RUSS, John Denison, physician, born in Chebacco (now Essex), Massachusetts, 1 September, 1801; died in Pompton, New Jersey, 1 March, 1881. He was graduated at Yale in 1823, and in the medical department in 1825. After spending a year abroad in hospital practice, he settled in New York city, but in June. 1827, he went with a cargo of supplies to aid the Greeks in their struggle for independence. He remained, superintending the development of a hospital service in Greece, for several years, but the failure of his health compelled his return, and he entered again upon practice in New York city. Dr. Russ became interested at once in the condition of the poor that were suffering from ophthalmia in the city hospitals, and at his own cost, in March, 1832, made the first attempt in the United States for the instruction of the blind. He was appointed superintendent of the newly chartered New York institution for the blind in the same year, and in this office introduced many methods of teaching, some of which have been permanently useful. He invented the phonetic alphabet, , which consists of forty-one characters, sufficiently like the Roman letters to be read easily, to which he added twenty-two prefixes and suffixes. This system of writing never was introduced generally, but he simplified mathematical characters, and his printed maps, from raised designs, in which he used wave-lines for water, are still in use. He went abroad for his health, but on his return he engaged in numerous philanthropic schemes. He was one of the founders of the New York prison association, its corresponding secretary in 1846-'54, and subsequently a vice-president, was superintendent of the New York juvenile asylum in 1851-'8, and a member of the board of education in 1848-'51. He also established in 1850 a house of employment for women, which institution was under the care of his wife and daughter. During his old age he made further improvements in printing for the blind.