Advances in Fingerprint Technology.pdf

Figure 1.13 Dr. Henry Faulds. (Drawn by John Berry.)
year. He joined the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland and married
Isabella Wilson before sailing to Japan as a medical missionary. He arrived
on March 5, 1874, and set up a hospital at Tsuki, in Tokyo, that was the first
of its kind in Japan. While walking along the beach of the Bay of Yedo, he
found ancient shards of pottery bearing the finger imprints of the potters
(obviously not using the Getic technique of smoothness of surface). He
became extremely interested in fingerprints. In one classical experiment, he
removed the skin from the fingers of his patients after fingerprinting them;
when the skin regrew on the fingertips he fingerprinted them once more,
noting that the ridge detail was exactly the same as it was before the skin was
removed. He recognized that fingerprint patterns were variable, but concluded
that ridge detail was immutable. I believe Faulds was the person to
identify finger imprints at crime scenes; the Japanese sought his assistance
twice to compare scene imprints with suspects; the people he identified
subsequently admitted to the crimes.
I have already mentioned the amazing letter Faulds sent to Charles Darwin
in 1880 and Darwin’s reply mentioning Mr. F. Galton, later Sir Francis
Galton. However, Faulds’ letter to Nature on October 28, 1880, was a most
staggering document, and I dearly wish there was sufficient space to reprint
the letter in full. It covered the following points: