Fingerprints, a World’s Fair and Chicago’s Own Female Holmes
By: Lauren Carpenter
Tags: Women In History, True Crime, Forensic Science, Criminal Justice, History

A History of Fingerprints

We have always been fascinated by the intricate markings our fingertips carry. Dermatoglyphics, the study of fingerprints and palm patterns as defined by Rutger’s, has been loosely used since 3rd century China as a means of personal identification. In ancient Babylon, fingerprints were used on legal court documents to prevent falsification or forgery and often to seal letters as well. It appears that even 700 years ago, humans were able to pinpoint that while facial features, hair, teeth, and names were subject to change, the uniqueness of our fingerprints remains.

A fingerprint in black magnetic powder, 2007. [Photo taken by Jack Spades] Image is in the public domain via Flickr.

In 1823, an anatomy professor by the name of Jan Evangelist Purkinje published a thesis that identified nine distinctive fingerprint patterns. This thesis, however, did not discuss the merit of prints as a means of identification but rather identified ridge patterns that existed within the fingerprint itself. It wasn’t until decades later when British magistrate, Sir William James Herschel, requested a handprint from a local Indian businessman on a contract that humans began to use fingerprinting as a trademarking device in the modern era. Researchers have speculated about his reasons for doing so, but it seems to be widely suggested this developed as a means of signature for those who could not read or write. Herschel began requiring this form of signature as he noticed that the people in the Indian communities in his jurisdiction seemed to value it as a spiritual superstition, more binding than a signature.

Shortly after, Henry Faulds, a Scottish physician, wrote to naturalist Charles Darwin, for his assistance in collecting evidence of “skin furrows” or what we now know to be the individual ridges of our fingerprints. He had recently discovered markings on Japanese pottery that indicated their significance. However, it was Darwin’s second cousin, Francis Galton — an anthropologist turned eugenicist, that took to studying the art of fingerprint identification.

Often credited as a pioneer in the discovery of fingerprint analysis, Galton published a book on the distinctiveness of the fingerprint and later several scholarly articles concerning the subject. Galton’s research primarily focused on hereditary characteristics and other genetic abnormalities. He used this research to eventually establish a new social theory known as eugenics — a philosophy deeply rooted in racism, xenophobia, and a belief that all men are not created equal.

Finger Prints by Francis Galton, 1892, [front cover] Photo Source

The creation of eugenics, a philosophy of mating that encourages “breeding out” undesirable characteristics even if by means of forced sterilization or homicide, would eventually inspire German dictator, Adolf Hitler to lead the mass genocide of Jewish communities during the era of World War II and would lead to many other atrocities committed against humankind in the name of so-called purity. Galton asserted that you could identify racial disparities by examining the loops and arches of a fingerprint. While recent studies, such as this one conducted by anthropologists at North Carolina State & Washington State universities, identify that there may be evidence of ancestral differences deep within the cells of our dermis, it should be noted that Francis Galton also alleged there were no discernable differences found between an art or science student’s fingerprint and that of the “worst idiots in town” and his claim that fingerprints corroborated a system of racial superiority evidenced his aptitude for pseudoscience and proved evidentiary of his profoundly racist beliefs.

The Remnants of Forgotten Artists

Additional examinations of fingerprinting throughout history include the anthropological study of Mesopotamian ceramics and Greco-Roman pottery. Archaeologists have discovered impressions of fingerprints in the clay of several ancient antiquities. While the differences between male and female fingerprint ridges are not compelling, there are subtle variations that make it possible to now discern the gender of the individual who crafted the piece. This advancement alone has given researchers key insight into the lives of our ancient ancestors and suggested that the gendering of ceramics was a more modern development rather than a gender role practiced by early civilizations of humans. Even the smudged left-hand thumbprint of Leonardo da Vinci has been unearthed by conservators on a medical drawing held by the British Royal Collection.