SHORTER ARTICLES AND DISCUSSION 



THE RESEMBLANCE OF YOFNG TWINS IN 

 HANDWRITING 



By each of 144 children 7 to 15 years old. forming 72 twin 

 pairs, the first name (and usually also a word or so like "years 

 old" or March or grade) was written. Those were pasted on 

 cards identified by chance numbering. Twelve men and women 

 of good general education, but of no special experience in identi- 

 fying handwritings, were shown the 72 specimens belonging to 

 72 first members of twin pairs and asked to match each by the 

 specimen of the remaining 72 which most resembled it. 



There was thus one chance in 72 of a correct match by chance, 

 or 12 chances for all judges combined. There were in fact 6, 4, 

 8, 4, 6, 6, 7, 1, 3, 6, 3 and 4 correct pairings made by the twelve 

 judges, respectively, or 58 in all. 



It would be possible by the same method to derive a scale for 

 unintentional resemblance in specimens of handwriting as shown 

 roughly below. Such a scale might indirectly be of use in the 

 study of questioned documents, since the resemblance of one speci- 

 men of an individual's writing to another specimen by himself 

 may be regarded as the limiting case of the unintentional re- 

 semblance found amongst different individuals. A scale for re- 

 semblances produced intentionally would presumably form a 

 series in which the resemblances would, upon analysis, be found 

 characteristically different from the unintentional or natural re- 

 semblances. The genuineness of a questioned specimen of writing 

 might thus be determined in part by measuring its resemblance 

 to the unquestioned specimen in the different elements character- 

 istic of the two scales. Resemblances of certain sorts miuht thus 

 be used as actual evidence of forgery, and differences of certain 

 sorts as evidences of genuineness, more systematically and ob- 



