ask of
harmless imitation; his success has surprised and flattered him, and the
easy possibilities of forgery opened up. More than one forger has
admitted that his initiatory lessons were prompted by an innocent
challenge to imitate a particularly complicated "forgery-proof"
signature.

It must be remembered that the eye of the casual observer takes in a
word as a whole rather than in detail. This explains why an author can
rarely be trusted to correct his own proofs. He knows what the word
should be, and in reading his work in print he notices only the general
expected effect of a word. It needs the trained eye of the proof-reader
to detect the small _c_ that has taken the place of the _e_, the
battered _l_ that is masquerading as an _i_. So long as the general
outline of the word is not distorted the wrong letters are often passed;
and it is much the same with a signature with which one is fairly
familiar. The trained examiner of handwriting, like the proof-reader,
knows what to look for, and discovers irregularities that would escape
the notice of the untrained eye.

The first part of a genuine signature that should be examined is the
flourish, which includes all fancy strokes appended to it, and any
superfluous addition to the body of the letters. A close scrutiny
through the glass will show that the lines forming the tail-flourish are
generally clear, firm and sharp in outline, being formed, not only
without hesitation, but with a dash and decided sweep that are strongly
at variance with the broken, saw-edged, unsteady line of the copy. It
will also generally be found to follow an almost fixed rule in the
matter of its proportionate conformation: that is, supposing the writer
finishes up with a horizontal line under his signature, it will be seen,
on averaging a dozen or so of them, that the distance of the line from
the feet of the letters is proportionately uniform. If the line be begun
with a spur or curved inward hook, that feature will be repeated. The
end of the flourish or final stroke, at the point where the pen leaves
the paper, should be very carefully examined. One writer finishes with
an almost imperceptible dot, as if the pen had been stabbed into the
paper; another finishes with a curve, either upward or downward; a third
with a hook turned upward, either a curve or an angle; while a fourth
continues the line till it becomes finer and sharper to vanishing point.
Some writers are fond of concluding w