ABSTRACT
The scope of Purkinje’s interests was broad, and he made important contributions to many areas that have hardly been touched on. For example, in his inaugural address at Breslau, Purkinje (1823b) described the principles on which an ophthalmoscope could operate, and he outlined how fingerprints could be used as a means of identifying individuals. He found “after examining a great number of individuals, nine patterns of papillary lines on the skin of the fingers” (Opera Selecta, Purkinje, 1948, p. XXIV). The nine patterns are shown in Fig. 5.2.
