HF The History of Photography 600pág

516 Some applications of photography
atrocious criminals whose portraits you recently sent, and confidently hope to capture
the other two very shortly.'
In France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Denmark an anthropometrical system consisting
of measuring certain bones which do not alter after maturity was adopted in
the early 18 Bos. Alphonse Bertillon, a Parisian police officer, in 18 80 devised this
method for identification by measuring the length and width of the head, the length
of the middle and little fingers of the left hand, of the left foot and forearm, and the
height of the body. Examination of 50,000 people showed that no two had the same
measurements. By the Bertillon method, photographs were divided into three classes
according to height-tall, medium, or short-and each of these classes was subdivided
again and again according to the other measurements. The measurements of an
arrested person were given priority over comparison of photographs, thus avoiding
mistaken identity due to strong chance resemblance-or a false name which prisoners
frequently give.
In England a different foolproof system of additional identification was introduced,
which originated in Bengal. In 1858 Sir William J. Herschel (son of Sir John
Herschel), then a magistrate in Bengal, had recourse to finger-printing for its deterrent
effect on the practice of repudiating signatures. Having confirmed during many
years' study that no change takes place in the pattern of the ridges in the skin,
Herschel used his system officially in his own district at Hooghly until his retirement
in 1878. Fifteen years later the Bengal Government adopted the method and soon
finger-printing became general practice in India, a system of classification of fingerprints
according to their pattern having meanwhile been worked out by Sir Edward
Henry, who wrote a text book. When Henry came to England as Commissioner of
the London Metropolitan Police in 1901, he introduced finger-printing at Scotland
Yard.