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).]