The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-11-27
NEW DEAF AND DUMB ALPHABET

| tenn and Can be Used in the Dark.
What has been long been wanted is
a simpler, easier, deaf-and- mans
alphabet. that will not only increase
| the marvellous speed with which those
chiefly concerned can already converse,
| but which will enable them to be read
| lily understood by speaking people. Such
an alphabet as this has been devised
bv an American gentleman, William
Bridges Of Kansas City.
In the new system the characters of
the alphabet are represented by fixed
places on the hand. Beginning with
the ball of the thumb on the left hand,
which represents the letter A all the
joints, finger ends. nails and palms sig
Nifty some letter or punctuation mark
The tip of the first finger represents
B, of the second G, of the third d, and
of the fourth, e. Then beginning at
the first finger again, the first joint is
F, on the second finger it is G, and 50
on until all the joints have a letter
assigned to them, the last joint of the
little finger representing @, r is rep
resented by the thumb nail S by the
nail of the first finger, r by the nail
of the second finger, U by the nail of
the third finger, and V by the fourth
finger nail. The remaining letters are
represented by the four top joints of
the back of the fingers
The center of the palm Of the hand
represents full stop. The base of the
thumb represents semicolon. The
base of the fore-finger is a colon, the
base of the little finger comma, and
A. t,,. - H.. 1,o~a s,.+a
cation. To complete the system, there
are signs for the. numerals. The right
side of the tip of the thumb is 1, the
left 2, the right side of the first finger
is 8, the left 4, and so on, the 10 sides
of the ends of the thumb and four
fingers making the 10 numeralsA
Nothing could be simpler than this
method of representing the alphabet
with the hands. 1t compares to adj
vantage in every way with the existing
two-handed alphabet that is used by
the deaf and dumb. The letters have
not to be laboriously formed by twist
ing the fingers into crude representa-
lions of written characters; their SYM
bols have only to be pointed out. For
example, in the old system the letter
5B Is indicated by joining the tips of
the thumbs and forefingers of both
hands and placing them together In
the new system B is indicated by mere
ly pointing to the tip of the forefinger
of one hand.
The symbols. on the left hand, are
usually pointed out with the index
finger of the right hand; or a pencil
may be used, which leaves the hand
more exposed for observation. AS adj
vancement is made with practice, the
fingers and thumb Of the right hand
may be ueed much in the way type
writing machine is manipulated.
In the case of handed people,
messages may be conveyed by using the
thumb as pointer, except when the
symbol is on the thumb, when the in
dex finger must be employed for the
purpose. This is very much simpler
than the old system of the one-handed
manual alphabet, which is even more
complicated and difficult to master
than the double-handed system on
which It YVES founded.
In addition to it's greater speed and
the new system in many
other ways is vastly superior to the
old. 1t enables deaf mute to commune
cate with a blind person Ca matter of
extreme difficulty hitherto) the one
gives a few dexterous touches on the
others hand, and the message is pass
ed. In the same way it enables the
deaf and dumb to converse with each
other in dark; while two men acquant-
ed with the system, surrounded by enc
mics, may converse silently and swift
lv when the sound of their voices might
lead to discovery.
An inexhaustible field of experience
awaits the new deaf and dumb alpha
bet: its principles will, no doubt, be |
very greatly developed in the future.
Those who habitually converse in SYM
bols, the experts of the art, will prob |
ably adopt one of many systems of
Authorizations, such as the telegraph |
code, which will greatly facilitate mat
ters Instead, for example, of spelling !
out in full words, "Are you going to
London or New York;" it will be mere
y necessary to indicate the symbols,
'R. u. gg. to Ldn. or N. Y.?'
Again there is no reason why short
hand should not be APPLIED to the sys- |
tenn. which would enable thoughts to
De exchanged almost as rapidly as by
Magazine.