PALM AND SOLE STUDIES. 



227 



VI. THE HERITABILITY OF FRICTION-SKIN CHARACTERS. 

 A casual inspection of the palm and sole prints of any family 

 where two or more generations are represented, and with several 

 children, indicates that the special configuration of the friction- 

 skin ridges is to some extent a character, or series of characters, 



FIG. 32. Print of the right hand of the six-year-old son of the foregoing, showing 

 a strong hereditary influence. 



transmissible by heredity from parent to offspring. To show this, 

 two pairs of palm prints are here presented, in each case that of 

 a father and son, taken from two unrelated white families. 



In the first of these (Figs. 31 and 32) the type presented is no 

 unusual one, yet it is interesting to see how the details of the father 

 are faithfully copied by the smaller hand of the son. The same 

 degree of similarity is shown by the handsof theother side, although 

 the two sides are not alike. Otherwise, so far as may be seen in a 

 boy of six, the son does not especially resemble the father. It is 

 also interesting to note that neither the hands of the mother, nor 



