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Education .of the Blind and Deaf-Mute. 
5. Education of the Blind and Deaf-Mute. 
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The institutions for the blind and deaf-mute have on the one 
aand the character of schools, on the other that of provident and 
charitable institutions. 
Already in the 18th century, Chr. Niesen, who died in 1785, in- 
vented, in Germany, several appropriate appliances for teaching 
the blind, which became known also to Valentin Hauy, a French- 
man, who was the first to found, in 1785, a school for the blind in 
Paris. In 1806 Hauy came also to Berlin, and soon after, on his 
initiative, such an institution was established there, namely at the ex- 
pense of the government. 
During the wars of the following years many soldiers became 
blind, in consequence of a contagious inflammation of the eyes, and 
hence several military institutions for the blind were established, 
which were to be kept up only until these unfortunate people should 
have acquired sufficient training in appropriate handicrafts. From 
one of these so-called ,,Werkschulen“, or schools for mechanics, 
arose in 1818 the still existing Silesian Institution for the Blind in 
Breslau. During the following decades the number of institutions 
for the blind continually increased, both in Prussia and in the other 
Federal States, and their present position is shown in the follow- 
ino table. 
Number Number 
of | of 
Ynetitutions Inmates 
Number 
of 
Teachers 
Blind 
Assistant 
Macters 
Teachers of 
Handicrafts 
and Assistants 
States 
Prussia. 
Bavaria . . 
Saxony . . 
Wiirttemberg 
Other States 
) 
085 
274. 
2%9 
01 
17 
17 
: 
29 
Bu 
12 
3 
2 
o 
67 
5 
"1 
7 
os 
1972 
Total 
A479 
165 
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Of the total number of inmates 2438 are pupils, 1034 patients. 
The institutions are supported, partly by the State, partly by provinces 
and public bodies, partly by endowments. 
Both sexes are received, but they use the same day-rooms ‘and 
play-grounds only till their tenth year at most, when a separation 
takes place. The number of the male pupils is usually double that 
of the female ones. as blind girls are kept more at home bv the