To the uninitiated the finger print is merely a maze of fine lines, with but slight difference between one print and another, and it may well be wondered how exact identification is established. The expert of course has a scientific system of reducing chaos to order. Tt is first of all determined to which of the primary types the print belonge—whether it is an arch, @ loop, whorl, or a composite. The investigation is thus at once narrowed to determine the lines, "in," "meet" or "out," and further analysis based upon the finer details of the type is carried on, each stage in the examination giving according ta system a letter or 2 figure, and these together when the examination is ended provide the formula of identification. The method is so sure, that a print cannot possibly find its-way into the wrong group.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.