moving forwards, whether towards the right or towards the left, meets the characters in the same position, and is, in fact, never moving backwards, in the same manner that a person may walk to the end of a room, turn and walk back, yet is moving forwards in both directions. Moon, on the other hand, while borrowing the reversal of the line from Frere retains the letters in the returning line in the same position as the advancing, so that the finger in the return line meets the characters in the opposite direction from that in the advancing line ; and to those accustomed to Frere s simpler method of reversal an unpleasant feeling is produced, exactly comparable to walking backwards.
The following example of both modes of reversal, in which Roman Capitals are used, will make this clear:—
Frere's Method.
I WILL MAKE DARKNESS
M?HT ??O??? TH?I?
Moon's Method.
I WILL MAKE DARKNESS
.MEHT EROFEB THGIL
No doubt habit will accustom a reader to either plan, and probably there is not much difference in the difficulty of either, but, as we shall see by-and-by, it is absolutely necessary for writing that the pupil should thoroughly understand that, whichever way he goes, he is moving forwards ; it is, therefore, wise to accustom him in reading to a process which he will have to follow in writing. Opinions differ widely among the blind whether it is best to read forwards in one direction and backwards in the other, or forward in both ; it seems, however, among those who have had experience of the return line, that there can be no doubt of its great value, as by its use no time is lost by the reading finger having to return from the end of the upper to the beginning of the lower line, and the setting free of the left hand enables it to follow the right in reading, to take its place, or to rest.
(d.) Shorthand.—By a shorthand system, reading is more rapid, and a nearer approach is made to the way in which the eye takes in a whole word at a glance, than in a full-written system. The books are also more manageable and less costly, but the stereo- graphic method is distinctive of correct spelling, and in the pho netic method this is not even attempted ; yet it is advisable, for many reasons, that the blind should be able to spell. The short hand systems seem therefore to be of the same use to the blind as to the seeing not being of universal application, but extremely useful to those who have to read much.
In all the systems which we have hitherto considered, the letters, whether Roman or arbitrary, are formed by raised lines. The method employed for writing them is as follows : Small cubes of wood are used with projecting pin points, so placed as to assume the form of each letter. The paper to be written on being laid on a soft surface, the pin-point letters are pressed into it ; each point carries some of the paper before it, forming a little prominence on the reverse side, and as the pin points are very close together, the series of little prominences formed by them feel to the fingers like serrated lines. This plan ought rather to be called printing than writing. It requires great practice, and is at the best very slow and imperfect ; yet it has its uses, as by employing Roman capitals the blind can correspond with the seeing. The letters, however, are not sufficiently distinct, and communications from blind correspond ents written in this manner, or with pencil, are less satisfactory, both to writer and reader, than if the letter had been written from dictation. Printing from the Roman letter (not embossed) can be effected by the blind, with considerable rapidity, by means of Hughes s typograph or Foucault s writing-machine; but the blind writer cannot read what he lias written, and the apparatus is so costly that it is not procurable by the poor.
[A new machine called the type-writer, has lately been invented in America. It is largely manufactured, and is coming into general use for the seeing. It is equally well adapted to the use of the blind, is very simple, and can be manipulated very rapidly. A skilful operator can write at least twice as fast as an expert pen man. It is not only a valuable invention, but one superior to all others of the blind.]
Various plans exist to enable the blind to keep their lines when writing with a pencil or with a stile on carbonized paper, but such wilting can only be used for correspondence with the seeing and cannot, of course, be read by touch.
"We come now to the third class of systems, viz., those in which the letters are formed by a combination of dots. These are:—
1. The Braille system, universal in France, both for writing and printing, and very much used for both purposes in Switzerland, and employed as the written character in almost all countries, with the exception of the United Kingdom.
2. The Carton type, which was introduced into Belgium by the Abbe Carton.
3. Hughes s system consists of large and small dots, and lines placed in different positions. It never obtained much currency, and seems never to have attracted the attention which its ingenuity merited.
