MEDICO-LEGAL OBSERVATIONS ON TATTOO-MARKS AS EVIDENCE OF PERSONAL IDENTITY

[London]: [Guy's Hospital Reports], 1874. First edition. Very good plus.. Author's own offprint of his article on forensic identification via tattoos - with annotations in his hand. Taylor's article is an important early English account of the forensic utility of tattoos as evidence of identity, and includes a detailed discussion on the possibility and efficacy of tattoo removal. The author, a toxicologist and 'medical jurist' who testified as expert witness in several Victorian murder trials, was a prolific and popular medical writer for the general public as well as his professional peers.
In the notorious Tichborne Case of 1871, an Australian claimant later determined to be Arthur Orton put himself forward as the missing Roger Tichborne, heir to the Tichborne baronetcy and presumed lost at sea. Despite the willingness of Tichborne's mother to accept the Claimant as her son and to fund him accordingly, her death left him unable to continue the lifestyle to which he had made such efforts to become accustomed, and his ill-advised civil action to establish his assumed identity ended in his disgrace, arrest for perjury, and eventual imprisonment.
The drama of the case rested initially on the competing claims of psychology, class, and memory, and gave rise to competing factions with vehement belief in either side. Unanswerable objective evidence finally arose, however, when an old friend of the real Tichborne testified to his possession of certain tattoos - tattoos which the Claimant had already denied having. Taylor remarks, with some exasperation, that it was difficult "to understand why this part of the evidence was not fully gone into at an early stage of the first trial." The Tichborne Case's notoriety and hold on the public imagination was greatly facilitated by the apparent impossibility of knowing the truth for certain; the tattoo evidence, if produced early on, might have crushed the romance and the mystery out of the affair.
Upon the revelation of Tichborne's tattoos, the Claimant's attorney pivoted to the theory that the alleged tattoos had only been superficial chalk or pencil drawings, "made by Roger to surprise or annoy those to whom he showed them!" Taylor finds this "puerile, and inconsistent with all the evidence given in the case." As to the possibilities of Tichborne's real tattoos having faded naturally or witnesses confusing a superficial chalk drawing with "the depth, intensity or appearance of tattooing," Taylor provides a detailed technical discussion of the visual qualities of tattoos and the removal methods then available, ending with a vehement reiteration of his position: that an adequately educated person, having examined the evidence, ought to be well-equipped "to reject the false and detect the true."
A fascinating historical document on the history of tattoo technology and practices and their importance to medicine and law, by a major influential figure in the history of forensic science. 8.5'' x 5.5''. Contemporary plain tan wrappers. 25, [1] pages. Brief notes in pen to front cover and occasional pen and pencil marginalia throughout, all by Taylor. Mild toning; small stain to lower edge, not affecting text. 2'' closed tear at top of spine.