Personal Identification and Description 215 



The reader who has had the courage to follow Galton's biographer through 

 the intricacies of this chapter will, I am sure, be convinced not only of the 

 labour Galton devoted to his finger-print studies but also of the amazing 

 energy he exhibited in acquainting not only administrative bodies but the 

 public at large with the possibilities which then lay hidden in finger-printing, 

 and this not solely for scientific but also for practical purposes. If the reader 

 can find anyone who before 1895 had published a tithe of what Galton had 



Fig. 41. Galton's Finger- Print Enlarging Camera. 



issued on this topic, then I will admit him also to be a pioneer ; if he can 

 find anyone who has since 1895 done more than amplify in minor, often in 

 very minor points Galton's work, then I will admit him a worthy successor 

 to Galton. 



Finger-printing as a science and finger-printing as an art are both alike 

 the product of Galton's insight, ingenuity and tireless activity; the attempts 

 to belittle the credit due to him can only spring from those who for their 

 own purposes choose to ignore the literature of the subject. 



