Note 155 — PART II. OF DISEASES. (continued 6)
Reading edition
It is a pity those who have the misfortune to be born blind, or who lose their sight when young, should be suffered to remain in ignorance, or to beg. This is both cruelty and want of economy. There are many employments of which blind persons are very capable, as knitting, carding, turning a wheel, teaching languages, &c. Nor are instances wanting of persons who have arrived at the highest pitch of learning, without having the least idea of light. Witness the late famous Nicholas Sanderson of Cambridge, and my worthy friend Dr. Thomas Blacklock of Edinburgh. The former was one of the first mathematicians of his age, and the latter, besides being a good poet and philosopher, is master of all the learned languages, and a very considerable adept in the liberal arts.