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OCR Rendition - approximate
CHAPTER IX
IN this chapter the system of classification by Arches, Loops, and Whorls described in Chapter V. will be used for indexing two, three, six or ten digits, as the case may be. An index to each set of finger marks made by the same person, is needful in almost every kind of inquiry, whether it be for descriptive purposes, for investigations into race and heredity, or into questions of symmetry and correlation. It is essential to possess an index to the linger marks of known criminals before the method of finger prints can be utilised as an organised means of detection. The ideal index might be conceived to consist of a considerable number of compartments, or their equivalents, each bearing a different index-heading, into which the sets of finger prints of different persons may be severally sorted, so that all similar sets shall lie in the same compartment. The principle of the proposed method of indexheadings is, that they should depend upon a few conspicuous differences of pattern in many fingers,
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