ith a more or less bold and
expansive underline running horizontally with the signature. A close
examination will show a variation in the degrees of thickness of such a
line, which should be carefully noted and looked for in other genuine
signatures.

In this connection it will be found extremely useful and instructive to
study strokes, either horizontal or vertical, with a view to discovering
whether they were struck from right to left, top to bottom, or _vice
versa_. The glass will render it easy to detect beginning from end after
a few failures, which, by the way, should not be allowed to discourage,
for every minute devoted to the study of handwriting is so much gain in
experience, and represents so much more learned, which will never be
forgotten.

The flourishes that occur on and about the signature proper must be
treated as exaggerated loops, and their shoulders, arcs, hooks and toes
carefully measured and noted. For this purpose an average genuine
signature should be selected and gauged, which is done in this way:
Place over it a sheet of transfer paper. With the scale-rule and a fine
pencil draw horizontal lines that will touch the tops and bottoms of the
bodies of the letters, lines that touch the tops and bottoms of the
tailed and topped letters, and vertical lines that follow the shanks of
every topped or tailed letter, including the capitals. The gauge, when
completed, will represent a framework fitting the signature, and its use
is twofold. It helps the eye to detect the variations in the general
contour of the signature, and, when placed over another, brings out the
points of difference. Due allowance must be made for proportion. It is
obvious that the distance of letters will be greater in a signature
written larger than another, but the proportionate distances will be
preserved. The difference in the size of a letter is not very important,
except that it offers more scope for examination. For example, a looped
_l_ may be very small or half an inch long; but, if made by the same
writer, the proportionate width at top, bottom and middle will be
preserved, and compare with the same measurements in the smaller letter.
Signatures of the same writer do not often vary much in size, though
they may be thicker or finer according to the character of the pen used;
but observation will show that the difference in a handwriting caused by
the use of different pens is much more imaginary than real.

The traced sign