HISTORY OF THE

ROLE OF
FINGERPRINT
CHINA
It was a common practice for the Chinese to
use inked fingerprints on official documents, land
scales, contracts, loans and acknowledgements of
debt. Finger seals for sealing documents to prove
its authenticity.
With the advent of silk and paper “hand
prints” became the most common method of
ensuring the genuineness of a contract. The right
hand was simply traced or stamped onto a
document. The anthropometric values of hand size
and shape, along with a signature, were often
enough to ensure authenticity.
 During 1975 in Yven Ming Country in China, bamboo strips were
found describing a trial reported to have taken place during in Qin
dynasty (300 B.C). During a thief trial handprint were entered a
evidence.
Another anthropometric method used in early China was the
“Deed of Hand Mark.” The Chinese put notches randomly along the
sides of the writing tablets of duplicate contracts. The notches could be
physically matched by holding the tablets together of some future time
to ensure authenticity. Wooden tablets were inscribed with the terms
of the contract and notches were cut into sides at the identical places
so that the tablets could later be matched; thus proving them genuine;
the significance of the notches was the same as that of the fingerprint
of the present time.” The comparison of the use of notches on tablets to
the use of fingerprints established that fingerprints were used to
identify people in 650 A.D.
JAPAN
A Japanese Historian, Kamagusu Minakata further
commented about blood stamping. Apparently, contracts
were accompanied by a written oath confirmed with a
blood stamp. The blood stamp was a print of the ring
finger in blood drawn from that digit.
Another Japanese Historian, Churyo Katsurakwawa
(1754) wrote, “According to the Domestic law (enacted in
702 A.D), to divorce a wife, the husband must give her a
document stating which of the seven reasons was assigned
for action. All letters must be in the husband’s
handwriting, but in case he does not understand how to
write, he should sign with a fingerprint.” The main points
of the Japanese domestic Laws were borrowed and
transplanted from the Chinese Laws of Yung Hui.
FRANCE
The most famous ancient stone carvings is
found in the L’lle de Gavrinis of the coast of
France. Here a burial chamber, or dolman, was
discovered dating back to Neolithis times. Its
inner walls are covered with incised designs-
systems of horse-shoe form, more or less circular
concentric figures, spiral, arching lines sinuous
and straight lines and other markings occurring in
various combinations. Many anthropologists
interpret these lines as representing finger or
palmprint patterns.
NOVA SCOTIA
An outline of a hand was scratched into slate
rock beside Kejiomkujil lake by an aboriginal
Indian. The carving is an outline of a hand and
fingers. Within the outline the flexion creases of the
palm and fingers are depicted. This carving has
considerable historical significance. Although it
does not demonstrate knowledge of the
individuality of friction ridges or palmar flexion
creases, it clearly illustrates an early awareness of
the presence of those formations.
BABYLONIA
References by ancient historians have been found describing how finger seals were used
on legal contracts from 1855-1913 B.C. This practice identified the author and protected
against forgery.
References dating from the rule of Hammurabi (1792-1750 B.C) indicate that law
officers were authorized to secure the fingerprints of arrested persons.
PALESTINE
William Frederick Bade, Director of the
Palestine Institute of Archeology, conducted
excavations at various sites in Palestine and at one
place found finger imprints on many pieces of
broken pottery. These “identifications” permitted
the confused debris to dated accurately to the
forth century A.D. Commenting on this case,
Fingerprint magazine (1973) stated that “these
impressions were obviously intentional and no
doubt, represented the workman’s individual
trade mark.”
HOLLAND AND ANCIENT CHINA
Identification of individuals was by means of
branding, tattooing, mutilation and also
manifested by wearing of clothes of different
designs.
In earlier civilization, branding and even
maiming were used to mark the criminal for what
he was. The thief was deprived of the hand which
committed the thievery. The Romans employed the
tattoo needle to identify and prevent desertion of
mercenary soldiers.
CONSTANTINOPLE
In treaty ratification, the Sultan soaked his hand in a sheep’s blood and
impressed it on the document as his seal.
Institute of Applied Science
This institute was the first private school to install laboratories for
instruction purposes in Dactyloscopy.
PERSONALITIES
IN FINGERPRINT
SCIENCE
Thomas Bewick (17 53 - 1828)
A British author, naturalist and engraver
became England’s finest engraver who made
fingerprint stamps. He made wooden engravings of
fingerprints and published their images in his
books where he used an engraving of his
fingerprints as a signature. The engraving
demonstrate familiarity with the construction of
skin ridge. In two of the books he added “Thomas
Bewick, his mark” under the impressions.
Sir William J. Herschel
He is credited as being the first European to recognize
the value of friction ridge points and to actually use them
for identification purposes.
During his first year at Jungepoor, he entered into a
contract on behalf of the Civil Service with a local native,
Radyadhar Konai, to supply road building material.
Herschel had observed a local practice of putting a friction
ridge print of the hand finger beside a signature or mark
on contracts. Contracts having signatures accompanied by
a friction ridge print appeared to command more respect
from the locals and disputes were less frequent.
 On the back of the road contract, Herschel asked
Konai to apply his right palm print in ink. Later, he
claimed to have been the first to use friction ridge prints
for personal identification purposes. His claim was based
on the use of the palm print on the Konai contract.
In 1860, he was sent to Nuddea as Magistrate and
Collector at Hoogly. He controlled the criminal courts, the
prison, registration of deeds, and payment of government
pensions. He implemented the use of fingerprinting in any
area under his control.
Herschel’s experiments with friction ridges resulted in
the first demonstration of friction ridge persistency. He
first fingerprinted himself in 1859. Over the following
years, he reprinted himself and compared those prints with
previously taken prints to ascertain if they had changed.
Dr. J.C.A. Mayer (1788) of Germany

