Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 5.djvu/360

 EDUCATION

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EDUCATION

that the vertical position of Braille signs, allotting a fixed and unvarying space to all signs alike, was de- fective in more than one important respect. Owing to its limited number of only sLxty-three possible single signs, it was inadequate to the requirements of music, if not to those of literature and mathematics as weU; it was also found to be much more bulky, and hence more costly, than the Boston-Line, which, in the ab- sence of any ot her system, was then taken as a standard. To remedy these structural defects, by increasing the number of signs, and reducing the bulk and cost of books to the lowest possible minimum, only one course was left open. A difl'erent mode of sign struc- ture was devised, employing two points instead of three vertically and extending the base forms to three, four, or five points horizontally. By this method the new sign-structiu-e of New York Point yields 120 single, and 20 compound, signs against the 63 single signs to which the Braille is limited, and thus answers all the requirements of literature, music, and mathe- matics Besides, even apart from the application of the principle of recurrence in the structure of the New York Point — a principle that was not applied in the original Braille — all the advantages of simplicity, econ- omy of space and (Ln writing) of time, as well as of cost, are on the side of the Wait or New York Point system, as has been demonstrated by the most rigid tests. Thus, in printing a font of 520 letters in each system on a perfectly uniform scale, the letter-, word-, and line-spaces being the same in each system, any Braille code (where the alphabet only is used, and no contractions or punctuation marks) requires 5r75 per cent more space than the New York Point. The space required by punctuation marks in Braille is 20 per cent greater than in the New York Point. The excess of labour in the writing of Braille is twenty-seven per cent greater than in New York Point. In the writing of punctuation marks there is a shght excess of labour on the side of New York Point. However, the use of punctuation marks does not materially affect the ques- tion, as they form only about -04 of the whole bulk of composition. Another advantage of the New York Point over Braille is its having true capitals. In Braille the practice is to place before words requiring capitals a sign identical with the period, and to begin the word with the usual small letter. This requires two full "cells", or sixtj' per cent more area than the New York capitals, which are four points wide. Al- though up to the sixth or seventh century no distinc- tion was made in Europe, and none is made to this day in the Oriental alphabets, between capitals and small letters (the latter, in fact, were evolved from the former), yet, for those who are over-exacting regard- ing "good use", the advantage of possessing true capitals, instead of sham ones, is not inconsiderable, rurthermore, the gliding of the finger over the point- signs in but one direction, the lateral, is, on physiolo- gical grounds, an important advantage which the New York Point has over the Braille system, where the finger has to move first in the longitudinal and then in the lateral direction.

Mcthtnis oj Writing. — The invention of the New York Point marked an epoch in the history of the education of the blind; yet, had facilities not been supplied for writing and printing it, the new system would have failed to make its mark as an educational force. Fortunately, however, such appliances were provided Ijy Mr. Wm. Wait in 1894, and consist of a desk-tablet, a pocket-talilet. the kleidograph for paper writing, and the stereograph for embossing the metal plates used in printing. The kloidogi-aph and stereo- graph have done wonders in facihtatiiig tlie education of the blind. The former, designed for tlie purpose of writing literature, music, and mathematics in tactile form, is invaluable for speed and efficiency, and for the reason that what is written liy it can at once be read by the bhnd writer without removing or reversing the

paper, as must be done when the tablet is used. At least eighty per cent of the time required for writing music is saved, and sLxty per cent for literary work. The stereograph is a development from the kleido- graph, designed to emboss both sides of zinc or brass plates ready for use in printing. By its means a compositor can prepare twice or thrice as much matter in a given time as by the movable type ; besides, the matter comes from the compositor's hands stereo- typed and ready for the press. The cost of the com- plete plate is reduced by more than one-half. The further application of the interlining process, and of printing on both sides of the sheet at one impression from the plates embossed by Mr. Wait's stereograph, will reduce the cost of books still further, and effect a saving, in metal, in paper, and in binding, of nearly 50 per cent.

"The many appliances devised since the days ot Valentin Haiiy, particularly in France, England, and Germany, to enable the blind to write, may be grouped under three classes. First, the "hand-guides" are designed merely to help the blind to write in straight lines and at equal distances. For correspondence with the seeing, an ordinary pen or, more generally, a lead pencil is used, and the letters are written from left to right. For correspondence with the blind the ordinary letters have to be formed with a blunt stylus from right to left and reversed on paper which is un- derlaid with some soft material, as felt or blotting- paper, to bring out the written matter in relief on the reverse side of the page and reading from left to right. Valentin Haiiy devised a simple method of pencil- writing by placing the paper upon .a frame in the in- terior of which were stretched parallel cords of catgut ; between these cords it was an easy matter to write in straight lines and to make the letters of uniform size. Another ingenious way of producing tactile writing was, at the suggestion and request of Hatiy, devised by Adet and Hassenfratz in 1783. It was to trace the letters in a bold hand with a glutinous ink, over which sand was spread, so as to form, when it adhered to the letters, a rough sort of relief, or "tangible", writing. Various other fluids were devised for era- bossed wTiting, by Challan and Rousseau in 1821, by C. L. Miiller in 1823, by Freissauff in 1836, by Riesmer in 1867, and finally by the Abb^ Vitali of Milan, in 1893. The use of these various coloured fluids produces a writing which is at once "tangible" to the bhnd and visible to the seeing.

Among the more elaborate appliances for writing in straight, parallel, equidistant lines, may be men- tioned the tablets of G^neresse (1807) and of Bruno, the typhlograph of Passard, Dr. Nord's skotograph, Dr. Woizechowsky's amaurograph, Count de Beau- fort's stylograph, Wedgewood's noctograph, and the writing-frames of the Elliot brothers, of Thursfield, Dooley, and Levitte. The second class of apparatus are those designed not only to enable the blind to write in straight lines and to make the letters of imi- form size, but also to mechanically assist the hand in the formation of the letters and in tracing them at the same distance from each other. These appliances may be divided into line-cell and point-cell frames, according as the ordinary line-letter alphabet or the point system is used in writing. Of the line-cell frames or tablets, the best known are those devised by the Rev. Joseph Engelmann of Linz (1825), James Gall of Edinbvirgh, Mercier-Capette, Heboid, Dr. Llorens of Barcelona, by C. E. Guldberg of Copen- hagen (1858), Galimberti of Milan, Martuscelli of Na- ples, Moon of Brighton, England, Kemps of Grave, Holland, Ballu, Brother Isidore of Woluwe-Saint- Lambert, Belgium, and Mile Mulot of Angers, France. Mile Mulot's stylographic frame enables the blind to correspond not only with the sightless, but also with the seeing just as readily and satisfactorily. Of the numerous print^cell writing-frames or tablets de-