Henry Faulds

Henry Faulds ( born June 1, 1843 in Beith, Scotland, † March 19, 1930 in Wolstanton ) was a Scottish physician and missionary who made ​​a major contribution to the development of the fingerprint process ( fingerprinting ).

Study

Henry Faulds was born in Beith ( Ayrshire ). His family initially had a decent income, but the father got into financial difficulties, and Henry had to leave with 13 years of school to take a job in Glasgow. At age 21, he decided to take up studies at the University of Glasgow. He first studied mathematics, logic and classical literature. Later he devoted himself to medicine at Anderson 's College and earned a medical license in 1868.

India

After graduating, he became a missionary for the Scottish Church ( Church of Scotland ), who initially sent him to British India, where he worked two years in a hospital for the poor in Darjeeling.

On July 23, 1873 he was commissioned by a letter from the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland to set up a mission in Japan. The country had abandoned its self-imposed isolation for more than two centuries and intensified under the new Meiji government sharing with the world. In September of that year Faulds closed his marriage to Isabella Wilson and broke up in December.

Japan

After his arrival in Tokyo Faulds began with the construction of a hospital ( Tsukiji Hospital, Tsukijibyōin ,筑 地 病院) and a training center for medical students in the Tsukiji district, who had been assigned to foreigners. The Japanese surgery owes the introduction of aseptic measures of Joseph Lister. In 1875 he was involved in the founding of the first Japanese Society for the Blind ( Rakuzenkai ,楽 善 会) and 1880 in the establishment of the first school for the blind ( Rakuzenkai kunmō - in ,楽 善 会 训 盲 院). 1882 were treated in his hospital each year 15,000 patients.

In addition to these camp activities, he wrote academic articles and wrote two travel books. When he his friend, the American archaeologist Edward S. Morse, accompanied by Omori in the excavation at the famous mollusk, he became aware of the fingerprints in the clay shards found there. When comparing thousands of fingerprints, he realized that this specific for each individual forms showed consistent from childhood and can not be modified. As it shortly thereafter came a slump in his hospital and a member of his staff came under suspicion, he compared his fingerprints with those at the site of the collapse. Then, the detainee was released again. Among the foreign doctors in Japan was the German pathologist Friedrich Wilhelm Karl Doenitz, who recognized the importance of the discovery of Faulds and the method in the Japanese forensics introduced.

After extensive research of human dermal ridges Faulds 1880 sent a letter to the journal Nature, in which he proposed to use fingerprints at the scene to identify the perpetrators and to ensure daktyloskopieren all ten fingers. The following month, wrote Sir William James Herschel, a colonial official in Bengal, to the magazine and said that he used fingerprints since 1860 to distinguish the recipients of pension payments and so to prevent fraud. There followed decades of a bitter feud for the honor of the first discovery.

Return to England

Due to various disputes related to the management of the hospital in Tokyo Faulds in 1886 returned to Britain. Scotland Yard refused his concept. One of the main problems was the lack of a classification system, which the comparison of prints with the already registered marks not made ​​practicable at the scene.

Faulds practiced as a surgeon, first in London and later in Fenton (Stoke -on-Trent ). In 1922, he sold his practice and moved to Wolstanton, where he died at the age of 86 years - deeply bitter about the denied him recognition.

Past Findings

The process of identification of individuals based on fingerprints was during the 60 years of the 19th century. first used by William James Herschel in India. The proposal to use this capital in forensics, came in 1880 by Henry Faulds. The Englishman Francis Galton (1822-1911), who took over Faulds idea without referring to these, provided with a classification system for operational police use.

Works

• Henry Faulds: Nine years in Nipon: Sketches of Japanese life and manners. Boston:. Cupples & Hurd, 1888 * Henry Faulds: East Asia. Longton, Staffs. 1897
• Henry Faulds: Guide to finger -print identification. Hanley: Wood, Mitchell, 1905.
• Henry Faulds: The hidden hand: a contribution to the history of fingerprints. [ S. L., 1917 ]
• Henry Faulds: A manual of practical dactylography. : A work for the USWE of students of the finger -paint method of identification. London: The "Police review " publishing co, ltd,. .