bittyblueeyes:

nonlinear-nonsubjective:

1800snostalgia:

Mugshot of a 2-year-old Francois Bertillon, arrested for eating a basket of pears

Follow for more 1800s nostalgia

#who the fuck arrested a two year old #what police officer was like YOU’RE COMING WITH ME SON #was it javert #i bet it was javert (x)

Haha! Which police officer? His dad.

Alphonse Bertillon was a French police officer and the world’s leading expert in forensics. He’s the man that invented the mug shot. That picture of his son,

François, was a joke. His crime? Gluttony, nibbling all the pears from a basket

Here’s Alphonse’s own mug shot:

Since this turned into a bit of a history lesson, I’ll add that some of his other notable achievements in his field were the creation of the following forensic techniques: QD examination, compounds to preserve footprints, ballistics, and the dynamometer which determines the degree of force used when breaking and entering.

He’s even mentioned in The Hounds of Baskervilles, where one of Sherlock’s clients refers to Sherlock as the “second highest expert in Europe” after Bertillon. That’s saying something.