Part 56

When the cigarmaker ties up his bundle of fifty cigars, he attaches to it a slip of paper upon which is marked his number. This enables the manufacturer to keep an accurate account of the number of cigars made by each workman and also to place the responsibility for any defects in the workmanship. Cigarmakers are paid by the piece, the scale of wages ranging from $16 to $100 per thousand. In nearly every factory there may be found advanced apprentices or old men working at the rate of $14 per thousand and also there may be found skilled artisans making exceptionally large odd sizes at more than $100 per thousand, but these are not generally considered in the regulation scale of prices. In averages, the workmen earn about $18 a week and make about 150 cigars a day.

Just a Few Figures About Tobacco.

The internal revenue from tobacco for one year would build fourteen battleships of the first-class; or it would pay the salary of the President of the United States for nearly a thousand years. It would pay the interest on the public debt for three years, and there would be enough left over to add a dollar to the account of every savings bank depositor in the United States.

The money spent by smokers for cigars only, _not counting_ cigarettes, smoking and chewing tobacco and snuff would more than pay for the building of the Panama Canal, besides taking care of the $50,000,000 paid to the new French Canal Co., and the Republic of Panama for property and franchises. And in addition to this it would cover the cost of fortifying the Canal.

Or it would build a fleet of thirty-five trans-Atlantic liners, each exactly like the lost _Titanic_, coal them, provision them and keep them running between New York and Liverpool with a full complement of passengers and crew, almost indefinitely.

There are 21,718,448 cigars burned up in the United States every twenty-four hours; and 904,935 every hour; and 15,082 every minute; and 251 _every second_.

The annual _per capita_ consumption of cigars in the United States, counting men, women and children, is eighty-six cigars.

_If all the cigars smoked in the United States in one year were put together, end to end, they would girdle the earth, at its largest circumference, twenty-two times._

AS TO THE CIGARETTES, there are 23,736,190 of them consumed in the United States every day; and 989,007 every hour; and 16,482 every minute. With every tick of your watch, night and day, the year around, the butts of 275 smoked-up cigarettes are dropped into the ash tray.

Cigarette smokers in the United States, not counting those who roll their own smokes from tobacco, spend $60,645,966.36 for the little paper-covered rolls.

If all the cigarettes smoked in the United States in one year were placed end to end and stood up vertically they would make a slender shaft rising 512,766 miles into the heavens.

_If strung on a wire they would make a cable that would reach from the earth to the moon and back again, with enough left over to circle one-and-a-half times around the globe._

If this quantity of tobacco could be placed on one side of a huge balancing scale it would take the combined weight of four vast armies, each army consisting of 1,000,000 men, to pull down the other side of the scale.

The weight of the tobacco consumed in the United States in a year is equal to the weight of the entire and combined population of Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and Alabama.

[Illustration: HOW OUR FINGER PRINTS IDENTIFY US

ARCH: IN THIS PATTERN RIDGES RUN FROM ONE SIDE TO ANOTHER, MAKING NO BACKWARD TURN.]

[Illustration: LOOP: SOME RIDGES IN THIS PATTERN MAKE A BACKWARD TURN, BUT WITHOUT TWIST.]

The Story in a Finger Print[7]

[7] Engravings and story by the courtesy of Scientific American.

Our Fingers.

One of the most interesting facts about our fingers is that every member of the human race, irrespective of age or sex, carries in person certain delicate markings by which identity can be readily established. If the inner surface of the hand be examined, a number of very fine ridges will be seen running in definite directions, and arranged in patterns, there being four primary types--arches, loops, whorls, and composites. It has been demonstrated that these patterns persist in all their details throughout the whole period of human life. The impressions of the fingers of a new-born infant are distinctly traceable on the fingers of the same person in old age. The fact that these patterns on the bulbs of the fingers are characteristic of and differentiate one individual from another, makes it an ideal means of fixing identity. Even men who look so much alike that it is virtually impossible to tell one from the other so far as facial characteristics are concerned, can be identified by their finger impressions.

Innumerable illustrations can be given of how the perpetrators of crime have been identified and convicted by their finger prints. Impressions left by criminals on such articles as plated goods, window panes, drinking glasses, painted wood, bottles, cash boxes, candles, etc., have often successfully supplied the clue which has led to the apprehension of the thief or thieves. One of our illustrations is that of a champagne bottle which was found empty on the dining-room table of a house which had been entered by a burglar in Birmingham, England. There was a distinct impression of a thumb mark on the bottle. An officer of the Birmingham City Police took the bottle to New Scotland Yard, London, and within a few minutes a duplicate print was found in the records. The burglar was arrested the same evening.

[Illustration: FINGER PRINTS OF DIFFERENT PEOPLE ARE DIFFERENT

WHORL: RIDGES HERE MAKE A TURN THROUGH AT LEAST ONE COMPLETE CIRCUIT.]