He published the following statements in his

anatomical atlas; “Although the arrangement of
skin ridges is never duplicated in two persons,
nevertheless the similarities are closer among
some individuals. In others the differences are
marked, yet in spite of their peculiarities of
arrangement all have a certain likeness.” This
deduction was published 100 years before the
Konai contract.
Dr. Henry Faulds (1843-1930)
In 1875, Faulds had opened a missionary
hospital and a year later started a medical school
in Japan where he may have been exposed to
fingerprints. He wrote a letter to Charles Darwin
telling him of his studies and requesting assistance.
He mentioned that fingerprints can be classified
easily and that ridge detail is unique. He pointed
out the value of fingerprinting as being in “medico
legal studies” and commented that photographs of
people change over the years but rugae (friction
ridges) never change.
 Faulds also mentioned apprehending criminals by locating fingerprints at crime
scenes.
Both Herschel and Faulds published letters in “Nature.” Herschel claimed he had
used fingerprints for years in India and offered the “Hoogly Letter” as documented
proof. Faulds claimed careful study in Japan and to be the first person to publish notice
on the subject in English literature.
Thomas Taylor (1877)
A microscopist of the Department of Agriculture,
Washington, DC who also suggested that fingerprints
could be used to solve crime.
“Hand Marks Under the Microscope- exhibited on a
screen view of the markings of the palms of the hands,
and the tips of the fingers, and called attention to the
possibility of identifying criminals, especially murderers,
by comparing the marks of the hands left upon any object
with impressions in wax taken from the hands of suspected
persons. In the case of murderers, the marks of bloody
hands would present a very favorable opportunity. This is
a new system of palmistry.”
Alphonse Bertillon (1853-1914)
He devised the first truly scientific method of
criminal identification in Paris France called
anthropometry or Bertillonage. He conceived the
idea of using anatomical measurements to
distinguish one criminal from another. He decided
to use various body measurements such as head
length, head breadth, length of left middle finger,
length of the left cubit (forearm)/ length of left
foot, body height, face breadth, face height and
other descriptions including features such as scars
and hair and eye color to distinguish criminals.
 As time went, by he eventually included
fingerprints on the near end of his anthropometric
cards as a final check of identification.
He has been described as one of the greatest
scientists in the 19th Century.
Galton was of the opinion that fingerprinting
might be a better method of identification. He
added fingerprinting to his presentation of
Bertillonage and entitled the lecture “Personal
Identification and Description”
Dr. Henry P. De Forest
He utilized the first official municipal use of fingerprints for non-criminal
registration on December 19, 1902 in the Municipal Civil Service Commission in the City
of New York. He required civil service applicants to be fingerprinted to prevent them
from having better qualified persons take tests for them and put the system into practice.
Capt. James I. Parke
He advocated the first state and penal use of fingerprint which was officially
adopted in Sing-sing Prison on June 5, 1903 and later at Auburn, Napanoch and Clinton
Penitentiaries.
Sgt. Kenneth Perrier
An Englishman and first fingerprint instructor at the St. Louis Police Department,
Missouri. He was one of the pupils of Sir Edward Richard Henry and through personal
contact during the Worlds Fair Exposition held in St. Louis, a fingerprint bureau was
established on April 12, 1904.
Maj. R. Mccloughry
Mccloughry was the Warden of the Federal Penitentiary of Leavenworth when the
office of the Atty General of the US granted permission to establish a fingerprint bureau
thereon on November 2, 1904. It was the first official National Government use of
fingerprints.
Mary K. Holland
She was the first American Instructor in Dactyloscopy.

