IDENTIFICATION AND HANDWRITING
Heredity--Emotional Influences--Effects of Disease on Handwriting.
The identification of an individual solely by means of his handwriting is
always liable to lead to a miscarriage of justice, for even in the cases
of the closest resemblance between two writings there can be no certainty
on this point. In the following pages I have attempted to point out under
what varying conditions handwriting may show alterations and thus lead to
wrong conclusions.
In the making of handwriting heredity plays a very important part, just as
it does in the characteristic gait and the little mannerisms which are
peculiar to each individual. In addition to this, the writing may be
modified by the results of training and other external influences.
It is obviously not possible to determine from which ancestors all the
features in one's handwriting are inherited, just as it is impossible to
trace the origin of certain obviously inherited traits of character. At
the same time, instances in which close resemblances may be noticed
between the handwriting of a man and that of his father and grandfather
will occur to everyone. Thus a particular slope in the direction of the
writing or a mode of looping the letters or of forming certain words may
be passed on from generation to generation.
[Illustration: HEREDITY IN HANDWRITING]
A remarkable fact in this connection is that there is frequently a
tendency for a son to inherit certain characteristics in the father's
writing and for the daughters' writing to resemble more closely that of
their mother than that of their father.
The examples shown in the figure illustrate this tendency. The words were
all written by members of one family, the first two lines being those of
the father and the mother. The third, fifth, eighth and ninth lines were
written by their daughters, and the fourth, sixth and seventh lines by
their sons.
It will be noticed among other points of resemblance that the bold
characteristic looping of the letter L in the mother's handwriting is
reproduced more or less closely in the writing of all the daughters, while
the sons form the same letter with a small loop, as in the word written by
their father. The angles at which the different words are written also
show the effect of this "parallel heredity," as it might be termed.
While possessing such points of resemblance obviously inherited from the
parents' handwriting, the writing of each of the children also shows
characteristics of its own that distinguish it from the writings of the
others--characteristics partly inherited from other ancestors and partly
the result of environment.
So close, however, is the resemblance between the handwriting of the
father and of the eldest son that on more than one occasion one has been
mistaken for the other by other members of the family.
The normal handwriting of every individual is affected by very many
external influences, the term "normal" being used here to describe writing
that is done when the thoughts of the writer are being concentrated upon
what is being written and without a mental side-glance at the form of the
writing itself.
In the latter case various psychological influences cause the writing to
vary more or less. For instance, the handwriting of an artist may show
marked variations at different periods, especially in the form of the
capital letters; for the artist usually keeps before his eye the
decorative effect of his letters and words, and is constantly making
experimental changes in his writing.
In like manner, handwriting is often influenced to a considerable extent
by sub-conscious memories of the writing of other people, especially of
those whom the writer tries to imitate in other respects. In some
individuals this unintentional imitation of other handwriting is so
pronounced that they are unable to answer any letter without its
characters having some effect upon their own writing.
Conscious imitation is a still more frequent influence upon the form of
writing and some of its effects may become fixed characteristics.
Instances of this are to be seen in the "good" writing of the
old-fashioned writing-master, whose ideal was the copper-plate engraving
of the visiting card with its thick down-stroke and thin up-stroke and
absolute regularity of letter; in the pointed Italian writing, taught
generally in mid-Victorian ladies' schools; in the Civil Service "hand"
set as a standard for securing marks in examination; and in modern
commercial handwriting now rapidly giving place to the typewriter.
An instance which illustrates the manner in which a writing-school will
turn out hundreds of pupils all writing in the same manner is shown in the
accompanying figure, for which I am indebted to Mr. W. J. Kinsley, of New
York. The members of a class in the Packhard Business School at New York,
numbering about forty young men and girls ranging from sixteen to twenty
years of age, were all told to write the same words: "This is a specimen
of my writing," without any directions being given them and without
knowing for what purpose it was wanted. The results obtained, some of
which are here shown, were published in a paper in New York. The striking
resemblance among them all is obvious at the first glance, and when these
specimens first appeared a lawyer wrote to the editor complaining that an
attempt had been made to pass off the handwriting of one person as having
been done by several.
