Commitment, detention, care and treatment of the insane : being a report of the fourth section of the International congress of Charities, Correction and Philanthropy, Chicago, June, 1893 / edited by G. Alder Blumer, A. B. Richardson.

  • International Congress of Charities, Correction, and Philanthropy (1893 : Chicago, Ill.)
Date:
1894
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Commitment, detention, care and treatment of the insane : being a report of the fourth section of the International congress of Charities, Correction and Philanthropy, Chicago, June, 1893 / edited by G. Alder Blumer, A. B. Richardson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    fication of the man. The measurements I have stated are sufficient to identify the person wherever he may be arrested. As I have said, this system enables the authorities to indict and punish under the habitual criminal act, and thereby exclude dangerous criminals from society. In order not to take up your time I will have a man measured. Of course, when we measure a man in the identification room he is required to divest himself of his clothing. These are the caliper- compasses [showing instruments] with which the measurements of the head are made—the length and width of the head. This is the scale by which the measurements of the ear, of the forearm, little finger and foot are made; and with the scales on these boards, when properly fitted to the wall, we take the height, the trunk measure- ment and the measurement of the outstretched arms. To show you how little photographs alone can be depended on I present you with quite a number.* The measurements of this man, taken in a dozen ditferent places, from Chicago to Paris, and by different persons, do not vary in any respect beyond one or two millimeters, which is such a slight variation as not to interfere with the identification. No matter how that young man might get him- self up, either in Paris or in San Francisco, he would be recognized through the central bureau of information as the party measured and described. The measurements are entered on this card. On the back of the card is a space for writing the history of the man, where he has been convicted, where he has served, and all about him ; and on these lower lines we give a full description of the marks and scars found on his person. Photographs alone can not be depended on, although they are valuable as an adjunct to identification, and are always taken where it is possible to do so. Now we will measure a subject. I will ask one of my assistants, detective Smith, to be measured. If I had known that I would be asked to talk on this subject I should have had illustrations prepared. In the French government building at the World’s Fair, in the eastern section of it, you will find large photographs illustrating the various phases of this system, and generally you will find a gentle- man there who will cheerfully give full explanations of them.f * The speaker showed the audience about a dozen photographs of the same man taken at different places, no two photographs resembling each other. t Major McClaughry then proceeded to measure one of his assistants, using the Bertillon instruments.