Jean-Hippolyte Michon (21 November 1806 – 8 May 1881) was a French priest, an

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

, and the founder of

graphology Graphology is the analysis of handwriting in an attempt to determine the writer's personality traits. Its methods and conclusions are not supported by scientific evidence, and as such it is considered to be a pseudoscience. Graphology has been ...

. Born in

Laroche-près-Feyt Laroche-près-Feyt is a Communes of France, commune in the Corrèze Departments of France, department in central France. Geography The Chavanon forms the commune's eastern boundary. Population Notable people The following were born in Laroch ...

, department of

Corrèze Corrèze (; ) is a département in France, named after the river Corrèze which runs through it. Although its prefecture is Tulle, its most populated city is Brive-la-Gaillarde. Corrèze is located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, on the bo ...

, he studied in

Angoulême Angoulême (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Engoulaeme''; ) is a small city in the southwestern French Departments of France, department of Charente, of which it is the Prefectures of France, prefecture. Located on a plateau overlooking a meander of ...

and at the seminary in

Église Saint-Sulpice, Paris The Church of Saint-Sulpice () is a Catholic church in Paris, France, on the east side of Place Saint-Sulpice, in the 6th arrondissement. Only slightly smaller than Notre-Dame and Saint-Eustache, it is the third largest church in the city. ...

, where in 1830 he was ordained into the priesthood. In the 1830s, he first was introduced to the idea that a person's character could be ascertained via their handwriting from Abbé Flandrin (1804–1864), a priest who taught classes in philosophy. In 1842, he resigned his position as a priest, though still remaining a preacher. He focused his energy towards scientific pursuits, in particular historical and archaeological research, publishing a number of works on the religious history of

Charente Charente (; Saintongese: ''Chérente''; ) is a department in the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. It is named after the river Charente, the most important and longest river in the department, and also the r ...

. In 1844, he published a treatise on Gallo-Roman monuments of Charente titled ''Statistique Monumentale de la Charente''. In 1850 he participated in an archaeological mission to the Middle East as an archaeologist and

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

. In 1860 he published ''La Rénovation de l'Eglise'' (On the Renewal of the Church), in which he espoused his progressive thoughts on religion. This work was denounced by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and added to the ''

Index Librorum Prohibitorum The (English: ''Index of Forbidden Books'') was a changing list of publications deemed heretical or contrary to morality by the Sacred Congregation of the Index (a former dicastery of the Roman Curia); Catholics were forbidden to print or re ...

''. Afterwards (1862–69) he published, under a pseudonym, a series of anti-clerical novels. In 1868 he made the acquaintanceship of chirologist Adolphe Desbarrolles (1801–1886), who along with Michon, had an interest in handwriting analysis. The two men decided to combine efforts towards writing a book on the subject, and despite Michon's opposition to Desbarrolles' occultistic view of handwriting analysis, the work was finally released in 1872 as ''Les mystères de l'écriture''. On 18 November 1871, Michon published the first issue of ''Le Journal des Autographes'', a journal in which the term "graphology" is first used to describe

handwriting analysis Graphology is the analysis of handwriting in an attempt to determine the writer's personality traits. Its methods and conclusions are not supported by scientific evidence, and as such it is considered to be a pseudoscience. Graphology has been ...

. Subsequently, he traveled throughout France and to other European cities, giving lectures and promoting his theories of scientific graphology. In the 1870s, he published ''Système de graphologie'' (1875), a book introducing Michon's system of handwriting signs, and '' Méthode pratique de graphologie'' (1878), in which he explains the principles of graphological analysis.

References

British Graphology
Michon {{DEFAULTSORT:Michon, Jean-Hippolyte People from Corrèze French graphologists French archaeologists 1806 births 1881 deaths