The Swiss are at it again.

For the past few years, Switzerland's post office has issued some of the world's most innovative stamps.

First, there were those smelly issues - stamps that give off the odor of chocolate and roses when rubbed.

Now the clever Swiss are releasing a stamp in braille, the embossed printing technique that allows the blind to read.

The stamp commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Swiss National Association of and for the Blind.

A secondary purpose is to allow the sighted public to experience, somewhat, the world of the visually impaired.

The design is simple. A bright red block with a faint 70 (70 centimes, the value of the stamp) in the center. The embossed dots are the braille characters for 70.

The braille alphabet was invented by a French teen-ager in the 19th century.

Louis Braille was born in 1809 in a village near Paris. He was left blind at the age of 3 by an accident in his father's leather workshop.

When Louis was 10, he went off to the Royal Institution for Blind Youth in Paris. A curious boy, he quickly read the 14 books for the blind in the school's library.

The large books used raised letters on the pages. It was a cumbersome process to read the books, and Louis felt there must be a better way.

When he was 15, he learned that the French army used a system of raised dots and dashes to communicate quietly at night on the battlefield.

Again, he found this was a clumsy process, and he started working on his own method. He tossed the dashes and devised a system using just six dots. The arrangement of the dots identified the letters.

It was a much easier and quicker way for the blind to read, and it's now universally used.

Incidentally, the Swiss post office claims it's one of the pioneers in the now nearly international practice of waiving postal charges for the blind. 

By Larry Duhe, MyInky