Identification by Comparison of Roentgenograms

The case here described is the only one on record in which identification of an individual has been obtained through the use of roentgenograms of the pneumatic cells of the skull, or indeed of roentgenography at all. We had often considered the possibility of identification by comparison of roentgenograms of the nasal accessory sinuses, but had never had the opportunity to try out the idea. When we came to look up any possible literature in regard to this subject, we found only one reference, an article by Schuller 1 of Vienna, in which he suggests the identification of skulls by comparison of roengten-ray plates of the frontal sinuses with plates formerly taken, in emergency medicolegal cases and in criminal anthropometry. When the problem of this case was presented, we knew nothing about Schuller's recommendation, but we put our own theories and, inadvertently, Schuller's also, to the test, and found that