Your Handwriting

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23601, 9 March 1940, Page 4 (Supplement)

Your Handwriting

By W.D.L.

ONE of the most detailed and interesting of the many books on graphology is "Analysis of Handwriting," which has appeared from the pen of Mr. H. J. Jacoby. It is presented as "a serious and critical work dealing with tho either completely neglected or insufficiently treated domain of psychological analysis of handwriting." Mho view that is presented in some 40 chapters is that tho science of graphology is based on the fundamental principle that every single handwriting has a character of its own and that this distinctiveness, apart trom minor influences such as writing materials and differing school models, is primarily duo to tho unique nature of each writer's personality. The psychological significance of those distinct characteristics and the methods of application of graphology arc dealt with at length by Mr. Jacobv. He takes particular care

What Does It Reveal ?

to draw a distinction bet-ween what is claimed for graphology as a science and what is not claimed for it. First of all, the reader is advised to forget everything he has heard or read about "the wonders and miracles" claimed by a certain typo of graphologist. The exponent of the genuine science, tho author says, makes no pretension of power, for example, to forshadow with any defjree of certainty future events in ives or tho duration of lifo; nor, he adds, is it possible, with absolute freedom from doubt, to ascertain the exact ago or tho sex of a person from handwriting. A great deal, however, in the way of accurate deduction is claimed for the proper application of graphology, and Mr. Jacobj*, by means of a comprehensive appendix of specimen writings, sots out his conclusions and reasons in a lucid and instructive manner. "Analysis of Handwriting: An Tntrodnction into Scientific Graphology," by H. J. Jacoby (George Allen and Unwin, iLondon).