SCRATCHING IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 247 



their ends or edges were set in a line. This artistic trifle seemed, to 

 me made for some special purpose. A whisper from a friend enlight- 

 ened my wonderment " A back-scratch." I caught at once. Now, 

 I have read of a toy formerly common in England, which at fairs or 

 upon occasions of a crowd, would be passed over the back of a rustic, 

 when it made a noise like the tearing of cloth, and suggestive of a 

 rent behind, to the poor man's dismay. This, too, was called a "back- 

 scratch." But that was simply the vehicle of a bit of mischief. My 

 lady's back-scratch was for use in that very much out-of-the-way place 

 between the shoulder-blades. This handy implement, though an arti- 

 cle of virtu, was in the line of luxury, although the amenities would 

 hardly approve the indulgence before eyes polite. 



The above reminds how gingerly and faulty the treatment of the 

 word is by the lexicographers. One would think it only meant to 

 abrade, lacerate, excoriate, whereas how common the usage by which 

 it signifies to titillate with mild friction ! The Latin expresses the ac- 

 tion nicely, scabere cutem leviter ungue, which in good English is 

 simply to rub the skin lightly with one's nails. Pliny has aures pe- 

 dibus, scratching the ears with the feet, which suggests the experience 

 of that tourist in Italy who rode a mangy mare. The beast had a 

 bad habit of stopping to scratch her ears, and, the hind-feet being 

 used for that purpose, the thighs of the rider received all the benefit 

 of the operation, which, like tickling with a brickbat, was too crude 

 for real comfort. But the ungulates generally are bunglers at this 

 trick, though not insensible to opportunity, as witness when our 

 neighbor's cow got into the lawn, and, wild with delight, went tearing 

 through the soft evergreens, our pretty arbor-vitae trees, which was so 

 much nicer than rubbing against a fence. 



It behooves to confess that Nature has been a niggard in this mat- 

 ter unto man, having done less for him in this line than she has for 

 the beasts that perish. "The paragon of animals "is the victim of 

 irritation from eczema in a hundred forms and degrees. Though hav- 

 ing already thrown a stone at the lexicographers, here goes another, 

 for we must cite from memory that churlish dictionary-maker, Dr. 

 Johnson, who wrote in the first edition of his dictionary, "Oat a 

 grain used in England to feed horses ; in Scotland, men." This was 

 very unbecoming. But the food has much to do with the condition 

 of the cuticle. Hence we put together the Scotsman's " oaten cakes " 

 and the legend of the benevolent nobleman who set up scratching- 

 posts in the streets of Edinburgh, and the canny benediction of each 

 user of them, " God bless the Duke of Argyll ! " 



On the physical or rather physiological side of the question, a 

 good deal might be said for this mild friction of the skin. Near the 

 surface that is, just under the scarf, or epidermis the capillaries, 

 almost microscopic blood-veins, abound in well-nigh infinite numbers. 

 Each of these minute carriers or distributors of the crimson life- 



