8oo POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



in prison. Inaction is even harder to endure than pain. The 

 influence of vanity is still greater. Those even who have not 

 studied the insane know how powerful this passion is, which is 

 found in all grades of the social scale, and perhaps even in ani- 

 mals, and can lead to the strangest and most foolish actions, from 

 the chevalier who dotes on a little bit of ribbon to the idiot who 

 struts with a straw behind his ear. For this, savages who go 

 entirely naked wear figures on their breasts ; for this, our con- 

 temporaries who are clothed tattoo that part of the body which 

 is most exposed to sight, especially the forearm, and more fre- 

 quently the right than the left. An old soldier told me that in 

 1820 there was not a man in the army especially not a subordinate 

 officer who had not been tattooed to exhibit his courage in sup- 

 porting pain. The figures of the tattooing vary in New Zealand 

 as do the fashion styles with us. 



The spirit of the organization and the spirit of sect contribute 

 to it. I have been led to this conclusion by the examination of 

 some initials which I studied upon incendiaries at Milan, and of 

 certain signs found on young police prisoners at Turin and Na- 

 ples. Figures of tarantulas and of frogs appear often. I suspect 

 that some groups of camorrists have adopted this new kind 

 of primitive ornamentation to distinguish their sect, as they 

 formerly adopted rings, pins, chains, and different cuts of the 

 beard. 



Lastly, the stimulus of the noblest human passions has had, 

 its part. It is very natural that the rites of the village, the image 

 of his patron, the recollections of infancy and of the heart's friend 

 should return to the mind of the poor soldier, and be rendered 

 more lively by the tattooed design, when he is struggling against 

 danger, suffering, and privations. 



But the primary, chief cause that has spread this custom 

 among us is in my opinion atavism, or that other kind of his- 

 torical atavism that is called tradition. Tattooing is, in fact, one 

 of the essential characteristics of primitive man, and of men who 

 still live in the savage state. 



Some of those pointed bones which are used by modern sav- 

 ages in tattooing themselves have been found in the prehistoric 

 grottoes of Avignac, and in the tombs of ancient Egypt. The 

 Assyrians, according to Lucian, and the Dacians, according to 

 Pliny, covered their whole bodies with figures. The Phoenicians 

 and the Jews traced lines which they called " signs of God " on 

 their foreheads and their hands (Ewald, Juddischen AUerthum, ii, 

 p. 7). This usage was so widespread among the Britons that their 

 name (from Brith, painting), like that of Pict and Pictons, seems 

 to have been derived from it. See Caesar. " These peoples," he 

 says, " trace, with iron, designs on the skin of the youngest chil- 



