EDUCATION
311
EDUCATION
cational value. Besides this, they were practically
unwritable, and they provided no adequate means of
musical notation. Fortunately, when the various
line-types were found deficient, and a strong protest
by the intelligent blind in Europe and in the United
States was raised against them, a new system was dis-
covered, which possessed all the requisites which were
lacking in the line-letter prints. This new system is
known as Braille. Its invention by Louis Braille, a
blind pupil of the Institution des Jeunes Aveugles of
Paris, marked a new epoch in the history of the educa-
tion of the blind. The original idea of a point-print
was derived by Louis Braille from Barbier, who sug-
gress in the education of the blind. From the day
when the system was finally adopted in the schools of
France, England, Germany, the United States, and
other countries, the Braille has undergone various
modifications; hence a variety of Braille systems,
which have caused even greater confusion than the
diversity of the earlier Roman styles of embossed lit-
erature. As late as 22 April, 1902, in an addre.ss made
at the conference held at Westminster on matters re-
lating to the blind, Mr. William H. Illingworth, head-
master of the Royal Blind Asylum and School, West
Craigmillar, Edinburgh, spoke as follows regarding the
diversity of Braille alphabets and the desirability of a
NEW YORK Point alphabet.
o •• b !•• c
d •: i
5 ..: (i .« I : J "* k
p •.. q :.. I* .: s •• t . u ... V V
Number si'Sri ::: Numerals i :: i-
7 .- 8 *. 9 : • Wor*d and Pad
and •:. of .•: that *.*. i»i5 .:• cfi :•.
wd :•• Ph ::• 3Pi "' Explanation of Punctuation Marfcs Comma* Semi-colon. Colon:. In- tiVfo^cLtion ••■ Dash.... Pej'iod :•• Exclamcition .: Pafin- tPiisis :• Quotation :.. APostroPtif :•*; HVPtien :•:•
I ^ m :* n .. o ^
w ..• X J.: y .•. z
3 .: A " ^ 6 '
WofdSiSns tPt£ .
oil "s Sfl .:. tfl :
gested a combination of points arranged in a rectangle
^twelve points in two vertical columns of six each.
The most conspicuous, though not most radical, de-
fect was the large and imwieldy size of the signs,
which could not be covered with the finger. Another
drawback was the great waste of space. As the
" cell ", or rectangle, was of fixed size, if a letter was
represented by a point in one corner, all the rest of the
space was left blank. This was observed by Braille,
who reduced Barbier's rectangle one-half; thus he
limited the number of the points to six instead of
twelve. The six points in Braille are arranged in two
vertical rows of three each. By the omission of one or
more of the points sixty-three distinct signs are
formed, to represent the entire alphabet, accents,
Arabic numerals, marks of punctuation, word- and
part-word signs, as well as a system of algebraic and
musical notation. Of these sixty-three characters,
ten are called fundamental signs, and form the basis of
all the rest by the addition of one point in some part or
other of the " cell" either to the fundamental signs or
to the series forined from them. The chief advan-
tages of the Braille system are: (1) its simplicity and
easy acquisition; (2) its "tangibility", orefTiciency in
impressing the sense of touch, enabling the blind not
only to read but also to write; (.3) its adaptability to
both the writing and printing of a system of musical
notation.
In spite, however, of its evident advantages, many years went by before the new system obtained recog- nition, even in countries where, for lack of " tangibil- ity" in the existing systems, the use of books in the class-room had been almost unknown. It is quite pos- sible that the slowness and reluctance in the adoption of Braille wcio due to the fact that institutions for the blind had been .so widely separated in dates of origin and in Ideality that the need of unityof action and conimu- iiily (if iiitcn-st was but slowly realized. In many cases prfjiKlicc, petty jealousy, and obstinate attachment to thtHiiies long since proved false, account for the un- yielding attitude towards improved methotls, which has often stood in the way of true and uniform pro-
uniform system: "Out of a chaos, born of conflicting
opinions and petty jealousies, combined with an
almost incredible amount of apathy, indifference and
indecision such as exists in the Braille world, it would be
impossible by any means short of a miracle to create
or to formtilate such a scheme. . . . We hear often
and are treated to examples of ' English as she is
spoke', but I venture to think that for variety and
specimens of the grotesque, this pales into insignifi-
cance before 'Braille as she is wrote'. Though the
time may be quite ripe for a serious attempt being
made to improve the existing state of matters, it will
require years of patient thought and interchange of
opinion, absolute singleness of purpose and charitable,
sympathetic self-abnegation to devise a perfectly uni-
form and practical system, and make the Braille — if
that system be the very best system — as perfect and
simple as possible and as worthy to be the tangible
exponent of the most powerful and imiversally spoken
language of modern times."
New York Point (see cut). — The claim to being, in the words of the writer quoted above, a system " as perfect and simple as possible and as worthy to be the tangible exponent" of the English language can justly be made for the punctographic system known as New York Point, or the Wait system, unquestionably the most perfect form which the idea suggested by Bar- bier and rescuetl from oblivion by Louis Braille has as yet attained. This system is a genuine American product, the outcome of years of patient thought, of indefatigable labour, and of absolute singleness of pur- pose. To Mr. William B. Wait, for upwards of forty- three years at the head of the leading institution for the blind in the Ignited States, is due the creilit of the originat inn, development, const ruction, and application of the litiTary, iiuisical, and mathematical codes of (he New York Point System. The genesis of this new punctographic system is the result of a desire on the part of Mr. Wait to improve the Braille by remodel- ling it, on principles of compactness and economy of time and space. Careful study, however, of the struc- ture and application of Braille led to the conclusion
