Transcriber’s notes: In this transcription, paired _underscores_ denote _italicised text_ and =equal= signs indicate bold text. Footnotes are located below the relevant paragraphs. The text contains some typographic characters that might not display correctly with all viewing devices. If some of the characters look abnormal, first ensure that the device’s character encoding is set to Unicode (UTF-8). The default font might also need to be changed to a Unicode font such as Arial Unicode MS, DejaVu, Segoe UI Symbol or FreeSerif. Some pages contain alphabet letters displayed in bold sans-serif font, but some browsers or viewing devices may display them with a serif font. The following spelling errors have been corrected silently: pecularities —> peculiarities indentification —> identification classfication —> classification. Inconsistent hyphenation (e.g. fingerprint, finger-print, finger print) remains as in the original text, as does the inconsistent use of em dashes in the index. A few illustrations have been relocated nearer to the relevant text, and their page references adjusted appropriately in the list of illustrations. [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