the trifling circumstances
attending the presentation of a check, the appearance of the person
presenting it, the probability of the drawer inserting such a sum,
etc., becomes apparent when one has heard a number of these useful
officers testify in cases where they are deprived of all these
surroundings, and required to decide whether a certain writing is by
the same hand which produced another writing, both being unfamiliar to
them.

In this case they are obliged to create a familiarity with the
signatures of a man whose character and peculiarities they have never
known.

They miss the aid of some feature, such as a dash, a blot, or the
distortion of a letter, which would recall to them the character of
the writer. Most of the best experts of this class confess that they
cannot tell on what their judgment is based. They simply think that
the writing is not by the same hand as that admitted to be genuine.
"No," they will tell you, "it is not merely superficial resemblance. I
don't know what it is, but I feel sure," etc. These witnesses are more
frequently right than the more pretentious professional expert. The
former trust to the instantaneous impressions which they receive when
papers are handed to them; the latter too often give their attention
to the merely superficial features of chirography without getting
beyond the more obvious resemblances and differences which are
frequently the least important.

While the expert in handwriting should confine himself to the concrete
examinations of the paper, ink, seals, etc., and leave to the counsel
the task of reasoning on the purport of the words added, and all other
matters not allied to the materials left as the result of the forgery,
yet it would be unreasonable to neglect altogether these means of
corroborating a previously formed suspicion, or directing a course of
inquiry.

That expert would be more or less than human who could shut his eyes
to the importance of the fact that certain words containing evidence
in the manner of their formation or their position that raised doubts
as to their genuineness by their import gave to the person who might
have written them benefits which he would not have derived in their
absence.

The parts of a writing which demand the closest attention are those
which have been made unconsciously and which are not easily noted by a
superficial view. The height, the spread of the letters, the
peculiarities of the endings, the nourish