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world, they have been practically unnoticed by every one until 

 Mr. Galton has shown, by a detailed and persevering study of 

 their peculiarities, that they are full of significance, and amply 

 repay the pains and time spent upon their study. It is not 

 to be supposed that all the knowledge that may be obtained 

 from a minute examination of them is yet by any means ex- 

 hausted, but they have already given valuable data for the 

 study of such subjects as variation unaffected by natural or any 

 other known form of selection, and the difficult problems of 

 heredity, in addition to their being one of the most valuable 

 means hitherto discovered of fixing personal identity. 



As an example of the importance of some ready method to 

 prove identity, apart from its application to the detection, 

 punishment, and prevention of crime, to which I have 

 already referred, I may recall to your recollection that 

 remarkable trial which agitated the length and breadth of 

 the land rather more than twenty years ago ; a trial which 

 occupied so many months of the precious time of our most 

 eminent judges and counsel, and cost the country, as well as 

 several innocent persons I am afraid to say how many 

 thousands of pounds, all upon an issue which might have been 

 settled in two minutes if Eoger Tichborne, before starting on 

 his voyage, had but taken the trouble to imprint his thumb 

 upon a piece of blackened paper. It is wonderful to me, on 

 reading again the reports of the trial, to see how comparatively 

 little attention was paid by counsel, judge, or jury, to the 

 extremely different physical characteristics of the two persons 

 claimed to be identical, but which were so strongly marked 

 that they ought to have disposed of the claim, without any 

 hesitation, at the very opening of the case. It was not until 

 the 102nd day of the first trial that the attention of the jury 

 was pointedly called to the fact that it was known that 

 Sir Eoger Tichborne had been tattooed on the left arm with a 

 cross, anchor, and a heart, and that the Claimant exhibited no 

 such marks. When this was clearly brought out and proved, 

 the case broke down at once. The second trial for perjury 

 occupied the court 188 days, the Lord Chief- Justice's charge 

 alone lasting eight days. The issues were, however, more 

 complex than in the first trial, as it was not only necessary 



