Handwriting in Criminal Investigation
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X5703000106 |
| Date | 01 January 1957 |
| Published date | 01 January 1957 |
| Author | Douglas Hamilton |
| Subject Matter | Article |
HANDWRITING
IN
CRIMINAL
INVESTIGATION
35
C.LD.
officers concerned with a strong initial suspicion of murder
which called for urgency
but
demanded meticulous care in recovering
the body from burial and searching the scene. When it turned
out
to
be a case of criminal abortion it provided an exercise in
joint
enquiry
between police officers, pathologist and laboratory scientists. Con-
flicting statements had to be tested
and
broken down, as they eventually
were, and a sound case put to the jury for the Crown. The course of
events at trial was entirely satisfying, for all four received punishment
which they merited. A charge relating to unlawful disposal of the body
was not proceeded with.
Handwriting
in
Criminal
Investigation
By
DETECTIVE
INSPECTOR
DOUGLAS
HAMILTON
Identification Bureau, City
of
Glasgow Police.
THE origin of writing can be traced to the ancient civilisations
of
Egypt, Babylon and China; its history may be said to be the
history of civilisation itself.
The Babylonians and Egyptians told their stories by means
of
pictures which they impressed into tablets of soft clay.
For
the recor-
ding of laws and other lasting work they carved with metal instruments
on pillars of stone. The Egyptians later made use of the pith
of
the
papyrus plant which grew in the Nile Valley. This they wove into
boards on which they could write with reed pens, using as a medium
a solution of soot and resin. The Chinese at first used boards of bamboo
cane then subsequently a tissue made of silk.
From
Egypt the use of
papyrus and reed pens spread by way of Greece into Europe and then
to Britain, and for many years these were the principal writing media.
Vellum and parchment ultimately superseded papyrus
but
it was
not
until the thirteenth century that the reed pen was replaced by the quill.
Then, with the discovery of suitable thin ink solutions, the practice of
writing developed more extensively.
The benefits resulting from the development of writing acted as
stimuli to further learning,
and
each advancement in knowledge was
reflected in additions to the language, simplification of the script, or
improvements in writing instruments
and
technique. Each of these
improvements enlarged its scope and increased its influence
and
the
art
of writing has been acknowledged as having had a greater influence
on human relationship than any other achievement in the history
of
mankind.
About the beginning of the nineteenth century the steel nib came
into being. At that time too, paper could be made fairly cheaply.
It
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