206 



Life and Letters of Francis Galton 



reunite forming the eye of a needle, or there may be an imperfect eye. The 

 main point is that the core is not a simple rod; the several conditions do not 

 need symbolising severally, they are all expressed by /. 



c represents the case when the core within the loop is a second staple 

 wholly detached from the outer staple which curves round it. 



Galton uses still further symbols in his secondary classification — k, v, x, y, 

 and three others to denote conditions of the print itself, namely : d, f and *. 

 d marks a damaged print, either owing to the condition of the finger, or to 

 the printing. If the print be wholly unreadable, then d is inserted in its 

 proper place in the primary 10 symbols; if the print be only partially damaged, 

 then d is to be used as a suffix, "f denotes the scar of a cut, and should be 

 used, however small the scar may be, as it is a valuable means of identifica- 

 tion. * denotes that a portion of the finger has been more or less smashed, 

 and should be combined with d. 



Of the other four symbols x denotes that there is something very peculiar 

 or questionable about the pattern. 



v indicates what Galton terms an invaded loop. Usually the ridges enter 

 through the open mouths of the loop, curve round and take their exits 



Fig. 39. Secondary Classification of Loops, Galton's y and v. 

 Four Forms of- Loop (one delta) 



y 



Pkirz Loop Eyed Loop founded Loop Hooked Loop 



Fig. 40. Secondary Classification of Loops, Galton's y, v and k. 



parallel to their entrances. Sometimes, however, a system of ridges instead of 

 entering from the mouth, springs out from one of the sides and destroys the 

 symmetry of the pattern. Such a loop is an "invaded loop" and symbolised 

 by v. Galton holds y to be one of the most generally useful of suffixes ; it is 

 the formation in the inner part of the loop of an eyed form. In the ordinary 

 loop the ridges after turning back run parallel ; in the eyed loop they reunite 

 after recurving and enclose a minute plot, y must be distinguished from /, 

 which latter is an island or approximate island in a central rod. 



Finally k denotes a curvature sometimes affecting the whole of a loop, 

 turning it into more or less of a solid hook, i.e. not a hook formed by a single 



