An Experimental Study of Writing Movements. 
251 
downward movements were indicated on the paper by means of dots, 
before the movement began. A typical result of such restricted 
movement is presented in figure 6. It should he noted that the time 
required for such restricted movement was decidedly longer than that 
required for the first free movement represented in figure 5. The 
characteristic difference between these two movements is, of course, 
obvious when the two tracer records are compared. The first, free 
movement is predominately an arm movement; the second contains a 
very large element of finger movement, especially in the downward 
strokes. The subject finds that in order to meet the points prescribed, 
it is necessary to make a finer, more accurate adjustment, than was 
necessary in the first free drawing. 
A fact which appears very clearly in figure 5 may also be made 
a subject of special comment. The movement at first is not the same 
in character as it is later 
in the course of the draw- 6' ( 
ing. This same fact appears 1 ^ a y t t 
in almost every record of 
writing. The hand is evi¬ 
dently not in position at 
first, but requires a few 
strokes to adjust itself. 
Sometimes the necessary adjustment is brought about by a greater 
emphasis of finger movement, sometimes by a more pronounced hand 
movement. 
Another group of results is as follows. Any change in the con¬ 
ditions under which the subject writes, will modify the character of 
the movement. A change from a hard pencil to a soft pencil, or a 
change from the vertical position of the paper to an oblique position, 
will he sufficient to produce noticeable variations in the character 
of the muscular coordination, even when the products of the move¬ 
ment, that is the written letters, conform very closely to the same 
type. 
One movement which is of importance in securing a uniform slope 
of the letters has not been mentioned in this analysis ; it is a move¬ 
ment of pronation which takes place in the most highly developed 
forms of writing movement. As already noted the apparatus does