" Personal Identification" 



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OST systems of identification are 

 connected in our minds with crimi- 

 nals and are dismissed as being un- 

 important for honest men and women. The 

 attitude of the public generally to the prac- 

 tice of finger printing was well illustrated 

 by the reaction of the alien enemies, espe- 

 cially the women, whose finger prints and 

 photographs were recorded at the time of 

 registration. Some felt that they were 

 eternally disgraced, and others, with relief. 

 believed they had very narrowly escaped the 

 electric chair itself. 



Such a conception is very unfortunate. 

 The criminal side is but a small part of the 

 whole problem. To one case involving a 

 criminal, there are a dozen in which the in- 

 dividual to be identified has committed no 

 wrong. 



Personal Identification, by Professor 

 Wilder and Mr. Wentworth, besides serving 

 as a very complete handbook of the technique 

 of the various systems of identification, aims 

 to correct some of the fallacies in the minds 

 of people and to prove the usefulness and 

 even the necessity, to every individual, of a 

 method which will furnish absolute identifi- 

 cation. 



The various systems so far a^lopted are 

 discussed in turn and their merits weighed. 

 It is pointed out that there are times when 

 the name and the aspect of the face and 

 figure are not sufficient for identification. 

 There may be a duplication of features and 

 expression. Photographs often fail to es- 

 tablish identity because features and expres- 

 sion may change in the course of time. 

 Marks, scars, and tattoo, while valualde 

 within certain limits, are cumbersome to 

 record and classify. 



How far anthropology has progressed is 

 shown by the fact that even if only a skull 

 or other part of the skeleton is found it is 

 possible to give in some detail a description 

 of the sex, size, and race to which the indi- 

 vidual it represents belongs. 



The Bertillon svstem of accurate measure- 



ments of the body and head, supplemented 

 l)y descriptions of the hair and of eye color, 

 is very valuable, and in the greater number 

 of cases establishes identity. Several in- 

 stances are noted, however, in which two 

 individuals presented very nearly the same 

 measurements and proportions throughout. 

 But for a final and conclusive means of 



LOOP . 



Courtesy of Richard G. Badf/er 

 All the designs formed by the ridges on the ends 

 of the fingers can he classified under some one of 

 these four general types. If it is desired to de- 

 scribe a design further than merely calling it a 

 loop or a whorl, it can be done with reference to 

 the "delta"' or triangle, shown in the cut by the 

 conjunction of the heavy black lines. The arch 

 has no delta, while the whorl and composite both 

 have two. In the case of the loop, for instance, 

 a count is made of the number of ridges found be- 

 tween the delta and the central ridge of the 

 loop or the "core" (which in this case is three). 

 Consideration is also given to the direction in 

 which the open end of the loop points, whether 

 toward the little finger or toward the thumb side 

 of the hand, known respectively as the ulnar and 

 the radial sides. Then, assuming that the loop in 

 the drawing is from the right hand, it is de- 

 scribed as a radial loop with a count of three 



' PerxonaJ Irlentifiration. Milhoilx ior the Identification of Jndividua's, Lirinn or Dead. By Harris 

 H. Wilder, Ph.D., Professor of Zoology, Smith College, and Bert Wentworth, Former Police Commis- 

 sioner, Dover, N. H. Published by Richard G. Badger, Boston, Mass. 1918. 374 pages, 150 figures. 



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