The 6th Rule relates to the signatures, and filling up the No., date, to whom payable, cashier, and president. To notice whether the whole filling up appears in two or three different hands, as it ought to be. In the genuine the _No._ and _date_ is generally written by a bank clerk, who writes a very neat, rapid _business_ hand--but of course there may be exceptions to this Rule--but in counterfeits the No. and date is _almost invariably clumsy and unbusiness-like_. Where the officers’ signatures are imitated there will be a slow, studied, and stiff appearance, not easy, natural and _original_-looking. Some men acquire an almost intuitive knowledge of _original_ handwriting at sight, and the writer has seen many excellent judges of Bank Notes who have acknowledged that they were guided almost entirely by the signatures, even of strange banks. Auto-chirography may be studied as a science, but it can only be acquired by long experience, and it is not infallible: the best judges of writing might possibly be deceived sometimes. In some counterfeits the signatures are lithographed _fac-similes_, sometimes traced over with a pen. In writing with a pen the ink thoroughly saturates the paper, but leaves a smooth edge to the stroke, and has somewhat of a glossy appearance, while the printed _fac-similes_ always have a _stamped_ appearance, the stroke of a dead color and rough edge, not saturated or lively, like writing ink. If traced over with a pen there will be places, especially in the hair strokes, where the pen does not follow the curves in the stroke correctly. In cases where fraudulent impressions are obtained from the genuine plate, or where the plate itself is stolen, the 6th Rule is all that will detect; but when such a case happens there are always measures taken by the bank to meet it--a new plate is ordered, and the old emission called in. RULE VII. PAPER AND GENERAL APPEARANCE. Rule VII. relates to the paper, printing, and the general appearance of a note. Genuine bank-note paper is made of linen or silk, or a mixture of both, of a firm texture, and of a superior quality, (see the paper on which the steel-plate illustration is printed.) This paper is manufactured expressly for the banks and engraving companies alone, and counterfeiters can seldom get hold of paper of this kind, but are generally compelled to use slazy or half cotton paper. A counterfeit note is seldom printed as well as the genuine, but often blurred, and poor ink. As to the “general appearance,” this is produced by a combination of all the Rules. If all the Rules are good, and the note well printed, the “general appearance” of course will be perfect; but if there is any one or more of the Rules bad, the harmony of the “general appearance” will be interrupted. But if a genuine note is old, worn, and has been wet, the general appearance may be bad, but the other rules will all be good, and prove the note to be genuine. ANASTATIC TRANSFERS, OR LITHOGRAPHY.