Dermatoglyphics History
1684 Dr. Nehemiah Grew (1641-1712) presented Finger Prints, Palms and Soles An Introduction To Dermatoglyphics to the Royal Soceity
1685 Dr.Bidloo published an anatomical atlas, Anatomia Humani Corporis, with illustrations showing the human figure both in living attitudes and as dissected cadavers
1686 Dr. Marcello Malphigi (1628-1694) noted in his treatise; ridges, spirals and loops in fingerprints
1788 J.C.Mayer was the first to write out basic tenets of fingerprint analysis and theorised that fingerprints were unique
1823 Dr. Jan Purkinje classified the papillary lines on the fingertips into nine types: arch, tented arch, ulna loop, radial loop, peacock’s eye/compound, spiral whorl, elliptical whorl, circular whorl, and double loop/composite.
1823 Joannes Evangelista Purkinji found that the patterns on one’s finger tips and the ridges and lines on one’s prints begin to form at around the thirteenth week in the womb.
1832 Dr. Charles Bell (1774-1842) was one of the first physicians to combine the scientific study of neuroanatomy with clinical practice. He published The Hand: Its Mechanism and Vital Endowments as Evincing Design.
1893 Dr. Francis Galton published his book, “Fingerprints”, establishing the individuality and permanence of fingerprints. The book included the first classification system for fingerprints: Arch, Loop, Whorl.
1897 Harris Hawthorne Wilder was the first American to study dermatoglyphics.
He invented the Main Line Index, studied thenar hypothenar eminencies, zones II, III, IV.
1926 Dr. Harold Cummins & Dr. Charles Midlo coined the term “dermatoglyphics”. They showed that the hand contained significant dermatoglyphic configurations that would assist the identification of mongolism in the new-born child.
1936 Dr. Harold Cummins & Dr. Charles Midlo also researched the embryo-genesis of skin ridge patterns and established that the fingerprint patterns actually develop in the womb and are fully formed by the fourth foetal month.
1957 Dr.Walker used the dermal configurations in the diagnosis of mongolism
1969 John J. Mulvihill, MD and David W. Smith, MD published The Genesis of Dermatoglyphics that provies the most up to date verson of how fingerprints form.
Dermatoglyphics in Recent History
Although many important discoveries regarding the psychological significance of fingerprint patterns have been made, the main thrust of scientific dermatoglyphic research in the latter half of the twentieth century has been directed into genetic research and the diagnosis of chromosomal defects. Over the last thirty years or so, more than four thousand papers have been written on the significance of skin-ridge patterns!
The current state of medical dermatoglyphics is such that the diagnosis of some illnesses can now be done on the basis of dermatoglyphic analysis alone and currently, several dermatoglyphic researchers claim a very high degree of accuracy in their prognostic ability from the hand’s features.