New-York tribune., 1896-01-25
THE BERTILLON SYSTEM.
MEASUREMENT INFALLIBLE AS MEANS
OF IDENTIFICATION.
AN IMPORTANT PRINCIPLE IN PENAL 'o"i'Di0'
TIoN-OBJECTIoNs TO THE SYSTEM

uNroUNDED.
Tho Prison Association of New-York has under
taken tn introduce to the authorities Of the State ana
of its cities the Bertillon system OF identhy'ns
| criminals At a meeting OF the state frsoh |oi"
mission in Albany December ~ the assoc'a'''.
! presented practical demonstration OF the me'"ou
with the aid of DR.. Brown. surgeon Oh .he H''"' ~
Nev-york Harbor and OF Major McCaugnrey' OF
illinois, who have made 1t special study anu ,''c
immediate introduction OF 1t Into the poIce prac'oo
! OF New-York and other large cities Is pro'Seu 40
| the result while the Legislature Is hKey 10 NC
asked to legallzc 1t throughout the STATE anu ~
provide for working 1t in harmony with other o'a'e'
such as Illinois Massachusetts, and Minnesota
| which have already passed laws requiring i'' w
The subject Is one OF great scientifc interest 40
branch OF anthropology. apart from its immeo'a'e
application 10 criminals
Penal Jurisprudence pays more attehton e'e''
vear m tho distribution between habitual ana oc-
| c,slonal criminals After a third CONVICTION Tor
felony for example Ohio permits the oHehoei " "
Imprisoned for life unless his reformation 10 po'e'
Everywhere sentences are properly iens'ne"eu, -
the convict is recognized member OF the cr''n-
inal class. But this recognition IS lar Ho'" ea',
tho worst enemies OF society being the most skilui
IN disguise The crude method OF photographis
the face and forming "a rogues gaiery pic"n'
down in practice, not only by the sKlii Oh tic '"
jects in changing their appearance put py .A'
changes of feature and expression and py 'he i'h-
,,oss,huttv of cla ton when the numbers are
/
yroat Under the scientific teaching or NJ Beruioh
the police OF France have abandoned all reNa'oe
upon such superficial means. and nave auop'e
form of registration OF every convict sucn aS 'e'
now have in Paris-a bureau OF criminal recoruS'
containing more than 100000 personal descriptions
and histories so classified that when prisoner Is
examined n clerk can determine In two minutes
whether he has been convicted before. and' II so.
can produce Mt once the history OF his criminal
career.
THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE
The principle of this system Is the truth. learned
| by observation that after the human frame reaches
maturity the skeleton Is practically unchahseaoie
in dimensions But ite parts are not depenaeh' o"
one another varying within certain limits py ho
fixed law Two men may have heads or arms or
hands or fingers OF precisely the same iensth' ou'
no two men have been found to nave all 'hese
parts Identical in measurement IL is easy 10 'ane
the measure OF the permanent structure OF '"e
hodv In from five TO seven minutes a practsed
hand can record thirteen Independent dimensions oi
q given figure no one OF which can be disguised
or varied By any ingenuity, with at least accuracy
enough 10 bring the limits OF error witmh one
twentieth part Of the ordinary limits OF Var'a''o"'
Let the same return one. five, ten or hfty
vears later and on the repetition OF the measure
ments his Identity stands revealed with certainty
beyond all that Is atainabe by any memory or COM
parlson Of Appearances In fact, the possibility OF
mistake in such identification may be said to be
a
and whose denomination Is the thirteenth part OF
twenty That IL TO say. mistake is impossible since
IT would but once on the average. in the ap-
plication Of the system to the entire population OF
The practical difficulties In making this principle
universally useful are two FIRST that OF classifying
NAV he found at once among immense numbers;
and. secondly, that OF combining the information
lem has been completely solved by NJ Berthon In
Paris. and his method OF classification has been
] It.Ip 81 hN he
system OF measurement card. httie larger than
cation and finds It's place in a cabinet, which may
contain million or more Of such cards, go mat
the whole forms It's own index. and the individual
record wanted can be found when its duplicate Is
presented a. quickly as Il given name In directory.
iAttle has yet been done in making the measure
,nents taken in one Jurisdiction useful In others. A
criminal whose body is inevitably fixed in the Paris
be a ;nrst offender Christendom Will day
unite in measures for the suppression OF crime ana
one 81 its most important agencies VIII De a sys,
TEN of correspondence. by which each bureau OF
cards In cases In which criminal history is sought
ard send IN return whatever Information II holds.
army Of enemies OF mankind Will become known
and distinguished from the mass or men on wnom
they prey and efficiency OF law, In all enorts Tor
their suppression and elimination, VIII be vastly
reinforced
rNFOrNDED OBJECTIONS
The objections which have been made to the Ber-
t1lon system founded almost wholly on ignor-
ance OF It's real nature. IL Is not cumbrous II Is not
extensive, IL does not superStue pTdctcdi sdBdcNy
I'm the police True, IL does not aid thef-takers IN
making arrests This ls another province Of work
which II has nothing TO DO. IL dekraues no
his measurements be filed In the bureau, with
perfect assurance that his record can never be
disturbed unless he is brought In as a criminal
and measured again 10 determine whether he has
criminal history. Finally II is true that other meth
ods Of Identification have been devised by anthro-
biologists some OF whlch-for example. the comparl-
son Of the impressions o. the hnger-tps-are just
a. trustworthy the measurements OF the bones:
But all these more difficult or appllcatlon ana
far less easily classified for reference They do not
enter into practical competition Win the system ot
Bert Hon. ,.,., ,,.s......s.
on large that for the detection OF recidi-
visits among convicts But recent visit to Bertil-
writer the possibility OF other important uses for
IT, Every student of anthropology Will understand
that the collection OF body OF statistics upon the
comparative development OF parts OF the bony skee-
OF birth, early life. family connections. and many
classes personal characteristics, may prepare the
way for important studies In fields hardly yet
opened Apart however. from its theoretical value,
here Is a simple and easy method by which the
identification OF person can be made absolutely
certain for all purposes: and II Is obvious that lts
general adoption would make passports Trustworthy
and far more useful than they have been to govern
ments and to military commanders; while even IN
commercial and family life Instances are not want
ing in which IL would vast trouble and annoy
ance Had there been In existence at the time OF th(
Tchborne trials Bertil.on card. either OF the
true heir or of Arthur Orton the cost and waste OF
the most expensive litigation ever known would
public Of two continents for n year would have been
settled forever IN two minutes
ppycrc or cAx rD ANcIccO STOCKS