CHAPTER II

Introduction to Fingerprint Identification

 History of Fingerprint

• The development of fingerprint science predates in

Christian era in many centuries. Prehistoric Indian
writing of hand with crudely marked ridge
patterns, fingerprint impression on clay tablets
recording business transactions in ancient Babylon,
and clay seal of ancient Chinese origin bearing
thumb print were found as evidence of early use of
fingerprint as identification of persons impressing
the prints.
Marcelo Malpighi (1686)

• A professor of anatomy at the University of

Bologna, noted in his treaties; ridges, spiral and
loops in fingerprints. He made no mention of
their value as a tool for the individual
identification. A layer of skin was named after
him; “Malpighi layer”, which is approximately
1.8 mm thick.
 Hermann Welcker (1822-1898)

• German anthropologist of the University of Halle led

the way in the study of friction ridge skin
permanence. Welcker began by printing his own right
hand In 1856 and then again in 1897, thus gaining
credit as the first person to start a permanence study.
However, in the paper Welcker published in 1898, he
sought no credit, but rather seemed only to offer
assistance to prior claims of permanence in reference
to friction ridge skin (Wilder and Wentworth, 1918, pp
339-340). Welcker is not cited often. Generally, the
credit for being the first person to study the
persistence of friction ridge skin goes to Sir William
James Herschel
Sir William Herschel

• In 1858 was working as the Chief Magistrate of the

Hooghly district in Jungipoor, India In order to
reduce fraud, he had the residents record their
fingerprints when signing business documents.
Dr. Henry Faulds,

• was a Scottish physician who laid the groundwork

for the scientific study of fingerprints in criminology.
On October 28, 1880, while still in Japan, Faulds’
first paper on the subject, entitled “On the Skin-
Furrows of the Hand,” was published in the scientific
journal Nature.
Gilbert Thompson

• of the US Geological Survey in New Mexico, In 1882

used his own fingerprints on a document to prevent
forgery. This is the first known use of fingerprints in
the United States.
 Francis Galton

• Sir Francis Galton, an eugenicist who collected

measurements on people around the world to determine
how traits were inherited from one generation to the next.
Galton became the first to provide scientific evidence that
no two fingerprints are exactly the same, and that prints
remain the same throughout a person’s lifetime. He
calculated that the odds of finding two identical
fingerprints were 1 in 64 billion. In 1892 he published his
book “Fingerprints”, establishing the individuality and the
permanency of fingerprints. The book includes the first
classification system for fingerprints. Galton identified the
characteristics by which fingerprints can be identified.
These same characteristics (minutia) are basically still in
use today, and are often referred to as Galton’s Details.
Juan Vucetich

• Juan Vucetich, an Argentian Police Official. In

1881, begun the first fingerprint files based on
Galton pattern types. In 1892, made the first
criminal fingerprint identification. He was able
to identify a woman by the name Francisca
Rojas, who had murdered her two sons, and cut
her own throat in an attempt to place blame on
another. Her bloody print was left on a door
post, proving her identity as a murderer. This was
the first time fingerprints had been used in a
criminal investigation. Vucetich called his system
comparative dactyloscopy
Edward Richard Henry

• Sir Edward Richard Henry, By July of 1896, Henry wrote in

a report that the classification limitations had not yet
been addressed. Henry developed a system of his own,
which included 1,024 primary classifications. Within a
year, the Governor General signed a resolution directing
that fingerprinting was to be the official method of
identifying criminals in British India. In 1901, Henry was
then transferred to England, where he began training
investigators to use the Henry Classification System after
founding Scotland Yard’s Central Fingerprint Bureau Within
a few years, the Henry Classification System was in use
around the world, and fingerprints had been established as
the uniform system of identification for the future. The
Henry Classification System is still in use today in English
speaking countries.
Edmond Locard

• Edmond Locard, In 1918 wrote that if 12 points (Galton’s

Details) were same between two fingerprints, it would
suffice as a positive identification. This is where the often
quoted (12 points) originated. Beaware through, there is
“NO” required number of points necessary for an
identification. Some countries have set their own
standards which do include a minimum number of points,
but no in the United States. He is also known as the father
of Poreoscopy and Edgeoscopy. The variations of the
individual friction ridge features which he noted, has
evolved into “Ridgeology”, which is a coined phrase
describing the use of those features in the fingerprint
identification process. Dr. Locard should also then be
known as the father of “Ridgeology”.
Johann Christoph Andreas

• Johann Christoph Andreas (ICA), a German doctor

and anatomist Contributed for the recognition of
principle of fingerprint, that fingerprint pattern
or design may be similar, they are never
duplicated. Fingerprints are unique
Agripino Ruiz

• Agripino Ruiz, a Constabulary agent and fingerprint expert.

Successfully depended his finding in 10 points of comparison based
on the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Marciano
Medina y Diokno (G.R. No. L-38434 dated December 23, 1933), it is
the first leading judicial decision in the Philippines Jurisprudence
on the Science of Fingerprint The examiner concluded based on
ten points that the two impressions were from the same person,
and that the fingerprint on the box was that of the defendant. The
Supreme Court held, that as to the correspondence of fingerprints
is admissible for the purpose of proving identity.