[Illustration: Influence of training on handwriting
Each of these lines was written by a different person]
The writing of the writing school is no more the real writing of the
individual than laborious printing in capitals would be.
Even when what must be regarded as the vicious style of the writing school
has been so thoroughly acquired that the writer ceases to be conscious
that he is copying a model, the writing not infrequently reverts to a
normal state and will then tend to show indications of inherited traits.
Under ordinary conditions, where there has been no prolonged attention
given to the form of the writing, as in conscious imitation or
experimental alteration, and but little unconscious imitation, certain
distinctive features may persist for a very long period. Thus the angle at
which the writing slopes may remain practically the same for years, or the
form of a particular slope beneath a signature will repeat itself almost
exactly time after time, and even the absence of a flourish may become a
significant characteristic.
Emotional influences often have an effect upon handwriting, though the
alterations thus produced are frequently only slight and temporary. Thus
a man weighed down by overwhelming grief will often write in smaller
characters than usual, while violent anger will find its expression in
more vigorous cross strokes to the "t's," heavier dotting of the "i's,"
and the thickness of a flourish to a signature. On the other hand, slight
changes caused by long-continued depression may leave permanent traces
upon the handwriting.
A deeply interesting historical instance of this tendency of handwriting
to vary with the mood of the writer is to be seen in the signatures of
Napoleon at various periods of his career. Several of these written on
occasions calling forth widely differing emotions are here reproduced, and
it is not difficult to discern in some of them the effect of emotional
influence. Very striking, for instance, is the difference between the
orderly signature written after the victory at Austerlitz and the blotted
scrawl dashed off after the defeat at Leipzig. Nor will it escape notice
that nearly all the signatures written at moments of depression or failure
have a downward slant, whereas that of the victor of Austerlitz runs
upwards. A great contrast, too, is shown between the general features of
the first three signatures penned in moments of triumph or success, with
that written on the retreat from Russia and the still less assertive
signature of the prisoner of St. Helena.
Instances of the effects of passing emotions upon writing might be
multiplied indefinitely, but what has been said above is sufficient to
show that this factor is of importance in drawing any conclusions as to
the identity of an individual from his handwriting.
[Illustration: SIGNATURES OF NAPOLEON AT DIFFERENT PERIODS OF HIS CAREER
1804. After being crowned Emperor.
1805, Dec. 2. Signature on proclamation after the victory at
Austerlitz.
1806. After the campaign of 1806.
1812, Sept. 21. After entrance into burning Moscow.
1812, Oct. On the retreat from Russia.
1813, Oct. 23. Signature to a document signed at Erfurt. After the
defeat at Leipzig.
1814, April 4. Fontainebleau, prior to abdication.
At St. Helena.]
If passing emotions can have so great an influence upon handwriting, how
much greater must be the effect when the centre or centres in the brain
that control the writing mechanism are affected or destroyed by disease!
Among the disturbances of handwriting due to defective control of the
muscles we may include the so-called _tremor-writing_, which is common in
old age, and the writing of people suffering from writers' cramp, an
example of which is shown in the figure.
[Illustration: Writers' Cramp]
Other forms of defective writing may be the result of a paralytic stroke
affecting the writing centre of the brain, which causes the patient either
to form only parts of letters or endlessly to repeat the same letter under
the impression that sentences are being formed, while in extreme cases
there may be merely a succession of meaningless strokes in place of
written characters.
[Illustration: Specimen of Agraphia]
The writing of insane people almost invariably shows the effect of mental
disturbance. In some cases the form of the letters is changed, but they
are still used in their right places. An illustration of this is given in
the accompanying figure, which represents the signatures of the poet Lenau
before and during his insanity.
[Illustration: Writing of Lenau, the poet, before and during insanity]
In other instances there is both alteration in the form of the writing and
_paragraphia_, or the use of the wrong letters. Thus Hölderlin, the German
poet, who became harmlessly insane in 1806 at the age of thirty-six, ever
afterwards misspelled his name in the manner here shown.
