| | PAGE |
| [CHAPTER I] |
| Introduction | [1] |
| Distinction between creases and ridges | [1] |
| Origin of the inquiry | [2] |
| Summaries of the subsequent chapters | [3-21] |
| Viz. of ii., [3];iii., [4];iv., [5]; |
| v., [5]; vi., [8]; vii., [10]; |
| viii., [12];ix., [13]; x., [14]; |
| xi., [16];xii., [17];xiii., [19]; |
| |
| [CHAPTER II] |
| Previous Use of Finger Prints | [22] |
| Superstition of personal contact | [22] |
| Rude hand-prints | [23] |
| Seals to documents | [23] |
| Chinese finger marks | [24] |
| The tipsahi of Bengal | [24] |
| Nail-marks on Assyrian bricks | [25] |
| Nail-mark on Chinese coins | [25] |
| Ridges and cheiromancy—China, Japan, and by negroes | [26] |
| Modern usage—Bewick, Fauld, Tabor, and G. Thompson | [26] |
| Their official use by Sir W. J. Herschel | [27] |
| |
| [CHAPTER III] |
| Methods of Printing | [30] |
| Impression on polished glass or razor | [30] |
| The two contrasted methods of printing | [31] |
| General remarks on printing from reliefs—ink; low relief of ridges; layer of ink; drying due to oxidisation | [32-34] |
| Apparatus at my own laboratory—slab; roller; benzole (or equivalent); funnel; ink; cards | [35-38] |
| Method of its manipulation | [38-40] |
| Pocket apparatus | [40] |
| Rollers and their manufacture | [40] |
| Other parts of the apparatus | [41] |
| Folders—long serviceable if air be excluded | [42] |
| Lithography | [43] |
| Water colours and dyes | [44] |
| Sir W. Herschel’s official instructions | [45] |
| Printing as from engraved plates—Prof. Ray Lankester; Dr. L. Robinson | [45] |
| Methods of Dr. Forgeot | [46] |
| Smoke prints—mica; adhesive paper, by licking with tongue | [47-48] |
| Plumbago; whitening | [49] |
| Casts—sealing-wax; dentist’s wax; gutta-percha; undried varnish; collodion | [49-51] |
| Photographs | [51] |
| Prints on glass and mica for lantern | [51] |
| Enlargements—photographic, by camera lucida, pantagraph | [52-53] |
| |
| [CHAPTER IV] |
| The Ridges and their Uses | [54] |
| General character of the ridges | [54] |
| Systems on the palm—principal ones; small interpolated systems | [54-55] |
| Cheiromantic creases—their directions; do not strictly correspond with those of ridges | [56-57] |
| Ridges on the soles of the feet | [57] |
| Pores | [57] |
| Development:—embryology; subsequent growth; disintegration by age, by injuries | [58-59] |
| Evolution | [60] |
| Apparent use as regards pressure—theoretic; experiment with compass points | [60-61] |
| Apparent use as regards rubbing—thrill thereby occasioned | [62-63] |
| |
| [CHAPTER V] |
| Patterns: their Outlines and Cores | [64] |
| My earlier failures in classifying prints; their causes | [64-66] |
| The triangular plots | [67] |
| Outlines of patterns—eight sets of ten digits given as examples | [69-70] |
| Supplies of ridges to pattern | [71] |
| Letters that read alike when reversed | [71] |
| Magnifying glasses, spectacles, etc. | [72] |
| Rolled impressions, their importance | [73] |
| Standard patterns, cores, and their nomenclature | [74-77] |
| Direction of twist, nomenclature | [78] |
| Arches, loops, whorls | [78] |
| Transitional cases | [79] |
| The nine genera | [80] |
| Measurements—by ridge-intervals; by aid of bearings like compass | [82-84] |
| Purkenje—his Commentatio and a translation of it in part | [84-88] |
| |
| [CHAPTER VI] |
| Persistence | [89] |
| Evidence available | [89] |
| About thirty-five points of reference in each print | [90] |
| Photo-enlargement; orientation; tracing axes of ridges | [90-91] |
| Ambiguities in minutiæ | [91] |
| V. H. Hd. as child and boy, a solitary change in one of the minutiæ | [92] |
| Eight couplets from other persons | [93] |
| One from Sir W. G. | [95] |
| Summary of 389 comparisons | [96] |
| Ball of a thumb | [96] |
| Results as to persistence | [97] |
