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

of ten individuals the loop will oc-
cur not far from siXty-seven times, and
of these about eighteen will be on the
little finger, fifteen will be on the mid
die finger, and the rest will be about
evenly divided between the thumb, in
dex and ring fingers
The third characteristic group of pat
terms are the whorls. In these cases
the space left by the separation of two
ridges which were adjacent at the sides
Of the finger is filled by ridges coming
from one or both sides of the finger and
coiling around in circles or spiralS to
fill the vacant space. The ridges may
run in spirals or the space may be filled
by circular ridges which do not origin
ate on either side of the finger. Figure
gives an example of the first class
of whorls, and figure of the second.
Whorls are more common than
arches, but less common than loops. In
the 100 digits of our ten persons about
twenty-seven will have whorled pat
terms
One great difficulty in the classical
ton of finger prints lies in the fact that
there are many patterns which are
transitional. Arches lean to one side
until it is impossible to say whether
they are really arches or loops. There
are also complex patterns formed by
two loops, one coming from each side,
as in figure T.
The "A. L. W. classification is, how
ever, the best that has been thus far
proposed. 1nasmuch as each individ-
ual is possessed Of a we'll defined set Of
finger prints at birth which he must
carry throughout his life, it would
seem probable that some relation could
be traced between the patterns on the
fingers Of parents and child. The ma
terial which is available at the present
time is much too limited to warrant
definite conclusions, but from such in
vestigations as have been made it ap-
pears that when a certain pattern oc-
ours on corresponding fingers IF both
parents it has a decided tendency TO
real,pear in the corresponding finger Of
their offspring.
An interesting question arising in the
study of finger prints Is the effect Cf
race on the varying patterns. IT might
be supposed that the degree of develop
uIente as evidenced by the civilization
o: the various races, would materially
affect the cOmpleXity of The o-g0niZa-
ton of individuals. The finger prints
CT man are more comp * than those
o! monkey, so that we might expect
10 find the finger prints of q citizen Of
Greater New York more complex thar
those Of an Australian bushman
A thorough investigation of this
question has yet to be made, but the re-
searches of Sir Francis Gallon show an
inappreciable difference between the
prints of Englishmen, Welshmen, Bas-
ques, negroes and Hebrews, with one
exception. The exception is the Hebrew
race; their finger patterns show larg-
er percentage of Whorls than the pat
terms OF any other race. Loops were
slightly more frequent in the Hebrew
prints, while arches were rare.
AS the whorl is obviously a more
complex pattern than the arch or loop,
lie hot hor no
greater completely Of the patterns Of
Hebrew fingers has anything to do
with their well known mental charac-
teristics. They are known to be an ex-
ceedingly subtle and shrewd people,
and it seems plausible to suppose that,
as the arrangement of the ridges on the
skin of their fingers is more complex
than in other races, so the arrangement
of the convolutions of their brain is
likewise more complex than is the case
among gentiles.
1t Is certain that the brain Of the
monkey is simpler in the arrangement
of it's convolutionS than the brain Of
a man, and it is also certain that the
simian finger print is much less COM
pick in pattern than the human finger
print, so that 1t seems probable that the
| two organs are in some way related.
! 1t WILL however, require a vastly more
| extended series of observations than
| If 1t exists, can be demonstrated.
| Investigations are now being carried
! on to determine what relations the
completely of the finger patterns bears
to the other signs Of degeneration as
| observed in the insane, but it will re-
quire very long time and the exami-
nation of many thousand prints before
any definite conclusions can be drawn.
| One of the greatest obstacles to be
overcome is the lack of large collec-
| lions of the finger prints of normal
individuals with which the finger prints
of abnormal individuals may be COM
pared. Such collections are we'll under
way in England, and it is to be hoped
that some enthusiast will take up the
subject in this country.
The utility of such Investigations is
far more obvious than was the utility
of Faraday's discoveries to which we
owe our arc lights.