4. A modification of the French method has been lately proposed in Xew York, and seems to have much to recommend it. To begin with the French method. This was invented in 1834 by M. Braille, a blind pupil of the Institut des jcunes Avcuglcs. It spread with great rapidity, and has, as we have before seen, become almost the universal written language of the blind. Its signs are purely arbitrary and consist of varying combinations of six dots placed in an oblong, of which the vertical side contains three and the horizontal two dots. For writing, a frame is used consisting of a grooved metal bed, containing ten grooves to the inch ; over this is fitted a guide whose vertical diameter is y^ inch, while the hori zontal diameter is 1 %. This perforated guide is fixed into a light wooden frame, like the frame of a slate, which is attached to the grooved metal bed by hinges. The paper is introduced between the frame and the grooved bed. The instrument for writing is a blunt awl, which carries a little cap of paper before it into the grooves of the bed, thereby producing a series of little pits on the side next the writer. When taken out and turned over, jittle prominences are felt, corresponding to the pits on the other side. The reading is performed from left to right, consequently the writing is from right to left ; but this reversal presents no practical difficulty as soon as the pupil has caught the idea that in reading and writing alike he has to go forwards. The brass guide has a double row of openings, which enables the writer to write two lines ; when these are written, he shifts his guide downwards until two little pins, which project from the under surface at its ends, drop into corre sponding holes of the frame, when the writer writes two more lines, and this operation is repeated until he arrives at the bottom of the page.
The first ten letters, from a to j, are formed in the upper and middle grooves; the next ten, from k to t, are formed by adding one lower dot behind to each letter of the first series; the third row, from u to u is formed from the first by adding two lower dots to each letter; the fourth row, from a o w, similarly, by adding one lower front dot.
The first ten letters, when preceded by the prefix for numbers, stand for the nine numbers and the cypher. The same signs, written in the lower and middle grooves, instead of the upper and middle, serve for punctuation. The seven last letters of each series stand for the seven musical notes the first series representing quavers, the second minims, the third semibreves, the fourth crotchets. Rests, accidentals, and every other sign used in music, can be readily and clearly expressed, without having recourse to the staff of five lines which forms the basis of ordinary musical notation, and which, though it has been reproduced for the blind, can only be considered as serving to give them an idea of the method employed by the seeing, and cannot, of course, be written. By means of this dotted system a blind man is able to keep memo randa or accounts, write his own music, emboss his own books from dictation, and cany on correspondence.
But this French system, though extremely useful, is not perfect. The letter is too small for ready recognition by the unskilful or hard-handed, and if this is sought to be remedied by increasing the size, the reading finger does not cover the whole of the letter, and has to proceed up and down, feeling out each letter, instead of following the even gliding motion essential to good reading. The modification proposed in New York remedies this defect, though this does not appear to have been the intention of its promoters. It proceeds on the principle that the letters occurring most frequently in the English language should be represented by the fewest number of dots, and that the letters should be so spaced that a letter composed of one dot should not, as is the case in the French system, occupy the same room as one with six dots. For this pur pose the oblong, consisting of six dots, composing the root-form of the letter, is placed horizontally instead of vertically, the greatest vertical depth of any letter in two dots instead of three. From these two changes results a saving of about one-third in space ; this involves a saving of about one-third in the price of printed books; writing is rendered more rapid ; and as the size can now be in creased, owing to the diminution of the vertical length of the letter, it can be made sufficient for the dullest touch. Ten-word and part-word signs have been introduced, which effect a further saving of nearly one-third, while they do not interfere in the least degree with correct spelling. These advantages make it well worth while to consider whether the modification of the Braille system ought not to be adopted as the written system of all English-speaking blind ; but before such a step is recommended, the question should be carefully considered in all its bearings on musical notation as well as on ordinary wilting."
Regarding the Worcester College for Blind Sons of Worceste Gentlemen, founded in 18GG by the Eev. R. H. Blair, the College. Report informs us that—
" It was opened with the view of giving to families of the better class an opportunity of educating their children in a systematic
