What is "comparison of hands"

Comparison \Com*par"i*son\ (? or ?), n. [F. comparaison, L. comparatio. See 1st Compare.]

1. The act of comparing; an examination of two or more objects with the view of discovering the resemblances or differences; relative estimate.

   As sharp legal practitioners, no class of human beings can bear comparison with them.
   --Macaulay.

   The miracles of our Lord and those of the Old Testament afford many interesting points of comparison.
   --Trench.

2. The state of being compared; a relative estimate; also, a state, quality, or relation, admitting of being compared; as, to bring a thing into comparison with another; there is no comparison between them.

3. That to which, or with which, a thing is compared, as being equal or like; illustration; similitude.

   Whereto shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what comparison shall we compare it?
   --Mark iv. 30.

4. (Gram.) The modification, by inflection or otherwise, which the adjective and adverb undergo to denote degrees of quality or quantity; as, little, less, least, are examples of comparison.

5. (Rhet.) A figure by which one person or thing is compared to another, or the two are considered with regard to some property or quality, which is common to them both; e.g., the lake sparkled like a jewel.

6. (Phren.) The faculty of the reflective group which is supposed to perceive resemblances and contrasts.

   Beyond comparison, so far superior as to have no likeness, or so as to make comparison needless.

   In comparison of, In comparison with, as compared with; in proportion to. [Archaic] ``So miserably unpeopled in comparison of what it once was.''
   --Addison.

   Comparison of hands (Law), a mode of proving or disproving the genuineness of a signature or writing by comparing it with another proved or admitted to be genuine, in order to ascertain whether both were written by the same person.
   --Bouvier.
   --Burrill.