PALM AND SOLE IMPRESSIONS. 391 



desire of bringing his work to the highest degree of efficiency, he has 

 recently adopted a part of Galton's system, and places the impressions 

 of certain of the finger-tips upon his identification-cards. 



Unfortunately, I can not ascertain the exact date at which this 

 adoption of Galton's system was made, but upon a fac-simile card, 

 shown in a recent popular article on Bertillon's system (Leslie's 

 Weekly, April 16, 1903), which is dated August, 1901, spaces appear 

 below the words 'Pouce, Index, Medius, Annulaire' and are plainly 

 intended for the reception of the corresponding finger-prints. Within 

 a few weeks of the present writing there have appeared in various 

 newspapers (e. g., Boston Herald) accounts of the employment in 

 the State Prison at Auburn, K. Y., of imprints both of the fingers and 

 of the entire palm, but I am unable to ascertain anything definite con- 

 cerning the manner in which these prints are to be used. Mr. John 

 ]Sr. Ross, the chief of the Bertillon department of the above-named 

 prison, has kindly given me what information he can concerning the 

 matter, but writes that it is 'an entirely new departure' and that 

 'directions as to its application have not yet been received by the 

 Bertillon operators of the different penal institutions' (June 29, 1903). 

 I am thus unable to say whether M. Bertillon has in mind the incor- 

 poration of any part of my system with those of himself and Mr. 

 Galton, but I have furnished him with reprints of my two previous 

 papers on the subject and have sent him also numerous manuscript 

 notes and samj^le prints, which together present the essential points 

 of the system as given in this paper.* 



Should this system of mine be found of value and permanently 

 incorporated with the others, the 'Bertillon' system known in actual 

 practice will be, like most other inventions of real value, a composite 

 resulting from the independent investigations of several indi\a duals 

 working from different standpoints, and should be carefully distin- 

 guished from the real Bertillon system as described by him in his 

 published work, and outlined above. 



* M. Bertillon's reply to the sending of my first paper is as follows: 



Paris, le 12 Janvier 1903. 

 Monsieur. 



J'ai pris grand interet il la lecture de votre etnde sur les lignes papillaires 

 du pied et de la main, et je vous prie de recevoir tons mes remerciments pour 

 I'obligeance que vous avez eue a m'adresser cette publication. 



Conformement a votre desir, je vous transmets un examplaire de I'lntroduc- 

 tion de I'ouvrage qui j'ai fait paraitre en 1893 sous le titre de "Instructions 

 Signaletiques." I'editeur en est Mon. Durand, Rue Oberkampf No. 80 a Paris. 



Veuillez agrier, Monsieur, I'expression de mes sentiments les plus distingues. 



Le Chef du Service de I'ldentification 



A. Bertillon. 

 Monsieur H. Wilder a Northampton. 



