I IS B L I 
charafters, the prefent year of the Chriftian tera 1798 : 
Take a peg of the firft fet, and fix it in the board with its 
Hoping fide turned towards tire left, equal to one ; take now 
a peg of the fecond fet, and fix it in the next hole in the 
fame groove, proceeding as uftial from left to right, with 
its doping fide turned tc the right, equal to 7 ; next take a 
peg of the third fet, and fix it the third hole, with its 
edges diretted to right and left, denoting 9; laftly, take 
,a peg of the fecond let, and place it in the next hole, with 
its doping fide turned downwards, equal to 8 ; and the 
whole will exprefs the number required. 
“ When it is necefTary to exprefs a vulgar fraction, I 
place the numerator in the groove immediately above, and 
the denominator in that immediately below, the groove in 
which the integers (land; and in decimal arithmetic an 
empty hole in the integer groove reprefents the comma 
or decimal point. By (imilar breaks 1 alfo denote pounds, 
flail Lings, pence, &c. and by the fame expedient I feparate 
in divifion the divifor and quotient from the dividend. 
This notation, which fupplies me completely with coeffi¬ 
cients and indices in algebra and fluxions, fecms much 
fuperior to any of the kind hitherto made public in the 
weft of Europe. That invented and defcribed by Mr. 
Grenville, having no lefs than ten fets of pegs, is by much 
too complicated for general praftice ; and that which we 
owe to the celebrated Saunderfon is apt to puzzle and 
embarrafs the calculator, as the pegs reprefenting the 
numerical digits can feldom or never be in the fame ftraight 
line.” 
In the higher parts of mathematics, fuch as conic flec¬ 
tions, the fame folid figures which are mediums of per¬ 
ception to thofe who fee, may perform the fame ufeful 
office to the blind. But, for the ftrufture of fuperficial 
figures, we fhould imagine, that a kind of matter might be 
found, foft-enough to be eafily fufceptible of impreflions, 
yet hard enough to retain them till effaced by an equal 
preffure. Suppofe, for infiance, a table were formed, four 
feet broad and eight in length ; for the figures* that they 
may be the more fenfible to the touch, ought to be larger 
than ordinary. Suppofe this table had brims or a mould¬ 
ing round it, rifing an inch above the furface : let the 
whole expanfe, then, be filled with bees-wax, and the 
furface above prefled extremely even with a polifhed 
board, formed exactly to fit the fpace within the mould¬ 
ings. This board will always be necefTary to efface the 
figures employed in former propofitions, and prepare the 
furface for new ones. We think we have imagined the 
minuted inconvenience that can arife from this method of 
delineating and conceiving geometrical truths ; and, after 
all, the table appears to us the beft and the lead trouble- 
fome apparatus which a blind man can ufe. We can fee 
no reafon why general ideas of geography or topography 
might not be conveyed to him in the fame manner, by 
fpheres compofed of or covered with the fame impreffible 
matter. 
But although the extenfive view we have taken of this 
fubjeft has led us to notice the different inventions for the 
improvement of the blind, which have had their origin 
in our own country, we fhould by no means omit a plan 
publifhed at Paris under the title of An Effay on the Edu¬ 
cation of the Blind, which fuperfedes every former at¬ 
tempt to facilitate their improvement. The invention of 
a plan fo arduous in its appearance, and fo practicable in 
its execution, demanded the higheft exertions of the no- 
bleft genius to produce it, and the mod ftrenuous efforts 
of indefatigable humanity to render it effectual. Its ob¬ 
ject is to teach them, by palpable characters imprelfed on 
paper, not only the liberal arts and fciences, but likewife 
the principles of mechanical operation, in fuch a manner, 
that thofe who have no genius for literary improvement 
may yet become Yefpeftable, ufeful, and independent, 
members of fociety, in the capacity of common artifans. 
