The Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1906. THE POOR RELATIONS OF SCIENCE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLI, Issue 317, 22 December 1906, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1906. THE POOR RELATIONS OF SCIENCE

SOME HAND-WRITING EXPERIMENTS. SCIENCE has "poor rpltitiens" 6§ jfcel as our "first families," and ariottg .then may bo classed phreiiblogV, jtalmistry and graphology. The first prelenQs .t< tell ehavacWV and ttimperajneht from tp j conformation o? 'the head;. the second traces destiny from the .lines of the; hand ; the third depicts character and temperament from the hand-writing. . Alt,. howeVeh fail .in one .'rmportant di-. rectio'n : they assume effects and claim them as causes, whereas the develop-. I ments of head, hand, or writing may be, probably are, the result of lifo-long environment. . The BertiUori system of identification fiy n "f^V prints is based on uie iact that no two human hands' are alike; that certain indelible, indes^ tructible lines are essentially owned hy. each individual, and by no other. But Bertillon confines his scientific deductions to certain defined parts of the hand, whereas .palmistry Heaucco virtual. prgAcstiAi.l'6'a i'foirt the wKotc, | making little or no allowance -fori alterations in conformation due to con- 1 stant use, --- » • • • t For instance, the palming reading the hand of a grown nun, will assume character, temperament, even prophesy happemhgß,, from , Unas , which have been artificially .bluried br evolved by .work, oi- rt^ciueht. The thoughtful naturally repudiate such assumption as the device of the mere charlatan; but*. at the same time it is neither fair nor' accurate to generalise and sot aside chirograph}' as altogether superstition. Similarly, in phrenology, life-long environment assuredly "develops certain conformations and depressed, or entirely removes, others.. But if, is beyond doubt that r the,, hujna'n head. Contoured for the reception of the brain, must owe its congenital shape to heredity, and surrounding conditions before birth, while development proceeds during the ductile period of youth. The third "pseudo-science," graphology, or characterisation by handwriting, is also more or less soundly based, inasmuch as the forming head directing the forming hand fixes the individuality of the writine by the time the formative period of life is nasi. But when is that formative period past? SartU writing | will gradually Vary f r.om boyhood ri te | old age. Let anyone look at his old letters, arid compare the writing of 2C rears ago with his writing of to-day. He will assuredly find marked changes: but there will be indelibly imprintec from, early, onward, certair characteristic features, which, varyinp with time, never lose altogether thei. distinctive identity. Like Bertillon's fineer marks, each man or woman's brand is his or- her own through life • • :» » » •' nrl h n r V °l KraphoWy, palmistry anc phrenology for a hearing in the codrt of science has at last heen ans^red f/n eSS<M i ? in ? t - the Paris ' make P Tn hol °f i K t ' J™ d <"«™ined "l make an elaborate study of tries. the C °nuW'' eC^u and * ive his "esnlts" t tin ft, The , mftto »al so obtaihec will doubtless be interesting to th ■nvest.gatorin the by-ways of psyrh n mo'™ eve W* ™ntains nothingTof " li. , , s Rev otations de I'FVriture • ,ed to,''* * f6W , W ° n^ hs a <"' < h " '"arn wrf£ M S < ° T , d k esc, ' bes ">e elaborate series of test, he has already madr of hnnd--wntin e or sranholoevThe points to which he particularly di reeled his inquiries were four in num Lteir '*• : Ca Mi th r (1) ***• «>■««" «' intelligence, (4) character of the write, be determined from the manuscript' It S-iV 1 once ' s ? at «d that although \ qualified answer in the affirmative ir given to these four questions, yet it f. adm.t od that the results are not s„f. «c.entlv nceurate to havc „. icnMfir ne. Whether evident drawn' f ron , .J •»Tr , - er 1 of , handwriting c P n 'be admitted in the daw courts der.er.ds up -on whether evidence can be -Unwed ir which there is Ihe' probability 6i r certam percentage nf «rrnr »»•»»'• Tn the matter of the determin*.tior "f S" bv li.ndwntms. thonM, m „), or , female writing are generally d.'Hinc live, graphology has not come, well 'out -f the mmnrv. T t . j, tn .„ „,.„, „„„,,,,,,. gists aopear able to determine s.ex ir, more than 70 per cent of cases-butthe novice can do the same with .similar when the writing is not distinctivelymasculine or feminine. The best graphologist (M. Crepienx-.Tamin) was correct in 78 per cent of the. - samnles . river, him, whilst an untrained girl of liwas right in 70 per cent of her replies;, and various teachers, though professing nc acquaintanceship with tho snbiert obtained a percentage r,f from 70 to 7^ per cent, of right answers. Clearly the experts did not justify their title." In deed, thev were of ton rompletelv mistaken. Thus M. Crepieux-Jamin said of an address written bv a cirl of 18 that it was without doubt the work of a man of 30 or less. Tho claims of the grapholosist thafbr can determine ace from handwritib" rests on a fonndation no surer than the foregoing. In the tests the largest number of successes were scored as regards children under six vears of aget.hev sll verce on the ridiculous Results indicating the definition of the decree of intelligence from handwntimj srive Professor Binet much more '•>tisfnction. Tn estimatine int.»lliijonce Crepieux-.Tamin is credited with 32 cor rert ronlies .out of 35. a second expert with 28. a third with 29, and a fourth with 26. nor could the evidence of th* fircl.-named be shaken. Binet falselv told the graphologist that he was completely wrons,. but the. latter kent to hir "nininn. and, indc»d. raised the index denoting th« intellieen^e of T?«nah However, other praohologist.s fell inte the trap laid for them and recanted ' t.hair nrevious opinions. The "inex nerts" who dealt with the same documents were correct in nearly as mnnv cases as Ihe experts, so that attain the graphologists fails to justifv his claim to the possession of any superior or mys. terious knowledge. : '

Professor Binet, finallv admits thai eharacter cannot bo told from handwrit ing as accurately as intelligence or thf reverse can be. Some ludicrons blunders were made in the tests. Creni'euxJamin describes a hrntal assassin of women — one Vidal — from his handwriting as if be were a negatively weak person, not criminal. Of the same. man another distinguished Graphologist says'* ' — "The writing is of a w*nn<t pir] of I temperate character ( !) Principal characteristic, not sentimentality, though ; sho is canable of affection and of alt'ru- ! ism. etc.." A third expert confronted with the same document, says : — "Delicate nature, aesthetic antitude, etc.."' ind concludes with the followine :— VI have felt from the beginning of the examination Of the eight lines that thev were written bv Dr. Binet at 15 to 18 vears of age!" — which was rough- on the Professor ! Was the exnert trying Ito get even with the. scientist by way of a little inke? No methods in common amine the evoert.s to discover rhaveter frnm handwriting were disclosed and Professor Binet attributes -the replies more to intuition than ■ reaflon. He. however, tells us naively "That when science invades the domain *the present priests of half-light will flee to the realms of tho vague undetermined dreams and faith. I offer to collator- ' ate withi'^Ea^i.M. Ciepieux--Jamin."