Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 6.djvu/767

 THE GAMING INSTINCT 753

Gladiatorial shows, bear-baiting, bull-fighting, dog- and cock- fighting, and prize-fighting afford an opportunity to gratify the interest in conflict. The spectator has by suggestion emotional reactions analogous to those of the combatant, but without per- sonal danger ; and vicarious contests between slaves, captives, and animals, whose blood and life are cheap, are a pleasure which the race allowed itself until a higher stage of morality was reached. Pugilism is the modification of the fight in a slightly different way. The combatants are members of society, not slaves or captives, but the conflict is so qualified as to safeguard their lives, though injury is possible and is actually planned. The intention to do hurt is the point to which society and the law object. But the prize-fight is a fight as far as it goes, and the difficulties which men will surmount to "pull off" and to witness these contests are a sufficient proof of their fascination. A football game is also a fight, with the additional qualification that no injury is planned, and with an advantage over the prize- fight in the fact that it is not a single-handed conflict, but an organized mette a battle where the action is more massive and complex, and the strategic opportunities are multiplied. It is a fact of interest in this connection that, unless appearances are deceptive, altogether the larger number of visitors to a university during the year are visitors to the football field. It is the only phase of university life which appeals directly and powerfully to the instincts, and it is consequently the only phase of university life which appeals equally to the man of culture, the artist, the business-man, the man about town, the all-around sport, and, in fact, to all the world.

Answering to the bull-fighting, prize-fighting, and competitive games in cultural societies, we find among the lower races that fights are organized and carried on systematically for the benefit of spectators, from motives which must evidently be regarded as aesthetic rather than practical. A genuine provocation may lie behind the conflict, but both the combatants and the specta- tors regard it as essentially sport. The Menangkabau Malays hold fights of the nature of duels on neutral territory once a week, paying a rental of 6 reals and I kupang. Only selected