50 



THE AMEKICAN MONTHLY 



[Mai 



ostensible author of the writing. 

 Furthermore the genuineness of a 

 writing may often be disproved by 

 the very success with which it fol- 

 lowed its copy; reproducing its 

 mistakes, idiosyncracies of the 

 adaptions of its own special sur- 

 roundings, in which respects it may 

 correspond too accurately with 

 some one genuine signature (in the 

 hands, for instance, of a suspected 

 person) but differ unquestionably 

 from the ordinary habit of the 

 reputed author. Modifications of 

 style by disease, as paralysis, may 

 present similarly decisive dis-' 

 crepancies or coincidences. All 

 these investigations in respect to 

 writing can be best pursued with 

 the aid of the microscope, and 

 some of them are entirely dependent 

 upon it. For general view of the 

 words, a four or three-inch objective 

 is best adapted; for special study 

 of the letters a l>^-inch, and for 

 minute investigation of the nature 

 of the lines or character of the 

 ink a f or j\. The lenses, except 

 the last, should be of the largest 

 angles ordinarily made, and all 

 should be of flat field, and of the 

 best possible definition . The micro- 

 scope-stand should have a large, 

 flat stage ; though it is generally 

 preferable to use a small, portable 

 stand which can be moved freely 

 over the paper and f ocussed upon it 

 at any point without the use of a 

 stage. For this purpose I some- 

 times use a tank-microscope, but 

 more frequently a pocket-micro- 

 scope with its tube prolonged 

 through the stage by adapters, so 

 that it focusses directly upon the 

 table. Even so large an instrument 

 as Zentmayer's histological may be 

 so used to advantage, tliough a 

 lighter form and smaller size is far 

 more convenient and sufficiently 

 steady for this work. A medium 

 sized bull's-eye is sufficient for the 



purpose of illumination ; and good 

 judgment is more important than, 

 if not incompatible with, the em- 

 ployment of an ostentatious and 

 unnecessarily elaborate apparatus. 

 To illustrate the application of 

 the microscope to the critical study 

 of writing in cases of practical im- 

 portance, and its dependence for 

 much of its value on the appre- 

 ciative comparison of related facts, 

 I will describe a single and very 

 simple case of altered writing occur- 

 ring many years ago. A certain 

 note, admitted to be genuine and 

 properly signed, and upon which 

 a considerable amount of money 

 and a far greater value of character 

 depended, bore date of the sixteenth 

 of a certain month. The number 

 of the year was printed on the 

 blank except a single figure 1, 

 which was filled in with writing 

 ink ; there was also a figure 1 

 written below in the body of the 

 note. The last named 1 was lightly 

 and smoothly written, of such size 

 and color and style, as might well 

 have been written at the same time 

 and by the same person as the rest 

 of the note. But the figures 16 

 and 1 of the date, were written 

 clumsily, twice as large as the other, 

 with a pen of different properties 

 and with ink of different color and 

 density. This peculiarity of these 

 three digits was well explained by 

 the claim, supported by the most 

 plausible circumstantial evidence, 

 that the date had been left blank 

 at the time of drawing up the note, 

 and had been filled in at the time 

 at which it was subsequently signed, 

 and with writing materials whose 

 character sufficiently accounted for 

 the nature of the figures. One 

 person who was largely interested 

 in the note having been signed 

 earlier than the date upon its face, 

 and who well knew whether or not 

 it was originally dated upon that 



