Braille System

Braille System, method of printing books for use by the blind, consisting of a system of raised dots embossed in paper by hand or machine and read by touch. Each letter, number, and punctuation mark is indicated by the number and arrangement of one to six dots in a cell, or letter space, two dots wide and three dots high. Musical notation also can be transcribed into Braille. The characters are embossed from the back of the paper, working in reverse direction, and are read from the face of the paper in normal reading direction. The blind can transcribe Braille on a slate by using a stylus or on a Braillewriter (which resembles a typewriter) by striking keys. See also Blindness.