680 
schools and used with more or less of indi- 
vidual peculiarity by most adults, repre- 
sents, for purposes of rapid and legible 
writing, the best of which the human hand 
is capable. Every penman will recognize 
certain difficulties that attend the use of 
this movement. It is not as easy as one 
could wish: continued employment of it 
tends to writer’s cramp. It is not as rapid 
as one could wish. It does not give as 
good penmanship as one could wish : it is 
subject to jerks and irregularities, and at 
high speeds requires so much exertion in 
making the vertical strokes that it is apt to 
degenerate into a flat scrawl. 
In order to obviate some of these difficul- 
ties, another movement has been advocated 
and largely taught. This is sometimes 
called the ‘American method,’ sometimes 
the ‘forearm movement.’ In strictness, 
however, it is not a forearm movement, but 
a movement of the full arm from the 
shoulder. This mode of writing has at 
least one great advantage ; it never leads 
to writer’s cramp. It is not liable to cramp 
because it is made by good-sized muscles, 
whereas the ordinary thumb and finger 
movement is largely produced by the little 
muscles in the hand itself. The full arm 
movement has another advantage in the 
boldness and smoothness of its lines. But 
there is one strong objection to the use of 
this movement; the parts moved are much 
larger than is necessary for the end in view, 
and the amount of energy required is thus 
absurdly great. When this movement is 
hastened, it shakes the whole body. And 
besides this, it is not found to be specially 
favorable to the union of speed and legi- 
bility; it does not obviate the flattening out 
of the letters. 
There is yet a third movement of which 
the hand is capable—a movement never 
taught for penmanship, but still possessing 
certain marked advantages over the move- 
ments now in vogue. It may be described 
SCIENCE. 
[N. 8. Von. X. No. 254. 
as a side-to-side movement of the wrist— 
adduction and abduction. The forearm 
may also come into play, and the move- 
ment be made partly from the elbow. In 
order to write by this movement, let the 
top of a sheet of paper slant over to the 
right, instead of to the left as in ordinary 
writing. To carry the hand along the hori- 
zontal line, draw the whole arm, in the di- 
rection of the forearm, back towards the 
flank. Meanwhile impart to the wrist 
(and forearm) a back-and-forth, lateral 
motion, which shall produce the vertical 
strokes of the letters. Considerable awk- 
wardness may at first be experienced, and 
the unusual position and appearance of the 
sheet will cause the writing to be ‘ back- 
handed.’ This may be avoided by bending 
the elbow more sharply, so bringing the 
hand in rather close to the chest. The 
paper can then be placed square on the 
table, and the writing still made with the 
same movements, though less freely than in 
the other position. In order to compare 
the suggested movement with the others, 
we may reduce writing to its lowest terms, 
namely, to a series of simple up and down 
strokes, like a connected row of m’s. By 
the use of this simplified form, we can easily 
compare the three movements and observe 
their relative ease, speed and accuracy. 
Extensive tests were made by this 
method,* and it was found that in point of 
speed the forearm movement averaged 23% 
better than either of the others. In point 
of freedom, likewise, it had the advantage, 
as was seen by the greater lengths of its 
vertical strokes when the movements were 
hastened. In regard to accuracy, several 
points had to be considered. In keeping 
the alignment, and in uniformity of height, 
* This comparison was first suggested incidentally 
in the course of a study on the accuracy of move- 
ments, and the results are more fully reported ina 
paper entitled ‘The Accuracy of Voluntary Move- 
ment,’ published as Monograph Supplement, No. 13, 
to the Psychological Review. 
