Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1897-06-19

practical application is not so wei
known. It's results are shown best al
Joliet, where, Of over $500 photo
graphs now classified and filed, any
n picture can be found in a min
ute's time, from the subjects meas
urement, thus showing that no two
persons are precisely alike in every
particular.
The Identification Of a prisoner rests
upon the knowledge OF the following
Indications:
/. Length and width OF the head.
2. Length of the left, middle and
little fingers.
g.. Length Of the left foot.
4. Length of the left forearm.
5. Length Of the right ear.
g.. Height Of the figure.
Z. Measurement Of the outstretched
arms.
8. Measurement of the trunk, from
the bench to the top of the head OF the
person seated.
These different operations necessi-
tate the use of special instruments
called caliper-compasses and sliding
compasses. and of three graduated
measures, permanently fastened to a
suitable wall. two being placed verti-
cally and n horizontally. These in
struments have not yet been ordered
by the st. Louis police department. but
as soon as a Bertillon agent can be To-
Gated the order will be made. and
with the instruments will come a
teacher to drill the main Office in the
system. Two or three lessons ordi-
rarily suffice to make an operator toll
erably proficient. AS two or three of
the measurements can be modified or
influenced by trickery on the part of
the subject, the operator himself must
practice the motions that are ant TO
alter the result, and allow his assist
ants to do the same. so that he may
be able to easily discover these trick
cries whenever they appear in actual
practice. Not taking into account the
time needed to ascertain either the
civic status of a prisoner of the various
particular marks of the subject. the
simple process Of measuring, after
the period of grouping has been pass
cd, does not require more than four
or five minutes. In order to become
efficient the operator must know I'M
mistakably the nearest approximation
to which each measurement or each
indication can be ascertained. Tins
If the officer taking or comparing de-
scription3 knows to a certainty that
the length of the head never exceeds
an approximation of two millimeters-
this measure Icing the largest Dos
sible, divergency-a difference of four
millimeters or more between two head
length measurements would be condr-
Give proof to him that the measure
ments were obtained from two differ
ent persons, as the examined subjects
cannot exercise the slightest influence
on their Uranium diameters. II ia
quite common to find two subjects of
the same height, but a hairs breadth
in head-length fixes the difference. It
is said the non-universality Of the me-
trio system is no obstacle whatever.
In cities where the Bertillon system Il
not in use, the figures on the Bertillon
instruments are taken. not as actual
measurements Of length, ETC., but as
ciphers or signs designating a certain
information sought for, as is now done
by means Of scars and marks. The
measurements and descriptions are
taken at the Joliet penitentiary in the
following order, the prisoner being
brought into the operating room
barefooted and in shirt-sleeves:
Height-Measurement Of the person
standing erect. Outstretched arms
From finger tip to finger tip, the arms
being extended in a right-angular
cross with the body. Trunk-From
bench to top OF head Of a person seat
Head-From cavity at the root
Of the nose to the remotest point of the
Of the head; the diameter from
side to side. between the two points
most remote from each other, situated
over tho ears and on a horizontal plane
at right angles to the measurement Of
Right ear-Measurement from
the top Of the rim to the lowest point
Of the lobe. Left foot-From extreme
point of back Of the heel to the end
the farthest projecting toe. Left
middle finger-From point Of knuckle
10 tip Of finger, the finger being placed
4. right angles to the back Of the hand.
Left fore-arm-From point Of the ell
low to the tip Of the farthest project
Ing finger, the elbow being placed at
harp angles with the upper arm. Left
sye-Analysis Of the %colors, possible
confusion Of pigment and peculiarities,
Sose-profiln. form nf the eldeA !