An Evaluation of Manuscript Writing

Abstract

In the last decade of the nineteenth century a new style of writing was proposed, backed by certain scientific facts and some convincing arguments. Physicians and students of school hygiene brought evidence to support the contention that the type of writing in vogue conduced to eyestrain and curvature of the spine. They advocated the substitution of vertical writing, written with the paper directly in front of the pupil and square with the desk, the pupil facing the desk with both arms resting equally on it. The arguments were widely accepted, vertical writing was widely adopted, and millions of pupils switched from slanting to vertical style. The fashion did not last long. After about two decades nearly all school systems had turned back to slanting writing. School men had discovered that, while certain scientific facts favored vertical writing, other equally scientific facts were unfavorable to it. It was discovered by experience, and the discovery was confirmed by motionpicture studies, that a smooth, easy writing movement requires that the hand swing across the page with the elbow as a center and the forearm as a radius. This motion requires that the paper be tilted. It was further discovered that the essential demands underlying vertical writing, namely, that the paper be directly before the writer and that the writer face the desk squarely with both arms resting symmetrically on it, could be met with slanting writing. Consequently, in the return to slanting writing modifications were made to incorporate these conditions. Meanwhile, a generation of children had had their handwriting habits uprooted and disorganized. The teaching profession had learned by the costly method of wholesale practical experimentation what might have been found out by systematic and comprehensive 446