#nyctography

They use Nyctography in it so... (Nyctography - 1891)

It can’t be as ancient as any of the Miraculouses.

This Weird Wednesday is brought to you by Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll), who invented both the device and the shorthand style used with it.

When I was 9, I met a blind girl in my class and ever since all my best friends are blind.  Ever since, I felt a strong connection to things that relate to the blind: I'm learning Braille and I'm interested in ways one can write without eyesight.  My senior project was about the decline of Braille literacy in America and my report detailed the history of Braille, including earlier methods such as embossing or the Moon alphabet, etc.

Imagine my delighted surprise that two of my interests would connect.  On wikipedia, Lewis Carroll is credited with inventing a way to write in the dark called Nyctography, or Typhlography.  It also says that he had sort of alphabet for the Nyctograph.  Unfortunately, everywhere on the internet basically says the same information and there's no trace of what the alphabet looked like.  If anyone has more information or suggestion of where to find more, I'd love for you to message me.

I have to admit I'm curious to see if it has any use to my friends.  We (the sighted) jot down phone numbers, addresses, and appointments easily without even thinking about it.  Meanwhile, the blind, if caught without their braillenotes, often have to resort to memorizing the information.  I've seen a product before meant to solve this problem called a PokaDot (a little brailler to fit in your pocket), but a grid would just be better:

1. Unless one knows Braille shorthand (which most, even blind people, don't), Braille takes up a lot of space.

2: A grid would most likely be cheaper to buy (or just make yourself).

3: A grid is flat unlike a mini brailler, making it easier to carry it around in one's pocket or bag.