Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1894-12-27
THE SHEEP TO BLAME
PLAYING CARDS DERIVED
FROM ITS ANKLE BONE.
University Professor Declares That
Modern Pasteboards Havo Evolved
From This Curious souroe-CurIositIes
OF Familiar Game Implements.

knuckle bones OF sheep? Yet such is
the fact. If you do not believe it, ask
Stewart >Culin. ethnoogist, attached
to the university of Pennsylvania, who,
according to the Washington Star,
has made the study OF games, from
the scientific point Of view, his spe-
cialty. The so-called knuclSle bones
are familiar enough being used to
this day by childt, various parts
OF tho world. - are the ankle
bones Of the s,}eeps ana are foursided.
1t seems oddf to find that dice in
Arabic areN called by name which
means ankle bones. Nobody knows
how long they We're first employed for
playing games One day il occurred
to somebody that cube was better
adapted to the purpose. That must
have happened in very ancient times,
for the Romans OF old had dice which
were just like our own, even to the
arrangement of the numbers on the
faces. o., the six opposite the one,
the five opposite the two, and the four
opposite the three.
1t will be observed that the sum of
any two opposite numbers is always
seven. This may have something to
do with the fact that seven used TO be
regarded as a magical number. or
the respect accorded to it there is evil
dcnce in many passages Of the Biblc.
The most ancient cubical die known
dates back to 600 b. Chat is, 1900
years ago 1t was found at Naucratus,
"a Greek colony in Egypt, The earli-
est dice were made in pairs, rights
and lefts, like knuckle bones, one OF
which was always from the right leg
and the other from the left leg OF the
animal. Two dice were usually en-
ployed, because they were two knuclsle
bones. Mr.. Culin says that dice prob
ably originated in India. From that
country they were carried TO China,
whence they have been distributed all
over tho world. The Chinese are
great gamesters; they invented %
modification of the dice, which is
called the domino. Put two dice faces
side by side and you have q domino.
Dominoes are said to have been de-
vised in the year 1920 of the Christian
era by u Chinese emperor for the
amusement Of his wives. Ii is more
likely, however, that they merely OBJ
tanned the imperial approval at that
date.
Many games are played in China on
boards and diagrams, the moves being
thrown by throwing dice. In one of
these, called the liable OF the promo
ton of officials" II large sheet OF pa
pei will be used, on which are printed
the titles OF various officials and dig
nitares of the Chinese government.
! Players are advanced or set back ac
cording to their throws The story
told about the invention OF this game
is that the emperor Kienling A. ID.
1850, was walking at nightfall among
the houses occupied by candidates for
triennial examination at Pellin.
Hearing the sound of dice throwing in
one of the dwellings,, he sent for the
offender. The latter, as an excuse,
told the monarch that he had con-
structed a chart on which were writ
ten the titles in the government. He
said that he and his friends threw
their throws, and were thus impressed
with the knowledge OF the various
ranks and steps leading to official add
vancement.
The emperor commanded him to
bring the chart for his inspection.
That night the unfortunate student,
whose excuse was fiction created on
the spur of the moment, sat pencil in
hand until daybreak and made a chart,
which he carried to the emperor.
The latter was pleased with the dill
gence Of the scholar, who improved
his mind even while amusing himself,
and dismissed him with many com
mendations.
Take an ordinary domino OF bone or
wood, enlarge it, make it of paper, and
it becomes u playing card. Mr.. Culin's
study OF the subject has led him to the
conclusion that this is the way in
which the playing card was originally
evolved The evolution began with
knuckle bone, which became cubical
die; the latter was transformed into a
domino, and the domino, in its turn,
was metamorphosed into card. A
domino with two elves" on it repre-
sents the "tenspot" Of the pack. The
origin of "king," queen" and 'jack"
is unknown. POSSIBLY little light
may be thrown upon the mystery
by the fact that the four sides of the
knuckle bone are called in Arabic the
"shah," "vizier," 'peasant" and
"slave." The same names are given
to the numbers on the cubical die, the
six being the ''shah." One Of the
games played with dominoes in China
is apparently the prototype OF whist
Nobody knows when dominoes and
cards were introduced into Europe.
We, in America, get all our games
from Europe; we invent no games.
Poker is an old English game modi-
fed. Mr.. CGlin says that there are no
new games; those brought out from
year to year are merely notifications
Of old ones. Games are originated in
primitive stages OF social develop
| ment.
One would naturally suppose that
the spinning die, called the ''teeto-
TEN" must be derived from the same
1 = A