| |
| [CHAPTER VII] |
| Evidential Value | [100] |
| Method of rough comparison | [100] |
| Chance against guessing a pattern | [101] |
| Number of independent elements in a print—squares respectively of one, six, and five ridge-intervals in side | [101-103] |
| Interpolation, three methods of | [103-105] |
| Local accidents inside square | [107] |
| Uncertainties outside it | [109] |
| Compound results | [110] |
| Effect of failure in one, two, or more prints | [111] |
| Final conclusions—Jezebel | [112-113] |
| |
| [CHAPTER VIII] |
| Peculiarities of the Digits | [114] |
| Frequency per cent of arches, loops, and whorls generally, and on the several digits | [114-115] |
| Characteristic groups of digits | [116-118] |
| Relationships between the digits | [119] |
| Centesimal scale of relationship | [124-126] |
| Digits of same and of different names | [130] |
| |
| [CHAPTER IX] |
| Methods of Indexing | [131] |
| Use of an index | [131] |
| Method of few conspicuous differences in many fingers | [131] |
| Specimen index | [133] |
| Order in which the digits are noted | [134] |
| Examples of indexing | [135] |
| Effect of regarding slopes | [135] |
| Number of index-heads required for 100 sets in each of twelve different methods | [136-138] |
| i and o in forefingers only | [138] |
| List of commonest index-headings | [140] |
| Number of headings to 100 sets, according to the digits that are noted | [142] |
| Transitional cases; sub-classifications | [143-144] |
| Symbols for patterns | [144] |
| Storing cards | [145] |
| Number of entries under each head when only the first three fingers are noted | [146] |
| |
| [CHAPTER X] |
| Personal Identification | [147] |
| Printers and photographers | [147] |
| Use of means of identification to honest persons; in regard to criminals | [148-149] |
| Major Ferris, Mr. Tabor, N. Borneo | [149-153] |
| Best digits for registration purposes | [153] |
| Registration of criminals—M. Bertillon | [154] |
| Details of Bertillonage; success attributed to it; a theoretic error | [155-158] |
| Verification on a small scale | [158-162] |
| Experiences in the United States | [163] |
| Body marks; teeth | [165-166] |
| Value of finger prints for search in a register | [166] |
| Identification by comparison | [167] |
| Remarks by M. Herbette | [168] |
| |
| [CHAPTER XI] |
| Heredity | [170] |
| Different opinions | [170] |
| Larger meaning of heredity | [170] |
| Connection between filial and fraternal relationships | [171] |
| Fraternity, a faulty word but the best available | [171] |
| A and B brothers | [172] |
| Test case of calculated randoms | [173] |
| Fraternities by double A. L. W. events | [175] |
| The C. standard patterns | [177] |
| Limitation of couplets in large fraternities | [178] |
| Test of accurate classification | [179] |
| Fraternities by double C. events | [181] |
| Centesimal scale applied | [184] |
| Twins | [185] |
| Children of like-patterned parents | [187] |
| Simple filial relationship | [190] |
| Influences of father and mother | [190] |
| |
| [CHAPTER XII] |
| Races and Classes | [192] |
| Data for races | [192] |
| Racial differences are statistical only | [193] |
| Calculations by Mr. F. H. Collins | [193] |
| Hebrew peculiarities | [194] |
| Negro peculiarities, questionable | [196] |
| Data for different classes in temperament, faculty, etc., and results | [197] |
| M. Féré | [197] |
| |
| [CHAPTER XIII] |
| Genera | [198] |
| Type, meaning of | [198] |
| Law of frequency of error | [198] |
| Discussion of three elements in the loops on either thumb | [200-207] |
| Proportions of typical loops | [209] |
| The patterns are transmitted under conditions of panmixia, yet do not blend | [209] |
| Their genera are not due to selection; inference | [210] |
| Sports; variations | [211] |