Blurb for C. K. Bliss, Semantography [1950]

Semantography, or Blissymbolics, is an obscure pictorial language that briefly found a practical application in 1970s Canada as a communications tool for severely disabled children. A chemical engineer by training, Bliss was an Austrian-born Jew who had been detained at Dachau and Buchenwald after the Anschluss in March 1938. In a brief reply Russell indicated that he was intrigued by the material on Semantography that he had received from Bliss. Russell was obviously impressed with the ingenuity of Bliss’s concept, perhaps because it echoed Leibniz’s quest for a universal language in the seventeenth century. Bliss was nothing if not determined in this regard, as he over-eagerly tried to ensure Russell’s continuing good will with the dispatch of food hampers from Australia.