6/22/2026 at 7:35:17 AM
I want to share why I am posting this paper and why I think this is an interesting read. From "Henry Faulds Proposes Fingerprints as a System of Identification":https://historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=525
> In a one page letter published in the London journal Nature on October 28, 1880, Henry Faulds was the first to propose the use of fingerprints as a system of identification, including the scientific identification of criminals.
From the paper itself:
> When bloody finger-marks or impressions on clay, glass, etc., exist, they may lead to the scientific identification of criminals. Already I have had experience in two such cases, and found useful evidence from these marks. In one case greasy finger-marks revealed who had been drinking some rectified spirit. The pattern was unique, and fortunately I had previously obtained a copy of it. They agreed with microscopic fidelity. In another case sooty finger-marks of a person climbing a white wall were of great use as negative evidence. .....
by pncnmnp