The aforementioned sample and analysis introduces us to the following subchapter:

Psychopathology in Handwriting

THE HABITUAL LIAR

The technique of lying, it seems, has at least three ways of achieving its ends. In the liar's presentation of the story, l. one (essential) part is simply left out; 2. one (essential) part is left out and a freely invented part is substituted for it; 3. one (essential) part is left out and the gap is filled with chitchat, or meaningless or vague tales. In all three ways, the liar tries carefully not to appear as such; his story and approach must not arouse suspicion.

(Essentially, the habitual liar, as a social type, is unwilling to communicate frankly; he will not express himself without indirection or hesitation.) In writing, the liar's techniques remain the same. While the first letters of words look clear and often are written with great care (to deceive us and to draw our attention away from that part of the word where the lie "resides"), the body of the word behind that first letter is, often after a visible pause, either

1. Incomplete: one or more letters are left out ("ad" instead of "and," "Thanki" instead of "Thanking," "neived" instead of "received," "sicenly" instead of "sincerely"), or

2. One or several letters are replaced by letters that do not belong there ("eacl" instead of "each," "mucl" instead of "much," "costme" instead of "continue"), or

3. One letter is left out and instead there is a thread ("fr-" instead of' "from,") or something that looks like a letter but is not ("ar-y" instead of "army").

The above samples are taken from one message, written by a habitual liar.

THE PATHOLOGICAL LIAR

These two seemingly different handwritings were written by one person, a pathological liar. She executed this writing for the doctor who had her under his care, in order to show "how clever she was and for the purpose of having it included in this course. From the standpoint of graphology, these handwritings are identical with the exception of the slant; neither contains a basic characteristic that the other lacks. However, here again there is the indication of an extreme ambition (very tall capitals) together with inability to realize the hopes (low middle zone); the hopes may become dreams, and the writer may identify herself so much with her dream personality that she can write with different handwritings. (Is it not striking that in one of the two personifications she produces t-bars in form of arcades and a left slanted script?) The pathological liar, to be sure, is not merely a person who tells many lies. He is almost completely identified with the false roles he unconsciously assumes. Consequently, he will characteristically show two or more different styles of writing, rather than merely the slips of the "habitual liar." Such shifting of style is the clue to pathology, which the graphologist can discover.

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