"The writing is of interest" -- Holmes (NAVA).

Aristotle was the first person to recognize that handwriting "is the expression of the emotions underlying the writer's thoughts, ideas, or desires." An Italian treatise on the topic appeared in the 17th Century; but the 19th Century started a real handwriting analysis renaissance. A French monk started a systematic analysis of handwriting. He studied handwriting as a facet to the thoughts of the brain. Abbé Michon (the monk) broke handwriting down into strokes, each of which he believed had a meaning. Analyzing these components at a basic level would then allow the analyst to build the results into a complete picture of the person writing the sample. The Michon French school professes that the best way to analyze handwriting is through its basic components.

A German school of thought was started later in the century called the "Gestalt" method which sought to analyze the whole, rather than the components. According to the Gestalt school, no individual component can mean anything standing alone -- only when it is taken as part of a greater whole of a handwriting sample can any conclusions be drawn. Instead of looking at particular strokes (as in the French system), the German system looks at the entire sample as a snapshot of the writer.

Whereas students of the French system look at layout, dimension, pressure, form, speed, continuity, and direction, German school students look at the "picture of space," the "picture of movement" and the "picture of form."

One can easily see (as in many things in life), the middle road is the best - incorporating elements of both the German school and the French school.

Twaddle, you say! Think of it this way, if someone's handwriting is perfectly spaced, and care is taken with every letter on every line, they are probably equally organized in their life. On the other hand, if their handwriting is messy and careless, they probably aren't the neatest person in life. Some handwriting analysis conclusions are fairly intuitive (although not all).

Holmes' conclusion in REIG,namely that a paper he examines has been written, alternatively, by two men would be a fairly straightforward deduction from the stylistic differences in the two men's handwriting.

It is also possible that Holmes could have deduced a certain integrity through someone's handwriting as in NAVA when he concludes that the person who wrote a message was a "woman of rare character."

When Holmes claims in CARD, "The printing is distinctly masculine," this conclusion implies to the reader that the writer was a man; but this is not necessarily so. Handwriting analysis cannot determine the sex of the writer but it can determine gender - that is to say, whether the writer exhibits traits of femininity or masculinity but not whether they are a man or a woman.

Another somewhat troubling passage is when Holmes states, "You may not be aware that the deduction of a man's age from his writing is one which has been brought to considerable accuracy by experts" (REIG). This is not an entirely correct statement. The emotional maturity of an individual may be deduced but not the physical maturity. An emotionally immature forty-year-old man's handwriting may well correspond to an adolescent boy's handwriting. Thus, Holmes must be assuming that the individual in question is a well-adapted individual (and that may not always be a safe assumption when dealing with criminals) and that their physical age matches that of their emotional age, as interpreted by their handwriting sample.

"I have no doubt at all that a family mannerism can be traced in these two specimens of writing. I am only, of course, giving you the leading results now of my examination of the paper. There were twenty-three other deductions which would be of more interests to experts than to you." (REIG)

Handwriting can reveal much about the person in question at the moment when the sample was written - how they were thinking, feeling, and acting. It is not, however, a crystal ball; and it does have its limitations. Handwriting analysis fell out of favor during World War II (because of some fairly complex politics), but it is beginning to make a mild Resurgence. Interestingly,in the late nineteenth century, its study was a requirement to receive a teaching or psychology degree.

Information for this article was adapted from "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Handwriting Analysis" by Sheila Lowe.