240 Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. [Sess. 
maxima of pressure in the word or phrase, or to write with an approxi- 
mately uniform pressure, as in the case of clerk’s writing already cited, and 
also tends to show decrease of pressure with increased speed of writing. 
The first has been called the “ masculine ” type, the second the “ feminine.” 
It seems desirable, however, to distinguish the two varieties appearing 
under the second type, and to recognise three types. The “ clerk ” type is 
quite as marked as either of the others, and is quite as distinct from the 
“ feminine ” as the “ feminine ” from the “ masculine.” Another characteristic 
mark of this third or “ clerk ” type is that the writing speed is normally 
very near the maximum. When such writers are asked to increase their 
speed, they may do so to a slight extent, but often all that happens is a 
breaking down of the uniformity of pressure ordinarily shown without any 
significant increase of speed, and sometimes the speed actually decreases 
as an accompaniment of this breakdown of pressure uniformity, while the 
subject thinks he is writing faster than before. A better name for this 
“ clerk ” type, and more descriptive of its chief characteristics, might be 
“ mechanical ” type. 
There seems little reason to doubt that a considerable development of 
our knowledge of the writing process will take place along the lines of 
investigation indicated in this paper. We might even look forward to the 
founding of a real science of graphology. At all events, many points of 
interest to the teacher, and some of interest to the nerve and brain 
specialist, the alienist, or the general physician must be revealed. 
(Issued separately September 3 , 1914 .) 
