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[Illustration: Cover]




                             Dactylography

                   _Or, THE STUDY OF FINGER-PRINTS_




  [Illustration:      [Illustration:       [Illustration:
  GREASY SMUDGE       ACCIDENTAL SMUDGE    A “NEGATIVE” THUMB-PRINT,
  (Vivified by        (encircled for       furrows and pores black,
  white powder).]     presentation).]      ridges white.]

  Dactylography, frontispiece




                             DACTYLOGRAPHY
                                  OR
                     _THE STUDY OF FINGER-PRINTS_

                                  BY
                             HENRY FAULDS

               L.R.F.P. & S.       F.R. Anthrop. Inst.,
               M.R. Archæol. Inst.      M. Sociol. Soc.

                              Illustrated

                                [Logo]

                                HALIFAX
                           MILNER & COMPANY
                             RAGLAN WORKS




                               CONTENTS.


  CHAPTER                                                       PAGE

     I. Introduction: Early Hints and Recent Progress              9

    II. Sweat-Pores, Ridges, and Furrows                          29

   III. Finger-Print Patterns                                     39

    IV. Some Biological Questions in Dactylography                49

     V. Technique of Printing and Scrutinizing Finger-Patterns    61

    VI. Persistence of Finger-Print Patterns                      76

   VII. Syllabic Classification of Finger-Prints                  83

  VIII. Practical Results and Future Prospects                   101

  GLOSSARY                                                       120

  BIBLIOGRAPHY                                                   123

  INDEX                                                          125




                         LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


                                                                PAGE

  Greasy Smudge, Accidental Smudge, and a Negative
    Thumb-print                                           _frontis._

  Footprints in Ancient Mexican Remains                           10

  Single Finger-Print                                             19

  Facsimile of Original Outline Forms for both hands              19

  Section of Skin showing Sweat-Glands, Ducts and Pores           29

  Ripple Marks in Sand                                            32

  Grevy’s Zebra, showing lineations like Finger-print
    Patterns                                                      39

  Section of Pine-wood Stem and a Human Thumb-print               43

  Design-like Patterns in Finger-prints                           46

  Anthropoid Lineations                                           51

  Reduced Copy of Police Register Form                            68

  Flexible Curves and Curve Rules                                 70

  Diagrammatic Analysis of Lineations in a Restricted Section     71

  Kew Micrometer                                                  72

  Glass Disc centred                                              73

  Vowels and Consonants in Syllabic Classification               100




                             Dactylography

                    _OR THE STUDY OF FINGER-PRINTS_




CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION: EARLY HINTS AND RECENT PROGRESS


Dactylography deals with what is of scientific interest and practical
value in regard to the lineations in the skin on the fingers and toes,
or rather on the hands and feet of men, monkeys, and allied tribes,
which lineations form patterns of great variety and persistence. The
Greeks used the term δάκτυλος του̑ ποδός (_daktylos tou podos_, finger
of the foot) for a toe; and the toes are of almost as much interest to
the dactylographer as the fingers, and present similar patterns for
study.

In primitive times the savage hunter had to use all his wits sharply in
the examination of foot and toe marks, whether of the game he pursued
or the human foe he guarded against, and he learned to deduce many
a curious lesson with Sherlock Holmes-like acuteness and precision.
The recency, the rate of motion, the length of stride, the degree of
fatigue, the number, and kinds and conditions of men or beasts that
had impressed their traces on the soil, all could be read by him with
ease and promptness. Such imprints have been preserved in early Mexican
picture writings.

[Illustration: FOOTPRINTS IN ANCIENT MEXICAN REMAINS.

Inset: Threshold with Foot-Marks (also Mexican).]

In a similar way the palæontologist strives to interpret the impress
made by organisms