Statistics of the blind in Scotland : as shown by the census returns for 1891 / by William George Sym.

  • Sym, William George, 1864-1938.
Date:
[1894]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Statistics of the blind in Scotland : as shown by the census returns for 1891 / by William George Sym. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)

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    (One wliose mind is not bound with red tape lias a little difficulty iti seeing why these tisli should be taken out of the water and placed in an Agricultural class, unless because the men are engaged in ploughing tlie deep, and in gatliering the harvest of the sea.) Under tlie head of Class V. come, of course, a large number of persons engaged in wliat have been called the blind trades,— mat and chair making, basket working, and so on. It is of import- ance to note that there are only 10 miners entered as blind, considering the large number of men engaged in this occupation, and considering its dangerous nature as regards not merely accident, but liability to bring about the special disease of miner's nystagmus. One is ol'ten asked vviiether it would be dangerous for a lad to become a watchmaker, lest his sight should be injured ; it is encouraging to note that there is no blind watchmaker. Nor are there any blind persons among those engaged in the manu- facture of gunpowder or other explosive materials. Class VI. contains many persons, however, who have retired from business, besides those living on their own means, etc., and 110 male and 108 female scholars or children of no stated occupation. In examining these returns in regard to other considerations, one cannot fail to be struck by one or two facts, some of which I may be allowed to i)oint out here. Tiie chief, most important, and most encouraging, is that the proportion of blind persons to population generally is decreasing. Let us compare the last Census with the present. In 1881 theie were 3158 blind persons in a population of 3,735,573,—a proportion, namely, of 1 in 1182; whereas now, as we have pointed out, the proportion is 1 in 14.!9. The difference is very obvious when we calculate how many blind persons tliere would have been lo-day had the proportion in tlie increased popu- lation of 1891 been what it was in 1881. We sliould have had among us, under these circumstances, not 2797, but 3406 blind persons, a difference of 609. This, it must be admitted, is a very substantial and encouraging change, and a very important increase in the productive power, and therefore in the wealth of the country, for these 609 persons are adding far more to the common wealth than they could have done had they been blind. There is little doubt that this gain is to a considerable extent to be accounted for by the greater care taken to prevent ophthalmia neonatorum, and the greater diffusion of the knowledge of its importance and of its proper and immediate treatment.