862 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Under the title of " Graphiology," Mr. C. H. Denison read a paper 

 before the October meeting of the San Francisco Microscopical 

 Society, on the art of writing, the detection of forgery, &c., in which 

 he refers to the articles in the ' Banker's Magazine ' and ' New York 

 Times,' and denies that there is any basis for the theory suggested, the 

 variations along the margin of signatures not being caused by any 

 nerve-impulses or tremor, but, without doubt, by the uneven surface of 

 the paper fabric, assisted by capillary attraction. No matter how well 

 rolled or calendered the fabric, under the Microscope there are seen 

 fibres and inequalities, and those depressions and swellings of the pulp 

 cause the uneven edges of the ink. As a proof of that, he submitted 

 specimens of ink-drops on paper, which had dried undisturbed (and 

 upon the same kind of fabric as a signature he exhibited) the edges 

 showing the same unevenness, and resembling exactly the edges of the 

 signature. Straight lines drawn with a ruler upon the same fabric, 

 with the same pen and with the same ink as the drops, exhibited 

 similar edges. There are, he contends, no regular nerve-impulses 

 perceptible, and therefore not comparable by individuality with each 

 other, the irregularities seen on the margin of signatures being caused 

 by some other principle than muscular rhythm or nerve-impulses. 



After, however, the comparison of words and letters is finished, 

 and the examination of the fabric upon which the signature or docu- 

 men is written is begun, then the use of the Microscope is invaluable 

 and certain. It is sure to detect any disturbance of the fabric by 

 erasure, or addition, and becomes an important factor in the examina- 

 tion. No addition or erasure can be so skilfully made that the 

 Microscope cannot detect it, seen either by the disturbance of the 

 fabric, or the inequality of admittance of light through it. 



Mr. R. U. Piper * also disputes the " rhythm " theory, and contends 

 that upon the examination of the writing of the expert forger under 

 the Microscope the sides of the ink strokes are generally found to be 

 much more even (less tremulous) than those of the one they are 

 intended to imitate ; indeed, that this is often one of the very means 

 by which the fraud is detected. A woodcut is given of pen-strokes 

 ( X 40) from the Avriting of three different persons. 



At the March Meeting of the San Francisco Microscopical Society 

 Dr. Wythe read a further paper on " Graphiology," in which he says 

 that, " after considerable experience, I still maintain that if the micro- 

 scopist carefully observes the three rhythms, being careful of the illu- 

 mination of the letters, he cannot fail to demonstrate the difference 

 between a genuine and an imitated signature. 



" Since the j^resentation of the first article,"]" I have read some 

 criticisms which remind me of the custom of neophytes, to whom we 

 exhibit some interesting object in the Microscope for the first time. 

 Instead of attending to the object shown, they will almost universally 

 look at some flaw on the cover-glass, speck on the eye-piece, or acci- 

 dental streak, and ask : ' What is that dark spot ? ' Some of these 

 criticisms show plainly that their writers fail utterly to comprehend 



* AiiRT. Journ Win., vi. (1881) pp. 16-18 (1 fig.). t Sec above, p. 859. 



