204 DR DAVID HEPBURN ON 
mode of action. They are the easily understood effect 
which results from an equally evident cause. (My apprecia- 
tion of the good sense of this audience compels me to refrain 
from even a passing criticism of what is called palmistry ; 
but we may as well look for hints of the future from 
these skin foldings as consult the creases in the table-cloth 
for the number and names of the expected guests.) Second, 
the skin of the palm and sole presents an infinite number of 
very tine ridges separated from each other by fine intervening 
furrows. This ridge and furrow appearance is due to 
the arrangement of the papilla, which are everywhere 
characteristic elements in the structure of the true skin, 
in rows which are separated by intervening furrows. This 
arrangement is entirely independent of muscular action ; but, 
being dependent upon the essential structure of the true 
skin, it is as permanent as, and can only be removed by, the 
destruction of the true skin. Now, it is a remarkable fact 
that while papillary ridges are found everywhere upon the 
palm and sole, yet in certain areas the ridges are collected 
together to form definite designs or “patterns,” hence we 
distinguish “pattern areas” in the general non-pattern 
expanse of the palm and sole. In the hand, “ pattern” 
areas occur in the following positions :—(1) the palmar 
surface of each terminal phalanx; (2) in the palm close to 
the clefts between the four inner digits; (3) on the elevated 
muscle masses known as the ball of the thumb and ball of 
the little finger. In the sole of the foot, “pattern” areas 
are found in corresponding positions. 
[The author here gave a short account of the manner 
in which finger-print patterns are interpreted and 
classified for the purpose of personal identification. ] 
It must be abundantly evident, that however valuable 
these patterns may be asa means of establishing identity by 
reason of the permanence of the papillary ridges which form 
them, yet it would be quite absurd to suppose that Nature 
evolved them either as an aid to the detective, a property 
for the novelist, or an interesting field of speculation for the 
anthropologist ! Hence, how have they been evolved, and 
what is their significance ? 
