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It was also found that the defects alleged by the enumerators did not, in many cases, agree with those disclosed by the personal schedules. In 561 cases reported by the enumerators simply as deaf or deaf and dumb, blindness also was shown to exist, and in 1,196 cases in which blindness was alleged by the enumerators there was no defect of vision disclosed by the personal schedules.

The result of the correspondence with the persons alleged by the enumerators in their preliminary return , to be blind, as set forth above, indicates that the accuracy of statistics of this class based upon the enumerators' returns are likely to be seriously defective, and that the personal particulars obtained by direct correspondence with the individuals are much more reliable. It also indicates that any comparisons with the published statistics of 1890 would be misleading.

Much of the detailed information furnished in the personal schedules is necessarily indefinite, particularly that relating to the causes of blindness, which, being stated in the language of the individuals, who are in many cases ignorant of the facts or are illiterate, does not permit a thoroughly scientific classification of the causes of blindness.

The number of cases remaining for statistical treatment, after making the eliminations and corrections described, was 64,763, representing 35,645 totally blind and 29,118 partially blind. This number, however, can be considered only as the minimum, as an unknown proportion of the blind were not located by the enumerators, and doubtless a considerable proportion of the 19,884 persons who failed to return the personal schedules should be included in the total. The number of partially blind by no means represents the facts as to defective eyesight among people, but so far as the returns cover the field they represent verified cases, and possess a greater authenticity than any heretofore secured.

Notwithstanding the probable deficiencies in the returns the figures furnish a basis for determining, with fair accuracy, the seat of the cause of blindness and the relative frequency of different diseases of the eye producing loss or impairment of vision.

SUMMARY OF RESULTS.

The principal facts concerning the blind set forth in the general tables are those relating to sex, color, general nativity, marital condition, present age and age at which blindness occurred, causes of blindness, and occupations. Consanguinity of parents, the number of the blind having blind relatives, and the educational advantages as indicated by school attendance are also shown.

The general relation of these data to the blind, distinguished as totally and partially blind, is shown briefly in the following tables and comments:

Sex. -- Of the 64,763 blind reported, 37,054, or 57.2 per cent, are males, and 27,709, or 42.8 per cent, are females, the number per 100,000 of corresponding population being: Total, 85.2; male, 95.5; female, 74.5. The numbers, percentages, and ratios to population are shown in relation to sex and degree of blindness in Table I.

Regarding the degree of blindness, it is shown that 35,645, or 55 per cent, of the blind are totally blind, and 29,118, or 45 per cent, are partially blind. Of the totally blind, 56.5 per cent are males and of the partially blind, 58.1 per cent. To state these facts in another way, blind males show a smaller proportion of their number totally blind than do blind females, the respective percentages being 54.4 and 55.9. The number of totally blind per 100,000 of total population is 46.9; in the male population, 51.9; and in the female population, 41.7. The corresponding numbers per 100,000 for the partially blind are 38.3, 43.6, and 32.8, respectively. These figures indicate that blindness, both total and partial, is more common among males than females.

Table I. -- The blind, by degree of blindness and sex.

States and territories. -- The distribution, by degree of blindness, of the blind and the number of each class per 100,000 of the population are shown for states and territories in Table II.

Table II.-- THE BLIND, BY DEGREE OF BLINDNESS, FOR STATES AND TERRITORIES.