clay seals secured by me at Si-ngan fu are likely to furnish an important contribution to the early history of the finger-print system. The seal was considered in ancient China as a magical object suitable to combat or to dispel evil spirits, and the figures of tigers, tortoises, and monsters by which the metal seals were surmounted had the function of acting as charms. We read in Pao-p'o-tse 1 that in olden times people traveling in mountainous regions carried in their girdles a white seal 4 inches wide, covered with the design of the Yellow Spirit and 120 characters. This seal was impressed into clay at the place where they stopped for the night, each of the party made 100 steps into the four directions of the compass, with the effect that tigers and wolves did not dare approach. Jade boxes, and even the doors of the palaces, were sealed by means of clay seals to shut out the influence of devils. Numerous are the stories regarding Buddhist and Taoist priests performing miracles with the assistance of a magical seal. On plate 4 six such clay seals from the collection of the Field Museum are illustrated. The most interesting of these is that shown in figure 2, consisting of a hard, gray baked clay, and displaying a thumb impression with the ridges in firm, clear, and perfect outlines, its greatest length and width being 2.5 cm. It is out of the question that this imprint is due to a mere accident caused by the handling of the clay piece, for in that case we should see only faint and imperfect traces of the finger marks, quite insufficient for the purpose of identification. This impression, however, is deep and sunk into the surface of the clay seal and beyond any doubt was effected with intentional energy and determination. Besides this technical proof there is the inward evidence of the presence of a seal bearing the name of the owner in an archaic form of characters on the opposite side. This seal, 1 cm. wide and 1.2 cm. long, countersunk 4 mm. below the surface, is exactly opposite the thumb mark, a fact clearly pointing to the intimate affiliation between the two. In reasoning the case out logically, there is no other significance possible than that the thumb print belongs to the owner of the seal who has his name on the obverse and his identification mark on the reverse, the latter evidently serving for the purpose of establishing the identity of the seal. This case, therefore, is somewhat analogous to the modern practice of affixing on title deeds the thumb print to the signature, the one being verified by the other. This unique specimen is the oldest document so far on record relating to the history of the finger-print system. I do not wish to enter here into a discussion of the exact period from which it comes down, whether the Chou 1 Surname of the celebrated Taoist writer Ko Hung who died around 330 A. D., at the age of 81. period or the Former Han dynasty is involved; this question is irrelevant; at all events it may be stated confidently that this object, like other clay seals, was made in the pre-Christian era. An examination of other pieces may reveal some of the religious ideas underlying the application of the thumb print. Many clay seals are freely fashioned by means of the finger and exhibit strange relations to these organs. The finger shape of the two seals in figures 6 and 7 on plate 4 is obvious. Our illustration shows the lower uninscribed sides, while the name is impressed by means of a wooden mold on the upper side. Examination of these two pieces brings out the fact that they were shaped from the upper portion of the small finger, and further from the back of the finger. The lower rounded portion of the object in figure 7 is evidently the nail of the small finger which was pressed against the wet clay lump; the seal has just the length of the first finger joint (2.6 cm. long), the clay mold follows the round shape of the finger, and the edges coiled up after baking. The lines of the skin, to become visible, were somewhat grossly enlarged in the impression. The clay seal in figure 6 (2.4 cm. long), I believe, was fashioned over the middle joint of the small finger of a male adult, the two joints at the upper and lower end of the seal being flattened out a little by pressure on the clay, and the lines of the epidermis being artificially inserted between them. The seal in figure 5, of red-burnt clay, with four characters on the opposite side (not illustrated), was likewise modeled from the bulb of the thumb by pressure of the left side against a lump of clay which has partially remained as a ridge adhering to the surface. The latter was smoothed by means of a flat stick so that no finger marks could survive. The groove in the lower part is accidental. Another square clay seal in our collection (No. 117032) has likewise a smoothed lower face, but a sharp mark from the thumb nail in it. These various processes suffice to show that the primary and essential point in these clay seals was a certain sympathetic relation to the fingers of the owner of the seal. Here we must call to mind that the seal in its origin was the outcome of magical ideas, and that, according to Chinese notions, it is the pledge for a person's good faith; indeed, the word yin, "seal," is explained by the word sin, "faith." The man attesting a document sacrificed figuratively part of his body under his oath that the statements made by him were true, or that the promise of a certain obligation would be kept. The seal assumed the shape of a bodily member; indeed, it was immediately copied from it and imbued with the flesh and blood of the owner. It was under the sway of these notions of magic that the mysterious, unchangeable furrows on the finger bulbs came into prominence and received their importance. They not 1 In the work T'ie yün ts’ang t'ao, p. 85b, above quoted, is illustrated a clay seal containing only this one character. The same book contains also a number of finger-shaped clay seals. |