Dermatoglyphics is the study of dermal ridges on palms and soles. Since 1823 scientists have discovered that finger prints and innate intelligence are related. Through many medical researches it is found that finger prints are formed during the 13th to 19th prenatal week. Study of the finger prints and can be traced back to 1892 by Sir Francis Galton, a cousin of Charles Darwin, published his non classical work on finger prints. He conducted extensive research into the significance of skin ridge patterns not only to demonstrate their permanence and consequently their use as a means of identification, but also to demonstrate the hereditary significance of fingerprints and to show the biological variations of different fingerprint patterns amongst different racial groups. He collected vast numbers of fingerprints from all types of people, noting the variations of pattern types amongst different races and established the relative frequency. However, the main breakthrough in establishing the significance of the dermatoglyphic analysis of the hand came with the publication of the results of the research of Harold Cummins and Charles Midlo in their seminal work 'Fingerprints Palms and Soles' in 1943. Cummins and Charles Midlo were professors of Microscopic Anatomy at Tulane University in the United States, and it was they who in fact coined the term 'dermatoglyphics' in 1926 (derma = skin, glyph = carving). The main thrust of their research was into Down's syndrome and the characteristic hand formations it produces. They showed that the hand contained significant dermatoglyphic configurations that
would assist the identification of mongolism in the new-born child and thus they set the stage for much of the later dermatoglyphic research work.