396 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



These ridges and their peculiar disposal are an inheritance to us 

 from our arboreal ancestors, and appear to be formed in the oldest pri- 

 mates by the coalescence of single units which arrange themselves in 

 rows.* Whether or not this phylogenetic or racial stage is now passed 

 through in each human embryo in accordance with the law of biogenesis- 

 has not as yet been shown, but it is certain that the ridges are seen 

 fully formed and in their adult condition in a four-months' embryo, 

 and that no change can afterwards take place in any detail. 



As these surfaces are thus individually variant and as their condi- 

 tion is absolutely permanent throughout life, they offer the best possible 

 criteria for a system of individual records, especially since they may 

 be so easily recorded by means of printed impressions. All these point& 

 have been shown in a practical way by Mr. Galton, who has taken as 

 the basis of his system the markings that cover the balls of the fingers,, 

 his 'finger-tips.' The present paper considers the remainder of the 

 ridged surfaces and is thus seen to be an extension of the Galtonian 

 system to a 7iew territory. Wliether ultimately the universal personal 

 records, which will surely become a necessity in the near future, will 

 be based upon a part or the whole of these surfaces is of no real moment^ 

 and it is with the idea of being of genuine assistance to Mr. Galton and 

 without any attempt at rivalry that I offer in the following pages a 

 method of recording identity by means of palms and soles. 



M. Bertillon has said that there are not lacking individually variant 

 parts of the body capable of use for purposes of identification, but that 

 what is needed is some system of recording and classifying these dif- 

 ferences, so that an individual case can be easily found. The system 

 proposed here will, I think, fulfil this demand, and it will be seen that 

 each human being is as well marked and labeled as though he were- 

 tattooed with an individual name and number, the interpretation and 

 manner of cataloguing these devices being the only part not furnished 

 by nature. 



The method of printing a palm or sole is a very simple one, and 

 although there are many little details which will occur to one who doe& 

 much of this work, the essentials are the same in all cases. The outfit 

 for printing consists of a tube of mimeograph ink, a rubber roller such 

 as is used in amateur photograph}^, and unruled paper of the required 

 size. An inking surface is prepared by pinning a sheet of paper to a 



* This and other morphological points of which I shall make use in this 

 article are from an unpublished paper upon the morphology of the subject, by 

 an associate in my department, Miss Inez L. Whipple. At my suggestion Miss 

 Whipple has undertaken the comparison of the human conditions of palm and 

 sole with those of the lower primates and other mammals, and has studied also 

 the ontogenetic development of the parts in man and other forms. Tliis work, 

 which is of great value in the present connection, will be published in full 

 in a short time. 



