History of Handwriting

In 1875, the French Abbot, Jean Hyppolyte Michon, coined the phrase "Graphology", from the Greek: "Graph" meaning, 'To write' or 'I write', and "Logos" meaning 'doctrine' or 'theory'. Graphology means handwriting At the beginning of the 19th century, the German, Lavater, and the Frenchmen, Edouard Hocquart and Abbé Flandrin, developed interpreting handwriting. But it was not until the second half of the century, when Michon published the results of his many years research into individual handwriting movements, that the subject began to arouse public interest. His method gained popularity owing to its simplicity; he studied certain elements in handwriting, namely the 'stroke', the 'letters', the 'words', the 'baseline', 'paragraphs', 'free movements' ('i' dots and 't' bars), 'flourishes', 'punctuation' and 'paraphs'. However, his method of allocating one specific movement to represent one aspect of character, and in particular his assertion that the lack of a movement indicated the opposite characteristic, is now recognized as only being partly accurate. Michon's successors, particularly his student, Jule Crepieux-Jamin disagreed with this principle, and also with the practice of attributing rigid interpretations to single signs. Crepieux-Jamin, who spent his life collating and improving upon Michon's observations, is today credited with founding the "Societé Francais de Graphologie". He defined the various elements of handwriting which today form the basis of the French school of graphology, and divided these elements into seven categories: Dimension, Form, Pressure, Speed, Direction, Layout and Continuity. To every element in the handwriting, Crepieux-Jamin attributed a range of possible meanings; he insisted that the value of any given sign is not fixed and that its significance and interpretation can vary depending upon the other features in the writing. This theory is now supported by all professional graphologists. In other words, no single feature in handwriting can be taken reliably to represent anything  about the writer, unless it is supported by other factors in the writing. At approximately the same time in Germany, William T Preyer recognized the fact that 'handwriting' is in fact 'brainwriting'. He correctly postulated that should the writer lose his writing arm, as did Nelson for example, and have to use the opposite hand, or even the mouth or foot as in the case of paralysis, the same basic tendencies will appear in the script, although obviously not executed with such fluency at first. In 1897, the 2nd "Graphological Periodical" was founded in Germany by Hans Busse (who also formed the Association for Graphological Research). The chief contributors were Dr Georg Meyer and Busse's assistant editor, Dr Ludvig Klages. Meyer's work was important, but even his greatest contributions were overshadowed by the eminence of Klages. Later, Klages moved to Switzerland where he was to continue his research work and create the first complete and systematic theory of graphology. Also in Switzerland, Dr Max Pulver, a renowned psychologist who had a deep interest in graphology, was to make a further contribution, in terms of the symbolism in handwriting, both in direction and in symbolism of space. His division of the handwriting into the three vertical 'zones' explains aspects of the handwriting previously misunderstood, with his formulation of the 'Three Dimensions' - vertical movement, horizontal movement, and depth - providing an integral understanding of graphology as we know it today.