Catalogue description Folios 427-428. Letter from Samuel Crompton, surgeon, Henshaw's Blind Asylum, to the...

Folios 427-428. Letter from Samuel Crompton, surgeon, Henshaw's Blind Asylum, to the Right Honourable Lord Francis Egerton, president, regarding the admission of 55 blind persons 21 of whom are blind from neglect of vaccination. From investigations made of blind persons in Manchester, it would appear that throughout Great Britain and Ireland most sufferers are avoidably blind. As comprehensive statistical tables are not available he intends using Vernon Harcourt's tables and those available in France, Prussia, Switzerland and Austria to accurately predict the numbers of blind in the British Isles and Europe. Having observed that many patients at the asylum are blind as result of smallpox and none vaccinated, it is suggested to approach the Poor Law Commissioners to direct relieving officers to make returns of the numbers of blind persons receiving parochial relief with the causes of blindness being specified in the returns. These steps would assist in making a more cogent appeal to the public on the subject of blindness