Harry Mayers II
In 1925, he installed the first official foot and fingerprint system for infants at the
Jewish Maternity Hospital, Philadephia, Pennsylvania, USA, the first system in the state.
Juan (Ivan) Vucetich (1855-1925)
The fast pace of the advancement of
fingerprinting in England was due to the ingenuity
of Juan Vucetich, who was employed as a
statistician with the Central Police Department
at La Plata, Argentina. In July 1891, the Chief of
Police assigned Vucetich to set up a bureau of
Anthropometric Identification.
He started experimenting with fingerprints and set
up his own equipment for taking criminal’s prints.
Rojas Murders
June 19, 1892, two children were murdered on
the outskirts of the town of Necochea on the coast
of Argentina. The victims were illegitimate
children of a 26-year-old woman named Francisca
Rojas. Rojas blamed Velasquez, an older man who
worked at nearby ranch. However, Velasquez
claimed his innocence. On July 8, 1892, the report
reached La Plata. Police Inspector Alvarez of the
Central Police was sent to Necochea to assist the
local police with the investigation.
 Alvarez examined the scene and he noticed a brown
stain on the bedroom door. Careful examination revealed
that it was a fingerprint. Alvarez had received basic
training in fingerprint identification from Vucetich.
Remembering what he had been taught, he cut out the
piece of the door with fingerprint on it. He returned to
Necochea and requested that Rojas be fingerprinted.
Alvarez compared the fingerprints under a magnifying
glass. With his minimal instruction in fingerprinting, he
could plainly see that the print was Rojas right thumb.
When this evidence was presented to her she admitted that
she had killed her children. The children had stood in the
way of her marriage to the other man.
 When Alvarez returned to La Plata with the
piece of door with Rojas fingerprint Vucetich’s
faith in fingerprints was proven. This case was
reported as the first murder solved by fingerprints.
In 1894 Vucetich published a book entitled
“General Introduction to the Procedures of
anthropometry and fingerprinting.” Argentina
became the first country in the world to abolish
anthropometry and file criminal records solely by
fingerprint classification.
Sir Edward Henry (1850 - 1931)
At the same time that Vucetich was experimenting with
fingerprinting in Argentina, another classification system
was being developed in India. This system was called “The
Henry Classification System.”

In 1891, he was appointed Inspector General of Police

for Bengal Province. Upon taking his new post, Henry
found the anthropometric system was being used to
identify criminals. He developed some doubts about the
accuracy of the anthropometric measurements that were
being stored in the files. He also found that close
supervision during the collection of data was very difficult.
 In India, his course of action was to instruct that all ten
fingers of each prisoner be printed and added to the
anthropometric cards . He assigned two Bengali police
officers to study the classification problem. Henry’s team
was eventually successful in setting up a classification
system with 1024 primary positions and secondary
breakdowns.
In 1899 Henry was invited by the British Association for
the advancement of science to present a paper at Dover. He
returned to England and presented a paper entitled,
“Fingerprints and the Detection of Crime in India.” He also
described the successes and uses of fingerprinting in India.
He published a book entitled “Classification and uses of
fingerprints.”
In 1918, The Henry Classification System started what is
considered the modern era of fingerprint identification
which is the basis for most of the classification presently
used.
Mark Twain (1894)
An American author and lecturer, Twain enhanced the
position of fingerprints when he included their use in the
plot of a novel entitled Pudd’n Head Wilson. In the novel,
a bloody fingerprint is found on the murder weapon and
Pudd’n Head, the defense attorney, has the whole town
fingerprinted. He lectured the court and jury on the basics
of fingerprinting, how fingerprints are immutable, and
that two fingerprints will never be found to be the same.
He also commented on how identical twins can be
indistinguishable in appearance, at times even by their
parents, but their fingerprints will always be different.
FINGERPRINTING IN NORTH AMERICA (1877 -1900)

Isaiah West Taber (1880)

In 1880, a photographer in San Francisco who suggested
that fingerprinting be adopted for the registration of
Chinese immigrant laborers.