[Illustration: COMPOSITE: INCLUDES PATTERNS IN WHICH TWO OR MORE OF THE OTHER TYPES ARE COMBINED.]

Many similar instances could be given of how thieves have been caught by handling bottles and glasses. On one occasion a burglar entered a house in the West End of London, and before leaving helped himself to a glass of wine. On the tumbler used he left two finger imprints, and these were subsequently found, upon search in the records at New Scotland Yard, to be identical with two impressions of a notorious criminal, who was in due course arrested and sentenced to four years’ imprisonment.

A somewhat gruesome relic is a cash-box which bears the blurred thumb mark of a man who was convicted of murder. The box was found in the bedroom of a man and his wife who were murdered at Deptford, London, in 1905. The cash-box was taken to New Scotland Yard, and the impression photographed and enlarged. Two brothers, suspected of the crime, were arrested, and the thumb print of one was found to be identical with that on the lid of the box. Our photograph of a gate recalls a curious case that recently occupied the attention of a London magistrate. In this instance a thief successfully climbed the gate, which was ten feet high. In his attempt to reach the ground on the inner side he placed his feet on the center cross-bar, at the same time holding the spikes with his right hand. In this position he fell, and the ring he wore on his little finger caught on the spike indicated by the arrowhead. This caused him to remain suspended in the air until his weight tore the finger from his hand. The ring with the finger was found on the spike, and in due course was received at New Scotland Yard. An impression was taken of the finger, and search among the records revealed a duplicate print, which led to the man’s arrest.

If a criminal handles a piece of candle or removes a pane of glass and leaves these behind, it is a hundred to one he has left a valuable clue for the police. The candle shown on the following page bears the imprint of a man’s thumb, and was found in a house which a burglar had entered. By handling the candle, the thief virtually signed the warrant for his own arrest.

The system was first used by the police in the Province of Bengal, India, at the instigation of Sir William Herschel. Its value was at once apparent. The work of the courts was considerably lightened, as the natives recognized that a system of identification had been discovered which was indisputable. Then from the police it was introduced into various branches of the public service, and here again its value was quickly demonstrated. When native pensioners died, for instance, friends and relatives personated them, and so continued to draw their allowances. By recording the identity of pensioners by finger prints, this evil was quickly stamped out.

[Illustration: IMPRESSIONS MADE BY THE FINGERS AND PALMS

PALMARY IMPRESSIONS OF WHOLE HAND, SHOWING HOW IT IS COVERED WITH RIDGES AND PATTERNS.]

[Illustration:

RIGHT HAND LEFT HAND THUMB FIRST FINGER SECOND FINGER THIRD FINGER FOURTH FINGER

FINGER IMPRESSIONS OF AN ORANG-OUTANG (ANTHROPOID APE) TAKEN AT THE LONDON ZOO. THEY WERE MADE BY SCOTLAND YARD.]

The wonderful lineations, in the form of ridges and patterns, which adorn the palmar surface of the human hand, had, of course, been known for many years. Mr. Francis Galton, the famous traveler and scientist, was perhaps the first to give serious attention to the subject of finger prints. He discovered many interesting facts about them. Then, in 1823, Prof. Purkinje, of Breslau, read a paper before the University of Breslau on the subject. Up to this date, however, no practical use could be made of the impressions for the want of a system of classification. Prof. Purkinje certainly suggested one, but little notice appears to have been taken of it.

Naturally, to be of any value to the police or to any government department, it is absolutely essential to classify the prints in such a way that they could be readily referred to and identity established without undue delay. It was virtually left to Sir William Herschel, of the Indian Civil Service, to invent a really practical system of classification, so it may be claimed that the finger-print method of identification, as at present adopted, is the discovery of an Englishman. Then it is only fair to add that Sir Edward R. Henry, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police of London, has also devoted much time and study to the subject. His book, “Classification and Uses of Finger Prints,” has passed through many editions, and has been translated into several foreign languages.

[Illustration: HOW THIEVES HAVE BEEN CAUGHT THROUGH FINGER PRINTS

A CHAMPAGNE BOTTLE HAVING THUMB IMPRINT, WHICH LED TO ARREST OF A BURGLAR.]

[Illustration: CANDLE BEARING THUMB MARK OF A BURGLAR.]

[Illustration: CASH-BOX IN BEDROOM OF MURDERED MAN AND WIFE. THE THUMB IMPRESSION (POINTED AT BY ARROW) LED TO ARREST OF THE MURDERER.]

