Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-09-05
CARDS AND CHESS.
A Collection, illustrating Their His
tory, to BE Sent to Atlanta.

A Collection, Issustrnting Their His
tory, to BE Sent to Atlanta.
From the Philadelphia Press.
A fine collection Of games will be sent by
the University of Pennsylvania. depart
ment Of archaeology, to the Atlanta expo
sition. 1t consists Of specimens illustrat-
ing the origin and history of chess and
playing cards, collected and arranged by
Stewart Culin, director of the Archaeo-
logical Museum. 1t will be shown in the
&C, eminent building, in connection with
the National Museums exhibit.
Mr. Culin was invited to display his re-
markable collection by DR.. G. Brown Goode.
secretary in charge of the National Mu-
scum He accepted and sent thirty-four
Upright cases and one large table case con-
tanning the objects in carefully arranged
series, showing the evolution of the games.
They tell the history of cards and chess,
beginning with the more primitive forms
known and extending to the present day.
Mr.. Culin discovered clue to the origin of
games among the American Indians.
The pack of cards is shown to have
originally consisted Of bundle of prac.
teal arrows, marked with the signs of
the world quarters. The STATEMENTS, or
feathered part of these arrows. bearing
cosmical marks, were first used in fortune
telling, and from this use the card games
arose. In America the Indians did not get
beyond the use of carved and painted
slaves. The American case shows the
practical arrows of the McCloud river In
dams of California, marked with colored
ribbons, by which they were distinguished.
Side by side with them are the gambling
sticks of the Haiaas of Vancouver's Island,
similarly marked with rings of color and
used like cards in their gambling even at
The present day. In the adjoining case, de-
voted to Eastern Asia, the practice arrows
of Corea are shown, and with them the
derived playing cards, here made of oiled
I,ort Iaf1 fI.air~ ,,,l-p o,,l
faces devices copied from the cut feathers
of the arrows.
With them are Chinese cards with the
same emblems surviving as markers or in
GeXeS at the ends. These cards are double
headers, as indeed were the gambling
sticks, carrying back the idea of the COM
mon playing cards with double heads and
index marks to the most remote antiquity.
The Japanese cards in the same case bear
emblems derived in part from the same
source, while the circular Hindu cards,
called gungifa, of which a beautiful pack
is SHOWN, are painted in colors to corre-
Pack Of the national cards Of each of the
principal countries in the world follow,
ccmprisi AZ in Europe. Germany. France,
Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden,
England and Russia.
The card series closes with the cards of
the late rebellion and the cards made for
special occasions. down to the pack with
pictures Of the Chicago exposition. DR..
Goode has added from the historical relics
in the National Museum the cards with
pictures Of the confederate flag, made in
England for sale in the south during the
wal.
The chess series begins. like that of cards,
with the divinatory games of primitive
people, in which the game originated.
America is here again conspicuous, and
with the objects representing the first
steps in the evolution of the game are
shown other common things, such as visit
ing cards and the folding fan. which Mr..
row of the primitive culture. The histori-
cal chess series comprises boards and men
from India, Burmah. the Malay Peninsula,
Japan.