The Coalville times. [volume] (Coalville, Utah) 1894-1923, 1895-01-11
THE SHEEP TO BLAME
PLAYING CARDS DERIVED
FROM ITS ANKLE Bona.
= Uaiversity Professor Declares That
modern rastsbosrds Have Evolved
Tfom Thn Curious scarce -Curiosities
Of Familiar Game Implements

tho fact n you do not believe II. ask
Stewart Culin. othnologist, attached
90 the university Of Pennsylvania, who.
according 10 tho Washington Star,
has made the study Of games. from
tbs scientific point Of view. his spe-
cialty. The so.oallcd knucklo bones
arr familiar enough, being used 10
mi. day by children In various parts
of the world. They are tho ankle
bones OF the sheep, and are ioursidcd.
n seems odd TO find that dice In
Arabic arc called by name which
means ankle bones. Nobody knows
how long they were FIRST employed for
playing games. One day II occurred
10 somebody that a cube was better
adapted 10 the purpose. That must
have happened In very ancient times,
Tor the Romans OF old had dice which
were Just like our own, even ~ the
arrangement Of the numbers on the
faces q O.. the six opposite the ono,
Tho five opposite tho two, and the four
opposite the three.
n will b. observed that the sum Of
any two opposite numbers u always
saycn. This may hayo something 10
do with the fact that seven used 10 bo
regarded ~ magical number. or
the respect accorded 10 Il thorc II owl
dsnco In many passages Of the lpblc.
Tho most ancient cuhlcal die known
dAtes back 10 GOO II. Chat i, 1900
years ago. II was found at Naucraius,
n Crock colony In Egypt Tho carll-
cst dico were made In pairs, rights
and loft. like knucklc bones. one Of
which was always from tho right Lex
nni the other from the leit leg Of the
nnlmni Two dice we're usually cm-
ploycd because thoy wore two kuucklc
bonoa Mr. Culln says that dice prob
ably originated In India. From that
cUuniry ihoy wore carried 20 China,
vhnnra thcy have been distributed all
over the world Tho Chinese are
girlf gamcstors; they Invented "a
modification Of the dicc. which Is
called the domino. Put two dice faces
aldo by side and you have q domino.
nominocs are said 90 have boon de-
vi cd IN the year 1920 Of the Christian
ora by a Chinese emperor for the
amuaomcnt Of his wives. II II moro
likely. however. that they merely oh
tain'd tho imperial approval at that
dnie.
Many games are played In China on
boards and diagrams. the moves being
thrown by throwing dice. In ono Of
these. callcl the table OF tho promo
iion Of onlcials,"a large sheet Of pa
per will be- used. on which are printed
the titles OF various officials anil dig
nliar.cs Of tho Chinese government.
lTa crs are advanced or set back nc
.corlirg 20 their throws. The story
tolls chout the invention of this game
A. that the emperor kionling, a. ID.
1900. was walking az nightfall among
Tho houses occupied by candidates for
"A tricnn'al examination at Pekln.
Hearing The sound of dice throwing In
ono %. the dwellings, no sent Tor tho
offender. Tho latter, ~ AN excuse,
inld tho monarch that no had con-
siruciod q chart on which were writ
Zen the tlilos In the government. lilo
= said that he and hls iricnds throw
dice. traycrscd the board according 10
thor throws, ana wore thus impressed
with the knowledge Of the various
r..nl,s and stops leading 20 official add
IAN -omcnt
The emperor commanded him Ia
bring the chart for his inspection,
That night tho unfortunate student.
whose excuse was fiction created ON
thn spur of the moment sat pencil In
hand until dayhroak and made "a chart,
which he carried to the emperor.
The latter was pleased with the dill
gcnco Of the scholar, who improved
his mind even while amusing himself,
ani dismissed him with many COM
monlaiions.
rake an ordinary domino OF bone an
wood, enlarge Il. make Il Of paper aud
~ becomes % playing card Mr., Culln's
study Of tho subject has lod him 10 the
conclusion that this Is the way In
which the playing card was originally
evolved. Tho evolution bgan with
ignuclSle homo, which became a cuhica
die the latter was transformed Into D
domino, aud tho domino, M lts turn
was motamorphosod into card. A
domino with two elves" on II repre-
senis the "ton,pot' Of the pack. IN,
origin % liking, "quoon" aud Jack
lis unknown. roalbly a little lighi
may b. thrown upon the mystery
~ she fact that the four sides Of IN,
knuckle bon, aro called In Arabic IA,
shah. uyizlor" peasant" an,
''slave,n The same names are giyci
h. The numbers on tho cublcal die. IN,
six being the ''shah." One Of th'
games played with dominoes In Chlnl
D. apparently the prototypo Of whist
Nobody knows when dominoes an,
cards were introduced into Europe
wr. in America, got oil our game
iirom Europe; We invent no games
Poker Is AN old English game modl
fed. Mr.. Culln says that there are n
new games; those brought out iron
year 20 year arc merely modification
at old onas. Games are originated II
primitive stages Of social develop
mont.
one would naturally suppose tina
the spinning die. called the "teet,
iem. must be- derived from the sam
original source as the cuhlcal die. Al
paTen.ly such Is not the case. Nj
A.ulin has traced thN teetotem % Core
ID. Ia d. aN ia