Gilbert Thompson (1882)

He used his thumbprint to ensure that the amounts were
not changed or altered on payroll cheques. When issuing a
payroll cheque, he would put an inked thumbprint over the
amount. This is to prevent fraudulent cheque alternations.
New York State (1903)
The New York City Civil Service Commission was using fingerprints to prevent
impersonations during examinations. During the same year, fingerprinting was
introduced into the New York Prison System and at Leavenworth Penitentiary. By 1906
there were six (6) police departments in the U.S that were known to be the taking
fingerprints for Identification purposes.
Fingerprinting in Canada (1904 -1920)
In 1904 St Louis, was the site of world’s Fair.
A chance meeting took place that was to bring
fingerprinting to Canada and eventually spell the
end of the Bertillon Signaletic System. Detective
John Ferrier of the Scotland Yard was at the fair
to guard a display of British crown jewels. Ferrier
and New York State both had displays illustrating
fingerprint Identification. During the fair, the
International Association of Chiefs of Police also
had a convention and invited Ferrier to present a
paper on fingerprints
Edward Foster (1863 - 1956)
Foster, Canadian constable of the Dominion Police
attended the World’s Fair to guard a display of gold. He
attended Ferrier’s presentation at the convention and
intrigued by the possibilities that fingerprinting had to
offer, he felt that a bureau would be effective than an
anthropometry bureau. He also felt that a national
organization in Canada, similar to the International
Association of Chiefs of Police, would encourage
cooperation among Canadian police departments and be
an ideal body to promote a national interest in
fingerprinting.
Upon returning to Canada, he presented his new-found
knowledge and in July 21 1908, an Order-in-Council was
passed sanctioning the use of fingerprint system and that
the provisions of “The Identification of Criminal Act”
were applicable.
 During 1911 the Chicago Police Department
arrested a man named Thomas Jennings for
murder. Jennings had murdered a man when he
had been caught attacking the man’s daughter.
The evidence against Jennings was slim except for
fingerprint evidence. The prosecution wanted to
ensure the fingerprint evidence would be admitted
before the Illinois Supreme Court, which had not
previously ruled on the issue. To strengthen its
case, the prosecution called several recognized
fingerprint experts as witnesses, including
Eduard Foster.
 During the cross examination, Foster was asked by the
defense if he could raise fingerprints on various surfaces.
He took the paper and developed a fingerprint on it. The
Jennings trial is considered a “landmark case” in the
courts. Jennings was convicted and sentenced to hang on
Dec. 22, 1911.
The first conviction in Canada based on fingerprint
evidence took place in 1914 Peter Caracatch and Gregory
Parachique broke into the CPR Station in Petawawa,
Ontario. They left fingerprints on glass at the point of
entry. Edward Foster gave expert evidence at their trial.
SCIENTIFIC RESEARCHERS
Nehemiah Grew (1641 - 1712)
Grew, English botanist, physician and micropist.
In 1684 he published a paper in the Philosophical
Transactions of the Royal Society of London
describing his observations of the “Innumerable little
ridges of equal big ness on the ends of the first joints
of the fingers.” He described sweat pores, epidermal
ridges, and their various arrangements. Included in
his paper was a drawing of the configurations of the
hand displaying the ridge flow on the fingers and
palms.
Govard Bidloo (1685)
Bidloo, anatomist in Amsterdam, Holland, published a book on human anatomy
illustrating friction ridges and pore structure on the underside of the fingers. His
comments were morphological in nature and he did not refer to or mention the
individuality of friction ridges.
Marcello Malpighi (1628 - 1694)
A professor in 1685 at the University of Bologna, Italy,
published the results of his examination of the friction skin
with the newly invented microscope. He has been credited
with being the first to use a microscope in medical studies.
His paper dealt mainly with the function, form, and
structure of the friction skin as a tactile organ , and its use
in the enhancement of traction for walking and grasping.
He was known as the “Grandfather of Dactyloscopy”
according to Dr. Edmond Locard, the “Father of
Poroscopy.” He originated the terms “loops and spirals.”
JCA Mayer (1788)
A German doctor and anatomist whose paper on
fingerprint clearly addressed the individuality of the
friction ridges.
