254 MEMORIES OF MY LIFE 



in the ordinary sense of the word. Professor Tyndall 

 ascribed its adaptation of form to a succession of 

 internal crunches and re-freezings ; in other words, 

 to successive conditions of stability. 



It became gradually clear that three facts had 

 to be established before it would be possible to 

 advocate the use of finger-prints for criminal or other 

 investigations. First, it must be proved, not assumed, 

 that the pattern of a finger-print is constant through- 

 out life. Secondly, that the variety of patterns is 

 really very great. Thirdly, that they admit of being 

 so classified, or " lexiconised," that when a set of 

 them is submitted to an expert, it would be possible 

 for him to tell, by reference to a suitable dictionary, 

 or its equivalent, whether a similar set had been 

 already registered. These things I did, but they 

 required much labour. 



A Committee was appointed by the Home Office 

 to inquire into the different systems of identification 

 that had been adopted or proposed for use with 

 criminals. They visited my Laboratory, and thoroughly 

 inspected what I had to show. It was a great pleasure 

 to work with and for such sympathetic and keen 

 inquirers, but I regretted all the time that my methods 

 were hardly ripe for inspection ; still, they were fairly 

 adequate. The result was a Report strongly in 

 favour of their adoption, of which the part that bears 

 on finger-prints is reprinted in my Finger Print 



Directory [131]. 



I had communicated with M. Alphonse Bertillon, 

 suggesting that he should consider the introduction 

 of finger-prints into his own system, but the idea 

 did not commend itself to him. Afterwards I sent 