[Illustration: Signature of Hölderlin before and during insanity]
A very interesting derangement of writing, which is probably due to the
writing centre in one hemisphere of the brain becoming adapted to do the
work of that in the other, is that commonly known as _mirror writing_. An
example of this which came under the writer's observation is shown below.
This shows the ordinary handwriting of a working woman of about sixty-six,
who for the last three years has been paralysed in the right arm, and
since then has produced mirror writing with her left hand.
[Illustration: Mirror writing in paralysis]
The most remarkable instance of mirror writing on record is to be seen in
the last manuscript of Leonardo da Vinci, known as the _Codex Atlanticus_,
in the library at Milan. Various speculations have been made as to why
backward writing should have been employed here, but the obvious
explanation may be deduced from the letter of a monk, Antonio de Beatis,
who, after visiting Leonardo in his retirement at Amboise, wrote that the
artist would never paint again, as his right arm was paralysed. The
manuscript was in all probability, therefore, written with the left hand,
and, as frequently happens in such cases of paralysis, the other
hypothetical writing centre was brought into action and mirror writing was
produced.
Of all the temporary influences tending to modify handwriting none is more
remarkable, or affords a better proof of the way in which written
characters vary with the condition of the mind than the effect of hypnotic
suggestion.
The experiments of Professors Lombroso and Richet have proved that a
suggested change of personality is accompanied by an appropriate style in
the handwriting of the subject. Thus, a young hysterical girl when
hypnotised under the suggestion that she was a child wrote in childish
characters.
Still more striking were their experiments upon a young Austrian student,
Chiarloni Clementino, who within little more than an hour was made to
assume successively the characters of a child, of Napoleon, of Garibaldi,
of a clerk, and of an old man of ninety. He was made to write some words
on each of his assumed characters, and the writings not only differed to a
marked extent from his normal handwriting, but also had characteristics
suggestive of the type of individual he was temporarily personating.
[Illustration]
The results of some of these experiments, which the present writer had the
permission of the late Professor Lombroso to reproduce, are shown in the
accompanying figures. The normal writing of the student is represented
below, while Fig. A (p. 82) shows words written under the suggestion that
he was Napoleon, Fig. B, his writing as the old man of ninety, and Fig. C
that done as Garibaldi.
[Illustration: HYPNOTIC HANDWRITING
A. As Napoleon
B. As an old man
C. As Garibaldi.]
The handwritings of the suggested Napoleon and Garibaldi were quite
different from the writing of the real individuals, although it is
interesting to note that there is some attempt to form the letters of
Garibaldi's signature in the same manner as in the genuine signature here
shown.
[Illustration]
In a private letter to the present writer Lombroso mentioned that it was
quite possible for the hypnotised student to have been familiar with the
signature of Garibaldi. Or, again, the hypnotisers may have had their
thoughts upon the form of the genuine signature while the student was
writing the suggested version of it.
It has been observed by Dr. Preyer that certain individuals, when under
hypnotic influence, write in a better handwriting than when they are in
their normal condition, whereas in the case of other subjects the letters
are childish and badly formed. It is even possible to make them omit by
suggestion particular letters from each word they write, "Europe," for
instance, becoming "Urop," and so on, while by further suggestion they may
be induced to make use again of the missing letters.
The fact that handwriting may be completely altered under the influence of
hypnotism is not only of great scientific interest, but may also have an
important bearing on the results of legal cases in which handwriting is
concerned.
It was pointed out some years ago by Dr. Bianchi that hysterical women are
particularly prone to write anonymous letters, and it is well known that
such women are readily responsive to hypnotic suggestion.
Facts such as these suggest how necessary it may often be to take into
account the possibility of hypnotic influence before deciding upon the
authorship of a given piece of writing.
The extent to which a man should be held responsible for what has been
written as the result of hypnotic suggestion from another person will
obviously depend upon whether he was the dupe or the willing instrument of
the hypnotiser. In any case it may not be easy to prove that the writing
is his, for it will probably be very different from his ordinary
handwriting.
Hitherto no case of criminal libel involving such delicate questions as
these appears to have come before the courts, but it is one that might
conceivably occur at any time, and a jury would then have to decide upon
the responsibility of the writer.