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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: FAT-FLA |
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FINGER , one of the five members with which the hand is terminated, a digit; sometimes the word is restricted to the four digits other than the thumb. The word is common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dutch ringer and Ger. Finger; probably the ultimate origin is to be found in the root of the words appearing in Greek rim, Lat. quinque, five. (See SKELETON: A ppendicular.) FINGER-AND-TOE, CLUB ROOT or ANBURY, a destructive plant-disease known botanically as Plasmodiophora Brassicae, which attacks cabbages, turnips, radishes and other cultivated and wild members of the order Cruciferae. It is one of the so-called Slime-fungi or Myxogastres. The presence of the disease is indicated by nodules or warty outgrowths on the root, which sometimes becomes much swollen and ultimately rots, emitting an unpleasant smell. The disease is contracted from spores present in the soil, which enter the root. The parasite develops within the living cells of the plant, forming a glairy mass of protoplasm known as the plasmodium, the form of which alters from time to time. The cells which have been attacked increase enormously in size and the disease spreads from cell to cell. Ultimately the plasmodium becomes resolved into numerous minute round spores which, on the decay of the root, are set free in the soil. A preventive is quicklime, the IO The pre-Raphaeiites. Contemporary tenden- cies. application of which destroys the spores in the soil. It is important that diseased plants should be burned, also that cruciferous Finger-and-Toe (Plasmodiophora Brassicae). 1, Turnip attacked by the disease, reduced. 2, A cell of the tissue containing the plasmodium; the smaller cells at the sides are unaffected.3, Infected cell, showing spore formation. 2, 3, highly magnified. weeds, such as shepherd's purse, charlock, &c., should not be allowed to grow in places where plants of the same order are in cultivation. FINGER-PRINTS.. The use of finger-prints as a system of identification - (q.v.) is of very ancient origin, and was known from the earliest days in the East when the impression of his thumb was the monarch's sign- manual
paper before the university of Breslau, adducing nine standard types of impressions and advocating a system of classification which attracted no great attention. Bewick, the English draughtsman, struck with the delicate qualities of the lineation, made engravings of the impression of two of his finger-tips and used them as signatures for his work
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The prints depend upon a peculiarity seen in the human hand and to some extent in the human foot. The skin is traversed in all directions by creases and ridges, which are ineradicable and show no change from childhood to extreme old age. The persistence of the markings of the finger-tips has been proved beyond all question, and this universally accepted quality has been the basis of the present system of identification. The impressions, when examined, show that the ridges appear in certain fixed patterns, from which an alphabet of signs or asystem of notation has been arrived at for convenience of record. As the result of much experiment a fourfold scheme of classification has been evolved, and the various types employed are styled " arches," loops," " whorls " and " composites." There are seven subclasses, and all are perfectly; distinguishable by an expert, who can describe each by its particular symbol in the code arranged, so that the whole " print " can be read as a distinct and separate expression. Very few, and the simplest, appliances are required for taking the printa sheet of white paper , a tin slab, and some printer's ink. Scars or malformations do not interfere with the result.The unchanging character of the finger-prints has repeatedly helped in the detection of crime. We may quote the case of the thief who broke into a residence and among other things helped himself to a glass of wine, leaving two finger-prints upon the tumbler which were subsequently found to be. identical with those of a notorious criminal who was arrested, pleaded guilty and was convicted. Another burglar effected entrance by re-moving a pane of glass from a basement window, but, unhappily for him, left his imprints, which were referred to. the registry and found to agree exactly with those of a convict at large; his address was known, and when visited some of the stolen property was found in his possession. In India a murderer was identified by the brown mark of a blood-stained thumb he had left when rummaging amongst the papers of the deceased. This man was convicted of theft but not of the murder. The keystone to the whole system is the central office where the register or index of all criminals is kept for ready reference. The operators need no special
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