42 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [ocT. 24, 
jirst of the practice and second of the rhymes themselves. He 
finds the practice to be a survival of sortilege or divination by 
lot. Sortilege was practised among the ancient heathen nations 
as wellas by the Israelites, and he gave many illustrations of 
this, especially dwelling on the story of Achan related by Joshua. 
The use of the lot at first received divine sanction, but after 
this was withheld, the practice fell into the hands of sorcerers, 
which very name signifies lot-taker. The doggerels themselves 
the speaker regards as a survival of the spoken charms used by 
the sorcerers of the Middle Ages in conjunction with their 
mystic incantations. He gave numerous examples of these 
charms, such as: 
‘“ Huat hanat ista pista sista domiabo damnaustra.” (Cato, 235 B.C.) 
and: ‘« Trririori, ririori essere, rhuder fere,” 
and: Meu, treu, mor, phor, 
Teux, za, zor, 
Phe, lou, chri, 
Ge, ze, on. (Alexander of Tralles.) 
In only one instance had the speaker been able directly to 
connect a child’s counting-out rhyme with a magic spell; ac- 
cording to Leland the rhyme beginning: 
One-ery, two-ery, ickery, Ann, 
above given, is a Gypsy magic spell in the Romany language. 
Tylor, in his ‘‘ Primitive Culture,” holds that things which 
occupy an important place in the life-history of grown men in 
a savage state, become the playthings of children in a period of 
civilization; thus the sling and the bow and arrow, which 
formed the weapons of mankind in an early stage of its exis- 
tence, and are still the reliance of savage tribes, have become 
toys in the hands of all civilized children at the present day. 
Many games current in Europe and America are known to be 
sportive imitations of customs which formerly had a significant 
and serious aspect. 
Adopting this theory, the speaker holds that games of chance 
are in part survivals of the practices of the sorcerer, using this 
word in its restricted and etymological meaning; he maintains, 
further, that the spoken and written charms originally used to 
enforce priestly power, have become adjuncts to these puerile 
games, and the basis of the counting-out doggerels under con- 
sideration. 
The idea that European and American children engaged in 
**counting-out” for games are repeating in innocent ignorance 
the practices and language of a sorcerer of a dark age, is per- 
haps startling, but can be shown to have a high degree of prob- 
