724 



TEE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



Courtesy oj Richard G. Bad;jer 

 Photographs from Scotland Yard of three men who so 

 closely resemble one another that they might easily be 

 mistaken for the same person. Their thumb prints, however, 

 show such marked differences that no one would have trouble 

 in identifying these at once as having been made by dif- 

 ferent individuals. One advantage in the use of finger 

 prints for identification in criminal work is owing to the 

 fact that the friction ridges are formed of sweat pores whose 

 oily secretions keep the fingers sticky, so that whenever a 

 man handles an object his fingers leave an impression, espe- 

 cially as he is likely to require a sufficient use of his sense 

 of touch to preclude his wearing gloves. Sometimes faint 

 imprints are developed by applying powder with a camel's 

 hair brush, black or white according as the impression has 

 been made on a white or dark surface. The powder is then 

 blown off. There is always danger of damaging the im- 

 pression, however, and efforts are being made to discover 

 some method of staining it with chemical fumes. The 

 certainty of the identification has recommended this method 

 not only to the police for criminal investigation, but also in 

 some instances to banks and to the Government for the army 

 and navy. The authors of Personal Identification advocate 

 that a national registration of finger prints be made with 

 the birth or school registration of the entire population 



identification the authors find that the use 

 of the configuration of the friction skin (best 

 known in the form of finger printing) alone 

 fulfills all the necessary requirements. If 

 the reader will glance at the palmar sur- 

 face of the distal joint of the fingers, he 

 will observe that the ridges which make up 

 the skin texture form very definite patterns. 

 In general these patterns may be distin- 

 guished as loops, whorls, arches, or com- 

 posites. In detail there is no limit to the 

 range of variation in these patterns. The 

 loop opening toward the inner side of the 

 hand (ulnar loop) is the most common 

 pattern. It occurs on the right middle finger 



in 74 per cent of cases. Yet it 

 is overwhelmingly improbable 

 that this pattern, as found on 

 the finger of any one individual, 

 exists in all its details on any 

 other finger at the present time, 

 or has ever been duplicated in 

 history. 



The points in favor of this 

 system of identification may be 

 summed up as follows: it is 

 individual and impossible to 

 duplicate in another indi- 

 vidual; it is permanent; it is 

 marked in four imj^ortant and 

 convenient places (hands and 

 feet) ; it is easy to record and 

 classify; and objects which a 

 man has touched often retain 

 a legible record from which his 

 identity can be established. 

 This system has been in use in 

 criminal courts since 1895, and 

 not a single judicial error can 

 be imputed to it. 



Finally much stress is laid 

 on the value of a national 

 identification bureau in which 

 the i)alm and sole prints of 

 every individual would be re- 

 corded. Such records would be 

 invaluable in establishing the 

 identity of individuals having 

 a lapse of memory, lost chil- 

 dren, in granting passports, 

 travelers' cards, travelers' 

 checks, identifying pensioners 

 and beneficiaries of various 

 sorts. It would also be valu- 

 able in maternity hospitals in 

 identifying babies. In banks 

 it could supplement signatures and prevent 

 forgeries. In the case of illiterates it would 

 eliminate the "mark." Chinese coolies and 

 other undesirable citizens could in this way 

 be detected. The system is already in use 

 by our Government in identifying soldiers 

 and sailors. Famous paintings and other 

 works of art could be so marked that they 

 could not be counterfeited. 



The whole subject, which in parts is fairly 

 technical and complicated, is made very clear 

 and decidedly interesting by the numerous 

 incidents taken from the authors" experiences 

 or from records of widely known police 

 courts and police commissioners. 



