Finger Prints

by Galton, Francis

• ISBN13: 9781591024125
• ISBN10: 1591024129
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2006-06-01
• Publisher: Prometheus Books

Summary

Despite the increasing use of DNA evidence and other sophisticated forensic techniques in crime solving, fingerprints still serve as an indispensable tool of modern-day criminal investigation. This fascinating book, originally published in 1892, represents the first thorough investigation of this anatomical peculiarity and its application in establishing individual identity for use in law enforcement. Sir Francis Galton, a cousin of Charles Darwin and a member of the Royal Geographical Society, had already made a reputation for himself as an explorer of Africa and the founder of the new field of eugenics when he turned his attention to the subject of fingerprints. Through extensive research at his 'anthropometric laboratory', Galton laid out an elementary system of classifying fingerprints based on observed patterns of arches, loops, and whorls. Using meticulous drawings as well as photographs of ink prints, he showed that "the numerous bifurcations, origins, islands, and enclosures in the ridges that compose the pattern, are proved to be almost beyond change." Thus, he established a sure method of individual identification. Galton's system was later modified by Sir Edward R Henry, who became chief of police in London. In 1901, Scotland Yard officially adopted the Galton-Henry system of fingerprinting. Today, it is the most widely used system of fingerprint classification in the world. This classic work will make a welcome addition to the libraries of historians, criminologists, and fans of true crime and forensic science.

