A thousand people have a thousand Hamlets in their hearts, and a thousand people also have a thousand different fingerprint configurations.
Therefore, in modern society, fingerprints have been given many meanings in addition to the biological functions of protecting the skin of the fingers and making it easier for the hands to grasp objects.
In the "punch card" system of many companies, there is a fingerprint check to record employee attendance. In modern criminal investigation and handling, fingerprints are also the key evidence to solve the case.
However, no matter which technology, it has only gradually taken shape in modern times. So, what is the concept of fingerprints from the ancients?
In fact, in many film and television works and historical materials, we will find that in ancient times, the mainland had the practice of "painting and betting" and pressing the fingerprint. However, there was no mature fingerprint verification technology in ancient times, so what is the significance of this "painting" form?
I believe that many friends must be thinking about this problem, so today we will explore the mystery together!
About fingerprints
To some extent, the human body is an extremely sophisticated instrument, and each part has its irreplaceable role and meaning.
Since the emergence of human beings on the earth, the structural composition of the human body has undergone many rounds of evolution, and many parts that are of little significance to the survival and development of human beings have gradually degenerated, such as the tail vertebrae.
However, the fingerprints have survived over the years.
In fact, fingerprints are not unique to humans, so it is not particularly rigorous to say, it should be said that the lines in the palm are not unique to humans.
In addition to humans, orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees and other primates and arboreals have this skin pattern. Even the inside of the tail of spider apes and capuchin monkeys has this skin pattern.
It can be inferred from this that the initial production of this pattern is actually to facilitate the creature to grasp and pull the object and other actions.
At this time, some people may feel that the existence of fingerprints is to increase the friction between the palm and the object, so as to achieve the smooth completion of actions such as grabbing and dragging.
In fact, the existence of fingerprints is actually to reduce friction.
Yes, through various experiments, scientists finally concluded that because of the presence of fingerprints, the skin has become easier to stretch and deform, so as to achieve the purpose of protecting the skin of the hands from harm as much as possible.
However, for humans, fingerprints are obviously more meaningful. Because of the uniqueness of fingerprints, fingerprints are given many additional meanings by humans.
For modern people, fingerprints are their second IDENTITY card. Even twins with a high degree of similarity will have detailed but obvious differences in fingerprints.
Fingerprint verification applications such as fingerprint payment and fingerprint punch card emerge in an endless stream, and small fingertip lines provide more convenience for human beings under the blessing of science and technology.
Bucket type, bow type, ji type, all human fingerprints are evolved on top of these three basic shapes.
Presumably, many people have been pinched by elders or friends when they were children to see the lines of fingerprints on their fingertips.
As the saying goes: "One bucket of poverty and two buckets of wealth, three buckets and four buckets sell tofu, five buckets and six buckets open pawnshops, seven buckets and eight buckets do official work, and nine buckets and ten buckets enjoy Qingfu." Although this ancient saying has no scientific basis, it is just a beautiful imagination of people, but it reflects the importance of fingerprints by the ancients.
"Bucket" is the ancient name for the circle-shaped fingerprint, and some places will also call the fingerprint of this shape "箩". In contrast, there is no circle shape of the fingerprint, this fingerprint with notched pattern, is named after the similar shape of the "dustpan".
Even if science and technology are now very developed, scientists and relevant people cannot guarantee that every pattern can be accurately copied to make a fingerprint model.
Those extremely rare and complex fingerprint lines still cannot be reproduced in its entirety.
Because of the uniqueness of fingerprints, many criminals in the process of crime, in order to avoid the police to collect fingerprints that can determine their identity, choose to wear gloves or use some method to cover up their fingerprint lines. What's more, they will even use extreme means to destroy their fingerprint lines, hoping to escape the punishment of the law.
However, in ancient times, when science and technology were inferior to today's, could people confirm and analyze fingerprints?
