June 27, 1895] 



NA TURE 



195 



commendccl the adoption of the Bertillon system of 

 measurement conjointly with the plan of takinj,' finger- 

 prints now associated in this country with the name of 

 Mr. Francis Galton. He loyally disclaims the honour 

 of being the first to use it ; that rests with Sir William 

 Hcrschel, of the Indian Civil Service. But it is really from 

 the unwearied labours of Mr. Galton that the scientific 

 certainty of the system has been fully proved. He has so 

 simplified the processes of taking and recording the im- 

 pressions of the finger, has invented so complete and 

 intelligible a series of indications and formulas, that the 

 system can now be worked with the greatest facility 

 and with mathematical precision. Of the supreme value 

 of the finger-print as a means of identification, there 

 can be no manner of doubt. It is, as Mr. Galton happily 

 describes it, " an automatic sign-manual subject to no 

 fault of observation or clerical error, and trustworthy 

 throughout life." The Committee above quoted fully 

 recognised this. "Finger-prints," they reported, "are 

 an absolute impression taken direct from the body itself; 

 if a print be taken at all, it must be necessarily correct." 

 But they were met with the difficulty of classification 

 as applied to any large collection of impressions. Where 

 these were comparati\ely few, the index adopted by Mr. 

 Galton was admirable and most effective. But where 

 the numbers rose to many thousands, as «ould of course 

 be the case in a criminal register, it might be a serious 

 question whether searches could be made with reason- 

 able facility and dispatch. It was for this reason that 

 the double system of identification was recommended, for 

 ■lie strongest point in the Bertillon plan of measurement 

 1^ practised in Paris was its perfect classification. There 

 I 111- particular card required, giving the name and ante- 

 < edcnts of an individual, " could be found as certainly and 

 almost as quickly as an accurately spelt word could be 

 found in the dictionary." 



Since then Mr. Francis Galton has devoted much time 

 and \ cryhighly skilled intclligencctoenlarginghis methods 

 ■ if indexing and proving beyond all question the useful- 

 ness of the finger-prints. He now tells us, in his new work 

 on " Finger-print Directories," how these indexes may be 

 most easily and surely constructed, how the work of 

 ' reference and search can be easily and quickly performed. 

 I )f course the result is largely dependent upon the size 

 "f the directory, the number of "sets" of impressions 

 that have been collected to compose it. Mr. Galton's 

 I xpcriments were made with two collections, one of 300 

 . omplete sets of finger-prints, the other with 2632. In 

 lioth, even with the largest, he was entirely successful. 

 •The efficiency of a directory," as he says, "depends on 

 IS power of breaking up, with the maximum of surety 

 i.id the minimum of labour, a collection of sets into 

 -roups of which even the largest shall be easily manage- 

 .iblc, so that when a group is designated as that in which 

 the set searched for must be, if it exists anywhere in the 

 .(illection, it shall be (|uickly discovered." The collection 

 that Mr. (jalton finds most easily manageable is not 

 necessarily the smallest, but that which lends itself best 

 10 search, in its character and its form. The one he has 

 idoiited is the card catalogue : "a collection of separate 

 > ards stacked behind one another in the separate order 

 iif their formula." Mr. Galton timed himself in his 

 examination of 156 sets in his largest collection, which 

 NO. 1339, VOL. 52] 



fell all under the same formula. Eight searches were 

 made, during which a total of 373 cards were examined, 

 and the time taken was a little over thirty-six minutes. 

 Mr. Galton could therefore get through ten cards per 

 minute, the trouble of opening the drawer or other 

 receptacle having been done by an assistant. It is 

 interesting to note that Mr. Galton in his inquiries first 

 accepted the "whorl" as the basis of classification, 

 thinking that from its almost endless variety of shape it 

 would be the most useful of the three forms of impression ; 

 but as he went on he discarded it in favour of the " loop," 

 the plainer forms of which could be " classed numerically 

 by the simple expedient of recording the number of 

 ridges in each of them that are crossed by an imaginary 

 line drawn between two definite termini." 



For a minute and detailed account of the primary- and 

 secondary classification of finger-prints, as well as for 

 the best methods of taking them and studying their 

 forms, we must refer the reader to Mr. Galton's new 

 book. This most useful work contains a number of 

 woodcuts and ample indications for the instruction and 

 guidance of the student, with a specimen-book directory 

 for three hundred sets. But whether the index is in the 

 form of a book or of cards, Mr. Galton affirms, on per- 

 fectly good grounds, that it is quite possible to have "a 

 finger-print directory, even of three thousand sets or 

 more, that shall discriminate to within two or three 

 sets." There can be no question, therefore, but that 

 the whole system has passed out of the academic 

 stage into one of real practical usefulness ; and we 

 may expect to see it applied for other purposes than 

 that of criminal identification. Now that it has been 

 made really manageable, it may be strongly recom- 

 mended, for instance, to the military authorities as an in- 

 fallible method of checking desertion and fraudulent re- 

 enlistment. It appears that out of 35,000 men who enlist 

 annually, 5000 desert, and only half are recaptured. Of 

 the other half many, undoubtedly, re-enlist, .•\lthough the 

 exact number cannot be positively fixed, it is estimated at 

 600, all of whom defraud the exchequer to the \-alue of 

 their second bounty and outfit. If, however, the finger- 

 prints of all recruits were taken on attestation, and a 

 register formed on the plan of the directories constructed 

 by Mr. Galton, indisputable evidence would be afforded 

 which would certainly convict the re-enlisted deserter of 

 his original offence 



BIRDS, BEASTS AND FISHES OF THE 

 NORFOLK BROADLAND. 

 Birds, Beasts and Fishes of the Norfolk Broadland. By 

 P. H. Emerson. 8vo, pp. 396, illustrated. (London : 

 David Nutt, 1895.) 



AFTER reading the severe criticisms passed on the 

 works of several eminent British ornithologists — 

 especially as regards illustrations — in the introductory 

 chapter to the \olume before us, wc hoped we were going 

 to be rewarded by finding something that would eclipse 

 all previous efforts, both in the way of letter-press and 

 plates. But we do not hesitate to say that in both re- 

 spects we are disappointed. After all the writing about 

 the " caricatures " of Bewick, and the " monstrous and 

 .gaudy decorations " of .Selby, (jould, and Dresser, we find 



