Science and the Criminal

pometry-Finger-pri

riminals for subsequent identification. But the promise that the photographic method held out was not fulfilled; for with the accumulati

ask to search through many thousands of prints to see whether a particular individual had been photographed ten years pr

raits of two distinct individuals, or that a photograph of one person may unduly emphasise a momentary expression differing from the normal one, with the result that the portrait may be mistaken for a li

minals was repeatedly proved. The advisability of introducing the French anthropometric system into England was raised in Parliament on several occasions in 1887 and 1888, but each tim

number of cases of mistaken recognition from photographs, that

e Gloucester Assizes. After a man had been convicted of some small offence police evidence was given t

was given by a warder that the man was one who had been sentenced t

and therefore could not possibly have been the person alleged. The remarkable feature

first offender. Although he had been previously convicted of numerous crimes, and was at the time "wanted" by the police for housebreaking and other

tem was the most satisfactory for preliminary classification, but that for further grouping the finger-print method gave the best results. Accordingly a system inclu

other countries. Early in 1892 it was introduced into India, and within six y

tee was accordingly appointed by the Indian Government to report upon the system. Their report stated that

r-print method has been in use in Indi

irst introduced as a method of police registration in Paris in 1882. During the first year of its employme

vious year 31,849 prisoners had been measured in Paris, 615 of whom were in this way recognised as former convicts, while fourteen were subseque

the measurements of the body structure of each individual. Although such measurements might be indefinitely extended, the number

s by a special staff, and are recorded upon a card upon which

of short, medium, and long heads, while further subdivisions are afforded by the width of the head, width of the arms outstretched at an angle of the body and s

sons can be classified into groups of ten each, the por

100,000 individuals, seventy-five per cent. might conceivably be tall men, and seventy-five per cent. of these, again have long head

owing groups is then assigned:-(1) Iris, azure blue, with areola pale but free from yellow pigment; (2) Iris blue or slate, with light yellow areola; (3) Same shade, with larger

y to escape identification, but, according to M. Bertillon, after a few years this was only done by those who had been away

measurements of the front and back surfaces, which are divided into areas by means of dotted lines, is filed in the Medical Department of the War Office

culiarities such as scars, tattoo marks, etc., is used to facilitate the search, and when, on reference to this, there

y-two men were suspected of concealing their identity, and in sixty-one

permissible error must be admitted. In the United States Army an error of one inch in either direction is allowed, for the recorded height. In addition to

he methods of recording the impressions of the fingers. From time to time in the past use has been made of a finger or thumb impression as a seal or to give a personal mar

e of a field, which concludes with the imprint of a finger nail, and the st

they were first put there as a compliment to an early Chinese Empress who had accidentally pressed her finger nail into the wax model

have been put there with any idea of identification, but rather to have been of the nature of a ceremonial observance c

the fingers to record the identity of individuals appears to have been th

and his having made two of them record their finger impressions upon contracts, so t

illiam Herschel made a study of the use of finger-prints in identification, and finally found t

3). The frequent attempts previously made by the natives to deny their own signatures were compl

a means of preventing the fraudulent claims of p

ons, each new-comer being made to sign the register with the finger. The official visitors

on to extend the use of the finger-print identificatio

t of his system a suggestion was made to register the Chinese in C

for instance, in 1882 in the payment orders signed by Mr. Thomson of the American G

e of having established the first modern systematic process o

onvicted criminals to make impressions of their finger-tips as a record, but

tification are not confined to the human race, but are also sho

of what is known as the papillary ridges. It is readily recorded by carefully coating the finger-tips with a fine lay

y of touch, and also to excrete perspiration thro

ns known as callosities. On the other hand, the ridges upon the palms of people who do very little manual labour are much less appare

e, the constant puncturing of the skin by the head of a needle in sewing, and the imprint of t

left-hand thumb of the present writer. Running across the ridges, and breaking their continuity is a line which marks the place where twenty years ago the slip of a knife nearly severed a

shable in that place, or they may even be entirely obliterated. Old age has also an obliterating effect upon the ridges, so much so that

ife, since otherwise much of the value of the method would be lost. The observations made by Sir William Herschel in India showed that after the lapse

espondence as to the minuti? is not always to be expected, since what appears to be a ridge in one print may be really the result of imperfect printing of an en

print of the baby, but had been filled up in the print from the boy. This instance is mentioned as unique, for in every other case examined by Sir Francis Galton, comparing prints of the boy with the man, and the man with the old man there was perfect correspondence between the selecte