Why did the ancients choose the form of painting such as "pressing the fingerprint" when there was no fingerprint recognition technology?
Not useless
Unlike modern times, in ancient times, the per capita literacy rate was extremely low. "Dou Da's characters do not know a basket" was not a surprising thing at that time, and many people may not have the opportunity to enter the school to learn words and read in their lifetime.
You know, even in today's society, except for those who have higher requirements for themselves, or business executives, celebrities, etc., few people will specifically contact their signatures.
In modern times, when the per capita education level was extremely low, naturally there would be no ordinary people who learned how to write their names specifically for the purpose of signing.
However, whether it is a contract of various kinds of sale or a testimony of interrogation, it is necessary for the parties to sign.
Then, in order to enable people who cannot write to sign contracts, "pressing the fingerprint" has become a no-way to do it.
The ancients may not have developed as much technology as they are today, but their wisdom may not be inferior to that of modern people. With fingerprints instead of signatures, the contract was signed much more smoothly.
Some people say that even if they press it, how can they rely on fingerprints to determine each other's identity? At the end of the day, it's just useless work. However, this is not the case.
As mentioned in the previous article, the ancients' cognition and classification of fingerprints, although not as meticulous as they are today, also distinguished between "bucket patterns" and "ji patterns".
The thickness of each person's fingers and whether the lines are complex can also be easily identified by the naked eye.
When humans become adults, the length of their hands and feet will not change unless they encounter an accident.
Therefore, whether it is a single finger fingerprint print or a palm print of the whole palm, it is possible to achieve secondary comparison. Once the old and new mudras are compared, it can be determined that the person who painted at this time is the person who is in charge.
Although there may still be some errors, most of the time, the role of determining the identity of the other party can be reached by comparing fingerprints.
And, there is one more point that we cannot ignore. To some extent, the ancients seemed to attach more importance to the "spirit of contract" than modern people.
Moreover, the ancients obviously believed in theories such as "cause and effect" more than modern people. Therefore, once the handprint is placed, it is equivalent to signing a contract and making a promise.
This kind of contract is not only an agreement between the two parties, but also a commitment of the signatories to heaven and earth and ancestors.
Although we cannot regard all the ancients as a person of a thousand gold, the psychological and moral constraints on the ancients by pressing the mudra are stronger than we think.
There is a contrast between the first handprint and the strong psychological and moral hints, and in this case, there will be relatively few people who break the contract.
In addition to signing a contract, there is another situation that requires the handprint to be detained, that is, when the yamen are on trial.
Whether the plaintiff or the defendant, whether or not he can read and hyphenate, after everything mentioned has been recorded, he must be placed on the fingerprint.
The literate ones are those who add their own names to the handprints, and the illiterates draw a circle and press the handprints to prove that all this is from their own mouths.
In many film and television dramas, there are often people who are framed for refusing to obey and swear not to press their fingerprints, while those who frame them find ways to press each other's handprints on the confession.
It can be seen how important it was for the ancients to press the mudra.
It is precisely because of this importance that both parties attach great importance to this necessary process. The unique handprint of the signatory is the strongest evidence of his future violation of the contract.
If the two sides are in trouble or cannot communicate, someone needs to distinguish the handprint, judging whether the contract is valid from the thickness, shape, and grain of the old and new handprints.
The ancients were not as ignorant as we think, and it is not entirely accurate to say that the ancients did not have fingerprint recognition technology.
We can only say that the ancients did not have the technology to identify fingerprints in all aspects from the perspective of science and technology.
The ancients first discovered the uniqueness of fingerprints, and then chose to use fingerprints to replace the signatures of people who could not write.
Because there are no sophisticated instruments, the ancients often observed things more carefully than modern people. Therefore, the act of the ancients in laying on the mudra is not doing useless work, but a kind of wisdom.
In modern times, people's cognition and application of human body details such as fingerprints are obviously more.
Application of human body details
With the development of human beings, the understanding and control of themselves has matured.
