Blindness can be visual or mental as denoted when it is said that "Love, Hate, Fortune and Justice" are blind. Emotions, we know, can "blunt" our senses and induce the commission of "blunders". Fanatic enthusiasts, without a "blink" of an eye, can blindly impose their views and in the name of love or hate, justify crimes.

Blind Clown	Blind Visionary

In medicine, blindness is called "Amaurosis", as if to stress "Darkness". The same idea is in "Mauritania", "Moor" and "Mulberry" (in Spanish "Moro", "Mora").

In Latin, blind is "Caecus", which points to "Cecum" and "Celiac" which are "blind" intestinal segments.

There is no English word for "blind of one eye" as in Spanish "Tuerto" which leads to "Tort", "Torture" and "Contort". In Latin "Tuerto" is "Lusculus" as described below. One common cause of monocular vision is a deviated eye or "squint" which is akin of one eye being "contorted" or "twisted".

Tuerto	Lusculus or Squint

A "Mole" (In Spanish "Topo" or BORGNE in French) is a nearly blind animal. "Topo" leads to "Topar" and "Tropiezo" which denote "Stumble". An extension of these ideas have to do with "Topic".

Perhaps a leap toward "topical" education is justified since it may "blunt" or "blind" the mind, or perhaps provide a "monocular" or "a single view" of the Universe. "Tuerto" or "Lusculus" for "Blind of one eye" links with "Lusor, Lucis" for "Blunder" "Deceit" and lack of light or lucidity thus with "Hallucination". Perhaps the ancients already realized that "topical" education represents a type of mental damage or "tort".

Partial blindness and color blindness are called "Meropia" and "Deuteropia". Mero and deutero denote "lacking" and "partial lack", as in "Deuterium" (lacking electrons). "Meromelia" denotes maldevelopment of limb segments.

Blind bards linked people with their myths, poetry, music and history. Western European civilization shares ideas found in Oedipus, Plutus, Orion, Tiresias, and Phineus. In the case of Plutus, the dispenser of Fortunes, he was blinded by Zeus to enhance justice. Hera blinded Tiresias for suggesting that women enjoyed sex more than men. Zeus granted Tiresias the gifts of prophecy, one of the subjects in "Oedipus Rex". Homer speaks of Polyphemus, a giant cyclops (single round eye) who was blinded by Odysseus. In the Russian empire, roving blind Bards were musicians, poets and oral historians. With the advent of the USSR they disappeared soon after Stalin called for a Bard convention. Many historians believe that Stalin liquidated Bards to minimize resistance to an impending state planned famine to be imposed on Ukraine where resistance to collectivization of land was growing. The state planned famine claimed over 10 million victims.

Blind Bard

Regarding "cyclopia", ancients realized that some range plants can cause cattle to deliver "cyclopic" litters. Such plants contain "reproductive toxins" (veratrum) which are "teratogenic". Humans with a single eye or "cyclops" are not only represented by Polyphemus, a subject in the Odyssey, but also by babies with an extra chromosome 13 or trisomy 13.

Cyclops

Blindness after birth can be induced by natural and man made poisons causing optic neuritis. A historic example is Absinthe or Pastis, once a popular and now an illegal drink in France. Pastis contained flavoring oils extracted from Absinthe, a type of wormwood. Again, poets enrich our life by linking sciences with the arts. The botanical name of wormwood is "Artemisia" for Artemis, the goddess of the night. A reminder that plants like sager brush (Artemisia) can dim or obscure your optic vision and mental vision by damaging the brain. 

Absinthe - Wormwood

Wormwood in Ukrainian is called Chornobyl (Russified to Chernobyl). Chornobyl is now etched in all idioms as a symbol of the bitter consequences caused by a massive nuclear plant explosion. In this instance, Plutus showered humanity with Plutonium, a misfortune that did not deter "blunt" and "blundering" efforts by the nuclear power industry to make efforts to "blind" public opinion. In any case, many continue to hold the view that using nuclear power is the "silliest and most dangerous way of boiling water".