390 



NA TURE 



[August i6, 1894 



Browne. The Science and Art Museum in Dublin, under 

 the direction of Dr. V. Ball, contains a small collection, 

 arranged with a view to general instruction, showing by means 

 of skulls and casts the physical characteristics of the different 

 races of man, those of each race being explained by a short 

 printed l.ibel, and its range shown on a map. 



Though the development of anthropological science has thus 

 not been greatly advanced, in this country at least, by means of 

 endowments, or by aid of the State or, till very recently, 

 by our great scholastic institutions, but has been mainly left to 

 the unorganised efforts of amateurs of the subject, its progress 

 in recent years has been undeniably great. I will give an in- 

 stance of the strides that have been made in one of its most im- 

 portant branches. 



Physical or Anatomical Anthropology, or the study of the 

 modifications of the human body under its various aspects, the 

 modifications dependent upon sex and age, the modifications 

 dependent upon race, and those dependent upon individual 

 variability, studied not many years ago in a vague and loose 

 manner, has gradually submitted to a rigorous and, therefore, 

 strictly scientific method of treatment. The generalities which 

 were formerly used to express the differences that were recog- 

 nised between the various subjects compared with each other 

 have been replaced by terms conveyed in almost mathematical 

 precision. Xo one acquainted with the history of the develop- 

 ment of this branch of Anthropology can fail to recognise how 

 much it was accelerated by the genius of Broc.i, and the school 

 which he established in France, although all cultivated nations 

 are now vying with each other in the practice of exactitude in 

 anthropological research, and the lime seems rapidly approach- 

 ing when a common agreement will be arrived at, by which all 

 the observations which may be made, under whatever diverse 

 circumstances, and by whatever different individuals, will be 

 available for comparison one with another. 



This branch of our science has received the name of 

 "Anthropometry." Although, as the name implies, measure- 

 ment is one of its principal features, it includes such other 

 methods of comparison as can be reduced to a definite standard, 

 or to which definite te>ts can be applied, such as the colour of 

 the hair, eyes, and complexion, the form of the ear and nose. 

 The great desiderata that have been sought for, and gradually 

 attained, in measuring either the skeleton or the living person 

 have been two in number ; (l) Exact definition of the points 

 between which the measurements should be taken. (2^ Exact 

 methods and instiuments of measurement. In both these cases 

 the object looked for has been not only that the measurements 

 taken by the same observer at different times and under different 

 circumstances should coincide, but al>o that those taken by 

 different observers should be comparable. These requirements 

 seem so simple and na'ural at first sight that the majority of 

 persons whom I am addressing will wonder that 1 should allude 

 to them. Only those who are seriously occupied, or perhaps I 

 should rather say, only those who were seriously occupied a 

 few years ago, with the endeavour to solve these problems can 

 have any idea of their difficulty. The amount of time and 

 labour that has been spent upon them is enormous, but the 

 result ha.°, I think, been quite commensurate with it. 



We have attained at last to methods of measurement and 

 standards of comparison which, in the hands of persons of 

 ordinaiy intelligence, and with a moderate amount of training, 

 will gi\e data which may be absolutely depended upon. From 

 these we hope to be able to formulate accurate information as 

 to the physical conformation of all the groups into which man- 

 kind i> divided, and so gradually to ariive at a natural 

 clas>ificalion of those groups, and a knowledge of their 

 affinities one to another. 



But the exact methods of modern Anthropometry are not 

 only important on account of the aid they give in studying the 

 race char.icierislics of man. As has so olien happened when 

 >cientilic oli-ervaiion has been primarily carried out for its own 

 sake, it uliimatcly leads to practical applications undreamt of 

 by iis earlier cultivators. The application of Anthropometry not 

 tolbe comparison of races, but to elucidate various social problems 

 — as the laws of growth, of heredity, of comparative capacities of 

 individuals within a community, and theeffcctsofdin'erent kinds 

 of cducition and occupation, as worked out first by i^iuetelet in 

 I'elgium, and subsequently by Francis Gabon, Rotierts, and 

 others in this cr-iintry, and it.s still more concrete application as 

 >n aid in admlnl^tcring justice by methods perfected by llcrtillon 

 in France — arc striking illustrations of the practical utility of 



NO. 1294, VOL. 50] 



labours originally undertaken under the influence of devotion to 

 science pure and simple. 



