Character Affected by Handwriting.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXV, Issue X, 8 September 1900, Page 465

Character Affected by Handwriting.

European graphologists have just la ill down two new laws, which wilt be of interest to all those who believe that the personal characteristics of individuals can be discovered through an examination of their handwriting. One law is that, as the good and bail qualities of a writer are revealed by the manner in which he forms his letters and words, so it is possible for a writer to acquire virtues and vices by shaping his letters and words in

manner indicative of such desirable and undesirable characteristics. For example, a strong bar crossing the small t is said to indicate wilfulness, and consequently it is asserted that anyone who desires to develop a spirit of wilfulness need in future only cross his t's in this fashion. In like manlier generosity is said to be indicated in any writing in which the small O’s are left wide open, and consequently ft is declared that the surest way to rid oneself of the spirit of avarice is to form one’s small o’s in this wav.

.•The second law is aimed directly at the style of handwriting which is taught in the schools of the Sacred Heart, as well as in many convents, both in Europe and in this country. This style was introduced some years ago by Carre, and one of its marked characteristics is its angularity and its lack of curves. According to M. I. Depoin, an expert graphologist, pupils who are taught in this way speedily show in their writing tokens of intellectual constraint and vacillation. This style of handwriting, he says, tends to make pupils inconstant, and also restrains them from giving any play to their imagination, while at the same time it is extremely apt to foster in them a craving for an ideal life, which is bound to prove injurious so far as

their material prospects are concerned.

The Abbe Leroy, who is much interested in graphology. does not think that M. 1. Depoin’s statements on this subject are well founded, and he has protested vigorously against the adoption of any law, which would tend to bring the Sacred Heart style of handwriting into disrepute. "I know,” he says, “hundreds of honourable men who write in this manner.” It is worth noting that this is not the first occasion on which this style of handwriting has l>een adversely criticised. Bridier, the expert, who died recently, made a furious onslaught on it some time ago, even maintaining that those who adopted it were more likely to commit crimes than other persons.