Page:American Journal of Psychology Volume 21.djvu/136

126 "Carried red pebble in pocket for months, believing it would bring good luck." F. "Yellow stones were used as charms or as lucky stones, if we lost one the day we found it bad luck followed." F. "Stone with white ring about it had charm; I buried it, said luck three times, and made a wish." F. "Little white stones had charm to keep off warts from my hands." F., 8. "Smooth brown stone is lucky stone; carried it a certain time and then threw it over left shoulder, not seeing where it went."

These illustrations show how strikingly similar the child's acts are to those of man everywhere in the early stages of civilization. Mrs. Burk has shown that the instinct for collection has a rise, growth and decline. Hllis thinks the collecting instinct a survival of fetichism, which in turn is a form of savage worship. Children are imaginative and have little experience to base their theory of things upon. They see phenomena every day which they can't account for. They feel the wind blow, but they know not "Whence it cometh or whither it goeth." Their curiosity is aroused a thousand times and left unsatisfied. They see forces outside of themselves which they cannot understand. Animism, therefore, is as easy for them as for savage man. Thus their minds afford a rich soil for suggestions of all kinds touching charms, lucky stones, amulets and fetiches concerning which the very atmosphere even to-day is still overcharged. This very suggestiveness and ready imitation may signify a racial instinct and have its roots way back in man's primitive life.

The use of stones for hammers was mentioned by 47 individuals, 25 girls and 22 boys. The chief uses to which these hammers were applied were to crack nuts, to crush things with, to make sparks fly by hammering stones together, to pound things into the ground, and to make noise by knocking stones together in order to call playmates.

Stones were broken, chipped or hammered into powder by 87 children. They liked to crumble soft stones to make powder for mud or medicine or to mix with water and make paint. Stones were chipped to see what was inside, especially to see where crystal, mica, quartz or color came from; or were broken for decorations. Again others said they liked to break stones but they couldn't tell why. Some of the more common expressions given were: M. "Pounded up soft stone to make mud. " M., 8. ' 'Sandstone was ground up for medicine or sugar; also broke stone with mica in it to get it out." F. "Gathered different colored stones, pounded them into powder and put into bottle in layers. " F. "Liked to break and chip stones and pound them into powder, mix with water and mould into little balls and dry in the sun. " F., 7. "Liked to crack stones to see