The only state of things which can justify the guiding of a hand executing a legal instrument is the feebleness or illness of its owner.
When such assistance is required it is usually given by passing the arm around the body of the invalid and supporting the writing hand while the necessary characters are being made.
Both participants in this action are looking at the writing, and both are thinking of the next letter which must be written, and of the motion of the pen necessary to produce it. Unless the executing hand were absolutely lifeless or entirely devoid of power, it would be impossible for it not to influence the guiding and presumably stronger hand; for the least force exerted cannot fail to deflect a hand, however strong, in an unnatural and cramped position. Nor can the hand of the guider fail to add its contribution to the joint effort, however much the brain which controls it may strive to render the hand entirely passive. Both minds are busy with the same act, and insensibly both hands will write the same letter with the results just described.
Can the characteristics of each hand be separated from those of the other and the relative amount of the two contributions to the joint signature be stated?
This is a question which is naturally asked during the trial of a case involving the consideration of a guided hand. From the comparatively small number of experiments made in this direction it would be too hazardous to answer it in the affirmative, but it may be said that some of the characteristics of each hand can usually be made apparent by the system of measurement, and the indications seem to point to the probability of being able to increase the number of characteristics elicited in proportion to the number of observations made. If the significance of every part of every stroke could be properly interpreted, it follows that a complete separation of characteristics would be effected, but this would require an indefinitely large number of observations to be made and a quite unattainable skill in explaining them.
See specimens of guided signatures in Appendix.
TALES TOLD BY HANDWRITING
Telling the Nationality, Sex and Age of Anyone Who Executes Handwriting—Americans and Their Style of Writing—How English, German, and French Write—Gobert the French Expert and How He Saved Dreyfus—Miser Paine and His Millions Saved by an Expert—Writing with Invisible Ink—Professor Braylant's Secret Writing Without Ink—Professor Gross Discovers a Simple Secret Writing Method With a Piece of Pointed Hardwood—A System Extensively Used—Studying the Handwriting of Authors—How to Determine a Person's Character and Disposition by Handwriting.
It is possible for a trained expert in handwriting to tell with a fair degree of accuracy the nationality, sex, and age of any one who executes writing of any kind. A study of the handwriting of the different nations makes it comparatively easy to recognize in any questioned specimen the nationality of the writer. The aggregate characteristics of a nation are reflected in the style of handwriting adopted as a national standard. The style most in use in the United States is the semi-angular, forward-slant hand, although the vertical round-hand is now being largely taught in the public schools and will affect the appearance of the writing of the next generation quite appreciably.