in France for the education of the blind was commenced on a small scale in 1771, and permanently founded in 1784, at Paris, soon after which it received the patronage of the unfortunate Louis the Sixteenth. At first the establishment was supported by the voluntary contributions of the benevolent; but as the novelty of the undertaking wore off, necessity obliged its managers to seek governmental aid, which was very sparingly granted; the institution, however, successfully passed through all the stormy incidents connected with the French Revolution; and although the pupils were removed from place to place, the enterprise was never entirely abandoned.

At one time the juvenile pupils were sent to the Quinze-Vingts (the Asylum for Adults), and mixed with the old pensioners of that establishment, and at another they were compelled to share the domicile of the deaf and dumb children, but amid all these changes L'Institution des Jeunes Aveugles still survived; and although it had many enemies, no hand was found ruthless enough to extinguish so good a work. These changes, however, produced one great evil, which was almost irreparable, for the benevolent and talented Haüy, at length worn out with anxiety, and disgusted with the treatment he had experienced from the various politicians who had guided the destinies of France, left his native country in 1806, and placed his services. at the disposal of the Russians. But this event, although injurious for a time to the blind of France, proved of signal benefit to those of Russia and Germany, and afforded another instance of how the calamities of some persons produce blessings to others.

At the Restoration of the Bourbons, in 1814, the Paris Blind School was remodelled, had suitable premises assigned to it, and Dr. Guillie was placed at its head. Under its new management the institution made considerable progress; but from some cause, which we are at a loss to understand, every effort was made to ignore the fact that it had been founded by Valentine Haüy, and it is even said that on his return to France, in 1817, and desiring to visit the establishment, permission was peremptorily denied him, and that he was turned from the door. However this may be, the book written on the blind by Dr. Guillie is most unjust to Hauy, and it affords primâ facie evidence in favour of the statement above named; it is, however, gratifying to be able to record that on the retirement of Dr. Guillie, in 1821, Haüy, a short time before his death, was specially invited to the institution, and a concert given in his honour, and also that a few years ago his statue was placed in the institution, and inaugurated with every demonstration of respect.

The writer visited the Paris institution in 1865, and found as follows:

Braille's System of Reading is exclusively used, the books being printed from type cast on flat pieces of metal, fastened upon thin pegs, which are placed in lines in a frame somewhat like a gridiron, after having been arranged in a composing-stick of a very ingenious construction. This mode of setting up type prevents the matter being easily overturned; but it interferes greatly with speed in composition and distribution. The press employed is of the kind generally used by lithographic printers, and the galley in which the type is arranged seems to remain on the press during the time that the impressions are being taken. The blind are employed to work the press, and to arrange the type, sighted boys being engaged to read to them. The inmates of the institution bind their own books, but it is not considered a profitable occupation. It is a very singular circumstance that the pupils are not taught to write in any way that can be read by the sighted; and although there are at the institution many inventions for the purpose, yet they are placed in the room devoted to the museum, and (as one of the officials expressed it) are kept as curiosities; so that here we have the picture of some two hundred blind persons shut up in a building, and longing to communicate with their distant parents and friends, but unable to do so, although inventions for the purpose exist in great variety in an adjoining room.

The

museum seems to exist more for the inspection of sighted visitors than for the benefit of the blind, and although it contains a few specimens of stuffed birds, it does not appear that they are used for educational purposes. The common figures are employed for arithmetic, but no boxes are used to contain the surplus type, which makes the use of the arithmetical board a very tedious operation.

The maps are made by wire being fastened upon a

board, and covered with a map in common black print. They have also embossed maps fastened upon boards, but both kinds are of the most meagre description.

The cultivation of music is carried to great perfection, and instruction of a very high order is given on the organ and the pianoforte, and also in the art of pianoforte tuning, and in the use of various stringed and wind instruments. It is said that there are in France no fewer than two hundred blind organists holding situations, and as, for the most part, the services performed are those of the Roman Catholic Church, the testimony in favour of musicians without sight is proportionately strong. It is much to the credit of the officials connected with the Paris institution that they should have founded a society for the furtherance of the interests of the pupils who have learnt music, and we are glad to be able to state that this society still exists, and that although it is entirely supported by voluntary contributions, yet it is the means of accomplishing much good.

The mode of musical notation employed at the institution is that devised by M. Braille. Several volumes. and many pieces of music have been printed, and copies are also made by hand with the embossing frame. A knowledge of the ordinary musical notation, as used by the sighted, is given to the pupils by means of a large board, on which the stave and musical signs are placed.

Instruction in the art of tuning the pianforte is carried to great perfection, and is found very useful by many persons on returning to their homes.

The string band of the institution is of the most excellent kind; but as a means of livelihood its utility is very small.

The manufactures carried on are exceedingly few, and they are far from flourishing. Some ornamental turnery-goods are made, and it is said that clever workmen have been known to earn five francs a day; but