To Identify Them

Di. lphonse Bertiljon, the author of the French systein forthe identification of crimináis, writes as follows in regafd to the best ineans Tor making it of general use by the pólice of the large capitals of Enrope: "The growing ease and rapidity of communication between the greatcities of Europe have so lessened distahces that the interccurse between tho pólice of the various countries daily becomes inore frequent. London, for esarnple, may now be said to eztend as far as Paris, and Brussels is practically a súburb of the Freiich capital. IQ the midst of these daily exchangos of good services where is the oiHcer who bas nöt longed for tho creation of an interuational öescriptive- or distinctivo mark, signaleltiques - method and language? tivity, especially in electricity, congresses have, in proportion to tho necessity, Bupplied thiswarit of a universal nnderstauding. It is thus that the eleerical units - watt, ampère, volt, etc. - have been created and unanirnously adopted. Why should not the pólice of ivilized - or policed, for it is all one omitries do as much for tho description nd notation of the different shapes of orehead, nose, color of the eye, etc? "There exist under the name of hipology whole treatises fi'led with words of English origin for the description of the coat and the points of the horse. For the description of the human being all soeins leí't to chance. Kothing was attenipted in thisdirectionntil theappointment by Mr. Asquith of the coaimiSBion for comparing the different methüds of identifica tion and description. "This commission t'uund at Paris, bv me siae oí a systein oí measnröinent which has borne sorno littlo testhnony everywhere, a very carefnlly considered naetaod of describing the human body, and the face in particular. Tbere ia in this neitber invention nor personal pröprietorship. My intervention has coneisted in transportiug and adapting to the wants of tho pólice the procedures of description in use in anatoruical sciences, and particularly in anthropology. "Anthropometry, properly so called, is oniy a part of tbat wliole knowledn neceseary in tracking crimináis, and Mts eole aira iá to snppíy a basis of cl fication. ' One ia able ly nieaiis of I i métrica iniormation suppüed by il . , classify severgl bundrd thousand h; . - vidual notifica ti ons. Bui let me hasïiut to say tbat theso notilióatións should ' theuiselves always be acconipanied by an abstract of particular raarirá foimd upon the person examjned, and it is ííis last document uauch mord than the agreemcnt oí measxu-eaients -whicli is appealedto to give judicial certainty to an ulterior identific.ition. "At Paris photographs of the person in profile and fullface are added, which by themselves also aiïord the certairity of identiiication. Thus the elements of certainty are not wanting. A photograph or irnprcssion of the ear would alone suffice to establish an identity. it is, as a matter of fact, ijupossible among 100,000 individuals to find two ears exactly alike- except in the case of twhi brothers. "The great ad vantage of adding to the anthrcpoznetrical notification a complete descriptivo photograph of a person is that the pólice are provided with a document whicb, in case of a fresh offense, of escape, etc., can be looked to to rendrr the greatest possible assistan.ce. "It may bo well to add to these eleraents of informatiorr, clearly independent of one another - measureinent, particular marks and profile photograph - whicb, together, 10 years' experieneo has shown to be absolntely infaJlible - a fonrth element, 'finger tip irupressions' (I'irjipres8ion des fingrammes du )ouce). Jt goes without saying that 1 see no major difijculty in it. Bat 1 am afraid that the escrciso of the process may at first sight appear much more imple than it really is. In the first place, let me repeat 'that the finger tip 3roces8 neither does away with nor reilaces in any way 'judicial antbropoiBtry, f or these deline aresodiveriffed thai they do not oueï an adeqnsta element of cJassincaticn- that is a point which no one disputes. Therefore the finger tip process sh'otild bc considfired as affording supplementary inionn..!ion only, capable at the most oï replaciag photojfraphy. "Moreover, does not Mr. b Ualton. himself say that tho esaminatíon cf: these impressions can be properly made only by means of photographic enlargements? Then why not photograph tho man himself whose measurements have jubi úeen lauen: "I. must own, however, that up to the present I havealwayspostponed thefull trial of the finger tip procesa on account of the unpleasantness of sending all my Bubjects bef ore the court vvith their fingers more or less blackened, for everybody knows how viscous printing ink is and how difficult to get otf. Nevertheless I have quite detennined, if the procesa should become customary in Englnnd, to petiüon tho minister of the int, ror and the prefect of pólice for the req&ifiite authority to add it to the anthropometric description - so great is the ünortance that 1 attach to international aniiortaity in pólice tions. "-