432 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIV. No. 614. 



written by a young girl of eighteen was char- 

 acterized by M. Crepieux-Jamin as ' Certainly 

 a man of thirty or perhaps less.' Another 

 address written by a woman was ascribed by 

 M. Crepieux-Jamin and by M. Eloy to -a man. 

 Dr. Binet considers sexual character in writing 

 demonstrated in the most satisfactory manner. 

 The percentage of error of graphologists in 

 determining sex amounts in the most favor- 

 able cases to 10 per cent., slightly less than 

 that of the ' ignorants.' Whether this kind 

 of expert evidence may be used in courts he 

 thinks depends upon the answer to the ques- 

 tion 'Is a probable error of one tenth admis- 

 sible in court expert-evidence ? ' 



In any case, he thinks the judges should not 

 admit the testimony of any expert unless he 

 prove by tests that he is one. 



Part II.: By what marks can age he de- 

 termined from handwriting. 



M. Crepieux-Jamin, after explaining that it 

 is the physiological and not the actual age 

 which may be deduced, gives four periods 

 which may be distinguished, viz., youth, 

 adolescence, young, and old adults. 



In youth the lines are coarse, slow, clumsy 

 and wanting grace; the letters differentiated 

 by increased height. 



Adolescents have more expansive and pre- 

 tentious lines, many inequalities, among 

 others the round of the ' d ' turned in. The 

 strokes are firm, distinct and have lost the 

 heaviness mentioned of the very young. 



Young adults have a still clearer hand- 

 writing, freed from calligraphic forms. Orig- 

 inality of character is evident. Diversity is 

 greater than with adolescents. Each is indi- 

 vidual. 



Aged adults no longer have the lightness 

 and freshness of line of twenty-five years. 

 Their writing shows lines, thickened angles, 

 marks of hesitation and depressions, i. e.j all 

 the graphological indications of diminution 

 of activity. 



The following table gives the percentage of 

 errors in the answers of M. Crepieux-Jamin 

 compared with the percentage of errors where 

 the determinations had been made by pure 



chance. This comparison is made for five 

 separate age-periods. 



CrSpieux- Pure 



Number of • Jamin, Chance, 



Errors. Per Per 



Crnt. Cent. 



Under G j^ears 34.6 18 



From 6 to 10 years 26 20 



From 11 to 15 years 10 26 



From 16 to 23 years 8 26 



From 24 upwards 12 28 



Dr. Binet concludes that his experiments 

 support the theory of intuitive but not de- 

 ductive graphology in the determination of 

 age. 



Part III. 



Chapter X.: Intelligence in Handwriting. 



This determination is thought of greater 

 value than the others. The following graph- 

 ologists were consulted: MM. Crepieux-Jamin, 

 Eloy, Humbert, Vie, Paulhan, Mmes. Fori- 

 chon, TJngern-Steinberg and de Salberg. Dr. 

 Binet thinks the probable errors are: (1) un- 

 certainty of establishing the real degree of 

 intelligence of people; (2) suggestions re- 

 ceived from the contents of the letters; (3) 

 recognition of some handwritings. Regard- 

 ing the difficulty of determining an actual 

 order of superiority, twenty-seven names were 

 selected, amongst which were those of Jules 

 Simon, Victorien Sardou, Paul Bert, Renan, 

 Claude Bernard, Alexandre Dumas fils, Du- 

 mas (chimiste), Poincare, Brown-Sequard, 

 Charcot, Brunetiere, Lemaitre. The second 

 series (people of average intelligence) had to 

 be selected with great discretion. 



He eliminated from consideration those who 

 can not write fluently; the partially and com- 

 pletely illiterate (especially servants) ; mer- 

 chants, manufacturers, employees and others 

 whose occupations require legibility and in- 

 duce calligraphy, that hardest test of graph- 

 ology. Thus, seven tenths of all the writers 

 in France are excluded by these eliminations. 



The two methods of experimenting were: 

 (1) by couples; each couple containing the 

 writing of a great, and of an average intelli- 

 gence; (2) by two groups of writings, 'A' 

 and *B.' In * A ' 33 great were mixed with 

 four very narrow intelligences known to Dr. 