Impressions are divided up into four distinct types or patterns. First, we have arches in which the ridges run from one side to the other, making no backward turn. In loops, however, some of the ridges do make a backward turn, but are devoid of twists. In whorls some of the ridges make a turn through at least one complete circuit. Under composites are included patterns in which two or more of the former types are combined in the same imprint. Although similarity in type is of frequent occurrence, completely coincident ridge characteristics have never been found in any two impressions. It is not necessary here to enter into a detailed account as to how the classification of these wonderful lineations of the human hand is effected. It is based on a number value, attained by an examination, by means of a magnifying glass, of the “deltas” and “cores,” which break up a collection into as many as 1024 separate primary groups, each of which can again, by a system of sub-classification, be further split up into quite a number of sub-groups. When the British police discover finger prints on articles at the scene of crime, the latter are at once conveyed to New Scotland Yard. If the impressions are very faint, a little powder, known to chemists as “grey powder” (mercury and chalk), is sprinkled over the marking and then gently brushed off with a camel-hair brush. This brings out the imprint much more clearly. If one places his dry thumb upon a piece of white paper no visible impression is left. If powder, however, is sprinkled over the spot and then brushed off, a distinct impression is seen. In the case of candles and articles of this nature, a drop of printer’s ink is lightly smeared over an impression, in order the more clearly to define the ridges and patterns.

[Illustration: A SPIKE THAT CAUGHT A CRIMINAL

ON THE SPIKE OF THE GATE (INDICATED BY AN ARROW) A CRIMINAL LEFT HIS FINGER AND RING, WHICH LED TO HIS CONVICTION.]

At the headquarters of the British police at New Scotland Yard they possess special cameras and a dark room for photographing these thumb marks. The dark room is 21 feet long and 7 feet wide. When finger prints are required for production in court they are first enlarged five diameters with an enlarging camera. The negatives are afterward placed in an electric light enlarging lantern, with which it is possible to obtain photographic enlargements of a thumb mark 36 inches square. The lantern is arranged on a specially made table 12 feet long, the lantern running between tram lines, so that when moved it is square with the easel.

Criminals have naturally come to dread the value of their thumb marks as a means of identifying their movements. Some will try to obliterate the markings by pricking their fingers, but so far this has not availed them. To successfully accomplish this it would be necessary to obliterate the whole of the palmary impressions on the tip of each finger of each hand.

Then the system, too, is far in advance of any other, both in reliability and simplicity of working. Compared to anthropometry, for instance, invented by M. Bertillon, in which measurements of certain portions of the body are relied upon as a medium of identification, the finger-print system is certainly preferable. In the first place, the instruments are costly and are liable to get out of order; while the measurements can only be taken by a fairly educated person, and then only after a special course of instruction. In the finger-print system the accessories needed are a piece of paper and ink, while any person, whether educated or not, after half an hour’s practice, can take legible finger prints. Then the classification of the latter is much simpler and readier of access than the former.

At the time of writing there are some 164,000 finger-print records in the pigeon-holes at New Scotland Yard, and the number now being added to it is at the rate of about 250 weekly. The system, too, is not only in use in Great Britain, but in all the provinces of India, including Burma, and in most of the British colonies and dependencies. It is being rapidly extended, not only throughout Europe, but also through North and South America.

[Illustration: RECORDS OF FINGER PRINTS ARE KEPT AT HEADQUARTERS

SPECIMEN FORM.

This Form is not to be pinned.

MALE.

H.C.R. No. .....

Name .....

Aliases .....

Classification No.

28. MM. 32. II.

RIGHT HAND. 1.—Right Thumb. 2.—R. Fore Finger. 3.—R. Middle Finger. 4.—R. Ring Finger. 5.—R. Little Finger.

(Fold.)

(Fold.)

Impressions to be so taken that the flexure of the last joint shall be immediately above the black line marked (Fold). If the impression of any digit be defective a second print may be taken in the vacant space above it.

When a finger is missing or so injured that the impression cannot be obtained, or is deformed and yields a bad print, the fact should be noted under Remarks.

LEFT HAND. 6.—L. Thumb. 7.—L. Fore Finger. 8.—L. Middle Finger. 9.—L. Ring Finger. 10.—L. Little Finger.

(Fold.)

(Fold.)

LEFT HAND.

Plain impressions of the four fingers taken simultaneously.

RIGHT HAND.

Plain impressions of the four fingers taken simultaneously.

Impressions taken by

Classified at H.C. Registry by

Tested at H.C. Registry by

13336

Rank

Police } Force. }

Date

Date

(P.T.O.)]

[Illustration: COMBS OF HONEY AS WE RECEIVE SAME]

The Story in a Honey Bee[8]

[8] Pictures by Courtesy of E. R. Root Co.

Of all the insect associations there are none that have more excited the admiration of men of every age or that have been more universally interesting than the colonies of the common honey-bee.

The ancients held many absurd views concerning the generation and propagation of bees, believing that they arose from decaying animals, from the flowers of certain plants, and other views equally ridiculous from our present point of view.

Where Does Honey Come From?

