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In the popular mind, as attested by numerous works of fiction and by newspaper articles, the main use of the patterns of the finger tips is to aid a detective in identifying a criminal by means of the marks which his fingers have left upon the objects which he had handled; but, as a matter of fact, although such a proceeding is certainly possible, Galton seems never to have suggested such sensational aid to detective work. Both the Bertillon and the Galton systems are rather methods of describing and registering a man, whether a criminal or not, by certain physical peculiarities and in such a way that he or his body may be identified at any future time; and both involve two procedures, (1) that of taking certain individual records, and (2) that of classifying and arranging them so that they may be easily found when occasion requires. The Galton system is based upon imprints of the epidermic patterns found upon the balls of the thumbs and fingers, and Mr. Galton, although by no means the first to employ such means for the identification of individuals, is the first to attempt a careful and scientific system by which these data may be described, registered and classified.

The use of such prints has been sporadically employed in both ancient and modern times, and seems to have long been in use among the Chinese, but data concerning the official workings of this vast and ancient empire are difficult of access to Europeans, and it is likely, as in so many other claims, that the facts when found will be disappointing when compared with the reports concerning them. Galton himself was first led to the study of finger prints by his friend Sir William Herschel who, when 'Collector' or chief administrator of the Hooghly district in Bengal, added to the signatures of the natives upon all official documents the imprint of the index and middle fingers of their right hands, taken by means of the ink employed for his office stamp.

Galton, indeed, says of his friend that 'if the use of finger prints ever becomes of genuine importance, Sir William Herschel must be regarded as the first who devised a feasible method for regular use and afterwards officially adopted it,' but it must also be remembered by the one who writes the final history of this system that it was Galton who devised the method by which such prints could be described and classified, and thus become of practical value.

The Galton system of personal identification by means of finger prints rests upon two necessary principles, both of which have been established by him beyond refutation:—

I. The absolutely individual character of the markings.

II. Their permanence throughout life.