“Blindness, either total or partial, is so largely a defect of the aged, and occurs with so much greater frequency as the age advances and the population diminishes, that in any comparison of the proportion of the blind in the general population of different classes, such as native and foreign-born whites, or white and coloured, the age distribution of the population of each class should be constantly borne in mind. The differences in this respect account for many of the differences in the gross ratios, and it is only when ratios are compared for classes of population of identical ages that their relative liability to blindness can be properly inferred.”
Table II.—The Blind, by Degree of Blindness, Age-Periods, Colour and Nativity.
| Degree of Blindness and Age-Period. | All Classes. | White. | Coloured. | ||
| Total. | Native. | Foreign- born. | |||
| Number— | |||||
| The blind | 64,763 | 56,535 | 45,479 | 10,694 | 8228 |
| Under 20 years | 8,308 | 7,252 | 6,937 | 231 | 1056 |
| 20 years and over | 56,165 | 49,067 | 38,388 | 10,420 | 7098 |
| Age unknown | 290 | 216 | 154 | 43 | 74 |
| The totally blind | 35,645 | 30,359 | 23,636 | 6,511 | 5286 |
| Under 20 years | 4,123 | 3,543 | 3,377 | 129 | 580 |
| 20 years and over | 31,363 | 26,704 | 20,179 | 6,636 | 4639 |
| Age unknown | 159 | 112 | 80 | 19 | 27 |
| The partially blind | 29,118 | 26,176 | 21,843 | 4,183 | 2942 |
| Under 20 years | 4,185 | 3,709 | 3,560 | 102 | 476 |
| 20 years and over | 24,802 | 22,363 | 18,209 | 4,057 | 2439 |
| Age unknown | 131 | 104 | 74 | 24 | 27 |
| Number per 1,000,000 population of same age— | |||||
| The blind | 852 | 846 | 804 | 1,047 | 896 |
| Under 20 years | 247 | 250 | 248 | 215 | 229 |
| 20 years and over | 1,334 | 1,305 | 1,348 | 1,143 | 1574 |
| The totally blind | 469 | 454 | 418 | 637 | 576 |
| Under 20 years | 123 | 122 | 121 | 120 | 126 |
| 20 years and over | 745 | 710 | 708 | 698 | 1033 |
| The partially blind | 383 | 392 | 386 | 410 | 320 |
| Under 20 years | 124 | 128 | 127 | 95 | 103 |
| 20 years and over | 589 | 595 | 639 | 445 | 541 |
Table II. shows the classification, by degree of blindness, of the blind under twenty years of age, twenty years of age and over, and of unknown age, with respect to colour and nativity, with the number at the specified ages per million of population in the same age-group.
The relationship or consanguinity of parents of the 64,763 blind was reported in 56,507 cases, in 2527 (or 4.5%) of which the parents were related as cousins.
In 57,726 cases the inquiry as to the existence of blind relatives was answered; 10,967 (or 19%) of this number reported that they had blind relatives.
Of the 2527 blind persons whose parents were cousins, 993 (or 39.3%) had blind relatives,—844 having blind brothers, sisters or ancestors, and 149 having blind collateral relatives or descendants.
Of the 53,980 blind whose parents were not related, 9490 (or 17.6%) had blind relatives, 7395 having blind brothers, sisters or ancestors, and 2095 having blind collateral relatives or descendants.
It was found that, of the 2527 blind whose parents were cousins, 632 (or 25%) were congenitally blind, of whom 350 (or 55.4%) had also blind relatives of the classes specified; while, among the 53,980 whose parents were not so related, the number of congenitally blind was 3666 (or but 6.8%), of whom only 1023 (or 27.9%) had blind relatives.
In 1883 the number of blind in France was estimated at 32,056, the total population of the country being 38,000,000; 2548 of the France. blind were under, and 29,508 above, 21 years of age; of the former 857 were receiving instruction in 21 schools supported by the state, by the city of Paris, by some of the departments, and by some religious bodies. The four Parisian institutions are the Institution Nationale des Jeunes Aveugles, the École Braille (founded in 1883), the Établissement des Soeurs Aveugles de St Paul (founded in 1852), and that of the Frères de Saint Jean de Dieu (founded in 1875).