Honey is a sticky fluid collected from flowers by several kinds of insects, particularly the honey bee; and the common honey bee from the earliest period has been kept by people in hives for the advantage and enjoyment which its honey and wax gives. It is found wild in North America in great numbers, storing its honey in hollow trees and other suitable locations, but not native to this country, having been introduced in North America by European colonists.

The story of the honey bee is one of the most interesting of all stories of the living things found on the earth. The busy bee is the ideal example of hard and persistent work and has for a long time been the subject of interesting study for young and old. The bee is one of the busiest of all of the world’s workers, and it is from the honey bee that we get our expression “as busy as a bee”; such other expressions as “to have a bee in one’s bonnet”; also such others as “quilting bees” and “husking bees” are founded on the known activities of the honey bee. The first expression means “to be flighty or full of whims or uneasy motions” which comes from the restless habits of bees, and “quilting bee” or “husking bee” originated from the knowledge that bees work together for the queen. In a quilting bee or husking bee a number of people get together and work together for a time for the benefit of one individual.

[Illustration: WORKER-BEE.]

[Illustration: QUEEN-BEE, MAGNIFIED.]

[Illustration: DRONE-BEE.]

Honey Is Produced by Bees which Live in Colonies.

~HOW A BEE MAKES HONEY~

A colony of bees consists of one female, capable of laying eggs, called the queen; some thousands of undeveloped females that normally never lay eggs, the workers; and, at certain seasons of the year, many males, the drones, whose only duty is to mate with the young queens. These different kinds of individuals can readily be recognized by the difference in size of various parts of the body, so that even the novice at bee-keeping can soon recognize each with ease. This colony makes its home in nature in a hollow tree or cave; but it thrives perhaps even better in the hives provided for it by man. In a modern hive, sheets of comb are placed in wooden frames which are hung in the hive-box in such a way that they can be removed at the pleasure of the bee-keeper. A sheet of comb is made up of small cells in which honey is stored by the bees, and in which eggs are laid, and young bees develop.

[Illustration: BEES LIVING ON COMBS BUILT IN THE OPEN AIR.]

How Does a Bee Make Honey from Flower Nectar?

In the spring of the year the colony consists of a queen and workers, there being no drones present at this time. During the winter the bees remain quiet, and the queen lays no eggs, so that there are no developing bees in the hive. The supply of honey is also low, for they have eaten honey all winter, and none has been collected and placed in the cells. As soon as the days are warm enough the bees begin to fly from the hive in search of the earliest spring flowers. From these flowers they collect the nectar, which is transformed into honey, and pollen, which they carry to the hive on the pollen-baskets on the third pair of legs.

[Illustration: CUCUMBER-BLOSSOM WITH A BEE ON IT; CAUGHT IN THE ACT.]

The nectar is taken by the bee into its mouth, and then passes to an enlargement of the alimentary canal known as the honey-stomach, where it is acted upon by certain juices secreted by the bee. The true stomach lies just behind the honey-stomach; and if the bee needs food for its own immediate use it passes on through the opening between the two stomachs. On its arrival in the hive the bee places its head in one of the cells of the comb and deposits there the nectar which it has carried in. By this time the nectar has been partly transformed into honey, and the process is completed by the bees by fanning the cells to evaporate the excess of moisture which still remains. When a cell has been filled with the thick honey the workers cover it with a thin sheet of wax unless it is to be eaten at once. The pollen is also deposited in cells, but is rarely mixed with honey. The little pellets which the bees carry in are packed tightly into cells until the cell is nearly full. If a cell of pollen be dug out of the comb, one can often see the layers made by the different pellets. This collecting of nectar and pollen continues throughout the summer whenever there are flowers in bloom, and ceases only with the death of the last flowers in the autumn.

What Does the Queen Bee Do?

Almost as soon as the honey and pollen begin to come in, the queen of the colony begins to lay eggs in the cells of the center combs. The title of queen has been given to the female bee which normally lays all the eggs of the colony, under the supposition that she governs the colony and directs its activities. This we now know to be an error, but the name still remains. Her one duty in life is that of egg-laying. She is most carefully watched over by the workers, and is constantly surrounded by a circle of attendants who feed her and touch her with their antennæ; but she in no way dictates what shall take place in the hive. The eggs are laid in the bottom of the hexagonal cells, being attached by one end to the center of the cell. The first eggs laid develop into workers, and are deposited in cells one-fifth of an inch across. As the colony increases in size by the hatching-out of these workers, and as the stores of honey and pollen increase, the queen begins to lay in larger cells measuring one-fourth of an inch, and from the eggs laid in these cells drones (or males) develop.

[Illustration: HOW HONEY DEVELOPS IN A COMB

THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMB HONEY.]

[Illustration: QUEEN-CELLS.]

[Illustration: THE QUEEN AND HER RETINUE.]