IDENTIFICATION AND 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.

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.

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.

SIGNATURES OF NAPOLEON AT DIFFERENT PERIODS OF HIS CAREER

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A. As Napoleon

B. As an old man

C. As Garibaldi.

HYPNOTIC HANDWRITING

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.

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.