540 Mr. F. Galton. [May 28, 



as Mucor racemosus. The identification was so unmistakable that I 

 utterly fail to understand in what " important features " the fungus 

 differed " from any fungus hitherto described." 



In the face of the undoubted fact that the fungus was a charac- 

 teristic Mucor, it seems to me very improbable that it has a genetic 

 relationship with any of the organisms found in the blood, and much 

 more likely that its appearance in the nutrient medium was due to 

 some experimental error. 



III. " Method of indexing Finger- Marks." By FRANCIS GALTON, 

 F.R.S. Received April 30, 1891. 



Sufficient proof was adduced by me in a memoir read November 27, 

 1890, before the Royal Society ('Phil. Trans.,' B, 1891), of the 

 extraordinary persistence of the papillary ridges on the inner surface 

 of the hands throughout life. It was shown that the impression in 

 ink upon paper of each finger tip, contained on the average from 

 twenty-five to thirty distinct points of reference, every one of 

 which, with the rarest exception, appeared to be absolutely 

 persistent. Consequently that it was possible to affirm with practical 

 certainty whether or no any two submitted impressions were made 

 by the fingers of the same person. 



In the present memoir I shall explain the way in which finger 

 prints may be indexed and referred to after the fashion of a dictionary, 

 and on the same general principle as that devised by A. Bertillon 

 with respect to anthropometric measures, whose ingenious method 

 is now in regular use on a very large scale in the criminal 

 administration of France and elsewhere. I desire to show how vastly 

 the practical efficiency of any such method as that of A. Bertillon 

 admits of being increased by taking finger prints into account in the 

 way about to be described. 



It must not, however, be supposed that the use of indexing finger 

 marks is limited to the above purpose, the power of doing so being 

 equally needed for racial and hereditary inquiries. I do not dwell 

 upon these applications now, simply because I am engaged in making 

 them, and the results are not yet ready to be published. I ought, 

 however, to mention that a great increase of experience has fully con- 

 firmed my earlier views, that finger marks are singularly appropriate 

 subjects of anthropometric study owing to many distinct reasons. 

 The impressions are easily to be made by anyone who has the proper 

 appliances at hand. They are as durable as any other printed matter, 

 and they occupy very little space. The patterns are usually sharp 

 and clear, and their minutice are independent of age and growth. 

 They are necessarily trustworthy, and no reluctance is shown in per- 



