438 



Palms and Soles 



This is seen to he but a farther extension and application of the meth- 

 ods so carefully elaborated and so strongly urged by Galton through a 

 long period of years, and to whom we are indebted for the estab- 

 lishment of the two points necessary for the success of such a system: 

 (1) the absolute permanence of these marJcings th-ougliout life, and (2) 

 the individual character of the marTcings and the impossibility of exact 

 correspondence in any tivo individuals. In Galton's system, however, the 



Fig. 18. 



Fig. 19. 



Fig. 20. 



Fig. 21. 



Figs. 18 and 19. — Right hands of identical twins No. I. Tracing. 

 Figs. 20 and 21.^Left hands of identical twins No. I. Tracing. 



emphasis is laid upon the markings of the finger-tips, the area of which 

 is so small and the patterns so similar that the work of identification 

 rests upon the minutiae, and demands too minute and careful a treat- 

 ment to make it serviceable in the hands of an ordinary police captain 

 or country sheriff. 



Identification through palms and soles, on the other hand, deals 

 n\erely with the topography of the main lines and areas as explained 

 above, the plan of which, in an ordinarily good print, could be readily 