Since the 1970s, with the wide application of computers and the rapid development of picture processing, countries around the world have begun to establish automatic fingerprint recognition systems.
Many people are curious about how the state collects their fingerprints into the fingerprint bank after their ordinary lives.
In fact, when you think back to applying for an ID card, you have the answer.
When applying for an ID card, we need to enter the fingerprints of our hands separately under the guidance of the staff.
When the recognition rate of the identified finger is less than 60% after three acquisitions, it is necessary to retake it with another finger until two fingerprints with a high recognition rate are successfully entered.
The role of fingerprints, of course, is not limited to criminal investigation and solving. In daily life, we are often facilitated by fingerprint recognition technology.
Whether it is the fingerprint unlock and payment of the smart phone, or the fingerprint lock of the home security door, or the company's fingerprint punch card, it provides convenience for everyone's life to a certain extent.
There are also some hidden "artists" who print intricate fingerprints on paper and turn their fingerprints into a unique, their own painting.
Of course, there is still a certain risk in this kind of fun, after all, if someone extracts a complete fingerprint, it is a very dangerous thing.
Despite the fact that there are no identical humans, even plants and animals, etc. in this world, there are many examples of people who look strikingly similar, if not identical twins.
Then, if you want to distinguish the difference between the two people, in addition to relying on the tacit understanding of the parents and friends of both sides over the years, you need to distinguish it through fingerprints, iris, DNA, etc.
Yes, like fingerprints, the iris is an absolutely unique presence in the human body.
As early as the formation of the iris in the stage of fetal development, unless a major accident is encountered, the iris will remain unchanged in the life course of human beings.
And because the iris contains many interlaced spots, filaments, crowns, stripes and crypts, etc., each person's iris is unique and unrepeatable.
This uniqueness is the same as the fingerprint, so the iris has also become the object of human identity.
In the past, in many science fiction future film and television works, there will be pictures of humans facing the recognition system. Although many lenses show the recognition of the other person's full face, in fact, the recognition is mainly based on the human iris.
Of course, this iris recognition technology has become very popular today. Compared with face recognition technology, iris technology is obviously more meticulous and thoughtful.
When faced with very similar identical twins, face recognition technology occasionally suffers from the inability to recognize both smoothly. However, once the twins are faced with iris recognition, there will be no unclear identity.
High uniqueness, stability, and immutability are reflected in fingerprints and irises, especially in DNA.
Identifying the other person by identifying DNA has played a decisive role in the detection and trial of many cases.
But the application of DNA is not limited to identity.
In modern biology and biochemistry, DNA is used and studied extensively. Paternity testing is just one of the roles of DNA.
By stripping DNA from the blood, skin, saliva and hair, etc., so that it is a biological parent-child relationship between the two parties, this is much more reliable than the so-called blood test.
Through dna collection and analysis, diseases such as genetic diseases, infectious diseases and tumors can be successfully screened.
Since the advent of genetic testing, many diseases have nowhere to hide, which is not a blessing for patients.
Unfortunately, even if human beings have mastered more science and technology than before, there are still many blind spots, which are difficult problems that cannot be solved by today's scientific and technological level. Down syndrome is one of them.
To date, there is still no successful treatment for Down syndrome. Therefore, obstetric examination is very important for pregnant women.
By performing DNA testing, it is more responsible for both the pregnant woman and the fetus to determine whether the fetus is healthy and has a painful, irreversible disease before it gives birth, so that the decision whether to give birth is more responsible for both the pregnant woman and the fetus.
And these are all through the study of human details such as fingerprints, iris, DNA and other human details, which have brought convenience to today's human beings.
Although the ancients did not master these things as well as we did, in that era, the details of the human body achieved the greatest cognitive application.
Therefore, we cannot say that the ancients were unwise, and it is precisely because of the various preparations of the ancients that we have the rapid development of science and technology today.