For the benefit of those not acquainted with the telegraph alphabet, I give it:
A B C D E F G H I
.- -... ... -.. . .-. --. .... ..
J K L M N O P Q
-.-. -.- --- -- -. . . ..... ..-.
R S T U V W X Y
. .. ... - ..- ...- .-- ..-. .. ..
Z
... .
The uninitiated will observe that O differs from I in the distance between the dots, made thus: I by two quick strokes of the forefinger; O by one quick stroke, slight pause, and another quick stroke; the dashes are made by holding the finger down for a short space: thus SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN would be written:
S C I E N T I F I C
... .. . .. . -. - .. .-. .. .. .
A M E R I C A N
.- -- . . .. .. .. . .- -.
In a very short time any one can learn to read by the sight or by the touch. Anything which can add to the pleasure or comfort of these unfortunates is of importance.
MAGNET
[Nothing can compensate for want of rapidity in a language designed for colloquy. Although our correspondent found the Morse telegraph alphabet a resource on occasion, he would scarcely be content to use it, and it only for life, even if emancipation from it involved months of labor. The motions required to spell SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN by the telegraph alphabet are thirty-nine, but as the short dashes occupy the time of two dots for each dash, and there are eight of these, eight more ought to be counted in a comparison of it with an alphabet composed wholly of dots, this would make forty-seven. To spell the same words in full by the mute alphabet referred to would require only twenty-three motions. A still greater disparity in rate would, we think, be found in an entire colloquial sentence. Thus the sentence "Hand me an apple" would require, by the mute alphabet, the time of fourteen dots, while with the telegraph alphabet it would require the time of thirty-nine.--Eds.