Essai sur l'éducation des aveugles

A practical manual and report arguing for a comprehensive institution to teach blind people to read by tactile raised characters and to learn printing, writing, arithmetic, languages, history, geography, music, and trades; it describes the invention and testing of tactile type and instructional tools, the organization of schooling and workshops, printed examples produced by blind pupils, responses to likely objections, and recommendations for vocational occupations to provide independence and social integration; the stated aims are to occupy those with leisure, to free others from mendicancy by providing means of subsistence, and to document methods and results for wider adoption.