dressed the detective watched his room-mate, and discovered the scar; the following day a warrant was secured by Poyn, and Hedden was arrested; and now more positive evidence was needed from Buffalo, and the telegraph wires were kept busy. Hedden's photograph was taken and sent to Buffalo, and word came back that it was the picture of Crandall. Hedden asserted his innocence vehemently and repeatedly, and said that he owned a farm at Lake View, near Rochester, upon which his family were living; and two or three Tacoma people of prominence became interested and did all they could to help him. It subsequently transpired that persons who knew Crandall saw the prisoner, and while admitting that the resemblance was striking, said that the prisoner was not Crandall. After a long and bitter fight Hedden finally got his liberty.

It is a fact that must be patent to all that careful examination of a large number of scalps will reveal the presence of traces of long-forgotten injuries which have escaped ordinary observation, and these may be discovered for the first time by persons anxious to find something.

The Age of Cicatrices.-French writers have tried to fix with more or less certainty the date of formation of a cicatrix, but there is no absolute way of determining the exact time of the wound itself. Much, however, depends upon its situation, and character of the instrument used, and, after all, we can only be governed by the general rule of Casper, that "a white cicatrix indicates that the wound is not recent." Occasionally it is possible to determine the existence of the marks of a former solution of continuity by vigorous rubbing, which brings the blood to the

surface.

A cicatrix is not always the consequence of a wound, for those left by a very sharp instrument may heal quickly without any trace, espe cially if antiseptic precautions have been taken; on the other hand, if no cicatrix remains to mark the alleged locality of a burn or stab of any magnitude, it is most probable that none has been made.

Tattooing.-Very often the identity of a suspected person may be determined by initials or inscriptions which have reference to some other person, or to his calling or previous life.

According to Lombroso, the greater number of tattooed criminals are among the recedivists and instinctive criminals, "especially those who have committed crimes against the person." Ellis (The Criminal, London, 1892, p. 104) says that "the fewest are found among swindlers and forgers, the most intelligent class of criminals."

In making an examination it will be found that among women of easy virtue, pædrasts, and tribades the designs are nearly always obscene, but it cannot be denied that tattooing among women is as a rule very rare. Alborghetti found that 40 of 100 children at the reformatory at Turin were tattooed, which was not the case with the children among the ordinary population. Greaves (referred to by Ellis) examined 555 tattooed persons in Derby Prison; 41 were tattooed, the subjects being chiefly soldiers, sailors, and miners.

The Question of Indelibility.-Considerable controversy has taken place regarding the indelibility of tattoo marks. Tardieu, whose investigations were very thorough and far-reaching, believed that it was possible to entirely get rid of extensive tattoo marks, and found that it

was the custom for criminals in French prisons to resort to blisters, acids, and other escharotics, with more or less success. It would appear from his investigations that deposits of India ink are much more indelible than vermilion, or other pigments, but even they would occasionally disappear without any systematic attempt at removal. A French criminal referred to by Tardieu effectually removed within six days very extensive marks from his body by means of an application of a paste of acetic acid and lard, and afterward they were rubbed with potash and finally with dilute hydrochloric acid. Tardieu, who experimented, found that if the paste were left on for a day there would be some detachment of the cuticle, and that if the potash were used the second day, and the parts rubbed five or six times, such application would be followed on the third day by the formation of a crust which finally fell off, leaving a partial obliteration. Successive crusts, which were undoubtedly due to a more or less deep destruction, were removed, and at last it was found that the parts beneath were without any remaining pigment.

Taylor, on the other hand, is of the opinion that deep tattoo marks cannot be effaced, in which conclusion he is opposed by the writer to whom reference has just been made, as well as by Casper and Hutin.

Casper found that out of 37 persons examined the marks had become effaced in 6; Hutin, of 509 examined, disappeared in 47; Tardieu, of 76 examined, effaced in 3-over nine percent. of the whole. In the famous Tichborne trial, evidence was given that both Roger Charles Tichborne, the heir, and the man called Arthur Orton had been tattooed. Now Tichborne's tattoo was R. C. T., and Arthur Orton's was A. O. On the arm of the claimant there were no tattoo marks at all, but there were two round depressed scars on the left wrist about the size of a shilling, and suggestive of the tattoo marks as A. O. These scars had evidently been produced by escharotics. Of course excision of tattooed wounds is an easy possibility.

HANDWRITING.

Identification by means of handwriting is largely a matter of comparison and natural proof, and I will only refer to it briefly. Attention, however, must be called to the peculiarities of style, the formation of habits, and the variation of chirography under different circumstances. When once the automatic habit of writing is acquired, there is usually very little difficulty in determining by comparison the correspondence of one given example with another; but when through disease the volitional impulse is interrupted, a very decided change occurs, which may to a certain extent confuse the examiner. Mere tremblings need not be considered, but through mental disease or certain organic nervous affections a very material change in style and letter formation is a familiar feature; among the sane, sustained efforts at deception are almost impossible, and different parts of the same letter, as well as an inspection of letters written at different times, will reveal peculiarities which are the result of acquired habit. It will be necessary to determine sometimes whether a person has written with his right or left hand, and it must not be forgotten that it is possible, as we know in the cases of writer's cramp, for

persons to educate themselves to write with the unaffected extremity, the result being often a legible and clear production with more or less. change of style.

FINGER AND FOOT IMPRESSIONS.

