iv INHERITANCE OF HANDWRITING 171 



acters due to habit that the handwriting of the son often 

 shows the same characteristics as that of the father, although 

 there has been no imitation. I can instance myself in 

 confirmation of this. As I left home at a very early age I 

 had very little opportunity for imitation, and, morever, the 

 similarity of my writing to my father's was not developed till 

 later years, and, as I am able to affirm, entirely independently. 

 The causes of this inheritance in any case lie essentially in 

 the inheritance of peculiarities of the fingers, of their muscu- 

 lature, and in their consequently inherited peculiarities of 

 position and motion, apart from the fact that certain pecu- 

 liarities of mental character are expressed in the handwriting. 

 But the expression of disposition in an acquired faculty is 

 also inherited. 



Without wishing to help to prove that character is indi- 

 cated by handwriting to the ridiculous degree assumed by 

 journals in need of circulation which trade upon human 

 vanity, I would yet declare my agreement with the often- 

 expressed opinion, that in general a vigorous large hand- 

 writing shows vigour and frankness, a small prim hand shows 

 a reserved, subtle nature, fond of minute expedients and 

 indirect ways. 



I must return here once more to the question already 

 touched upon, why most dogs carry their tails erect, while 

 wolves and jackals, from which they are descended, do not. 

 Only the dogs which are nearest to the original forms, as the 

 jackal-dogs of the East and our sheep-dogs, which are not far 

 removed from the wolf, carry their tail depressed like the 

 wolf and jackal. The erection of the tail by the domestic 

 dog is obviously an acquired and inherited character, and one 

 in which selection is out of the question. It is difficult to 

 discern the causes of this alteration. It seems to me, how- 

 ever, allowable to suppose that it has a psychical basis. It is 

 known that the dog lets its tail droop when in fear of punish- 



