parle

It says 'Formulaire du portrait parlé'. Portrait parlé, aka Bertillon system, first scientific method of criminal identification, developed by the French criminologist Alphonse Bertillon (1853-1914). The system, based on the classification of skeletal and other body measurements and characteristics, was officially adopted in France in 1888 and soon after in other countries. Fingerprinting, added later as a supplementary measure, has largely replaced the system

"cav" is for "concave" "vex" for "convexe" r I think for "right" "busk" for "busqué"= aquiline

Thanks Wystan. We'll update the title with the correct spelling.

Another Bain/LOC photo of the Bertillon "Portrait Parle" class:

anyone read French and know what this is about?

It says 'Formulaire du portrait parlé'. Portrait parlé, aka Bertillon system, first scientific method of criminal identification, developed by the French criminologist Alphonse Bertillon (1853-1914). The system, based on the classification of skeletal and other body measurements and characteristics, was officially adopted in France in 1888 and soon after in other countries. Fingerprinting, added later as a supplementary measure, has largely replaced the system

THANKS. Was it a racist thing?

No, it wasn't a racist thing. It was an attempt to identify people uniquely, the same way that fingerprints do. Instead of being fingerprinted, arrested criminals were measured in a number of specific ways, on the theory that that combination of measurements was unique to them. It failed mostly because it required a lot of training to get the measurements right, and because fingerprinting came in shortly after it was invented. It also had the disadvantage that it wasn't usable in all the ways a fingerprint is. No one leaves a complete set of Bertillon measurements at a crime scene!

Thanks for the clarification.