166 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY 



[September, 



lines of writing present a tolerably 

 even contour, depending upon the 

 rapidity, pressure, the amount of 

 ink in the pen, etc. The speaker 

 illustrated at length, on the black- 

 board, the various widenings or 

 " webs " which are always found at 

 points w^here two lines cross, ex- 

 plaining how a variation of speed, 

 a change in the kind of ink and 

 other causes, affected this web. 

 Upon rough paper the lines always 

 have . a ragged edge ; the webbing 

 is if anything less than upon hard, 

 smooth pajDcr. As to the pen he 

 stated that when a steel one was 

 used, the paper always showed a 

 distinct groove or cutting on its 

 surface, especially at the edges of 

 heavy lines. When a pen is old 

 and corroded, the paper looks as 

 though cut with a knife. The va- 

 rious qualities of ink w^ere dis- 

 cussed, together with the effect on 

 the appearance of the writing which 

 copying it in a letter-press has. 

 Some mks will not write well on 

 paper that has been lithographed, 

 running unevenly, as though the 

 paper was greasy. By the fourth 

 condition, the qualifications of the 

 w^riter, the speaker meant his skill, 

 method, physical ability, etc. A 

 person much accustomed to writing 

 usually writes at a good speed and 

 without hesitation. The writing, 

 in quality, is apt to look alike at all 

 points on the page. Where writ- 

 ing is done slowly it is not so regu- 

 lar and the curves are not so smooth 

 and geometrical. Where a habitu- 

 ally light writer attempts to make 

 a heavy stroke, the shading is irreg- 

 ular. The same is true where a 

 person accustomed to writing with 

 a heavy stroke attempts to write 

 lightly. These differences are such 

 that they can usually be discovered 

 with the aid of the microscope, and 

 when a writer concentrates all his 

 faculties on the appearance and 



character of the w^riting it never 

 has the easy, flowing appearance 

 w^hich it otherwise would have. 

 He stated that it was nearly impossi- 

 ble to. imitate the tremor in the 

 writing of aged persons. The fifth 

 condition, the circumstances under 

 which the writing was done, had as 

 much to do with its appearance as 

 any other cause. One who habitu- 

 ually uses a flexible gold pen writes 

 very differently with a steel pen. 

 The reverse is equally true. Persons 

 who are accustomed to write sitting 

 usually cannot write as well stand- 

 ing up. The practical application 

 of these and other facts in the 

 examination of writing requires 

 patient investigation, much of it 

 apart from the simple use of the 

 microscope. In the great majority 

 of cases the microscopic investiga- 

 tion is utterly useless without a 

 corresponding outside investigation. 

 The signatures to letters are apt to 

 vary more than those written else- 

 where. Letters produced as speci- 

 mens of a person s handwriting are 

 very apt to prove deceptive. Some- 

 times it is impossible from expert 

 testimony to determine the charac- 

 ter of the suspected writing. As 

 an instance, the speaker related that 

 he had in his possession a genuine 

 promissory note in which a man 

 had misspelled his own name in the 

 signature. Had he died and had there 

 been a contest as to the signature, it 

 could hardly have been decided as 

 anything else than a forgery. Un- 

 fortunately, however, the man 

 lived to pay the note, thus spoiling 

 a very good chance for a nice case 

 of expert evidence. 



Ex-president Ward discussed this 

 paper at some length. He believed 

 that inquiries of this kind should 

 consist of microscopic analysis in 

 connection with a broad and philo- 

 sophic knowledge of the habits and 

 peculiarities of the person who 



