ways full of sheets of paper covered with
small handwriting, sometimes scribbled in all directions. The matter is
generally absurd or simply stupid, consisting of endless repetitions.

Individuals in the first stage of paralysis make orthographical errors,
which coincide with their mistakes in pronunciation, like _Garigaldi_,
instead of _Garibaldi_. Care must be taken to test this defect
thoroughly. If the patient is fairly well-educated, his signature, which
is the last to alter, is not sufficient; nor are a few lines a
satisfactory test, since he can easily concentrate his attention on
them, but he should be requested to write a page or two and be exhorted
to make haste.

Alcoholism and paralysis generally give rise to tremulous handwriting
with unsteady strokes, as in old people. After epileptic seizures and
attacks of hysteria the writing is shaky. The slightest trembling of the
hand is detected if Edison's electric pen be used.

In progressive general paralysis and some forms of dementia shakiness is
so excessive that it becomes dysgraphy, with zigzag letters. The
handwriting of persons subject to apoplectic strokes has often the
appearance of copper-plate. Monomaniacs intersperse their writings with
illustrations and symbols. They write very closely in imitation of
print, as do mattoids, hysterical persons, and megalomaniacs, and use
many notes of exclamation and capital letters. Their writings are full
of badly-spelled words, scrolls, and flourishes.

Criminals guilty of sanguinary offences generally have a clumsy but
energetic handwriting and cross their _t's_ with dashing strokes. The
handwriting of thieves can scarcely be distinguished from that of
ordinary persons, but the handwriting of swindlers is easier to
recognise, as it generally lacks clearness although it preserves a
certain uniformity. The signature is usually indecipherable and
enveloped in an infinite number of arabesques.

_Clothing._ The manner in which a patient is dressed often gives an
exact indication of his individuality. Members of those secret
organizations of Naples and Sicily, the Camorra and Mafia, are fond of
dressing in a loud manner with an abundance of jewelry. Murderers,
epileptics, and the morally insane, who lead isolated lives, attach no
importance to dress and are frequently dirty and shabby. (See Fig. 26,
A. D., a morally insane epileptic, the perpetrator of three murders.)
Swindlers are always dressed in faultless style