1888.] on Personal Identification and Description. 359 



those it should select. They are the places at which each new furrow 

 makes its first api^earance. The furrows may originate in two prin- 

 cipal ways, which are not always clearly distinguishable : (1) the 

 new furrow may arise in the middle of a ridge ; (2) a single furrow 

 may bifurcate and form a letter Y. The distinction between (1) and 

 (2) is not greatly to be trusted, because one of the sides of the ridge 

 in case (1) may become worn, or be narrow and low, and not always 

 leave an imprint, thus converting it into case (2) ; conversely case (2) 

 may be converted into case (1). The position of the origin of the 

 new furrow is, however, none the less defined. I have noted the 

 furrow-heads and bifurcations of furrows in Fig. 9, and shown them 

 separately in Fig. 10. The reader will be able to identify these posi- 

 tions with the aid of a pair of compasses, and he will find that they 

 persist unchanged in Fig. 11, though there is occasionally uncer- 

 tainty between cases (1) and (2). Also there is a little confusion in 

 the middle of the small triangular space that separates two distinct 

 systems of furrows, much as eddies separate the stream lines of 

 adjacent currents converging from opposite directions. A careful 

 comparison of Figs. 9 and 11 is a most instructive study of the effects 

 of age. There is an obvious amount of wearing and of coarseness in 

 the latter, but the main features in both are the same. 



I happen to possess a very convenient little apparatus for ex- 

 amining finger-marks and for recording the positions of furrow- 

 heads. It is a slight and small, but well-made wooden pentagraph, 

 multiplying five-fold, in which a very low-power microscope, with 

 coarse cross- wires, forms the axis of the short limb, and a pencil- 

 holder forms the axis of the long limb. I contrived it for quite 

 another use, namely, the measurement of the length of wings of 

 moths in some rather extensive experiments that are now being made 

 for me in pedigree moth-breeding. It has proved very serviceable in 

 this inquiry also, and was much used in measuring the jDrofiles spoken 

 of in the last article. Without some moderate magnifying power the 

 finger-marks cannot be properly studied. It is a convenient plan, in 

 default of better methods, to prick holes with a needle through the 

 furrow-heads into a separate piece of paper, where they can be 

 studied without risk of confusing the eye. There are peculiarities 

 often found in furrows that do not appear in these particular speci- 

 mens, and to which I will not further refer. In Fig. 10 the form of the 

 origin of the spirals is just indicated. These forms are various; 

 they may be in single or in multiple lines, and the earlier turns may 

 form long loops or be nearly circular. My own ten fingers show at 

 least four distinct varieties. 



Notwithstanding the experience of others to the contrary, I find it 

 not easy to make clear and perfect impressions of the fingers. The 

 proper plan seems to be to cover a flat surface, like that of a piece of 

 glass or zinc, with a thin and even coat of paint, whether it be printers' 

 ink or Indian ink rubbed into a thick paste, and to press the finger 

 lightly upon it so that the ridges only shall become inked, then the 