The importance of being able'to determine the identity of an 

 individual under whatever circumstances of disguise he may be 

 presented for examination has, of course, long been .ipparent to 

 all who have had anything to do with the .-idministration of the 

 criminal l.iw, and rough and ready methods of recognition, de- 

 pending mainly upon the more or less acute faculty of percep- 

 tion and recollection of dilVerences and resemblances, possessed 

 by the persons upon whom the duty of identification has de- 

 volved, h.ive long been in operation. The general conforma- 

 tion, height, form of features, and colour of complexion, hair, 

 and eyes, have also been noted. Much additional assistance 

 has been obtained by the registration of definite physical 

 characteristics, the results either of natural conformation, or of 

 injury, such as mutilations, tattoo-marks, and scars, intlicted by 

 accident or design. The application of one of the most im- 

 portant scientific discoveries of the age, photography, was 

 eagerly sei;^ed upon as a remedy for the difficulties hitherto 

 met with in tracing personal identity, and enormous numbers of 

 photographs were taken of persons, the peculiarities of whose 

 career led them to fall into the bands of the police, and who 

 were likely to be wanted again on some future occasion. No 

 doubt much help has been derived from this source, but also much 

 embarrassment. Even among photographic portraits of one's own 

 personal friends, taken under most favourable circumstances, 

 and with no intention of deception, we cannot often help ex- 

 claiming how -unlike they are to the person represented. 

 With portraits of criminals, the varying expression of the face, 

 changes in the mode of wearing the hair and beard, differences 

 ofcostume, the effects of a long lapse of time, years perhaps passed 

 in degradation and misery, may make such alterations that re- 

 cognition becomes a m.-itter at least of uncertainty. That 

 photographs are extremely valuable as aids to identification, 

 when their true position in the process is recognised, cannot be 

 doubted, but as a primary method they have been found to be 

 quite inapplicable, owing partly to the causes just indicated, 

 but mainly to the difhculty, if not impossibility, of classifying 

 them. The enormous expenditure of time and trouble that 

 must be consumed in making the comparison between any sus- 

 pected person and the various portraits of the stock which 

 accumulates in prison bureaus may be judged of from the fact 

 that, in Paris alone, upwards of 100,000 such portraits of 

 persons interesting to the police have been taken in a period of 

 ten years. 



The primary desideratum in a system of identification is a 

 ready means of classifying the data upon which it is based. 

 To accomplish this is the aim of the Bertillon system. 

 Exact measurements are taken between certain well known 

 and fixed points of the bony framewoik of the body, which 

 are known not to change under diflerent conditions of life. 

 The length and breadth of the head, the length of the 

 middle finger, the length of the foot, and the length of the 

 forearm, are considered the best, though others are added for 

 greater certainty, as the height, span of arms, length of ear, 

 colour of eyes, &c. All thc^e particulars of every individual 

 examined are recorded upon a card, and by dividing each 

 measurement into three classes, long, medium, and short, and 

 by classifying the various combinations thus obtained, the whole 

 mass of cards, kept arranged in drawers in the central bureau, 

 is divided up into groups, e.ich containing a comparatively small 

 number, and therefore quite easily ilealt with. When the card 

 of a new prisoner is brought in, a few minutes suffice 10 

 eliminate the necessity of comparison with any but one small 

 batch, which presents the special combination. Then photo- 

 graphs and other means of recognition, as distinctive marks and 

 form of features, are brought into pl.ay, and identification be- ■ 

 comes a matter of certainty. On the other hand, if the com- 

 bination of measurements upon a new c.ird does not coincide 

 with any in the classed collection in the bureau, it is known with j 

 .ibsolutc certainly that the individual being dealt with has never 

 been measured before. 



One of the most striking results of the introduction of ll. 

 system into France has been that, since it has been brough' 

 fully into operation, a large proportion of old offenders, kno« 

 ing that concealment is hopeless, admit their identity at once, 

 and save a world of trouble and expense to the police by 

 ceasing to endeavour to conceal themselves under false names. 



Various representations upon this subject have been addressed 

 to the Home Secrelaiy of our own Government during the last 



