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help. The French authorities did not appreciate the ideas
of a mere clerk, especially one who had a reputation
for being reserved and angry. Louis-Adolphe Bertil-
lon, advised to investigate his son’s mental stability,
recognized the merits of the new system and promoted
it to his politically well-connected friends. When the old
chief retired, Bertillon received the chance to test his
system. In February 1883, he identifi ed his fi rst repeat
criminal. By the end of the fi rst full year of testing, he
had identifi ed 241 recidivists. When France established
the Department of Judicial Identity, Bertillon became
its fi rst chief on 1 February 1888.
Bertillon pioneered many techniques of legal photog-
raphy, including the mug shot. He introduced a system
whereby a full face and profi le portrait appeared upon
every identifi cation card. The photograph included a
prisoner’s ears because Bertillon believed that they could
aid in identifi cation. He took sectional photographs of
the forehead alone; forehead including eyes; ears; eyes
alone; nose alone; and half the profi le. The existence of
special marks, such as scars or warts was noted. Bertillon
claimed that if a study of these sectional photographs
was made feature by feature, someone could recognize
a criminal despite never having seen the suspect’s face
before.
Although Bertillon incorporated photography into
his system, he had doubts about the objectivity of the
camera. To create the ability to effectively search for a
criminal, Bertillon used a mathematical identifi cation
process that relied upon human body measurements
known as anthropometry. This “portrait parlé” or speak-
ing likeness would allow police offi cers on a beat to ap-
prehend a suspect based solely on a verbal description.
Translating bodily features into a universal language
also allowed the transmission of physical descriptions
by telegraph.
To make a speaking portrait, a prisoner would un-
dergo eleven similarly precise measurements: height,
head length, head width, arm span, sitting height, left
middle fi nger length, left little fi nger length, left foot
length, left forearm length, right ear length, and cheek
width. Bertillon selected these specifi c lengths because
they were the proportions least likely to be affected by
weight change or aging. Bone structure would remain
constant. This data was supplemented by the additional
details of eye color, hair color, and skin pigmentation so
that fourteen total points of resemblance were needed
for formal proof of identity. The measurements were
fi led according to small, medium, and large dimensions.
After a Bertillon operator measured a prisoner, he took
a new identifi cation card into an archive to look for a
card with matching anthropometric values. If he found
a tentative match, he would confi rm it by referring to
the photographs.
Bertillon’s system worked best with male prisoners.
Anthropometric measurements relied on tightly applying
calipers and rulers to body parts. This practice required
more physical intimacy between the Bertillon operator
and the prisoner’s body than was deemed appropriate
for male jailers and female prisoners in the Victorian
era. Nevertheless, by 1899 the Bertillon system had
been adopted by Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands,
Spain, Italy, Russia, Sweden, Norway, Turkey, Monaco,
Luxembourg, Romania, and Switzerland.
The Bertillon system had a fatal fl aw. The measure-
ments had to be taken exactly as Bertillon specifi ed or
else they could be inaccurate. While Parisian Bertillon
operators took careful measurements, men further away
from the supervision of Bertillon were less careful. In
one famous American case, two prisoners had the exact
same Bertillon measurements, probably because of
operator error. The men, who may have been brothers,
looked almost identical. Fingerprints were the only way
of distinguishing them.
Bertillon was an outspoken opponent of fi ngerprint-
ing, chiefl y because he did not see how fi ngerprints could
be cataloged. However, unlike Bertillonage, fi ngerprint-
ing was a foolproof means of identifi cation. By the early
years of the twentieth century, Bertillon’s system had
gone into eclipse, as fi ngerprinting became the judicial
identifi cation system of choice. By the mid-twentieth
century, it had stopped being used. Bertillon died in Paris
on 13 February 1914 of pernicious anemia.
Caryn E. NeumannBiography
Alphonse Bertillon was born on 24 April 1853 as the
middle of three sons of Louis-Adolphe and Zoé Bertil-
lon. After attending many grade schools, he graduated
in 1873. He traveled to England to teach French and
held a series of posts as a tutor. Bertillon returned to
France and, during military service, rose to the rank of
corporal. He became a clerk in the Prefecture of Police
in Paris on 15 March 1879. He formally proposed the
Bertillon system it to the French police on 1 October- He married his secretary, Amélie Notar in 1883.
The couple did not produce any children. On 1 February
1888, Bertillon became the head of the newly estab-
lished Department of Judicial Identity. The Bertillon
system spread to other nations and Bertillon received
a number of honors as a reward. His fi rst honor came
in July 1893, when he received the Swedish Order of
Wasa. France gave Bertillon the Blue Ribbon of the
Legion in 1893. Holland awarded him the Order of
Orange-Nassau in 1896. In August 1898, he became a
Knight of the Order of Königlichen Kronen (Germany).
In March 1902, he became a Knight of the Order of
Dannebrog (Denmark). Bertillon’s subsequent awards
were: 1902, Offi cer of the Order of the Star of Romania;