Bertillon system

The Bertillon system is a standardised method of criminal anthropometrics that uses a set of bodily measurements, including height and dimensions of the head, ears, nose, limbs, feet, and fingers, alongside forensic identification photographs, one of the full face and a second of the side profile. It was originally devised by Alphonse Bertillon (1853-1914), a French policeman, and was widely implemented by police around the world during the nineteenth and twentieth century, though measurements are now largely superseded by the collection of exemplar fingerprints.