Several  recent  experiments  in  behalf  of  the
blind  deserve  mention,  though  the  results  are
not  yet  known.  The  good  Queen  of  Roumania
has  founded  a  colony  for  the  blind,  the  Vatra
Luminosa,  where  persons  of  all  races  and
religions  may  work  side  by  side  at  profitable
occupations  and  live  in  separate  houses  with
their  families.  The  principle  of  segregation
involved  in  this  plan  is  contrary  to  the  prevail-
ing effort  in  other  countries,  which  seeks  to  dis-
tribute the  blind  among  the  seeing,  to  teach  the
public  to  take  the  capabilities  of  the  blind  for
granted,  and  to  give  them  a  place  in  the  midst
of  normal  life.  Experiments  are  being  made  in
Milwaukee,  Chicago,  and  New  York  City  to
teach  the  blind  in  the  public  schools.  There
are  30  sightless  children  in  the  Chicago
schools,  and  the  reports  of  their  progress  are
encouraging.  The  average  cost  is  $175  a  year,
whereas  the  average  cost  per  pupil  in  the  in-
stitutions is  $270.  But  the  institutions  are
boarding  schools,  and  the  per  capita  cost  in-
cludes food  and  shelter.  If  the  necessary
books  and  apparatus  are  provided,  and  a  special
teacher  is  maintained  to  prepare  the  pupils  to
take  part  in  regular  classroom  work,  there  is  no
reason  why  the  blind  child  should  not  keep  up
with  his  seeing  fellow  pupils,  learn  much  from
them,  and  be  a  means  of  teaching  the  rising
generation  the  needs  and  the  capabilities  of  the
sightless.     A    considerable    number    of    blind


students  have  graduated  from  our  universities,
and  there  have  been  several  blind  professors  in
colleges  for  the  seeing.  It  has  been  proposed
to  found  a  national  college  for  the  blind,  but
this  would  be  a  costly  and  superfluous  institu-
tion. A  better  plan  is  to  give  scholarships
to  sightless  students,  as  is  done  in  New  York
State,  which  offers  subsidies  of  $300  each  to
blind  students  in  the  colleges  of  the  state.
