A rapid succession of touches upon various points of the hand is all that is necessary in spelling a sentence.  The left hand is the one upon which the imaginary alphabet is formed, merely to leave the right hand free to operate without change of position when two persons only are conversing face to face.

The formation of the alphabet here figured is on the same principle as one invented by George Dalgarno, a Scottish schoolmaster, in the year 1680, a cut of which maybe seen on page 19 of vol. ix. of the Annals, accompanying the reprint of a work entitled “Didascalocophus.”  Dalgarno’s idea could only have been an alphabet to be used in conversation between two persons tete a tete, and—­except to a limited extent in the Horace Mann School and in Professor Bell’s teaching—­has not come into service in the instruction of deaf-mutes or as a means of conversation.  There seems to have been no special design or system in the arrangement of the alphabet into groups of letters oftenest appearing together, and in several instances the proximity would seriously interfere with distinct spelling; for instance, the group “u,” “y,” “g,” is formed upon the extreme joint of the little finger.  The slight discoverable system that seems to attach to his arrangement of the letters is the placing of the vowels in order upon the points of the fingers successively, beginning with the thumb, intended, as we suppose, to be of mnemonic assistance to the learner.  Such assistance is hardly necessary, as a pupil will learn one arrangement about as rapidly as another.  If any arrangement has advantage over another, we consider it the one which has so grouped the letters as to admit of an increased rapidity of manipulation.  The arrangement of the above alphabet, it is believed, does admit of this.  Yet it is not claimed that it is as perfect as the test of actual use may yet make it.  Improvements in the arrangement will, doubtless, suggest themselves, when the alterations can be made with little need of affecting the principle.

In order to transmit a message by this alphabet, the following described appliance is suggested:  A matrix of cast iron, or made of any suitable material, into which the person receiving the message (the pupil) places his left hand, palm down, is fixed to the table or desk.  The matrix, fitting the hand, has twenty-six holes in it, corresponding in position to the points upon the hand assigned to the different letters of the alphabet.  In these holes are small styles, or sharp points, which are so placed as but slightly to touch the hand.  Connected with each style is a short line of wire, the other end of which is connected with a principal wire leading to the desk of the operator (the teacher), and there so arranged as to admit of opening and closing the circuit of an electric current at will by the simple touch of a button, and thereby producing along the line of that particular wire simultaneous electric impulses, intended to act mechanically upon