The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-05-01

ImpOssibiIity of the Accurate Imita-
ton of Chirography.
George H. Johnson, in the Scientific Amer

ImpossibiIity of the Accurate Imita-
ton of AnOther's Chirography.
George H. Johnson, in the Scientific Amer
lean.
L. T. Ames, who is an acknowledged ex-
pert on handwriting, says: "Of all the
l,4O,0OO,000 of human beings on the earth,
undoubtedly no two are identically the same
in their personality, but we venture to say
that there are much closer approximations
in that respect than there are between the
handwriting of any two persons The
handwriting of pupils under one teacher
sometimes closely resembles each other, but
everyone knows that the penmanship &C
quired at school rapidly undergoes changes
for a few months after leaving school. The
personality of the writer appears. The cir
cumStanceS and environment of the penman
and his dominant object In writing all play
important parts in the evolution of a hand
writing which soon becomes sufficiently
fixed to be recognized among thousands for
years after. So many muscles and nerves
writing, that it is obviously extremely i'm
probable that two individuals should make
all the motions in the same way. Indeed,
1t is practically impossible that anyone
should write his own name twice in fine
lineSNSo that one can be SuperpoSed on the
other. The existence of such a coincidence
of form is always an evidence that one or
both have been traced, and there can be no
better circumstantial proof of forgery.
Every letter of the alphabet, wherever
written, may be examined for the following
characteristics Size, shading, position rela-
tive to the horizontal line, inclination rela-
tive to the vertical line, sharpness of the
curves and angles, proportion and relative
position of the different parts, and elabora-
ton or extension of the extremities. In
scarcely one of these particulars can a man
make two letters so much alike that they
cannot be distinguished by microscopical
different ink and paper, duplicate a single
letter. Now. when letters are Joined in
words the difficulty of precise duplication
without tracing or photography is vastly
Increased so that no micrOSpOna iS needed
to distinguish the differences between the
original and the copy.
Although a man may write his name a
thousand times and have no two signatures
alike yet. if he writes naturally and rapid
~, each will have so many CHARACTERISTIC
in common with all the others that it is
very difficult for even a skillful forger to
initiate any one so perfectly that an expert
cannot detect it. This is particularly true
a free forearm motion. Yet a forger can
easily produce the same general pictorial
effect, so that the paying teller of a bank,
when his suspicious are not aroused, may
accept it without question. Sometimes the
imitation is so good that a man cannot tell
his own signature from the forgery, when
he knows that one of them is a forgery. In
such cases the expert examiner is called in.
The expert declines to make an immediate
decision from the general appearance, as
bankers are accustomed to do; on the con-
trary, he subjects every word and letter to
a severe examination and analysis which is
just as scientific in its way as a chemical
analysis of any compound.
Some of the principal tests applied to de-
termine the ge~nuineness of handwriting are
these: The actual and relative slant of the
letters, or the angles between their stems
and the base; the constancy and accuracy
with which a straight line is followed as a
base; the amount of pressure used on the
pen and the part of the stroke where 1t is
applied, and the positions of the lines as a
whole relative to the edges of the paper.
The simplest punctuation mark under the
microscope has it's own individuality. II
would be difficult to find two writer's whose
semicolonS and quotation marks cannot be
distinguished at q glance. The dotting of 1
and crossing of afford an infinite number
of relations between points and lines, and
in both of these the time element and the
freedom of muscular movement play i'm
portant parts. Even the health and self
control of the penman, as well as the phySi-
cal circumstances, show their influence on
these little strokes.
William ]. Kinsley. editor of the Pen
mans Art Journal, is another writing ex-
pert who has been employed in hundreds
of cases in the United States and Canada.
He says: II firmly believe it to be an ut
ter impossibility for one person to initiate
successfully $50 that the imitation cannot
writing of another" Mr.. Kinsley recon-
mends, as a signature which is most diff
Guile to initiate. a legible writing which is
produced rapidly by a forearm motion with
out lifting the pen from the paper. The
style of signature once adopted should never
be Intentionally changed. Under these con-
ditions bank tellers and others who know
the signature will have no excuse for &C.
cepting a forgery. On the other hand,
an illegible scrawl such as many bank
cashiers have adopted for a signature, is
very easily initiated by a Skillful penman.
Here the general pictorial effect is what
makes an impression. and 1t Is not necessary
for the forger to initiate each curve, as is
the case in legible writing. AS soon as all
bank officers and customers realize this, the
profession of forgery will be less proita-
BILE.