386 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



of the ball of the thumb (usually considered to be the right one alone) 

 is individual and distinctive, while those of the remaining fingers, or 

 the similar markings of the palm are of no importance. 



It is of interest also to note that, owing to the common belief in 

 palmistry, whereby divination is performed by means of the chance 

 wrinkles caused by the motion of the fingers, these useless features 

 have assumed so great importance that the far more interesting ridges 

 appear to be usually ignored or even overlooked entirely, and as for the 

 ridges of the sole of the foot or the balls of the toes, their very existence 

 appears to be generally unknown. 



Since there seems to be so much popular misinformation upon the 

 subject of systems of identification, it may not be superfluous to begin 

 the present discussion with a brief description of each of the two sys- 

 tems mentioned above, after which will be presented the claims of 

 the sj'stem based upon palms and soles. 



I. The Bertillon system. 

 The first scientific method for classifying humanity by data fur- 

 nished by individual bodily peculiarities, or at least the first that be- 

 came widely adopted, was that devised by M. Alphonse Bertillon, who 

 in 1880 founded his celebrated system of identification by means of 

 bodily measurements, 'Identification anthropometrique. ' In this he 

 applies the principles of anthropometrics, employed hitherto mainly 

 as ethnological criteria or for use in physical culture, to the identifica- 

 tion of individuals, using for that purpose only those measurements 

 which depend on skeletal parts, and which are, therefore, practically 

 unchanging after adult life is reached. The measurements selected 

 to form the basis of his system are as follows: 



I. Measurements based upon the entire body. [Mesures relevees sur 



V ensemble du corps.] 

 Standing height. [Taille — hauteur de I'homme deiotit.] 

 Arm reach. [Envergure des bras.] 

 Sitting height. [Buste — Hauteur de I'homme assis.] 



II. Measurements based upon the head. [Mesures relevees sur la tcte.] 



Length of head. [Longueur da la tete.] 



Breadth of head. [Largueur de la tete.] 



Length of right ear. [Longueur de I'oreille droite.] 



Breadth of right ear. [Largueur de Vorellle droite.] 



III. Measurements based upon the extremities. [Mesures relev4es sur 



les membres.] 

 Length of left foot. [Longueur du pied gauche.] 

 Length of left middle finger. [Longueur du doigt m4dius gauche.] 

 Length of left little finger. [Longueur de I'aurieulaire gauche.] 

 Length of left cubitus. [Longueur de la coud6e gauche.] 



i. c., elbow to tip of extended middle finger. 



Each of these eleven measurements is subdivided into tlii'ee groups, 

 small, medium and large [petite moyen, grand] ; in accordance with 



