The Liberal democrat. [volume] (Liberal, Kan.) 1911-1924, 1914-12-04
IS OLD ONE
Thumb Mark Identification
Known to the AnCientS.
Long Used by the Babus Of India as
Personal Seal-FootprInts
and other Methods Were
Also In Vogue.

There is something delightfully."- mys-
FERROUS and pleasing to the magma
ton in the word "fingerprint." 1t has
the same fascination which the sub
ject Of handwriting or palmistry or
bumps on ones head has because
there is the same delightful feeling
of intimacy about 1t, and as no other
woman or man has just the same kind
of handwriting or lines on his palms
or bumps on his head, so no other per-
son has just the same kind of finger
prints, says the New York Evening
Post. 1t is this feeling of being indi-
vldual and unique which gives 1t its
alluring possibilities.
In earliest times flngerprints were
used In the East as means of identi-
fication. The monarch used the i'm
preston of his thumb as his sign
manual. In the study of early magic
It is found that the fingerprint plays
an important part II the maiden
could find the fingerprint of the man
with whom she was in love, she could
work all sorts of love charms upon
him till he finally returned her love.
OF the use of fingerprints as means of
Identification in the East, Kipling
speaks in kim"
The Babus of India call the print
"tipsahib," and use it very frequently.
In kim" the Indian spy Mahbub
seals his authority by "wetting his
thumb on a cake of India ink and
dabbing the impression on a piece Of
soft, native paper Fran Balkh to
Bombay men knew that rough-ridged
print with the diagonal scar running
across It."
Today the system OF Identification
by fingerprlnts is much used in all
parts Of the world, and the United
States is adopting It more and more.
There Is no change between birth and
death in the papillary ridges which go
to make up the impression and no
scar or Disagreement can spoil the
means of Identifying man. It is
thought by many that time will come
when the flngerprints of every child
will be taken and put on record, just
as his birth certificate is. filed at the
present time.
It is by counting the ridges and as
certalning the exact pattern Of the
print that the Identification is made
J. r. Purkinie first advanced method
of fingerprints, and later Sir Francis
Cation made valuable contributions to
the study.
In the present system the four basic
divisions are the arch, the whorl, the
loop and the composite, and If you
look at your own fingers you can see
for yourself all of these types, per.
haps. But although prints may be
roughly classified in this way, no two
finger prints are alike.
You have an arch, but II may be an
attenuated arch, with broken lines
about IT, or you may have a whorl,
but no two whorls are alike.
! n II TtHCllIdH udlHtu DtlllllOli WIN
recently died, did much to make this
classification widely adopted. The
Civil Service commission uses the sys-
TEN to identify the persons who come
for examination. It used to be that
one person could substitute for an
other, pass the same examination sew
eral times, and get his sisters and his
cousins and his aunts appointed to
very good positions. But now that
they have every applicants finger
prints on file there is no danger OF
this.
In criminal business finger prints are
most useful, and the finger-print ex
pert declares that they are an infallible
means of Identification.
In speaking of the practical work OF
the expert, Miss NJ b. Upshaw, the