Page:Theory and Practice of Handwriting.djvu/105

Rh a right position. All these 160 were found to be more or less affected with pronounced curvature of the spine.

As to the position of the head, a bending forward is common and more or less necessary in all positions of the Copy Book, but the right position of the Copy Book requires two other movements, a turning of the head towards the right, and a moving forwards of the left eye which causes it to stand deeper or lower down than the right, thus constituting the first step in the deterioration of the whole bodily posture.

The eye is endangered by the right position because every deviation from an erect posture of body, every twisting of the trunk, and every cramping contraction of whatever kind bring the eyes nearer the writing and force them to stronger convergence of the lines of vision and to greater exertion of their power of accommodation by which the genesis of Shortsight is encouraged. (See Fig. 25.) These observations are the outcome of investigations by different authors such as Schmeller, Hähnel, Berlin, Florschütz, Remboldt, Schmidt-Rimpler, Seggel, Emmet, &c., which involved the examination of no less than 21,949 cases.