392 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



II. The Galton system. 



In the popular mind, as attested by numerous works of fiction and 

 by newspaper articles, the main use of the patterns of the finger tips 

 is to aid a detective in identifying a criminal by means of the marks 

 which his fingers have left upon the objects which he had handled; 

 but, as a matter of fact, although such a proceeding is certainly pos- 

 sible, Galton seems never to have suggested such sensational aid to 

 detective work. Both the Bertillon and the Galton systems are rather 

 methods of describing and registering a man, whether a criminal or 

 not, by certain physical peculiarities and in such a way that he or his 

 body may be identified at any future time; and both involve two pro- 

 cedures, (1) that of taking certain individual records, and (2) that of 

 classifying and arranging them so that they may be easily found when 

 occasion requires. The Galton system is based upon imprints of the 

 epidermic patterns found upon the balls of the thumbs and fingers, and 

 Mr. Galton, although by no means the first to employ such means for 

 the identification of individuals, is the first to attempt a careful and 

 scientific system by which these data may be described, registered and 

 classified. 



The use of such prints has been sporadically employed in both 

 ancient and modern times, and seems to have long been in use among 

 the Chinese, but data concerning the official workings of this vast and 

 ancient empire are difficult of access to Europeans, and it is likely, as 

 in so many other claims, that the facts when found will be disappoint- 

 ing when compared with the reports concerning them. Galton himself 

 was first led to the study of finger prints by his friend Sir William 

 Herschel* who, when ' Collector ' or chief administrator of the Hooghly 

 district in Bengal, added to the signatures of the natives upon all official 

 documents the imprint of the index and middle fingers of their right 

 hands, taken by means of the ink employed for his office stamp. 



Galton, indeed, says of his friend that 'if the use of finger prints 

 ever becomes of genuine importance, Sir William Herschel must be 

 regarded as the first who devised a feasible method for regular use and 

 afterwards officially adopted it, ' but it must also be remembered by the 

 one who writes the final history of this system that it was Galton who 

 devised the method by which such prints could be described and classi- 

 fied, and thus become of practical value. 



The Galton system of personal identification by means of finger 

 prints rests upon two necessary principles, both of which have been 

 established by him beyond refutation: — 



I. The absolutely individual character of the markings. 



II. Their permanence throughout life. 



* In Indian Service 1853-1878. 



