This study has been an attempt at clarifying the irrefutable connection between an individual's handwriting, its develop­ment and idosyncrasies, and his personality—whether it changes from normal to neurotic, or insane, or whether it develops a more constant pattern.

As has been pointed out, the handwriting is a key to the often obscure and latent potentialities of the child; it is an in­fallible graph by which the parents, teachers, and especially the psychologist can chart the course of the child's emotional and intellectual growth and see into a future full of promise or de­struction. Naturally, the script alone is not sufficient to reveal every eventual triumph or misstep; the child's environment, his reactions and habits must also be taken into account. Graphology, obviously, is not a black science, and one should be warned against the staggering boasts of the charlatan graphologist. On the other hand, this science is a most im­portant factor in planning the child's life, in deciding on the course of his education, and the stringency of his discipline; it should be used as a visual case history, to be referred to from time to time as a check on the affirmative growth of his personality.

In the case of the neurotic or insane, the individual's script over a period of years can become psychological milestones, by which the physician can trace his way back to the earliest and most incipient manifestations of the disease in question. As has been demonstrated repeatedly, there is an unshakable parallel between the individual's sane and insane character­istics, and his writing throughout each period. The pen be­comes a direct expression of the patient's disease. Each letter, each flourish, every sign of speed or hesitancy, is a substanti­ation of the individual's intangible obsessions and uncertain­ties, until the written page becomes a montage of his peculiar neurosis, or of his unmistakable genius.

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