2638 



Journal of Applied Microscopy 



Strong suspicion is sometimes cast upon a document, or it may even be 

 proven fraudulent by simply showing that a part of the writing was made after 

 the paper was folded. An ink line crossing such a fold has certain distinct char- 

 acteristics, but such a line may not be more than one one-hundredth of an inch 

 in \\ Idth, and the unaided eye cannot discover the fact, which under the micro- 

 scope may be so evident that it must be admitted. A tiny portion of ink in such 

 a case may actually have gone through the paper to the opposite side and under 

 the microscope is unmistakable. 



Fraudulent additions to documents, which it is claimed were a part of the 

 continuous original writing, may be shown to have been written with a different 

 pen or at a different time or under different conditions because the unshaded 

 strokes, showing the width of the pen point as measured by the microscope with 

 filar micrometer, show throughout a different average width as compared with the 

 original writing. The microscope with this attachment enables even the unskilled 



Fig. 1. — Raised Note Case. Numeral i in amount 1 1 changed to 7 by addition 

 of stroke at top on one of several questioned notes. Transmitted light photo- 

 micrograph showing fraudulent addition as it appears as seen by the 

 microscope. 



observer to measure up to ten-thousandths of an inch, making comparisons pos- 

 sible which otherwise it would be utterly impossible to make. 



Fraudulent additions and interlineations in documents often touch the signa- 

 ture or writing above which they are placed, and the actual sequence or order of 

 writing is determined by showing which of the crossed lines was last written. 

 This fact the microscope will often show with great distinctness, thus proving 

 that the part in question was written after the document was signed. 



Erasures and changes of a fraudulent character are often made in documents 

 which, if examined only with the unaided eye, would escape detection, but which 

 under the magnification of a good microscope any one can see. 



Forged signatures are frequently first carefully outlined in pencil and then 

 inked. The microscope shows the pencil marks not covered and the graphite 

 caught in the ink film, and shows this with such clearness that the method by 

 which such signatures were made is unmistakable. 



Forged signatures are often not written but carefully and laboriously drawn 



