October 30, 1890] 



NATURE 



643 



But the chief exercise of this function in the ranks of the 

 police themselves is the search among their store of por- 

 traits for a person of whom they receive a description, 

 the crucial points in this description being set out, and 

 specially the dangers to be avoided. Thus certain colours 

 of hair and complexion make photographs almost un- 

 recognizable, and peculiarities of gesture and movement 

 are so characteristic of some persons as to make mere 

 immobile portraits little suggestive even to familiar 

 acquaintances. As regards comparison between two 

 photographs, the author calls attention to the points 

 which should prevent two apparently dissimilar com- 

 mercial photographs from being pronounced different 

 subjects ; and, on the other hand, the striking family like- 

 nesses which should make 'one careful in declaring two 

 similar portraits the same person. M. Bertillon gives the 

 clue to the physiological data which should govern judg- 

 ment on these occasions. He illustrates a clever con- 

 trivance (but lately borrowed from their French brethren 

 by the English police) by which a newly-taken portrait of 

 a person in custody and an old portrait are compared on 

 equal terms by a covering up of all but the unchangeable 

 portions of the face — hair, beard, and moustaches being 

 obliterated. M. Bertillon makes his most daring specu- 

 lations, however, in relation to identification of a person 

 at large from a photograph in hand. He says, even as 

 the word " chime " is not conveyed to the brain without a 

 sensation not only of sight of the bells but the sound as 

 well of its ring, so identification should come from certain 

 clue characters of personal appearance, suggesting the 

 absolute identity. It is of no use to sit down and study 

 in detail a photograph which probably tallies in few 

 points with the same person as he is likely to be encoun- 

 tered abroad ; but the unchangeable individual data 

 must be seized upon by the trained mind versed in the 

 language of anthropology, so that an encounter with the 

 desired object will never fail to tell the secret. Thus, in 

 the frequent necessity of stopping persons on embarka- 

 tion at a sea-port, the profile is, of course, the thing to be 

 kept before the inspecting eye ; but even this must be 

 understood in relation to the disguise of bearing, ex- 

 pression, &c., all of which must be considered — not the 

 mere photograph taken under far different circum- 

 stances. M. Bertillon concludes this interesting section 

 as follows : — " The officer charged with so difficult a 

 mission as the search for, and arrest of, a criminal by the 

 aid of a photograph, should be able to repeat and write 

 from memory the description of the face of the man he is 

 in search of It is the best means of proving to his 

 chiefs that he has at heart the task confided to him. The 

 reader will see later the special terminology which a 

 knowledge of the subject necessitates. More than one of 

 our readers will be surprised to see that police science 

 borrows some of its methods from natural history and 

 mathematics. We think that this descriptive study of 

 the human frame will interest the portrait photographer 

 as much as it will the judicial inquirer. Are not both 

 scrutinizers of the human physiognomy, though truly 

 from a different point of view 1 " 



The author's third chapter is devoted to other applica- 

 tions of photography to judicial purposes. Here he refers 

 to the notorious pocket cameras, which he puts aside as 

 rarely of much use for police purposes, it being at a criti- 

 cal moment more of an object to capture a malefactor 

 than to photograph him. Still, he admits an occasional 

 value for this kind of photography, and gives a startling 

 example of the scene of a most dramatic murder in the 

 suburbs of Paris at the instant of its discovery, before 

 anything of the surroundings had been disturbed. This, 

 M. Bertillon contends, would naturally be most valuable 

 in the hands of the prosecution. Numerous other uses 

 of photography are mentioned, such as cases of mine 

 accidents, traces in the snow before it melts, and other 

 t matters of future judicial investigation. Many objects 



NO, 1096, VOL. 42] 



connected with crime may become the subject of photo- 

 graphy, such as weapons and portions of dress ; and photo- 

 chromography comes in opportunely to spread abroad 

 not only the form but the colour of the articles considered 

 important in tracing a criminal, so that evidence as to 

 such articles may be forthcoming. 



In his appendix, M. Bertillon gives an interesting sum- 

 mary analysis of the human figure, based on the studies 

 of Qu<ftelet ; but as this is only indirectly connected with 

 the subject in hand, I will only refer to the two features on 

 the importance of which in judicial investigation the author 

 lays the greatest emphasis— namely, the nose and the ear. 

 That important and delicate subject over which so much 

 concern is evinced in the social circle and the domain 

 of literature— the human nose — M, Bertillon considers 

 equally worthy of prominence in anatomical study and 

 police practice. He offers a scheme whereby noses may 

 be studied with profit to the judicial mind, discarding the 

 considerations which chiefly appeal to the ordinary eye 

 in comparisons — colour, size, and general shape — and con- 

 fining the classification to the line profile pure and simple, 

 apart from all other elements. M, Bertillon makes 

 fifteen classes, into which all noses, even the most eccen- 

 tric probosces, may be sorted : firstly, three grand divi- 

 sions — the elevated, the horizontal, and the drooping, 

 according to the nature of the base-line ; each of these to 

 be again divided by the bridge line into concave, straight, 

 convex (or curved), and, lastly, undulating (wavy, broken, 

 or irregular in outline). The detective or judicial func- 

 tionary, when called upon to say whether a face under 

 his surveillance corresponds with a photograph in ques- 

 tion, will find great help in a thorough nasal analysis, for 

 two noses are never exactly alike. 



Yet more important is the ear, which, M. Bertillon 

 insists, should always be shown in the portrait. His 

 remarks on this feature are so valuable that I will con- 

 clude my summary of his unique little volume by an 

 abstract from this portion, illustrated by the accompany- 

 ing diagrams, the use of which has been so kindly allowed 

 me by the author : — 



" We will close our examination of the profile by study- 

 ing the ear, which, thanks to the projections and depres- 

 sions with which it abounds, is the most important factor 

 in the problem of identification. It is all but impossible 

 to find two ears identically similar in all their parts, and 

 the variations in the conformation which this organ pre- 

 sents appear to remain without modification from birth 

 until death. We believe that the registration at birth of 

 certain peculiarities in the ear would render any substitu- 

 tion of persons, even when adults, impossible. From 

 birth unchangeable in its form, uninfluenced by sur- 

 roundings or education, this organ remains throughout 

 life like the untangible legacy of heredity and interuterine 

 life. Nevertheless, on account of its immobility itself, 

 which prevents its taking any part in the play of features, 

 no part of the face less attracts the attention of the pro- 

 fane. Our eye is as little accustomed to notice it as our 

 tongue is to describe it. In fact, the denominations of the 

 principal parts of which it is composed have been but very 

 summarily described in most of the anatomical treatises. 



"It will be sufficient for us to confine ourselves to the 

 prominences which border the depressions, to give a good 

 idea of the latter, and it will enable us to shorten our 

 description by one-half. The prominences are five in 

 number. 



" (i) The border of the ear, or helix, a semicircular pro- 

 jection commencing at A (Fig. i) in the middle of the ear, 

 above the auditory passage, reaching to the periphery, and 

 bordering two-thirds of the upper ear, 



" (2) Where it ceases, the lobe commences soft and 

 rounded, terminating at the base the circumference of 

 the ear. 



" (3) Then the tragus— small, flat, triangular, cartilagin- 

 ous prominence— placed outside in front of the auditory 



