Francis Salinus, a Spanish musician; or of John Sinclair, an English performer; or of Dr. Blacklock, a man of letters; or of Anna Williams, a Welsh poetess, and protégée of Dr. Johnson; or of John Wilson, whose memory seems to have been as marvellous as Magliabecchi's own; or of Holman, the traveller, who made a circuit of the earth, visiting nearly all the places of interest, of which he has given agreeable descriptions in his books; or of hosts of others, who, although with darkness and with dangers compassed round, have yet won distinction in their respective spheres, and shown how man can triumph with such fearful odds against him.

My desire is to make special mention of a few, who are entitled to our regard and admiration, by the noble and inspiring lessons they have taught.

Euler, the most eminent European mathematician of the last century, lost his sight by too strenuous application to his studies, at the age of fifty-nine. Undaunted, however, by this calamity, which would have paralyzed most men's energies, he prosecutes with changeless purpose his scientific inquiries and calculations. From the

unbroken gloom issued a number of his most remarkable works; among them his elements of Algebra, a new theory of the moon's motions with tables, which latter are considered by those best prepared to judge, a prodigy of constant industry and unflagging patience. Cheerful to a proverb, his kindly nature shed light upon all who came within his circle.

Nicholas Saunderson was born in the village of Thurston, Yorkshire, in the year 1682. At the age of six months, he lost not only his sight by an attack of the small-pox, but even his eyes, which were discharged in abscesses. The father's heart softened to tenderness toward the afflicted child, and notwithstanding he was only a poor

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excise-officer, with narrow means, he determined to do all in his power to place the advantages of a superior education at the disposal of his son. Accordingly, at an early age, the boy was sent to school in the neighbouring village of Pennistouin. Here he made astonishing progress, not only in English but also in Latin and Greek, surpassing all his fellows in rapidity of acquisition, as well as in avaricious retention of his stores. He early became so apt a Latin scholar, that he was ever after able to speak and write it as fluently and correctly as the English; and so full and accurate was his acquaintance with the Greek, that he listened to the reading of books in that tongue with as easy and perfect a comprehension as if written in the vernacular. Unfortunately, the method adopted by his preceptor for the instruction of this remarkable pupil has not been preserved to us.

The father's circumstances becoming more straitened, it was deemed necessary to remove the boy from school. Desiring to make such amends as lay within his reach for the privation thus imposed-for the boy had shown an insatiate craving for knowledge-the father gave him his first lessons in arithmetic. Neighbouring gentlemen proffered their services to teach him algebra and geometry.

Ere long, the masters had nothing left to teach; for it was discovered that great as was the lad's aptitude for the languages, his capacity for the science of numbers was yet greater. Through the eyes of others, he studied the works of Diophantus, Archimedes, and Euclid, in the original.

He was now three-and-twenty years of age, but without a profession or honourable means of livelihood. What shall he do? Led by a dog, must he take his stand by the roadside to beg of the passers-by, or with staff and wallet, trudge a weary way telling his piteous tale from door to

door, that the sight of his infirmity may move every beholder to an alms; because God's sunshine is shut out from him? Must the blind man be an object of commiseration, without a sphere of independent activity, cut off from all the noble vocations of life, doomed to the dole of charity and the weakening voice of compassion? Though his burden be a heavy one, shall his only business be to recite its weight, and to disgrace existence by complaint? For the sightless man, as for every other, there is ennobling work to do, and noble wages attend the doing. Bereft as he is, is he not too a man? No pensioner upon others' bounty will Nicholas Saunderson be, if he can help it. Where there is a will to work, God provides the way. A fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge, visits Thurston about this time; hears of the blind prodigy, but cannot credit the report. He comes to see him for himself, and finds that the half had not been told. Struck by Saunderson's acquirements and accomplishments, the collegian invites him to the university. The invitation is accepted. The other fellows, interested in the story of their companion, vote the blind man chambers, access to their library, and the use of their eyes in availing himself of its treasures. Moreover, arrangements are made for Saunderson to give a course of lectures. The subject selected is optics; Sir Isaac Newton's Principia had just been published; but the work of the great philosopher was not duly appreciated, even by scholars. Among the very first to hail and estimate the immortal work was our blind lecturer, who used it as the basis for his prelections, thereby doing as much as any other man in England to introduce it into general favour. Curiosity attracted crowds, to hear what a man who had never seen could say concerning light and vision. The gape of idle wonder was exchanged for the tribute of applause. So ample and exact

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was the lecturer's comprehension of his subject, so admirable his method of treatment, his luminous style, his agreeable, unostentatious manner, that the multitude which came to stare, remained to learn. The course of lectures was a success; honest bread was earned by honest toil; the blind man had found his vocation.

Some years after this, the eccentric William Whiston, Sir Isaac Newton's successor in the Lucasian chair of mathematics at Cambridge, was ejected from his dignity. Newton was still alive, and was consulted as to the proper person to fill the place. His choice fell on Saunderson. The nomination was heartily accepted by the university. But it was necessary that a special order should be issued by the crown, to authorise the conferring the degree of M.A. on a non-graduate. The heads of colleges presented the petition, which was graciously answered by the king; and our blind friend, at the age of nine-and-twenty, was inducted into the office which had been rendered illustrious by the discoverer of gravitation. Nor was the

honour unworthily bestowed. Saunderson did credit to the chair which had been filled by Newton.

Thenceforth he devoted himself to the service of his pupils, both as their instructor and companion. His labours as a preceptor were diversified by the composition of several mathematical works, which took a high rank among books of their class, and also by the invention of apparatus for his mechanical pursuits. Maintaining an uncheckered cheerfulness, his animated conversation and large sympathies made him the soul of every circle in which he chanced to move.

His other senses, and those intellectual faculties which seem to lie next the senses, afforded him an almost ample substitution for eyesight. The fine hearing and delicate touch of the blind have passed into an adage. These

Saunderson possessed in their highest perfection. The sound of his footfall in a room enabled him to form a closely proximate notion of the dimensions and character of the apartment. Having once crossed a threshold, so distinct was his individualization of every locality, that he would always know it again, even after the lapse of many years. The reverberation of his tread enabled him to judge with wonderful accuracy as to the character of objects from five to twenty yards distant. Thus he was enabled to distinguish a tree from a post at the distance of five yards; of a fence from a house at fifteen or twenty yards. From my own experience I have never been able to decide, nor am I able to state upon the testimony of others deprived of sight, whether this intelligence be derived through the ear, or through the delicate nerves of the face, which, thrilling through the vibrations of the atmosphere, receive and impart to the brain sensations unnoticed by those who use their eyes. I am, however, strongly inclined to the opinion that there is such a refined susceptibility of the skin and nerves, as to amount almost to a supplemental sense. Whatever may be the ground for this opinion, it is certain that Saunderson was conscious of objects, the perception of which by a blind man will seem quite incredible to many. It is related upon good authority that when out in the garden with his pupils, they making observations of the heavenly bodies, he was able to tell quickly and certainly as they, when a cloud obscured a star, or hid the disk of the sun.

Though a rayless gloom encompassed him, he shed light upon the path of others. His ringing laugh it did one good to hear. Constant industry gave dignity to his days.

to his nights repose. Deprived of the imperial sense, he bore his loss with fortitude, and performed his part