“I beg the indulgence of the court while I make a few remarks in explanation of some evidence which I am about to introduce, and which I shall presently ask to be allowed to verify under oath on the witness stand.  Every human being carries with him from his cradle to his grave certain physical marks which do not change their character, and by which he can always be identified—­and that without shade of doubt or question.  These marks are his signature, his physiological autograph, so to speak, and this autograph can not be counterfeited, nor can he disguise it or hide it away, nor can it become illegible by the wear and mutations of time.  This signature is not his face—­age can change that beyond recognition; it is not his hair, for that can fall out; it is not his height, for duplicates of that exist; it is not his form, for duplicates of that exist also, whereas this signature is each man’s very own—­there is no duplicate of it among the swarming populations of the globe! [The audience were interested once more.]

“This autograph consists of the delicate lines or corrugations with which Nature marks the insides of the hands and the soles of the feet.  If you will look at the balls of your fingers—­you that have very sharp eyesight—­you will observe that these dainty curving lines lie close together, like those that indicate the borders of oceans in maps, and that they form various clearly defined patterns, such as arches, circles, long curves, whorls, etc., and that these patterns differ on the different fingers. [Every man in the room had his hand up to the light now, and his head canted to one side, and was minutely scrutinizing the balls of his fingers; there were whispered ejaculations of ’Why, it’s so—­I never noticed that before!’] The patterns on the right hand are not the same as those on the left. [Ejaculations of ‘Why, that’s so, too!’] Taken finger for finger, your patterns differ from your neighbor’s. [Comparisons were made all over the house—­even the judge and jury were absorbed in this curious work.] The patterns of a twin’s right hand are not the same as those on his left.  One twin’s patterns are never the same as his fellow twin’s patterns—­the jury will find that the patterns upon the finger balls of the twins’ hands follow this rule. [An examination of the twins’ hands was begun at once.] You have often heard of twins who were so exactly alike that when dressed alike their own parents could not tell them apart.  Yet there was never a twin born in to this world that did not carry from birth to death a sure identifier in this mysterious and marvelous natal autograph.  That once known to you, his fellow twin could never personate him and deceive you.”

Wilson stopped and stood silent.  Inattention dies a quick and sure death when a speaker does that.  The stillness gives warning that something is coming.  All palms and finger balls went down now, all slouching forms straightened, all heads came up, all eyes were fastened upon Wilson’s face.  He waited yet one, two, three moments, to let his pause complete and perfect its spell upon the house; then, when through the profound hush he could hear the ticking of the clock on the wall, he put out his hand and took the Indian knife by the blade and held it aloft where all could see the sinister spots upon its ivory handle; then he said, in a level and passionless voice: