Page:Theory and Practice of Handwriting.djvu/122

104 methods which have been propounded for the teaching of writing have commended themselves strongly and successfully to the approval of the profession. One of these was elaborated by Mulhauser with whose system every teacher is more or less familiar, the other emanated from Locke. Both methods have their merits and both their disadvantages, as might be expected when the undeveloped character of the art and science of writing at the time is taken into consideration.

Mulhauser’s Method is analytic and then Synthetic. He first decomposes the letters into their fundamental strokes, calling these respectively the right line, curve line, loop and crotchet. The letters of the alphabet are then classified according to this analysis as follows: As an aid to the pupils the Copy Books are ruled in rhomboids (the style being slanting) to regulate the size, width and slope of the writing.

The advantages of this method are that it is scientific in its analysis, graduated–to an extent–in its arrangement, and