_ TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION L. 703 
with rapidity. Writing of a high degree of legibility is not now required; this 
can readily be secured by mechanical means. ‘he schools, failing 10 recognise 
these changes, may be using methods well suited to secure a writing which 1s 
beautiful in form, but which demands for its execution a considerable expenditure 
of time and energy. ‘These methods may, however, be ill adapted to attain the 
present aim of ‘an easy, fluent, well co-ordinated movement, producing letters uo. 
a fair degree of legibility’; they may even be positively harmful when turned to 
the latter purpose, occasioning writers’ cramp and other evils. It may even be 
the case, as has been maintained by ‘Thorndike in regard to American schools, 
that we are training the pupils to write too well. ‘lhe change in the aim of 
handwriting implies that, in teaching, consideration has to be withdrawn from 
the product and given to the movements in handwriting. lt may also become 
necessary to take into consideration the mental processes accompanying and 
directing the physical movements. Here, however, we shall confine ourselves to 
the treatment of the movements. 
In writing three forms of movement are involved :— 
(1) The finger movements usually employed to form the rounded elements of 
letters, and, in some cases, also the upward and downward strokes, 
(2) The movement termed pronation, which consists in rotating the hand, so 
that it tends to lie flat on the palm. 
(3) The movement in the shoulder-joint and at the elbow, which admits of 
the passage of the hand across the page. 
Before we can decide what method should be adopted in the teaching of 
writing, we must ascertain what is the easiest movement required to form the 
letters. A simple contrivance, devised by Judd, enables us to isolate the move- 
ments of the hand from those of the fingers aud to obtain records of the former. 
Thus for any style of writing we can register how much finger movement is 
involved. What remains to be determined is the question whether, tor the 
formation of the letters, the finger movement or the hand-and-arm movement is 
the easier, and this question can only be determined by laboratory experiment, 
Some would solve the question off-hand in accordance with the prevalent notion 
that the finer muscles do not develop till later than the larger muscles, without 
attempting to prove that this holds for the muscles involved in writing. We 
require experiments with pupils of different ages, and with adults, to determine 
the ease or ditticulty of the finger movement, as compared with the hand-and-arm 
movement. Recent investigations by Freeman at Chicago indicate that the 
hand-and-arm movement should be used to form the upward and downward 
strokes, and that the rounded elements should be executed by the finger move- 
ment. ‘This method is said to give better results than the exclusive use of the 
land-and-arm movement. The exclusive use of the finger movement does not 
seem to have been contemplated by the investigator, and, as this is the alter- 
native presently practised in this country, the repetition of the experiments 
becomes necessary. 
The second movement, that of the wrist to keep the palm of the hand flat on 
the paper, seems to be quite unnecessary. It likewise occasions a needless 
expenditure of energy, and retards the rate of writing without conferring any 
advantage in legibility. The movement of pronation should consequently be 
dispensed with and writing on the side of the hand should be allowed. 
The easiest movement of the arm across the page is an outward movement 
almost at right angles to the forearm. If this movement were adopted, and the 
paper placed parallel to the desk, the writing would run upwards. To admit of 
uhe easiest movement of the arm, and at the same time to keep the lines regular, 
it is necessary to tilt the paper until its base is almost at right angles to the 
forearm. 
‘Lhe most natural direction for a downward stroke is towards the body. This 
would result in vertical writing if the base of the paper were placed parallel to 
the edge of the desk ; but if the paper is tilted, as we have already recommendea, 
and the downward stroke is made towards the body, the resultant writing is 
inclined to the right in the same degree as that at which the paper is tilted, 
‘hus writing with a slope is the writing easiest to execute, 
