Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 02.djvu/87

LEFT BLIND 65 BLISS letter. This was introduced into England by Sir C. Lowther, who printed the Gos- pel of St. Matthew in 1832 with type ob- tained from Paris. In 1920, a most interesting and ingen- ious device, that enables the blind to "see" by ear was brought to the attention of the public. The invention was by Dr. Max Herz, a specialist of Vienna. It is based on a sound alphabet, adapted by the inventor from the Morse alphabet, eliminating the dash and using the dot in various combinations. The modus operandi is thus described: A phono- graph record is made of a story in the sound language. The record is placed on an instrument resembling a phonograph, equipped with a sound box, and the blind person, after having familiarized himself with the alphabet, is able to read by ear rather than through the fingers, as by the Braille method. The alphabet is based on the single dot, two dots and four dots, variously combined. The phonograph record is made as follows : Using an instrument like a typewriter the operator punches holes in a narrow tape, each group of perforations being a letter in the dot alphabet. The tape is then run through an electric machine and the perforations are transferred in sound to a master record. Duplicate records may then be turned out in any number desired. One great advantage of this new in- vention over the Braille method is that a book of 200 printed pages may be trans- ferred to a record only six inches in diameter, while the same book reproduced in Braille would require a thousand pages. The entire works of Dickens and Shakespeare could be reproduced by the "typophone," as the invention is called, on records that would occupy a box about six inches high and as many inches square, while the same works in Braille would occupy a large part of a room. The Bible, for instance, in Braille re- quires several volumes, while six thin typophone records would contain the en- tire book. The expense of the latter would be only about twenty or thirty cents, while the same work in Braille would cost many dollars. Another ad- v'antage claimed for the new method is that it is very easy to learn, proficiency bting only a matter of a few days, while facility in the old method is sometimes only attained after a year or two of study. The reproducing instrument I'esembles a small phonograph and is kept in a wooden case, like a traveler's typewriter. As in the phonograph, there is a large circular disc, about 9 inches in diameter. Above this disc there is another one about the size of a six-inch record. Con- necting the two is a reduction gear. The blind man places the record in position and fastens the needle to the sound box as in an ordinary phonograph. In order to begin reading the book, he turns the large disc and the words of the story are then tapped out in the code. The reduction gear causes the record to rotate at a rate one thirty-sixth as slow as the lower disc is turned. The operator may read as slowly or as rapidly as he desires. There are about 65,000 blind persons in the United States. Of these about 60 per cent, are males. In Dr. Moon's alphabet some of the characters are Roman, others are based on or suggested by the Roman charac- ters. The Braille system is one in which the letters are formed by a combination of dots. In the United States books have been printed for the blind in three different forms of embossed characters, known as the Braille, the line letter, and the New York point systems. All of these have been used in the different schools. The New York point system, invented bj' W. B. Wait, Superintendent of the New York Institution, has also been adapted to the printing of music, and in 1894 the entire Bible was printed in it by the American Bible Society. Mr. Wait also brought out in 1894 the kleidograph, an instrument of his invention, by which the blind can readily write in embossed char- acters, and also the stereograph, by which they can emboss metal plates for print- ing in embossed characters. BLIND FISH, the name of several species of fish, family amhlyopsidse, in- habiting the American cave streams. They are all small, the largest not ex- ceeding five inches. In the typical species (amblyopsis spelseus) of the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky, the eyes are reduced to a useless rudiment hidden under the skin, the body is translucent and color- less, and the head and body are covered with numerous rows of sensitive papillje, which form very delicate organs of touch. BLIND WOBM (so called from the small size of its eyes), the English name of a reptile, the anguis fragilis, formerly considered a serpent, but now classed with the most aberrant of the lizards. It is more commonly called the slow worm. It is not venomous. It feeds on slugs. BLISS, CORNELIUS NEWTON, an American merchant, born in Fall River, Mass., Jan. 26, 1833; was educated in New Orleans; engaged first in commis- sion business, in Boston, and became head