A printing compound suitable for recording unique surface characteristics of
an
object such as a person's finger, palm or foot, tire tread or shoe sole, on a porous
medium such as paper, is composed of (1) a composition, e.g., printer's ink, capable
of delineating such surface characteristics when transferred to the porous medium
by itself or in conjunction with a separate reagent and (2) a sufficient amount
of water dispersable nonionic surfactant to render the composition substantially
soluble in water without adversely affecting the ability of the composition to
delineate the surface characteristics when transferred to the porous medium.
