_l_ = Loop of either kind on the middle or ring finger. _w_ = Whorl. These 500 cases supply no entries at all to eleven of the thirty-six index-headings, less than five entries (or under 1 per cent) to ten others, and the supply is distributed very unevenly among the remaining fifteen. This table makes it easy to calculate beforehand the spaces required for an index of any specified number of prints, whether they be on the pages of a Register, or in compartments, or in drawers of movable cards. CHAPTER X PERSONAL IDENTIFICATION We shall speak in this chapter of the aid that finger prints can give to personal identification, supposing throughout that facilities exist for taking them well and cheaply, and that more or less practice in reading them has been acquired by many persons. A few introductory words will show this supposition to be reasonable. At the present moment any printer, and there are many printers in every town, would, at a small charge, blacken a slab and take the prints effectively, after being warned to use very little ink, as described in Chapter III. The occupation of finger printing would, however, fall more naturally into the hands of photographers, who, in addition to being found everywhere, are peculiarly well suited to it, for, taken as a class, they are naturally gifted with manual dexterity and mechanical ingenuity. Having secured good impressions, they could multiply them when necessary, and enlarge when desired, while the ticketing and preservation of the negatives would fall into their usual business routine. As they already occupy themselves with one means of identification, a second means of obtaining the same result is allied to their present work. Were it the custom for persons about to travel to ask for prints of their fingers when they were photographed, a familiarity with the peculiarities of finger prints, and the methods of describing and classifying them, would become common. Wherever finger prints may be wanted for purposes of attestation and the like, the fact mentioned by Sir W. Herschel (p. 45) as to the readiness with which his native orderlies learnt to take them with the ink of his office stamp, must not be forgotten. The remarks about to be made refer to identification generally, and are not affected by the fact that the complete process may or may not include the preliminary search of a catalogue; the two stages of search and of comparison will be treated separately towards the close of the chapter.