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Fortunately, the number of soldiers suffering from loss of sight, total or approximately so, is comparatively small. According to British statistics injuries to sight account for but two and eight-tenths per cent, of the disability pensions granted. In the Canadian forces up to date there have been blinded less than one hundred men.

In starting in with the blinded soldier there are two primary requirements. The first is to overcome the deep discouragement in which the man is likely to be plunged. The second is to teach the soldier to be blind -- how to accomplish the little everyday tasks which make life possible and comfortable. The first of these goes with the latter, for as the man learns how to take care of himself and get about with some facility, hope begins to return. In these early stages another blind man is the best teacher, and will succeed where the sighted fail. Sometimes a fellow warrior who has himself been blinded, but has already had his start, will be most effective of all. The first blinded American sailor who returned to our training center at Baltimore was so far depressed that his case seemed hopeless. Nothing could be done with him until there was put on the job the first blinded American soldier, who had an earlier start and had already "seen the light." His companionship and encouragement turned the trick, and of course the advantage was reciprocal.

All along the course of re-education the blind can be of the greatest assistance to the sightless soldiers. They make good teachers for, when they argue that a thing can be done, it is likely to carry conviction. They know whereof they speak.

Another necessity is teaching the families to have a blind member, and be helpful to him rather than the reverse. The American program for re-educating blinded soldiers provides for bringing the families of the men to the training school for a visit, so that they may become acquainted with and understand the methods by which the men are led to be independent. If when the man returns home the family immediately discourages his ever moving out of his chair, insists that he will stumble if he walks about the house, and brings everything to him, they will be destroying the good accomplished during his training. It has been well said that "they should not place him in a corner out of reach of all danger like a feeble old man or a child in swaddling clothes." They must rather tactfully encourage him to do more and more for himself and urge him to get up and about. They must be prepared, in a word, to continue his re-education.

Blinded soldiers must be protected during their period of training against the visits of curious but well-meaning people, whose ill-advised remarks will do more harm in a few minutes than the benefit which a teacher will impart in as many days. Several French schools have prominently displayed this notice: "To pity is not to console! Only words of hope and confidence should be spoken here."

Recreation is an important factor in the social treatment of the blinded soldier. One of the primary methods of entertainment -- with instruction combined -- is reading aloud to a group of men. At one of the oldest schools for the blind in Paris a daily newspaper is read from each morning, the choice of the journal being determined by vote of the auditors. Music is another means, and the blind should be encouraged to take part in group singing. Many athletic games of considerable vigor are entirely within the reach of the blind, and almost any form of gymnastic work is practical.

For inside recreation there are playing cards with raised symbols of identification, dominoes with the dots raised instead of sunk, and sets of checkers with the black pieces square and the red pieces round.

The first educational necessity for the blinded soldier is the learning of Braille. Fortunately, in this country and Great Britain the divergences of opinion which were responsible for the existence of several different alphabets have been reconciled and there has now been adopted a standard type. Learning this the blind man will be enabled to continue his reading or study to keep posted on current developments through a monthly magazine in raised letters, and correspond with his friends. He may write himself either in embossed print or with the aid of a guide to keep the lines straight and regular, with pencil or pen. He should be encouraged to do the latter so that he may not forget how. With men who were illiterate before they became blind the matter of teaching them to read and write Braille is not so important.

In the past the blind, like the crippled, have suffered from the conception that the only occupations within their capabilities were those of basket-making, chair-caning, and other similar handicrafts. Almost no schools had attempted teaching the more highly skilled specialties. Yet the few experiments which have been attempted, and the instances where ambitious blind men have made places for themselves, show that well-paid occupations are not closed to the sightless. A few examples will show the manner in which the problem is approached.