Table of Contents

Introduction	21	(14)
Distinction between creases and ridges	21	(1)
Origin of the inquiry	22	(1)
Summaries of the subsequent chapters	22	(13)
Viz., of ii.	22	(1)
iii.	23	(1)
iv.	23	(1)
v.	24	(1)
vi.	25	(1)
vii.	26	(2)
viii.	28	(1)
ix.	28	(1)
x.	29	(1)
xi.	30	(1)
xii.	31	(1)
xiii.	32	(3)
Previous Use of Finger Prints	35	(6)
Superstition of personal contact	35	(1)
Rude hand-prints	36	(1)
Seals to documents	36	(1)
Chinese finger marks	36	(1)
The tipsahi of Bengal	36	(1)
Nail-marks on Assyrian bricks	37	(1)
Nail-mark on Chinese coins	37	(1)
Ridges and cheiromancy---China, Japan, and by negroes	37	(1)
Modern usage---Bewick, Fauld, Tabor, and G. Thompson	38	(1)
Their official use by Sir W. J. Herschel	39	(2)
Methods of Printing	41	(18)
Impression on polished glass or razor	41	(1)
The two contrasted methods of printing	42	(1)
General remarks on printing from reliefs---ink; low relief of ridges; layer of ink; drying due to oxidisation	42	(2)
Apparatus at my own laboratory---slab; roller; benzole (or equivalent); funnel; ink; cards	44	(2)
Method of its manipulation	46	(2)
Pocket apparatus	48	(1)
Rollers and their manufacture	49	(1)
Other parts of the apparatus	49	(1)
Folders---long serviceable if air be excluded	50	(1)
Lithography	50	(1)
Water colours and dyes	51	(1)
Sir W. Herschel's official instructions	51	(1)
Printing as from engraved plates---Prof. Ray Lankester; Dr. L. Robinson	51	(1)
Methods of Dr. Forgeot	52	(1)
Smoke prints---mica; adhesive paper, by licking with tongue	53	(1)
Plumbago; whitening	54	(1)
Casts---sealing-wax; dentist's wax; gutta-percha; undried varnish; collodion	54	(1)
Photographs	55	(1)
Prints on glass and mica for lantern	55	(1)
Enlargements---photographic, by camera lucida, pantagraph	55	(4)
The Ridges and Their Uses	59	(8)
General character of the ridges	59	(1)
Systems on the palm---principal ones; small interpolated systems	59	(1)
Cheiromantic creases---their directions; do not strictly correspond with those of ridges	60	(1)
Ridges on the soles of the feet	61	(1)
Pores	61	(1)
Development---embryology; subsequent growth; disintegration by age, by injuries	61	(1)
Evolution	62	(2)
Apparent use as regards pressure---theoretic; experiment with compass points	64	(1)
Apparent use as regards rubbing---thrill thereby occasioned	65	(2)
Patterns: Their Outlines and Cores	67	(24)
My earlier failures in classifying prints; their causes	67	(2)
The triangular plot	69	(2)
Outlines of patterns---eight sets of ten digits given as examples	71	(1)
Supplies of ridges to pattern	71	(1)
Letters that read alike when reversed	72	(2)
Magnifying glasses, spectacles, etc.	74	(1)
Rolled impressions, their importance	75	(1)
Standard patterns, cores, and their nomenclature	75	(1)
Direction of twist, nomenclature	75	(3)
Arches, loops, whorls	78	(2)
Transitional cases	80	(3)
The nine genera	83	(2)
Measurements---by ridge-intervals; by aid of bearings like compass	85	(1)
Purkenje---his Commentatio and a translation of it in part	86	(5)
Persistence	91	(10)
Evidence available	91	(1)
About thirty-five points of reference in each print	91	(1)
Photo-enlargement; orientation; tracing axes of ridges	92	(1)
Ambiguities in minutiæ	92	(1)
V. H. Hd. as child and boy, a solitary change in one of the minutiae	93	(2)
Eight couplets from other persons	95	(4)
One from Sir W. G.	99	(1)
Summary of 389 comparisons	99	(1)
Ball of a thumb	99	(1)
Results as to persistence	100	(1)
Evidential Value	101	(10)
Method of rough comparison	101	(1)
Chance against guessing a pattern	102	(1)
Number of independent elements in a print---squares, respectively, of one, six, and five ridge-intervals in side	102	(1)
Interpolation, three methods of	103	(2)
Local accidents inside square	105	(1)
Uncertainties outside it	106	(1)
Compound results	107	(1)
Effect of failure in one, two, or more prints	107	(2)
Final conclusions---Jezebel	109	(2)
Peculiarities of the Digits	111	(14)
Frequency per cent of arches, loops, and whorls generally, and on the several digits	111	(2)
Characteristic groups of digits	113	(2)
Relationships between the digits	115	(4)
Centesimal scale of relationship	119	(2)
Digits of same and of different names	121	(4)
Methods of Indexing	125	(12)
Use of an index	125	(1)
Method of few conspicuous differences in many fingers	125	(1)
Specimen index	126	(2)
Order in which the digits are noted	128	(1)
Examples of indexing	128	(1)
Effect of regarding slopes	129	(1)
Number of index-heads required for 100 sets in each of twelve different methods	130	(1)
i and o in forefingers only	130	(1)
List of commonest index-headings	130	(2)
Number of headings to 100 sets, according to the digits that are noted	132	(1)
Transitional cases; sub-classifications	133	(1)
Symbols for patterns	134	(1)
Storing cards	135	(1)
Number of entries under each head when only the first three fingers are noted	135	(2)
Personal Identification	137	(18)
Printers and photographers	137	(1)
Use of means of identification to honest persons; in regard to criminals	138	(1)
Major Ferris, Mr. Tabor, N. Borneo	138	(3)
Best digits for registration purposes	141	(1)
Registration of criminals---M. Bertillon	142	(1)
Details of Bertillonage; success attributed to it; a theoretic error	143	(1)
Verification on a small scale	144	(5)
Experiences in the United States	149	(1)
Body marks; teeth	150	(1)
Value of finger prints for search in a register	151	(1)
Identification by comparison	152	(1)
Remarks by M. Herbette	152	(3)
Heredity	155	(16)
Different opinions	155	(1)
Larger meaning of heredity	155	(1)
Connection between filial and fraternal relationships	155	(1)
Fraternity, a faulty word but the best available	156
A and B brothers	155	(2)
Test case of calculated randoms	157	(1)
Fraternities by double A.L.W. events	158	(1)
The C. standard patterns	159	(1)
Limitation of couplets in large fraternities	160	(1)
Test of accurate classification	161	(1)
Fraternities by double C. events	161	(1)
Centesimal scale applied	161	(4)
Twins	165	(1)
Children of like-patterned parents	166	(1)
Simple filial relationship	167	(1)
Influences of father and mother	167	(4)
Races and Classes	171	(4)
Data for races	171	(1)
Racial differences are statistical only	171	(1)
Calculations by Mr. F. H. Collins	172	(1)
Hebrew peculiarities	173	(1)
Negro peculiarities, questionable	174	(1)
Data for different classes in temperament, faculty, etc., and results	174	(1)
M. Fere	174	(1)
Genera	175	(10)
Type, meaning of	175	(1)
Law of frequency of error	175	(1)
Discussion of three elements in the loops on either thumb	176	(7)
Proportions of typical loops	183	(1)
The patterns are transmitted under conditions of panmixia, yet do not blend	184	(1)
Their genera are not due to selection; inference	184	(1)
Sports; variations	185