Identification, in the real sense, is possible, if at all, only in those instances in which persons are available who saw an individual in the act of committing a crime, e.g., and who can be summoned to confront a suspect in an attempt to answer the question whether the prisoner is the one who had been seen doing the act or whether further search must be made. But such instances are relatively very rare. In the overwhelming majority of cases the criminal performs his deed unseen, and no resort can be had to identifying witnesses. Methods of detection, as commonly understood, must then be relied upon to lead the arresting authorities to the guilty one and to furnish evidence in court. This brings us first to the use of a system of physical measurements that was devised, or announced, by Alphonse Bertillon of the Paris Prefecture of Police in 1883. It is commonly known as the "Bertillon System," and it was the first great scientific device for preserving a definite description of a human personality (ASCHAFFENBURG, 1913).
It assumes that certain physical measurements of the body once maturity has been attained are practically constant. For example, the circumference of a skull at age twenty is what it will be at age fifty. The same may be said of a forearm, etc. Moreover, while two men of the same age may have skulls that differ from each other by a trifling fraction, it is alleged that other physical measurements length of foot, for instance will never differ by the same small fractional amount. Thus it becomes possible, by studying the eleven measurements that are comprehended in the system to determine with a high degree of accuracy whether the one who has just now been measured is the same as one who was measured at any time in the past and whose anthropometric record is on file in a criminal data bureau....................
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