A WONDERFUL MACHINE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1905, 21 November 1918, Page 1

A WONDERFUL MACHINE.

'[’HAT GIVES THE BLIND SIGHT

NEW ALPHABET 1 OF SOUNDS

An instrument, called the Optophone, has been invented by Dr. E. E. Fournier d’Albe to enable blind people to read ordinary print by the transmission of the letter values into sound.

It owes its existence, indirectly, to the tael that one day about 45 years ago an unsatisfactory feature was noticed in the working of the

Trans-Atlnnlie cable station at Vnlentia, off liie coast of Ireland. The trouble was found to lie in the silenium used at the station, ami this led to the discovery that: silonium responds in a certain way when exposed to light. Working from this fact, Dr Fournier d’Albe has produced his Octopbone. The method employed is to throw intermittent light of live different “frequencies” on (he typo of an ordinary book or newspaper. The book lies face downwards over (he instrument. The relleeted light is received on a siicnium tablci, which transmits to a telephone a set of sounds corresponding to the varying shapes of the letters.

A Daily Ghronicle representative witnessed an interestiny> experiment at tin.' British Scientific Products Hxbibilion. at Kind’s College. A blind girl, .Miss Mary .Jameson, who has acquired this new alphabet sound, submitted to a lest, and read a portion of Dante's “Inferno.”

In conversation, Miss .Jameson mentioned that it had taken her 90 hours to familiarise herself with the series of tiny sounds, . alnur-t. like the dots and -dashes of (he .Morse system, into which the alphabet of ordinary people had been translated. During the test the rate of reading was about one word a minute. But Miss .Jameson said she is able to read the sounds more quickly when her attention is not diverted by the presence of a number of listening people, and (lie rale is increased with each attempt.