The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-11-09
HOW THINGS START
Curious Origin Of Playing Cards.
Dice and Dominoea
IndiA and China the Source OF These Pc
culiar Pisythings Some of the
Games Played by the
MongofianA

cards were originally derived from the
knuckle bones of sheep? Yet such is
the fact. If you do not believe il, ask
Stewart Culin. ethnologist. attached
70 the University of Pennsylvania. who,
according 20 the Washington Star. has
made the study OF games, from The
scientific point of view. his speciality.
The sO-c2llcd Enuckle bones are famil-
lar enough. being used TO this Gay by
children IN various parts of the world
They are the ankle bones Of the sheep.
ana are four-Sided. II seems odd 70
md that dice in Arabic are called by
name which means ankle bones No
body knows how loog they were dr.,
employed for playing games. one day
u occurred 20 somebody tina, a cube
was better adapted To the purpose.
That must have happened in very an
Gent times, FOR the Romans Of old had
dice which were just ike orr own,
even 10 the arrangement of the mum,
bers on the fsces--i. e. the six opposite
the one. the i've opposite the two, and
the four opposite the three.
1t will be observed that the sum ~
any two opposite numbers is always
seven. This may have something &c
Go with the fact that seven used 10 be
regarded as a magical number. OF the
respect accorded to il there Is evidence
in many passages of the Bible. The
nost ancient cubical die known date.
back to coo Il. Chat is, TWENTY-FIVE
hundred years ago. II was found at
Naucratus. Greek colony in Egypt.
The earliest dice were made in pairs.
right and left, like knuckie bones, one
OF which was always from the right
leg and the other from the left leg Of
the animal Two dice were USUALLY
employed, because they were two
knuckle bones. Mr.. Culin says that
dice probably originated in India
From that country they were carried
to China, whence they have been dis
tributed all over the world The Chi
nese are great gamesters; they invent
ed modification of the dice, which is
called the domino Put two dice faces
side by side and you have the domino.
Dominoes are said TO have been
devised in the year 1870 of the Chris
tian era by Chinese emperor for The.
amusement of his wives. IL Is moro
likely, however. that they merely OBJ
tanned the imperial approval at tina;
date
There are twenty-one possible throws
with two dice, so twenty-one dominoes
may be regarded rs natural dominoes.
However the Chinese have doubled up
some of the numbers SO as 20 make a
full set for playing thirtv-tvo in all
All over eastern Asia the customary
outfit of dOminoes is thirty-two Our
dominoes. obtained by way Of Europe.
are only twenty-cight and are modified
by the Introduction of blanks The
domino game Of Europe and America 10
the match game. II is played in China
but is an uniInportant one among tho
many Chinese games Of dominoes- Tho
Chinese domino games are all Of them
dice games elaborated. Domiaocs are
also used in Chirn. like dice. for for
tune telling. That system of divina-
ton has an extensive literature - It's
own. The Chinese dominoes all have
names.
In China cosmicai names are given ~
the numbers on the dice. SIX - tho
throw Of heaven, ace Is the throw %
earth, four Is the throw Of man. while
one and three are chosen 10 represent
the harmony that unites heaven. earth
and man The throw Of double FIVE IL
,alled the plum flower" FIVE and six
S the tigers head" four and six Is
red head ten" one and six Is long
egged seven" and one and i've i red
naIlet six" These terms remind oug
II those given By negroes 90 various
hrows at the game Of craps On
'hinese dice the zone" and -four" are
always red. while the dots on the other
aces are black Mr. Culin cannot AZ
IGN any reason for this with certainty.
There is legend % the effect that On
me occasion an emperor Of The Ming
dynasty was almost defeated In n gam,
~ his queen The only possibility fot
lin TO win was that the dice should
urn up "fours" They did 40, and hs
vas so gratifed that from that Tins .
orth the ''fours- on all dice wero
marked In red.
Take an ordinary domino ~ bone -
wood, enlarge II, make II Of paper. and
{ becomes a playing card M Culins
tudy Of the subject has led him % ths
onciusion that this IL the way IN
Which the playing card was original
-vOlved The evolution began with
he knuckle bone, which became .
ubical die; the latter was transforrnsd
sto a domino. and the domino. Ira -
urn. was n1e,anorphosed into . card
domino with two -'hves- 90 u rerre-
euts The "tcnsp0t- q ne PACK Tbs
ri-in If king. queen and ''tack'
unknown POssia! = little lght
lay BE- thrown upon The nys:~rJ -
be fact that tic four sides - ths
uuckle bone are called in Arabic -
shah '-viz.cr.' peasant AL
slave The same names ars given
D the numbers OF ne eIbicAl die. ths
* being the shah" one = to
Ames played With dorninoes n ChiDs
apparently TIE pr0t0typr - HGSt
'oto>lv knows when e1-alno~s ard
ards were intr0daced into EgFvp@-
Re, n Aunerica. get al oar games IRON
.uror,e. vse invent 10 s'2rrsss Poker .
a old EDg.ifb game modified NJ
uila says mat there Ars no new
ausss. thoss brourh' out from year -
ear a.. merely nd Hca;ipE.n e 81.
aos Games are originated IN Srlszi-
i've stages - socizl csvsloytssgnt
one r0zld naturally savpos@ ma.
se spinning dls. called he '.se.o,<z.'
.as; ~ derived from The sanss oris-
al sDuree a. the euuse4l de a1car-