Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1895-08-15


the New York Recorder. The Interview
with Mark Twain published in The Re-
corder on Monday, and the conclusions
reached by Cheiro, the palmist. served
only to heighten this interest. Francis
Cation, +. r. S., an Oxford and Cam
bridge man. long known for his writ
ings on heredity, and, later on, this
subject Of the impressions Of finger
marks, has written number OF works
on this subject. Cation has got so far
as to publish in the present year a
scheme for classifying persons through
their finger-prints, and so supplying an
absolute directory of names discover
able only by this means. By this APP
plication of his ingenious. theory Prof.
Cation provides a list as perfect as a
city directory, so far as 1t goes, to IA
cilitate the dentification-more par
ticularly Of criminals; and OF PEN
toner's, whose pensions may otherwise
be drawn by designing persons. So far
has this distinguished scientist sue
ceeded in his undertaking that in one
directory of 1852 different persons he
had no difficulty in finding the one
sought for by the finger-print in less
than three minutes.
Prof. Gallon alleges that 1T is prob
able that no two finger-prints are 80
alike that an expert would fail to dis
tinguish between them.
On this basis he is at present obtain
ing the assistance of the Scotland Yard
detective authorities in London for the
gradual formation OF many hundred
separate finger-print directions In the
form of classified cards or papers. Each
card refers to a separate adult male
prisoner and contains as part Of the
means of his future identification the
finger-prints under consideration. Now,
it will be found by any one on exam
lining the fingers of different persons.
that these differ in marked manner
in the different instances.
1t is best to take the forefinger and
thumb for this simple experiment.
These will be found to furnish varieties
in the matter Of the curves which make
the finger-prints, some being arched,
some angular at the center, others in
whorls, or almost concentric circles,
a well-defined line.
1t is found that 243 receptacles will
contain the finger-prints of 121 500 pris-
oners, each receptacle carrying an aver
age of 500 cards, all of which are clas-
sifed and treated so as to form a sepa-
rate finger-pTint directory as to each
receptacle. 1t has been found neces-
sary to have separate classification
for adult female prisoners and for those
of either sex who have not ceased grow
ing.
Not only is this work being carried
on in England under the Gallon sys-
tenn, and in France through the efforts
Of M. Bertillon, but in India-especially
in Bengal-it is being applied to the
purpose of discovering old offenders
very much like the "Rogues' Gallery"
in the Central Police Office in New
York. 1t is being applied to checking
fraudulent re-enlistments in the British
army and for identifying pensioners,
as has been already stated. In sixty
three English prisons there are now
being taken fnger-prints by trained
wardens, which are forwarded to the
central bureau in London for classlf-
cation by experts. SO far has this won
derful plan for Identification been car
ried already without its very existence
being known until made public in the
columns of The Recorder.
Prof. Gallon states that there are no
very serious difficulties in the way of
classifying the peculiarities of differ
ent finger-prints, asserting that it is
rare to find "a pattern whose peculiari-
ties are not due to a few easily recog-
nizable characteristics, occurring sing
ly or in combinations of two or three"
In 1894 the Secretary of State for the
Home Department in the British Cab
met appointed a committee to inquire
into the best means available for iden-
tifying habitual criminals. The report
of this committe furnished a very full
account of the method adopted by Prof.
Cation in his finger-tip scheme. Ac-
cording to the evidence furnished to
the committee, Prof. Cation worked
from materials derived by taking i'm
pressions in printers ink on cardboard
from the bulbs Immediately below the
tips of the fingers and thumbs. After
ward these imprints were examined
through lens or microscope, or en-
larged to any size by means OF photog-
raphy. 1t was found in experiments
that the patterns and ridges exposed re-
tanned their peculiarities through life,
and that these peculiarities were suffi-
GENTLY marked, though in an indefinite
variety of forms, to be distinguishable |
always after having been once taken |
by the methods employed. Prof. Gal
ton reaches the conclusion that the |
chances Of two finger-prlnts being iden-
Teal, where these are of different per-
sons, are as one in sixty-four thousand
million. which is, to say the least, SUI
nciently remote for all practical pur-
poses. Prof. Gallon arranged his sys-
lem OF classification on three forms OF