type of writing. Compare, for instance, any bundle of letters taken at
random, out of an old desk or library. It is quite easy to sort them
into bundles in sequence of dates, and also guess accurately the age
and position of the writers. The flowing Italian hand, used by
educated women early in the nineteenth century, has now developed into
a bold, decisive, almost masculine writing.

It will be found that most professions have special characteristics in
writing and these are all liable to change, according to circumstances
and writing is the clearest proof of both bodily and mental condition,
for in case of paralysis, or mental aberration, the doctor takes it as
a certain guide.

The most noticeable movement by which cultured people recognize one
another are the play of the features, the gait, talking and writing.
Of these evidences the last named is the most infallible, for by a few
hasty lines we may recognize again a person whom we neither see nor
hear, and enjoy in addition the advantage of being able to compare
quietly and at our leisure the traits of one individual thus expressed
with the characteristics of another. There are not many men to be
found in any walk of life who do not endeavor to conceal to some
extent, however slight, their true views and emotions, when brought
into close contact with their fellow-beings. But the mind photographs
itself unsuspectingly in the movements of the hands, by the use of pen
and ink away from all alien observation, and with the rigid
unchangeable witness in our possession the character of the author of
the manuscript lies open to the gaze of the intelligent reader.

In this way handwriting becomes much more individual than any other
active sign of personality. It varies more, it is more free, it