Dermatoglyphics in Medical Disorders

The skin on the fingertips and palmar and plantar surfaces of man is not smooth. It is grooved by curious ridges, which form a variety of configurations. These ridge configurations have attracted the at­ tention of laymen for millenia. They have also evoked the serious interest of scientists for more than three centuries. The anatomist Bidloo provided a description of ridge detail in the seventeenth cen­ tury. Since then, additional information has been added by anthro­ pologists, biologists, an