54 ART OF WJRITING IN THE DARK. 



to write was perhaps the firft occurrence of my life which led 

 me to think ferioufly of committing my thoughts to paper with 

 my own hand. 

 Berard*s meth«d This gentleman^s plan however prefented many difficulties 

 t uch^onf f* ^ which it is unnecetTary to enumerate; in reality it promifes to 

 not adapted to be of much advantage to thofe who have learned to manage a 

 the early blind, p^j, before they loft the ufe of their eyes : but as this has rvot 

 been my lot» I refolved to conquer the hardfliipi of fortune, if 

 poffible, b)' inventing an alphabet confifting of charaders which 

 a mechanical apparatus might form with eafe and certainty. 

 After tketching an outline of a method in my own mind, I 

 imparted my unfinifhed project to an ingenious friend, being 

 induced to afk his atliftance by a confcioufnefs of my own in- 

 experience in the art of writing. This gentleman completed 

 the buiinefs in a thort time, by inventing a fet of diftind cha- 

 raders of eafy execution, and contriving the means of imprint-^ 

 ing them upon paper. 

 Kequlfite? of The origin of the invention being now ftated, the pcocefs 



the art. jjj^y Ijg defcribed in the following manner; including the pre* 



paration of the paper, the alphabet, the law of combining the; 

 letters, the apparatus, and the proper kind of ink. 

 Pra£lice. The paper is prepared by dividing it into feveral fquare com- 



^k^d^nrVua P^^tments, which will appear in the annexed figure, page 57. 

 compartments. The operation might be performed by means of a ruler, but 

 the page may be ftamped with greater certainty by the writing- 

 frame; which inftruroent will be defcribed in the fet^uel. 

 The alphabetis The alphabet is formed by means of two marks only; theff 

 ormedby are a dot, and a ftraight ftroke; for each compartment may 



fftrokVin^a^"^ be copfidercd as the fkeleton of any chara^er the writer withes 

 different part of tomake; and it is completed by placing the requilite mark in 

 c^^lT^^^'^ its proper place. The letters might be defcribed feparately, 

 but a moment's infpedion of the alphabet given in Fig, ift 

 explains the ftru6ii)re of it better than words can do. The 

 fcheme moreover ftiews, that there are thirteen places where 

 the marks may be fixed, fq as to form all the letters : to thefe 

 may be added the three chara6iers denoting the end of a word, 

 - a capital, and the numerals 1, 2, 3, &c. 

 Method of com- Since placing a dot or a ftroke in a fquare makes a letter, the 

 hining the let- |"anie compartment may form the bafis of feveral characters in 

 ing, certain circumftancesj provided the law of combining them 



be firft eft^bliihed. 



