SCRAPE 0’ THE PEN

Evening Star, Issue 20139, 2 April 1929, Page 9

SCRAPE 0’ THE PEN

STRIKING EXPERIMENTS Tho man who has spent twenty-six years in tho study of handwriting should have something worth while to say on the subject (declares the Melbourne ‘Ago’). Who woiild imagine that graphology, as it is called, would have psychological, metaphysical, and mystical significance? Who would lor one moment suppose that not merely the microscope, but also the cinema, would ho pressed into the service, and that the authorities would discuss the physiological, forensic, and characterological departments into which the science is divided? All this has been done with thoroughness and enthusiasm, and tho results set forth with meticulous care by the well-known expert, Robert Saudek, in his- ‘ Experiments With Handwriting.’ Naturally, beginning with the development of the writing faculty, ho giyes special attention to'the introduction some fifteen years ago of the senpt writing and the relation in whrm it stands to the cursive style. Script is more beautiful, more harmonious, arid more legible. Most of ns have friends whoso writing is so atrocious that we wish they would adopt tho script form, and bethink ourselves that the very word “curative” conveys an implied description of the effect their writing produces on the reader. Many an innocent ■ compositor or linotypisfc has fervently wished that the law would make script writing compulsory. The famous Dr Chalmers wrote so villainously that his own father could nob read his letters, and contented himself with cramming them into, a drawer and making tho son read them to him when ho came home at tho close of the college session. What a humiliation, especially if the _ writer could not easily make out his own “ haun o’ writ ! It might ho supposed that script writing would take more time than cursive, but the examination of 2,000 children provided the surprising result that script was written more quicklv than cursive. For example, children of nine years wrote forty-four script letters per minute, while the cursive writers reached only 25.1 letters per minute. For children of thirteen years the figures were 72.G_as against 54. Mr Saudek explains this as the victory of, the memory for form over the muscular habit or certai nmovements. Quo of tho most extraordinary claims put forth by the author is that he has an exact scientific method by which honestv and dishonesty can bo recognised from the handwriting. Given ten groups of graphic features, he undertakes positively to say whether the writer is honest or dishonest. Taking ns into his confidence, he declares that lio went through 141 .manuscripts of persons convicted of dishonesty in tho law courts, and ho found his theory confirmed in every case. Realising tho possibility of efror owing to his tendency to proceed on the lines of his theory, he undertook a second investigation of seventy-three handwritings submitted by business linns. In fourteen cases ho diagnosed dishonesty, and in fifty-nine cases honesty, and in every case tho firms reported his diagnosis to ho correct. The exposition of tlm system would have delighted J. SMill by, its inexorable logic, but one wonders how many average citizens would care to ho subjected to such a severe scrutiny. How many applicants for a responsible position would submit ten samples of his handwriting to a judge like Mr Saudek? 'jl'his extraordinary hook contains facsimiles of the handwriting of many eminent men. One of them is Mussolini, and a few words from his pen provide material for n lengthy analysis and discussion. Sir Saudek tells ns that the pen was sharp-pointed, stiff, and in good condition, and that the ink was fluid, that tlm manuscript was quickly written, and every portion of it under strict control and censorship, mid that the dots placed too tar to the right indicate impetuous tendencies. Comparing a largo number of Mussolini’s manuscripts, it is found that the larger the sheet of paper the larger the writing, and vice versa. The writing shows restrained energy, ready imagination, diplomacy, a strong and passionate personality endowed with bodily health, and subject upon occasions to great excitability. The reader might here be tempted to recall the author’s own confession of prior bias owing partly to theory and partly to acquaintance with Mussolini’s character and habits.

The .facsimile of flic handwriting of Sir Edward Grey is specially interesting because tho manuscript is his draft of tho Note to the French and German Governments relating to the neutrality of Belgium. Here one finds carelnlly--I'ormula.ted diplomatic phrases. “.1 still trust,” says the telegram, “ that situation is not irretrievable, but in view of prospect of mobilisation,” etc. The expert finds in the manuscript indications of the pen being frequently turned, numerous editorial scruples and constraint, great self-control and reserve, prudence, perseverance, and some acute doubts as to the content of the document. “ Here is a man who is intensely natural and unaffected,” free from all pomposity and vanity. The only failing discoverable by study of the'manuscript is a love of concealment, but why be surprised at that in a diplomatist? Another facsimile is that of Mile Suzanne Lenglen, and hero tho author puts a considerable strain on our confidence. He finds the famous tennis player reproducing in her handwriting a ‘number of tho typical movements noticeable in her play. Writing such letters as “ rr ” in sorry “ wo see the typical movement of the service, in which the hand lifts and throws the racket backwards.” The “ n ” in can shows the movement of the smash, and the initial movement of the ” y ” in you shows the covering movement of the long forehand stroke.

■Mr Saudek is a keen observer of national systems of education and their effects upon character. The broad distinction is that between those who train young people to appear impressive or extraordinary and those that teach them to disappear unobtrusively in their environment, America employs bluff, while England insists that it is good form to adapt oneself to his environment. Any attempt at swanking is regarded as a social crime. The boy must never behave in a conspicuous or unusual manner. This educational achievement is unthinkable in many European countries, partly because the mentality of . most of them is embodied in the proverb: “ Only the worthless are modest.” Th eEnglish idea is apt to produce false modesty. _ Nevertheless, the English language is the only one in which the first personal pronoun I is written as a capital letter. What we find, therefore, is inward selfconfidence masked by complete adaptation and the avoidance of ostentation. This volume contains a mass of new and intensely interesting information on the psychology of handwriting, but how many of ns will send specimens of our penmanship to Mr Saudek and ask him to say whether we are honest men?