BRAILLE, brie, Louis, French educator of the blind: b. Coupvray 1806; d. 1852. He invented a system of writing with points, used extensively in institutions for the blind. Him self blind almost from birth, at the age of 10 years he was admitted to the Institute for the Blind in Paris, where he soon became proficient in both science and music. In instrumental music he attained a very high rank, becoming one of the most distinguished organists of Paris and also excelling as a violoncellist. At the age of 20 he had formed the idea of modify ing M. Charles Barbier's system of writing with points so as to render it practicable and convenient, and not long afterward it was in troduced into the Royal Institute, although no account of it was published till 10 years later. It was subsequently adopted in most of the continental schools and a little later in the United States, where it continues, with some modifications, in successful use. The signs of the original system are 43 in number, embracing the entire alphabet, all the diphthongs and marks of punctuation. Ten fundamental signs form the basis of all the rest. These signs, rep resenting the first 10 letters of the alphabet and the 10 Arabic numerals, are as follows : By placing one point under the left side of each fundamental sign, the second series is formed, comprising the next 10 letters. By placing two points under each fundamental sign, the third series, comprising U, V. X, Y, Z, C
(C soft), ft, A, E, U, is formed. By plac ing one point under the right side of the funda supplementary signs represent 1, .E and 0. The marks of punctuation are the fundamental signs placed two lines below. The system has been applied to musical notation in such a man ner as to make the reading and writing of music much easier for the blind than for those who see. The seven notes are represented by the last seven of the fundamental signs, and each of these notes may be written in seven different octaves by merely prefixing a sip peculiar to each octave, and thus the necessity of designating the key of each musical sentence in the ordinary way is avoided. The mode of writing is very simple. The apparatus consists of a board with a surface grooved horizontally and vertically by lines one-eighth of an inch apart. Over this board a frame is fitted like that of the common map delineator, and one or more sheets of paper being placed over the board, the points are made with a bodkin through a slip of perforated tin, , which contains all the changes used in the system. As the sheet must be reversed to be read, the writing should be from right to left, that it may be read from left to right. Of course, several copies may be made by one operation. For many years books have been printed in points in various countries. See BLIND.