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Charles H. Judd. 
not show in its records the presence of such a movement. We are 
therefore dependent upon observation for its description. 
In order to understand this movement of pronation one should 
note that the position of the hand and fingers at the beginning of 
the line of writing is such that the movement of the first finger 
(which is the most important movement in directing the pen in its 
formative strokes) will give the letters a certain slope with reference to 
the edges of the paper. This first slope may he to the right, or it may 
he vertical, or, finally, it may be to the left, hut in any case it is the 
result of a pen movement which grows out of the total position of the 
parts with respect to the edges of the paper. As the hand moves across 
the paper during the writing of the line it is obvious that the position of 
the arm and hand with respect to the paper, and especially the position 
which they assume with reference to the edges of the paper, must 
undergo a change by virtue of the movement of the arm about its 
center in the elbow. To make this statement definite, the angles 
formed by the axis of the arm and the left edge of the paper are, 
at the beginning of the line, acute below the point of intersection 
and obtuse above; while the angles formed by the axis of the arm 
and the same left edge of the paper, at the end of the line of writ¬ 
ing, either are, or tend to he, acute above and obtuse below. If, 
as sometimes happens, the center of arm movement, that is the elbow, 
is itself moved forward from the shoulder during the writing of the 
line, the above statement in regard to angles holds with this change ; 
each period between movements of the elbow is to be treated as a 
unit or line. 
The gradual modification in the position of the arm axis with 
reference to the edge of the paper during the writing of a line, re¬ 
quires some definite form of correcting movement, if the slope of 
the letters is to be kept uniform with reference to the edges of the 
paper. Indeed, it should be added at this point that a corrective 
movement of less degree is also required to counteract the changes 
in the direction of the axis of the hand due to the left to right wrist 
movement which takes place in writing a word. This lesser corrective 
movement is of the same type as the greater movement which is the 
main subject of discussion here and needs therefore no special dis¬ 
cussion. If, however, one examines many specimens of handwriting,