For the establishment of the identity of a criminal a careful examination should always be made of the papers handled, window-panes, and china and glass ornaments, or, in fact, any other object which may receive an impress from his more or less greasy fingers, at the place of commission of the crime. By oblique light there will sometimes be no difficulty in finding upon the polished window-pane a faint though perfect imprint, which can afterward be strengthened and made the subject of a permanent record. For this purpose the method contrived by Forgeot (publications of the Laboratoire d'Anthropologie Criminelle, of Lyons), which consists in the application of common ink or some aqueous pigment which will adhere to the parts that are not greasy, may be tried; or the glass may be subjected to the vapor of hydrofluoric acid. Forgeot has shown that even pieces of paper which have been touched by slightly greasy hands will bear the imprint of the fingers, and the most delicate markings may be brought out after treatment with ordinary ink, and these used as a negative with good results. In exceptional cases the finger-marks may be made to give lithographic impressions.

Galton (Finger Prints, London, 1892) refers to the comparison of these markings with those which are obtained by making the suspected person press his thumb and fingers upon transfer-paper, the impression being subsequently transferred to stone, thus correcting the impression, which should be reversed if direct contact were made.

The value of finger impressions as a proof of identity is certainly one that has not been over-exaggerated. Galton says: "So far as the proportions of the patterns go, they are not absolutely fixed, even in the adult, inasmuch as they change with the shape of the finger. If the finger is plumped out or emaciated, or variously deformed by usage, gout, or age, the proportions of the pattern will vary also. Two prints of the same finger, one taken before and the other after an interval of many years, cannot be expected to be as closely alike as two prints similarly made from the same woodcut. They are far from satisfying the shrewd test of the stereoscope, which shows if there has been an alteration even of a letter in two otherwise duplicate pages of print. The measurements vary at different periods, even in the adult, just as much if not more than his height, span, and the length of his several limbs. On the other hand, the numerous bifurcations, origins, islands, and inclosures in the ridges that compose the pattern are proved to be almost beyond change. A comparison is made between the pattern on a finger and one on a piece of lace; the latter may be stretched or shrunk as a whole, but the threads of which it is made retain their respective peculiarities. The evidence on which these conclusions are founded is considerable, and almost wholly derived from the collections made by Sir W. Herschel, who most kindly placed them at my disposal. They refer to one or more fingers, and in a few instances to the whole hand, of fifteen persons. The intervals be

fore and after which the prints were taken amount in some cases to thirty years. Some of them reach from babyhood to boyhood, some

Fig. 39.-Schematic figure showing the different thumb-tip types of Galton and the disposition of the papillary lines. The capitals, C and T, respectively indicate the curved lines (C) and the transverse lines (7); the small letters, e and i, correspond to the external and internal sides of the last phalanx. 1. First type (primary type); 2, second type (Cei, Tei): 3, third type (Ce, Ti): 4, fourth type (Ci, Te); 5, fifth type (Ci, To; 6, sixth type (Cei, Ti): 7. seventh type (Ci, Tei); 8, eighth type (Ce, Te); 9, ninth type (Ce, Tei); 10, tenth type (Cei, Te). (Testut.)

from childhood to youth, some from youth to advanced middle age, one from middle life to incipient old age. These four stages nearly include the whole of the ordinary life of man. I have compared altogether some 700 points of reference in these couplets of impressions, and only found a single instance of discordance, in which a ridge that was cleft in a child became united in later years. Photographic enlargements are given in illustration, which include between them a total of 157 pairs of points of reference, all bearing distinctive numerals to facilitate comparison and to prove their unchangeableness. Reference is made. to another illustrated publication of mine, which raises the total number of points compared to 389, all of which were successful, with the single exception above mentioned. The fact of an almost complete persistence in the peculiarities of the ridges from birth to death may now be considered as determined. They existed before birth, and they persist after death, until effaced by decomposition."

A definite and constant series of patterns is found. (See Fig. 39.) These consist of ridges and depressions, and the last phalanx of the thumb contains in its space between the parallel ridges "a compact little system of its own, variously curved and whorled, being a fictitious resemblance to an eddy between two currents." (See Fig. 40.)

Fig. 10.-Impression of the right thumb-schematic. (Testut.) 1, Curved lines; %, transverse lines: 3, intermediate lines; C, the highest of the curved lines; T, the lowest of the curved lines; e i, external and internal sides of the thumb.

Galton gives examples to show how the outlining is performed, and some of the patterns which are characteristic. He says: "Outlines fall

for the most part into nine distinct genera, confined by the relative direction of the divergent ridges that inclose them." He divides his classification with reference to the existence of arches, loops, and whorls. "In the arches there is no pattern, strictly speaking, for there is no interspace; the need of it being avoided by a successive and regular broadening out of the ridges as they cross the bulb of the finger. In loops the interspace is filled with a system of ridges that bends back upon itself, in which no ridge turns through a complete circle. Whorls contain all cases in which at least one ridge turns through a complete circle, and they include certain double patterns which have a whorled appearance."

I append one of his plates, which has been reproduced by Testut, which may serve as a guide for examination.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF FOOTPRINTS.

Sometimes footprints are the only traces left by a murderer, and will alone lead to the identity of the assassin. Much attention has been paid, especially by Ogston, to the impressions that are often found in the soil near the place where the deed has been committed. Putting out of the question certain scars and other peculiarities that may be subsequently compared with the foot of the suspected person, and devoting more attention to the footmark itself, we may assume that, according to Mascar and

A

Fig. 41.

most others, the print in the ground is smaller than the foot which made it. This is in variance with the popular idea that the impression in the ground is equal if not larger than the foot that made it, and Caussé holds to this view that the impression is usually larger. It has been shown that the action of the individual can be somewhat determinedthat is to say, whether he was standing, walking, or running-from the depth and extent of the marks.