FINGER-PRINT SYSTEM — LAUFER. 637 



It would lead too far away from our subject proper to enter into the 

 manifold details of this quaint art, but the principal points relating 

 to the fingers may be insisted upon. It is said in the Samudravyan- 

 janani, one of the works on physiognomy, that a woman, if the marks 

 on her fmgcrs are turned toward the right-hand side vdW obtain a son, 

 but if turned toward the left, a daughter will be born.^ The Indian 

 painter paid minute attention to the hand, the fingers, and their 

 lines. In the above-mentioned manual of painting, theii- measure- 

 ments, inclusive of those of the ball of the thumb, are conscientiously 

 given. ^ A peculiar term of Indian cheii'omancy is yava (lit. a barley- 

 corn), explained by Monnier Williams in his Sanskrit Dictionary as 

 "a figure or mark on the hand resembling a barleycorn, a natural 

 line across the thumb at the second joint compared to a grain of 

 barley and supposed to indicate good fortune." In all probability, 

 this term refers also to the marks on the finger tips, and there is 

 further the Sanskrit word anguUmudrd (lit. finger seal) used in the 

 sense of fmger print and exactly corresponding to the Chinese term 

 cJii yin (likewise finger seal) of the same significance.^ 



An interesting case, though not dii-ectly bearing on our subject, 

 may here be mentioned: 



Hiian Tsang, the famous Chinese traveler to India, in the seventh 

 century, relates a story in regard to the king of Taksha^ila in India 

 who availed himself of his tooth impression stamped in red wax on 

 official documents. In giving instructions to his son, the king said: 

 "The affairs of a country are of serious importance; the feelings of 

 men are contradictory; undertake nothmg rashly, so as to endanger 

 your authority; verify the orders sent y®u; my seal is the impression 

 of my teeth; here in my mouth is my seal. There can be no mis- 

 take." * Only one analogy to this curious custom is known to me. 

 In a charter of King Athelstan of Northumberland it is said : 



And for a certeu truth 



I bite this wax with my gang-tooth.* 



1 Laufcr, Dokumnnle, etc., p. 159. 



« Ibid., pp. 1(J3, 1G4. 



3 At the prtiscnt time India is probably the country where the most extensive use of the Unger-prtnt 

 system is made. It has been adopted since 1899 by lh(! Director General of the I'ost Offices of India. On 

 the forms of Indian Inland Money Orders, for example, it is printed: "Signature (in ink) of payee or thumb 

 impression if i)ayee is illiterate." In many other departments of government it has proved an efficient 

 method of preventing perjury and personation. No obji-ctiun can be raised on the ground of religion or 

 caste, so there is no prejudice to be overcome in obtaining the finger print. The Government has been so 

 fully convinced of the effectiveness of the new system, and of the certainty of the results it yields, that 

 the Indian Legislature has pa.s.sed a special act amending the law of evidence to the extent of declaring 

 relevant the testimony of those who by study have become proficient in finger-print decipherment. In all 

 registration offices, i)ersons -who, admittitig execution, present documents for registration, are required to 

 authenticate their identity by affixing the impression of their left thuml) both on the document and in a 

 register kept for the purpose. (Compare E. R. Henry, Classification and Uses of Finger Prints, London, 

 1905, pp. 6-9.) 



* S. Beal, Buddhist Records of the Western World, Vol. I, p. 140. St. Julien, M^moires sur les contr^ 

 occidcntales. Vol. I, p. 15G. 



» Folk-tore, vol. 15, 1904, p. 342. 



