e, or an enlarged photograph, cannot fail to reveal the
fraud. Of course these latter tests will not be possible under the
ordinary circumstances attending the paying out of a cheque over the
counter, but when once the peculiarities of such alterations have been
studied, it is marvellous how quick the eye becomes in recognizing them
at a glance.

Erasure in writings on stout thick paper is not quite so readily noticed
as those on thin paper such as cheques; but the same methods of
examination will apply--holding the document to the light, or level with
and horizontal to the eye. A very effective application of the latter
test is to bend or curve the paper, making an arch. The bending has a
tendency to stretch and widen the erased part, and if any smoothing
substance such as starch or wax has been added to restore the gloss of
the scraped portion, it will usually reveal itself by separating and
coming away in dust or tiny flakes. This process may be accentuated by
drawing the suspected document over a ruler, or, better still, a pencil,
repeating the motion several times.

CHAPTER XII.

PENCILS AND STYLOGRAPHS.

It is obvious that writing executed with a pencil or the now much-used
stylograph will differ in many respects from that performed by an
ordinary pen. It is not too much to say that their use will eliminate
many features and introduce new ones. This change is mainly brought
about by the different way in which a pencil or stylograph is held in
comparison with a pen. There is a much greater sense of freedom. The
pencil can be, and is, turned and twisted in the process of making a
stroke as a pen cannot be, and the signs of this freedom become apparent
in a more rounded stroke. Even a writer whose characters are acutely
angular shows a tendency to a more graceful outline. As a matter of
fact, it is comparatively rare to meet a pencilled writing that is
pronouncedly angular.

The same remarks apply with only little modification to writing produced
by the stylograph, and for the same reason--the ease and freedom with
which the instrument is held.

There is no possibility of mistaking writing produced by a stylograph
for that of an ordinary steel nib. The strokes are absolutely uniform in
thickness. No nib-formed writing can be so, for it is impossible for a
writer, however careful, to avoid putting pressure on his pen at some
point; and the opening of the nib, however slight, must produce an
apparent th