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Excerpt from An Essay on the Education of the Blind The instant of their birth, or by some early accident in the course of their lives, of that organ which most sensibly contributes to our enjoyment of the delights and advantages arising from society, there have been found some who, by the pregnancy of their genius, and the force and perseverance of its exertions, have found out for themselves certain employments, which they were able to execute, and by these pursuits have proved successful in alleviating the miseries of a situation, in itself so aficting. Some of them, full of penetration, have enriched their memories with productions of genius, and have imbibed from the charms of conversation or from reading, at which they were happily present, knowledge of a nature and extent which it was impossible for them either to acquire or collect from their own internal resources alone, or from the precious repositories in which it was confined. Others, endued with a dexterity, which might do honour to the most enlightened artist, have performed mechanical tasks with an exactness, neatness, and symmetry, which could only have been expected from hands informed and regulated by the advantage of sight. But in spite of these happy dispositions in the blind, these marvellous exhibitions, which ought rather to be called prodigies, than natural events, could only be, in the persons by whom they were displayed, the slow results of indefatigable industry and. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majorit