Finger Prints is a book published by Francis Galton through Macmillan in 1892.[1] It was one of the first books to provide a scientific footing for matching fingerprints and for later acceptance in courts. He collected information from a number of people and recorded their backgrounds, financial situations, likes and dislikes, health, etc. on a large scale. By that time, it was known that the fingerprints of different people were different. He collected fingerprints of a large number of people and invented a method of their classification. Using statistical methods he showed that the possibility of fingerprints of two different people being identical is nearly zero. This result made it possible to identify a person from his fingerprints. This method of identifying criminals was accepted in the judiciary.

Finger Prints
Title page for Finger Prints (1892)
AuthorFrancis Galton
GenreScience
PublisherMacmillan
Publication date1892

References

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  1. "from Finger Prints, by Francis Galton (London: Macmillan and Co., 1892)". Mark Twain in His Times. Retrieved 7 December 2025.
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