April. 1911. 



KNOWLEDGE. 



139 



Via Brindisi. Down, 



April 7th. ISSO. Bhckenham, Kent. 



Railway Station, 

 Orpington, S.E.R. 

 Dear Sir, — The subject to which you refer in your letter 

 of February 15th, seems to me a curious one which may turn 

 out interesting ; but I am sorry to say that I am most 

 unfortunately situated for oft'ering you any assistance. I live 

 in the country and from weak health seldom see anyone. 

 I will, howe\er. forward your letter to Mr. F. Galton. who is 

 the most likely man that I can think of to take up the subject 

 to make further enquiries. 



Wishing you success, 



I remain, dear Sir, 



■^'ours faithfully. 



(Signed! CH.\RLKS DARWIN. 



The original of the above holograph letter, w ith 

 envelope addressed by Mr. Darwin and duly post- 

 marked, along with the proof sheet of the first 

 copperplate form made for me in Japan, is now in 

 the Library of the Royal Facult\' of Physicians and 

 Surgeons. Glasgow. On October 28th, in Xcitiirc 

 appeared a contribution b\' me, '' On the Skin- 

 furrows of the Hand."' %\hich was printed in the 

 Index Metiiciis of the United States as the hrst 

 recorded contribution on that subject. .At the 

 International Medical Congress about ten months 

 afterwards. Dr. Billings, then editor of the 

 Index, said in a speech — " Just as each indi- 

 vidual is in some respects peculiar and unique, 

 so that even the minute ridges and furrows 

 at the end of his forefingers differ from those 

 of all other forefingers, and it is sufficient to 

 identify," and so on (Report in The Times, August 

 5th, 1881). M\' proposal was certainK' the first 

 [jublic suggestion to establish a scientific method of 

 identification on the basis of finger - prints. Sir 

 William Herschel wrote soon afterwards to Xatiire, 

 admitting my priority of publication, but stating that 

 he had used a method of finger-prints in India before 

 this. There is no dispute bet\\een Sir William 

 Herschel and myself, as each had reached his own 

 conclusions quite independently. This little personal 

 matter was discussed in Xatiire (October, 1894) and 

 in Gegeiihaiier's Jahrbiich for 1905. in which the 

 date of my first contribution is considered the 

 starting-point of recent study of the subject. The 

 copious literature which soon sprung up was of 

 every kind, with some appalling journalistic varieties 

 in America. In 1881, Monsieur Bertillon, of Paris, 

 brought out his delicate anthropometric system, 

 to which the independent finger-print method from 

 England was superadded. It therefore began to 

 appear to the official, and even to the infallible 

 encyclopaedic mind, that finger-prints were merel\- 

 an element in the French system of identification, 

 or Bertillonage. The finger-print method alone was 

 used in a United States expedition in 1882, and it 

 was tried in San Francisco, as afterwards in South 

 .Africa, to identify the fluctuating population of 

 Chinamen. In the year after my final return to 

 England greatly renewed interest was aroused in the 

 subject. Herbert Spencer tried to explain the origin of 

 theridges in an article in The Xinefeeiith Century, ^lav. 



1886. Sir Francis Galton, to whom Charles Darwin 

 wrote to me in 1880 that he would refer the matter, 

 began the study, as he states on j)age 2 of " Finger 

 Prints," in 1888. In that same 3ear, Inspector 

 Tunbridge from Scotland Yard v,r„-, ofliciall_\- 

 appointed to in\estigate nu- propc.sals. No report 

 has ever been made public, but Mr. Tunbridge told 

 me that he feared the method was too fine to work, and 

 said that nothing could be done at least without fresh 

 legislation. Some years afterwards he was appointed 

 to New Zealand, where he was the means of inducing 

 the prison authorities and police to appl\- the 

 method, which has been no\\' in successful operation 

 all over .Australasia for some years ; so Mr. 

 Tunbridge wrote to me in 1907. 



In 1894, a committee appointed b\- Mr. Asquith 

 met and finally, after some rambling conclusions, 

 adopted Bertillonage with finger-prints as some help, 

 the former being used as the basis of classification. 

 The proposal was absurd, and it was soon found, as 

 might have been foreseen, that finger-print patterns 

 yield a far firmer and more searching basis of 

 classification in themselves than the other method, 

 and need no auxiliary crutches. 



In 1897, the two associated methods began to be 

 applied in British India: while in civil cases there, as 

 in attestations, pension claims, and so on. the finger- 

 print method was used by itself. 



In 1901. the ten-finger methodin serial order, exactly 

 as originalh' advocated by me in 1880, was finalh" 

 adopted in England, after other trials, and has 

 met with an immediate and triumphant success in 

 giving rapid and easy identifications of recidivists or 

 old professional criminals, often living under aliases. 

 Monsieur Bertillon. who at first did not use finger- 

 prints at all, wrote to me officially that since 1894 the 

 two methods had been jointly used in Paris, and that 

 greater securit\' was now felt in identif\ing. In 

 1902, finger-prints took the place of bodily measure- 

 ments in Austria-Hungary, being easier of application, 

 and less likely to give varying results. Two years 

 afterwards Spain followed suit, our Inspector Arrow- 

 taking some charge. The method had been worked 

 before that period in Buenos Ayres with success. .A 

 private service for identification by the finger-print 

 method was. I believe, instituted in Belgium by 

 Dr. de Laveleve. but I have heard no report of 

 results. 



It is a curious fact, luit true beyond question, that 

 the effectiveness of the method has proved to be the 

 chief obstacle to its more extensive application. In 

 short its miraculous effect in tearing the mask from 

 old criminals wh.o try to veil their identity by an 

 alias, has created a horror of it amongst the class 

 from which man\- recruits used to be drawn for 

 Arm\' and Navy. 



In conclusion, I should like to point out that 

 there are five distinct ways in which Dact\-lograph\-, 

 or the scientific study of finger furrows, may be 

 serviceable : — 



(1) In relation to tlie problem of himian lineage. 

 Much tentati\e work has been now done in this field 



