egoing outline covers the procedures followed in cases
involving decomposition in which the outer skin is still present. In
many instances of decomposition the outer skin has been destroyed or
is in such a condition as to be of no value. It must be emphasized
again that the second layer of skin possesses the same ridge detail as
the outer layer and this, though finer and less pronounced, is just as
effective for identification purposes.

If, from examination, it is apparent that the outer layer of skin is
missing and the second layer is intact, the finger should be cleansed,
dried, inked, and printed in the usual manner. If the specimen is
wrinkled but pliable it may be possible to inject tissue builder, as
previously mentioned, to round out the finger, then ink and print it.

Occasionally, some of the outer skin is still attached but is of no
value. This skin should be removed by carefully picking or prying it
off with a scalpel in such a manner as not to destroy or injure the
ridge detail of the second layer. After the outer fragments have been
removed, the second layer is cleaned, inked, and printed. In the event
the resultant impressions are not suitable for classification and
identification purposes, the most likely reason for it is that the
ridge detail is too fine to print even though there are few if any
wrinkles in it. If this is the case, the finger should be cut off at
the second joint and photographed. Should wrinkles which cannot be
removed by injecting tissue builder, and which also preclude the
taking of suitable photographs, be present, the pattern area is cut
off with a scalpel from the first joint to the tip. The flesh is then
cut and scraped out as previously described, until the specimen is
thin enough to flatten out between two pieces of glass which may be
held together by scotch tape. The skin is then photographed.

Occasionally, even after the flattening process it will be noted in
the ground glass of the camera that the skin may be seen plainly but
the ridge detail is very poor. This difficulty may be due to the poor
contrast of the ridges and furrows when using direct lighting. If so,
it can be overcome by scraping the skin to transparency and then
photographing it by transmitted light (i.e., passing light through the
skin). Sometimes, due to the condition of the skin, even though it is
tissue thin, it will not be transparent. This can be overcome by
soaking the skin in xylene for a few minute