138 



KNOWLEDGE. 



April, 1911. 



to perceive the difficult\'. The supposed numbers of 

 the Russian armv were often discussed in Japanese 

 journahsm in the seventies, and it seemed that a 

 good system should be able to face such numbers. 

 Five years of earlv life had been spent in learning a 

 trade — that of Paislev shawl manufacture — which 

 almost vanished before the end of mv time. It 

 seemed to have been an utterly wasted time, leading 

 to nothing and helping no one ; but it had drummed 

 into m\- dull head how to deal with patterns. What 

 I intend to con\-ey by a pattern in finger jirints may 

 best be understood by looking at a few enlarged 

 diagrams of the central or most characteristic portion 

 of the riiiiae. or skin-ridges, with their complementarv 

 furrows or .s///c/, which are found running over the 

 sole of the foot {planta). the palm of the hand ivola). 

 and front or palmar surface of the fingers. Indeed, 

 the\' are e\en found in the prehensile tail of the 

 spider-monkey, as in the diagram. (See figure 2 — 

 spider-monkey's tail.) Near the middle of the last 

 joint of each finger there are usiialh" lineations in the 

 skin of much complexit\', which form the basis of 

 identification bv finger prints. (See figure 3). 



Without going into details, which would rci]uire a 

 wealth of illustrative figures and would probabh" 

 interest but a few, my s\stem proceeds on the con- 

 ception that an elementary pattern is like a character 

 in a foreign fount of tvpe. So the classification is 

 that of a syllabic dictionarv, each s\llable standing 

 for a single finger-pattern as a Chinese character is 

 printed in manv dictionaries, and as Japanese is now 

 printed. Each vow el ma\' be a sxllable in this sense, 

 but no consonant stands alone, and the vowels 

 associated with consonants always preserve their 

 original pattern significance. The consonants go in 

 related pairs, as t, d : p, b : f , v : s, z : 1, r : m, n ; 

 k, g. The elements that compose patterns of any 

 comple.xity are similarly related in pairs, and thus 

 the association of sound and sense soon becomes 

 complete in the mind of the dactvlographer. But 

 the syllable, after all. only denotes a class which 

 ma}" contain several — usually not a great many — 

 individuals, all differing in minute details. With 

 my system the whole strain of the original trans- 

 lation into the finger-i)rint vocabular\'. which is 

 never great, lies upon the shoulders of one or 

 perhaps two experts, but all the rest of the work 

 can be done bv an\- school-bov who can turn up a 

 word in a dictionary. To give an example offered 

 to the \\'ar Office Committee bv me when being 

 examined as a witness ; the expert, reading off a new- 

 set of say five finger-prints in one hand which has 

 come in, calls for all old records filed past containing 

 Abracadabra (a fanciful word of five syllables). 

 That word in s\llabic form might read 



A-bra-ca-da-bra . or 

 Ab-rac-ad-ab-ra . or 

 Ab—ra-cad~a—bra, and so on. 



Under an}- of these forms there might be several 

 people indicated. Vnn it would be found that onl}- 



one. if an\-. would correspond exactl\- with the 

 person to be identified. .\t all events, that is the 

 helief, not easil}- to be shaken, of some hundreds of 

 experts working for now- about a decade, in different 

 countries. This means quite an extraordinary 

 securit\-. bevond an\thing hitherto conceived, in 

 regard to personal identification, but its efficiency 

 does not depend on aii\- one method of classification. 



Having got a trustworth}- method of arranging the 

 records, I now had n-iade copperplate forms to receive 

 impressions of the fingers in consecutive or serial 

 order of both hands, with spaces for a lock of hair, 

 information as to race, sex, and so on, that some 

 ethnographical purpose might be served as well. 

 .\t the close of 1879. and in January, 1880, 

 I wrote out a hundred or so of circulars en- 

 closing a number of mv copperplate forms with 

 outline hands to receive imprints. One copy 

 made b}- me on 30th Januar}-. 1880. reads thus: — 



■" Dear Sir. — I am at present engaged in a comparative study of 

 the nigac, or skin furrows, of the hands of diflerent races and 

 would esteem it as a great favour if you should obtain for me 

 nature-prints from the palmar surface of the fingers of any of 

 the (blank) race in your vicinity, in accordance with the 

 enclosed forms. The points of special interest are marked 

 (red cross) and no others need specially be attended to. Each 

 point must be printed by itself separately. Printer's ink put 

 on very thinly and evenly, so as not to obliterate the furrows 

 of the skin, is best. It can easily be removed bv benzine or 

 turpentine. In place of that, burnt cork mixed with i^ery 

 little oil will do very well. One or two trials had better be 

 made before printing on the forms. If printing should be 

 found too difficult, sketches of leading lines at the points 

 indicated would still be of very great value, taking care that 

 the directions corresponded with the furrows, and not in 

 reverse, as when a simple impression is taken. If any one 

 finger, and so on, comes out badly a piece of paper can be 

 printed and pasted on at the proper place. I enclose as a 

 specimen a fiUed-up form. [The fingers printed in the proper 

 spaces and the important " points " each marked with a red 

 cross.] As novel and valuable ethnological results are 

 expected from this enquiry, I trust this may form a sufincient 

 excuse for asking you to take so much trouble. Please return 

 any forms which may be filled up to the above address. 



" I am, &c., 



'■ H. F-i^ULDS." 



The response was quite disappointing. Some 

 thought it was an advocate of palmistry looking for 

 cats" paws : most took no notice whatever. I tried 

 in the same wa}- to get imprints from lemuroids, 

 apes and anthropoids. On the 15th T'ebruar}- of 

 the same \-ear (1880), I wrote to Charles Darwin, 

 sending specimens of prints and an outline of my 

 first results, and requesting him to aid me in obtain- 

 ing access to imprints from lemurs, monkevs and 

 anthropoids, as I had found them to show- lineation 

 patterns which I hoped might be serviceable for the 

 elucidation of man's lineage. I had failed to find 

 an\- trace of previous notices of the subject in 

 anatomical or recent biological works. The few 

 earl\- notices which have }et been found I hope 

 to deal with pretts- fullv on .some other occasion. 

 The great naturalist's reply, two }-ears before his 

 death, was as follows : — 



