BLINDING, a form of punishment anciently common in many lands. It wgs resorted to by the Roman emperors in their persecution of the Christians. The method of destroying the sight varied. Sometimes a mixture of lime and vinegar, or barely scald ing vinegar alone, was poured into the eyes. Sometimes a rope was twisted round the victim's head till the eyes started out of their sockets. In the middle ages the punishment seems to have been changed from total blindness to a permanent injury to the eyes, amounting, however, almost to blindness, produced by holding a red-hot iron dish or basin before the face. Under the forest laws of the Norman kings of England blinding was a common penalty.