Page:Theory and Practice of Handwriting.djvu/163

Rh had their copy-book placed in the middle before them only slight deviations towards the right took place, amounting to 10°, in rare cases to 15°, and on the other hand also quite inconsiderable deviations towards the left, amounting to 5°, but that the average direction was with tolerable exactness straight towards the middle of the body.

This rule was found to be still more absolute in the case of those children who in writing had pushed their copy-book strongly towards the right; here almost in all cases the down-stroke coincided with a line drawn towards the breast. If the above observation really attains the importance of embodying a regular relation, then this must declare itself in the direction of the different down-strokes of every long line. Since in the course of such a line the position of the pen-point moves considerably towards the right, it is to be expected, presupposing the correctness of that observation, that the first and last down-strokes are not parallel but converge downwards, that is, towards the breast of the writer. Indeed, I was able to demonstrate such a relation in pupils’ handwritings in about 90 per cent. of the cases. That it was not always to be found is sufficiently explained by the care taken to give the down-strokes the same direction. It would now be in place to explain the regularity which has been discovered in the direction of the down-stroke from the anatomy and capability of movement of the writing-joints,–a task to whose solution Dr. William Mayer of Fürth has devoted himself.

The danger of remaining incomprehensible to persons who are not medical men, however, makes me renounce this attempt. From the law (which has since been recognised by all writers on the Vertical Style) that in unconstrained writing all down-strokes are directed towards the breast-bone, the relations which prevail between the direction of the writing and the different positions of the copy-book follow quite naturally. If the copy-book during writing is before the middle of the body, we have to distinguish whether it lies straight, so that its edges are directed parallel to those of the desk, or the side edges of the copy-book run up obliquely from left to right. The former is called the straight middle position, in which only and solely perpendicular strokes can be produced: the latter, on the other hand, is known as oblique middle position, in which the downstrokes must stand obliquely as regards the line at about the same angle as that which the copy-book edges form with the corresponding edges of the desk.

Further it is quite evident that if the copy-book lies to the right, whether it be straight or turned in the way just explained, the down-strokes must stand obliquely on the line. All right-positions