but whether it still exists is very doubtful. There is, however, in the same city, a School for Blind Mendicant Children, founded about 1864 by Don L. Rodino, at the the Albergo dei Poveri (which contains nearly five thousand paupers, and is believed to be the largest workhouse in the world). The blind and the deaf and dumb possess the exceptional privilege of being admitted, even though they may not have been born at the city of Naples.

Within the last twenty years, an Educational Institution for the Blind has been established at Milan, which has already reached a considerable degree of excellence. The mode of reading adopted is that of the embossed Roman type, and writing is practised both with the pencil and by means of an apparatus: which produces the common black print; an arithmetical board is also employed. Music is cultivated to a very high degree, and the manufactures are baskets, articles in pasteboard, and knitted goods.

It is probable that the total number of persons without sight in the Italian educational institutions doesnot exceed a hundred and fifty, but the data on which this estimate is founded are very slight. At various times efforts have been made to establish schools for the blind at other towns than those above named, but these attempts seem almost entirely to have failed, and if any institutions now exist at such places, they are on a very small scale. The names of the cities at which such attempts have been made are Rome, Bo-logna, Turin, Padua, and Palermo, and it is greatly to be wished that the present enlightened Italian Government would direct special attention to the condition of the blind of the kingdom, so that permanent Institutions for their welfare might be established at the foregoing places, and at as many other towns as might be found desirable.

About the year 1870 a donation was given by King Victor Emmanuel for the establishment of an institu

tion for the blind at Florence, and it is therefore believed that such an undertaking is now in operation in that city. In Sicily, in 1839, a courageous attempt was made to establish a newspaper in relief print; the periodical was entitled, Consolation for the Blind,' but the undertaking met with very little patronage, and was in consequence soon given up.

Mendicity is the normal state of existence of the blind in Italy, even to a greater extent, perhaps, than in any other country of Europe, and foreigners remark that sightless beggars form a striking feature of the carnival at Venice; and many blind persons make straw baskets, and little ornaments of cherry-stones, which they offer for sale in the streets.

GREECE AND THE IONIAN ISLANDS.

The kingdom of Greece, as now constituted, contains a population, including the Ionian Islands, of about one million and a half, and although there are no returns of the number of the blind, yet there is good evidence for believing that the ratio is not less than one in every eight hundred of the inhabitants, and it is therefore safe to conclude that there are at least 1875 persons without sight in the kingdom.

As far as can be ascertained, there is no institution of any kind in Greece for the relief of the blind, but it may be hoped that ere long the descendants of Homer and Timoleon will take away this reproach from their country; and especially in this matter do we look to the numerous and enlightened sons of Hellas resident in Western Europe, whose philanthropy could not be better employed than in alleviating the misfortunes of the blind of their own fatherland

TURKEY IN EUROPE, MONTENEGRO, SERVIA, AND THE PRINCIPALITIES OF MOLDAVIA AND WALLACHIA.

Of the number of the blind in the States above named there are no authentic returns; but taking the total population at thirteen millions, and accepting the ratio of the sightless as one in every eight hundred of the inhabitants, we arrive at the conclusion that there cannot be fewer than 16,250 blind persons in European Turkey and the adjacent semi-independent principalities.

In the countries of which we are now treating, there is not a single institution for the welfare of the blind; but of late years some Christian missionaries at Constantinople have formed classes of persons deprived of sight, for the purpose of religious instruction, and the mulahs, or Mahommedan priests, fearing the loss of their flock, have emulated the missionaries in this respect.

It is probable that these efforts may result in the establishment of permanent institutions for the promotion of the intellectual and physical welfare of the blind; but for the present, both Mussulmen and Christians allow their poor sightless ones to beg or perish, without stretching forth a hand to save them.

ASIA.

TURKEY IN ASIA.

Of the number of the blind in this division of the Ottoman Empire, there are no authentic returns; but placing the population at 17,000,000, and taking the proportion which those without sight bear to the general inhabitants as 1 in 600, which is probably below the truth, we find that the number of the blind

exceeds 28,000. The only known effort made for the welfare of the sightless in the Asiatic dominions of the Sultan is that by Mr. Mott, a Protestant Christian gentleman of Beyrout, who has caused several portions of the Holy Scriptures to be embossed in Arabic in Moon's characters, and has taught many blind persons, one of whom is constantly occupied in reading to the poor. This philanthropist and his family, aided by the efforts of Mrs. Bowen Thompson, of London, have succeeded in establishing two institutions for the blind in Syria, which are situate at Beyrout and at Damascus, but they are both at present in an infant state. Great promise, however, exists of an early development and a career of great usefulness. The British and Foreign Bible Society, being influenced doubtless by Mr. Mott, have published, in Arabic, in Moon's type, as modified by the Society,-St. Matthew's Gospel, 3s.; Acts of the Apostles, 2s. 10d.; the Epistles to the Romans and the Corinthians, 3s.; the Revelations, 28. Although the Turks take no means to improve the condition of those who are deprived of sight, yet they sometimes find by sad experience that blindness does not disqualify those afflicted by it for active exertions, as the following account of the exploits of a blind bandit, who lived about fourteen years since, will strikingly show. The writer of the narrative says,

"As Dr. J. Macraith was riding out to a village, about ten miles from Smyrna, to visit a sick lady, he was attacked by a band of robbers and compelled to accompany them to a range of mountains many miles distant. Three or four gentlemen who were with him were seized at the same time. The chief of the robbers, Blind Simeon by name, sent word to the city by a shepherd, that he asked a ransom of £3000 sterling for his captives. Colonel Storks, the governor of the British Hospital, went out with a large body of Turkish soldiers, two-thirds of the civil doctors, and

This

The

six or seven English officers to effect a rescue. expedition, however, had no favourable result. robbers subsequently dispatched one of the gentlemen who was taken captive to Smyrna, reducing the ransom of the whole party to £300 sterling; adding, however, that if the messenger gave notice of their whereabouts, or brought back any soldiers with him, his friends would be forthwith put to death. Dr. Macraith returned to Smyrna, having received, after a week's captivity, his liberty, his watch, and £1 travelling expenses, upon payment of a ransom of £500. Simeon, the chief, was very polite, and shared with him whatever food the band happened to possess. He likewise seized for Macraith, who became fatigued, a donkey belonging to an old Turk and a boy, both of whom were afterwards shot.

"It was thought that one of the civil medical staff had been taken, and Simeon sent a message by Dr. Macraith to Smyrna, saying he intended ere long to have a person for whose ransom he would require £3000, and for the commandant, Colonel Storks, he should demand £20,000." It would appear almost certain that the other captives were released with Dr. Macraith, but the narrative from which the foregoing particulars are taken makes no mention of the circumstance, neither does it explain why the ransom after having been reduced to £300 was increased to £500; we suppose, however, that delay in forwarding the money caused the bandits to raise their demand.

ARABIA.

Taking the population of Arabia at ten millions, and, on account of the sandy nature of the soil, the peculiarities of the climate, and the observations of travellers, placing the ratio of the blind as one in every 400 of the inhabitants,-we arrive at the conclusion that there are no fewer than 25,000 persons without sight