Feb., 1912. Jade. 255 



The modern Chinese back-scratcher of wood, bone, or ivory, a plain 

 stick surmounted by a hand, is a good example of an implement grown 

 out of the projection of a bodily organ. It has obtained naturalization 

 in this country, and judging from the large sales in New York China- 

 town, it meets the demand of a favorite household-article. The Sung 

 Catalogue of Jades (Ch. 76, p. 7) figures two jade back-scratchers (sao- 

 lao), one plain, the other with stem of the appearance of a bamboo and 

 surmounted by a plaque carved into a cloud-pattern in the place of the 

 hand. In the text, such implements of jade and bronze are ascribed 

 to the Emperor Yang of the Sui dynasty (605-618 a. d.), and the two 

 pieces in question are stated .to be antiquities of the Sui or T'ang period. 

 This may be true, as far as jade carvings are concerned ; but the imple- 

 ment itself is much older and doubtless as old as the Chinese nation 

 itself. 1 



^he Eskimo make use of a back-scratcher called kumakssium (lit. "instrument 

 used against lice"), a long, slightly curved piece of bone with a piece of bear-fur 

 on the end (A. L. Kroeber, The Eskimo of Smith Sound, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. 

 Hist., Vol. XII, 1900, p. 289). 



