Alphonse Bertillon
From The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia
Historical figure.
Alphonse Bertillon (22 april 1853 - 13 february 1914) was a French police officer and biometrics researcher who applied the anthropological technique of anthropometry to law enforcement, creating an identification system based on physical measurements. The method was eventually supplanted by fingerprinting. He is also the inventor of the mug shot. Photographing of criminals began in the 1840s only a few years after the invention of photography, but it was not until 1888 that Bertillon standardized the process, notably with his file on anarchists.
In the Sherlock Holmes stories
The Naval Treaty (1893)
- Sherlock Holmes expressed his enthusiastic admiration of the French savant Alphonse Bertillon when he discussed with Dr. Watson (NAVA 539).
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1901)
- Dr. James Mortimer said that Sherlock Holmes was the second highest expert in Europe. Placing Bertillon at first place (HOUN 148).
