The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-07-17

that this method of identification may
be of great use when it becomes extern
sively adopted by the police depart
ments of our large cities.
The study of finger prints is so fas-
cinating a paStime and Is in addition
so inexpensive that 1t is surprising
that it has not been more extensively
carried on. 1t is not so long ago that
the collection of autographs was such
a popular craze that one or more auto
graph albums were to be found in ev-
cry household. Although some individ-
ualS profess to be able to read a mans
character by examining his signature,
yet the autograph is a product Of edu-
cation and training, and an artificial
style may be cultivated, while finger
print is an autograph which is pos
sessed at birth and remains unaltered
throughout life-it is the signature of
the man himself, stripped of all the re-
suits of education and training, and
which cannot be artificially altered. 1t
is not improbable that during the COM
ing century albums of finger prints will
become as fashionable as were auto
graph albums couple of decades ago.
There are many methods of obtaining
prints. The one used by 'Pudd'nhead
Wilson in Mr.. Twain's story was to
take the print on glass by pressing the
finger Gust slightly oiled, as by passing
through the hair on a clean strip or
glass. This method gives very salts
factory impression, especially where, as
did Mr.. Wilson, one studies only the
thumb prints. But the prints from the
fingers are equally interesting and
equally worthy of study. Sir w. Her
schePs collection of Indian prints con-
sisted of the prints of the index and
middle fingers only of each individual.
The chief objection to the method of
printing on glass lies in the fact that
the impressions are easily destroyed
and the glass plates are heavy and
bulky and liable to breakage.
Very satisfactory prints can be Sc
cured by pressing the fingers on an or
binary ink pad, such as is found In
every office for the linking of rubber
stamps, and then pressing them on a
card or sheet of paper. The best prints,
however, can be secured by using
good grade of thin printers ink spread
very thinly on a slab of planished cop
per or plate glass. On this the fingers
are rolled on a stiff smooth surfaced
card; the rolling is necessary in order
to print from the entire palmar sur
face of the finger. A London firm mas
even put UP a special ink in collapsible
tubes, labeled Finger Print Ink" and
designed especially for this use; so 1t
would seem that our English cousins
are anticipating US in the collection OF
these interesting autographs.
Any one commencing the study Oh
finger prints is first impressed by the
great variety of the patterns formed by
the ridges. 1t soon becomes clear that
these various patterns may be grouped
into three principal classes, and such
classification is a necessity for pur-
poses of study or cataloguing. The
simplest patterns are those in which
the ridges run continuously from side
to side, sending off branches which run
parallel to the original ridges and NIL
up the space within the arch on the
bulb of the finger These patterns are
known as arches (see figure -, and are
not uncommon, though more common
in monkeys than in men. The arch pat
tern is much more common on the IN
dex finger than on any other digit,
though there is no apparent reason for
this-it Is simply fact deduced from
the examination of large number or
finger prints. The arch pattern is, how
ever relatively infrequent, and In the
100 fingers and thumbs of ten individ-
uals 1t will occur on an average only
about 61h times, while 20 of these
occurrences will be on the index fin
gers, l 2-5 on the middle fingers, and
the remainder about equally dlstr1b-
uted between the thumb, ring and little
fingers.
The second great class Of patterns
are the loops. In these cases one ridge
runs nearly straight across the fingers,
while a ridge only a few ridges above
it at the sides of the finger arches
toward the finger tip, thus leaving
space in the center which is filled by
system of ridges starting from one
side and returning to the same side,
thereby forming loops, as in figure 4.
The loop is by far the most common
of ali the patterns In the 100 fingers