By thefe tangible fignatures they are taught to read, to 
write, and to print; they are likewife inftrufted in geo¬ 
metry, in algebra, geography, and, in fliorf, in every 
3 
N D. 
branch of natural philofophy. Nor are their efforts cir. 
cumfcribed by mere utility j a tafte for the fine arts has 
likewife been.cultivated among them. They have been 
taught to rea'd mufic with their fingers as others do with 
their eyes ; and, though they cannot at once feel the notes 
and perform them upon an inftrument, yet they are capa¬ 
ble of acquiring any leffon with as much exaftnefs and 
rapidity as thofe who enjoy all the advantages of figln. 
In his firft chapter the author difeovers the end propofled 
by that delineation of culture which he offers to the blind ; 
it is to enlarge their fphere of knowledge, and of confe- 
quence to increafe their capacities and improve their pow¬ 
ers of aftion, fo that they may become happy and inde. 
pendent in themfelves, and ufeful and agreeable to others. 
The fecond chapter contains an anfwer to the objections 
urged againft the general utility of this inftitution. Thefe 
objections are candidly ftated, and anfwered in the moft 
fatisfaiTory manner. The third chapter treats of reading 
as adapted to the practice of the blind. The fourth con- 
fifts of anfwers to various objections againft the method of 
reading propofed for the blind. In the fifth is fhown the 
art of printing as praCtifed by the blind for their peculiar 
life. In the fixth is defcribed the manner of teaching the 
blind the art of printing for thofe that fee. In the feventh 
is reprefented the manner of teaching the blind to write. 
The eighth explains the method of teaching the blind 
arithmetic; the ninth, geography; the tenth, mufic. The 
eleventh contains an account of the mechanic arts in which 
the blind are employed, and of the way by which they 
are formed for fuch occupations. The twelfth fhow.s 
in general the proper manner of inilrlifting the blind, and 
draws a parallel between their education and that of the 
deaf and dumb. The thirteenth treats of the method of 
inftrufting them in the languages, mathematics, hiftory, 
&c. What remains of the book is taken up with notes 
which illuftrate each particular chapter ; a fhort hiftorical 
account of the rife, the progrefs, and the prefent (late, of 
the academy for the formation of the blind ; an ode on 
the cultivation of the blind, by one that laboured under 
that affliftion; an extraft from the regifter of the royal 
academy of fciences; opinion of the printers; models of 
the various pieces which blind children are capable of 
printing ; and an account of the exercifes performed by 
blind children during the Chriftmas folemnities in 1786. 
Having thus given a curfory view of the various topics 
contained in the effay, we proceed to give fome account of 
the manner in which the blind print and write. The blind 
compofitor has a box for every alphabetical charafter in 
ufe ; on the outfide of thefe boxes are palpably marked 
the peculiar charafter belonging to each ; they are filled 
with types, which he choofes and fets as they are called 
for, but not in the pofition in which they are to be read; 
on the contrary, they are inverted as objefts are feen 
painted on the retina of an eye by an optician. Having 
thus fixed and arranged his types, he choofes a page of the 
ftrongeft paper that can be found, which he gently- mci- 
ftens in a degree fufficient to render it more eafily fufcep¬ 
tible of impreflions, without being dilacerated or worn by 
the fliock which it muft afterwards undergo. He then 
lays it upon the types ; and by the cautious operation of 
the prefs, or by the eafy ftrokes of a little hammer, which 
are frequently repeated over the whole expanfe, he caufes 
the impreffion of the type to rife on the oppofite fide of 
the paper, where, when dry, it continues not only ob¬ 
vious to the fight but the touch, and is far from being 
eafily effaced. On the upper fide of the paper the letters 
appear in their proper pofition, and by their fenfible ele¬ 
vation above the common furface render it practicable for 
the blind to read them with their fingers. Their manner 
of writing is analogous to this operation : the pupil, by 
repeated experiments, having faipiliarifed himfelf to the 
forms of the letters, both in their inverted and in their 
proper pofition, gradually learns to delineate them upon 
paper, moiftened as before, with the point of an iron pen, 
which has no fpljt, and which is juft (harp enough to im- 
