9 o 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



there is less distance for the pen to travel in making vertical lines 

 than in making slanting lines. The mathematical fact here enun- 

 ciated will not be denied nor can the deduction be refuted, and 

 yet I fear many will still deny that upright writing is more rapid 

 than sloping writing. 



To the parent as well as the educator the position of the pupil 

 when writing should be of the greatest interest. That there is an 

 alarming increase of spinal curvature and near-sight in children of 

 the present day goes without saying. There must be some reason 

 for it. If we accept the statement of the Vienna commission of 



experts appointed to investigate the cause of this increase, we find 

 it charged to the account of sloping writing, with its unavoidable 

 faulty positions. Compare the pictures of two children as actu- 

 ally found in class, and let any one say which child stands the 

 best chance of growing up with a straight spine and unimpaired 

 eyesight if kept in these postures long at a time. Observe that 

 the position of the girl on the right in the first cut is by no means 

 an exaggerated one, but quite as favorable to the advocates of 

 sloping writing as they could ask for, and yet the twisting of the 