Johannes (Jean) Evangelista Purkinje (1787 - 1869)
A professor at the University of Breslau, Germany,
published a thesis that contained his studies on the eye,
fingerprints and other skin features entitled, “Commentatio
de Examine Phisiologico Organi Visus et Systematis .” He
classified nine principal configuration groups of
fingerprints and assigned each a name he was known as the
“Father of Dactyloscopy.”
Arthur Kollman (1883)
The first researcher to address the formation of friction
ridges in embryos and the topographical physical stressors
that may have been part of their growth. He identified the
presence and locations of the volar pads on the human
hand and foot.
H. Klaatsch (1888)
From Germany who examined the walking pads and
eminences of several pentadactylous of five fingered
mammals. He was credited being the first researcher to
examine the walking surface s of other mammals. He also
referred to the arrangement of the fundamental limits of
the friction ridges as the reason why all ridge formations
are different.
David Hepburn (1895)
He is connected with the University of
Edinburgh, Scotland, published a paper on the
similarity in appearance of the eminences or
walking surfaces of primates entitled, “The
Papillary Ridges on the Hands and Feet of
Monkeys and Men.” He was the first to recognize
that ridges assist gripping by creating friction and
that they had a function other than increasing
tactile stimulus.
Inez Whipple (1871 - 1929)
In 1904 he published a paper, “The Vential Surface of the Mammalian Chiridium -
With Special Reference to the Conditions Found in Man.” His survey into mammalian
palm and sole configurations has formed an important part of the modern scientific
knowledge on the subject and is considered a landmark in the fields of genetics and
ridgeology.
Harris Hawthorne Wilder (1864 - 1928)
A professor of zoology at Smith College, Massachusetts
that in 1896, while he was studying monkeys, he was struck
by the resemblance of their volar friction ridges to man’s.
In 1918, he published a book “Personal Identification
where the quantitative – qualitative analysis o f friction
ridges can be found.
In this passage, Wilder describes the anatomical
formation of the friction ridges. He further describes how
ridge units are subjected to differential growth and, as a
result, all areas of friction ridge are unique. He was
considered the leading American fingerprint expert of the
day.
Harold Cummins (1893 - 1976)
Cummins, Ph.D. professor of anatomy and Assistant
Dean of the School of Medicine at Tulane University,
Louisiana who spent a great deal of his life studying
dermatoglyphics. In 1943 he co-authored a book
“Fingerprint, Palms and Soles – An Introduction to
Dermatoglyphics.” with Charles Bidloo.
In 1929, he published a paper, “The Topographic
History of the Volar Pads in the Human Embryo.” He
described the formation and development of volar pads on
the human fetus. He concluded that the physical aspects of
the volar pads such as location, growth differential, and
configuration variances affected friction ridge
development and overall pattern configuration.
Alfred Hale (1952)
A Ph.D. from Tulane University, an associate of Cummins, published a thesis in 1952
entitled, “Morphogenesis of the Volar Skin in the Human Fetus.” Hale’s paper not only
describes the formation of friction ridges of the human fetus but also describes the
development of friction ridge identification.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND - PHILIPPINE SETTING
Mr. Jones was the first to teach fingerprints in the Philippine Constabulary
sometime in the year 1900.
The Bureau of prisons, in the year 1918, records shows that fingerprints
already existed in the “carpetas”
L. Asa N. Darby
under his management during the re-occupation of the Philippines by the American
Forces, a modern and complete Fingerprint File has been established in the Philippine
Commonwealth.
Mr. Generoso Reyes was the first Filipino Fingerprint Technician employed by the Philippine
Constabulary.
Capt. Thomas Dugan of New York City Police Department and Mr. Flaviano G. Guerrero of
the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Washington, gave the first examinations for
Fingerprint in 1937.
People of the Philippine vs. Medina, 59, Phil. 330 of December 23, 1933 was the first conviction
based on fingerprint and led to the judicial decision in the Philippine jurisprudence.
Plaridel Educational Institution (PEI), now the Philippine College of Criminology (PCCr),
Manila is the first governmental recognized school to teach the science of fingerprints
and other police sciences.