mental exercise is great.

There are two principal methods by which a signature may be forged:
first, by carefully copying the original as one would copy a drawing;
secondly, by tracing it.

The first process is referred to as copied. The forger will, most
probably, have practised the signature before affixing it to the cheque
or other document, thereby attaining a certain degree of fluency. But
however well executed, close examination with the aid of the magnifying
glass will reveal those signs of hesitancy and irregularity that one may
reasonably expect to find in a copy.

There is no part of a person's handwriting so fluent and free as his
signature. Even the most illiterate persons show more freedom and
continuity of outline in their signature than in the body of their
writing. This is explicable on the ground of usage. A writer may feel a
degree of momentary uncertainty in forming a word that he does not
write frequently, but his signature he is more sure about. He strikes it
off without hesitancy, and in the majority of cases appends some
meaningless flourish, which may be described as a superfluous stroke or
strokes added for the purpose of ornamentation, for adding
distinctiveness, or, in some cases, and particularly with business men,
with the idea that the flourishes help to secure the signature from
forgery. Such writers will probably be surprised to learn that there is
no form of signature so easy to forge as that involved and complicated
by a maze of superfluous lines and meaningless flourishes. The most
difficult signature for the forger is the clear, plain,
copybook-modelled autograph. A little thought and examination will make
the reason for this clear.

Let a signature be enveloped in a web of curves and flourishes, making
it look like a complicated script monogram. The lines are so numerous
that the eye cannot take them all in at a glance, and, if copied, any
slight irregularity or departure from the original is more likely to
pass undetected amid the confusing network of interlaced lines. If, on
the other hand, the signature be simple and free from the bewildering
effects of flourishes, the entire autograph lies revealed, a clear and
regular outline, and the slightest variation from the accustomed figure
stands out naked and plain. Most of the successful forgeries will be
found to be on signatures of the complicated order. Their apparent
impregnability has tempted the facile penman to essay the t