These included the portraits of three men who so closely resembled one another that they would readil

they last as long as the skin itself, and may be

remain. To use the apt illustration of Sir Francis Galton, the changes to be expected are comparable with those seen in a piece of lace. The material may be stretc

of the markings; for the pattern as a whole increases with the growth of the finger, but this grow

t possible to find over a thousand points of compariso

each containing prints with a more or less close resemblance to one another. He further found that on the average it was impossible to put great reliance upon the general re

e concluded that it was as one is to about sixty-four millions; so that the chance of two persons giving similar prints from a single finger would be less than one in four. I

used by accident or disease, a complete, or nearly complete, agreement between two prints of one finger and infinitely more so between two or more

the only means of proving the identit

sed by some flint-digger of the stone age to hew out of the chalk the rough flints which were subsequently made into scrapers and arrow-heads. Upo

ions he had left a far more permanent record of his ident

g but the skull and the palms of her hands and soles of her feet, so that no man might say "this is Jezebel." Yet, as Sir Francis

t only interesting but might also conceivably b

markings. "The dominancy of heredity in these patterns is sometimes very striking. I

rn and a Tichborne type, to one or other of which experts might have

nherited just as any other bodily peculiarities are liable to be passed on from the parents to

ed upon them render it impossible to doubt that the average resemblance between the finger-prints of

nts in rows A and B in the plate (p. 66),

and mental resemblances or the reverse. Here, too, it was found by Sir Francis Galton that the finger-prints exhibited a strong tendenc

n both, but the smaller details, such as the number of the ridges or their minute pecul

at the influence of the mother upon the type of fin

Dr. Faulds believed that he had discovered in the case of th

sentative of pure English, pure Welsh, Hebrew and Negro proved unqu

dges appeared to be more uniform and their direction more parallel

mpared with those of science students, of field labourers, and of idiots. In each instance it was possible to match the type of patterns in one

ridges was that of Purkenje, a doctor of medicine who, in 1823,

might be grouped under nine main heads or st

stria. (4) Oblique sinus. (5) Almond. (6) Spiral. (7) Ellipse or el

grams, and the accompanying figure, reproduced by permission of Sir

separating the types, since factors, such as the depth of printing, the size of the patterns, and the prominence

nd in the majority of finger impressions was made the basis of classification. Starting upon the two divergent ridges from these spaces an outline was then drawn

D PATTERNS

THE ABOVE

sverse

l longitu

lique

ue sinus

Spi

Ell

Cir

uble

n of Messrs. Macm

rls, while some of the transitional forms may be grouped under more than one of these heads. Other pat

e outline upon the fore, middle and ring fingers consists of arches, while a, w, l indicate an arch upon the forefinger, a whorl upon the middle finger, and a loop

y therefore be indexed into one of these thirty-six groups. Subdivisions of these main groups may then be based upon the characteristics of the prints of the

n 67·5 per cent.; and whorls in 26·0 per cent. Each digit and hand, however, had its own peculiarities, and the variations in the pe

pon the middle finger, while whorls were rarely met with upon these

grouped into arches, loops, whorls, and composites. The last group includes patterns made up of combinations of the other three, or those which might be classified either as loops or whorls. There are also numerous subdiv

groups are shown in t

ger impressions of the Japanese, appears to have been the first to suggest the pos

valuable evidence, and these are worth recording as ea

F FINGE

the fingers upon the bottle plainly showed who was the culprit, for thei

into a house, but the sooty imprints of fingers left upon t

by the police at Scotland Yard are very remarkable. Up to the end of 1901 there were 93 identifications, which rose in the succeeding years to the f

etection of criminals by means of their finger-prints

ar by the application of powdered blacklead they were found to correspond exactly with the finger-prints of the prisoner. Inspector Collins, in giving evidence on this point, stated that there were a million and a

ans of the impressions left on a wax candle, on windows, on paper

n thumb-print. For the defence it was urged that he was in Nottingham at the time, and that he could call as a witness "a tall dark man working in a bar." The judge offered to postpone the trial for the attendance of this witness, but warned the prisoner that if his statement were fo

ne near Slough, and there was no clue whatever as to his identity. Upon the off-chance of the victim's finger-prints being known at Scotland Yard impressions from his fingers were taken by the local superintend

sion upon which the method has been used to

in the identification of an individual by the

ee of his companions had been captured. They were tried at the Assize Court of the Drome Department in July, 1

he description he gave of himself was false, took impressions of his finger-prints, and forwarded these, together with the man's description and photograph, to the Anthropometrical Departme