368 THE HUMAN SPECIES 



from the Italians. Among the old German peoples the priests, 

 in order to discover the will of the gods, threw little beechwood 

 darts, each of which carried a " rune " that is, a sign or picture 

 engraved on it as a symbol of a god or of the thing whose 

 name the rune bore. These sacred signs became changed 

 later on under the influence of the Romans, till they became 

 what we now know as " characters V Ulfila, in the fourth 

 century, constructed the Gothic alphabet from these meta- 

 morphosed runes. 



The word " Kerbholz," meaning a tally, or literally, a 

 notched stick, still used in Germany, shows how the old Ger- 

 mans relied on a piece of wood with notches cut in it, both as 

 an aid to the memory, and also in order to show how much 

 was due to the creditor in commercial transactions. A tally 

 about the size of one's finger is still used by miners; the master 

 scratches his name on it, and it is used to summon certain 

 persons. 



Among other peoples, however, and at other times, another 

 method was in vogue for assisting the memory for figures and 

 such-like things, namely, writing by knots. 



A short history of this practice has appeared, written by 

 Martin Beck. The system of writing by knots is primaeval in 

 China; as far back as 3500 B.C. important historical facts were 

 recorded by means of long knotted cords, in which not only 

 were the length, form and colour of importance, but also the 

 kind and number of the knots had special meanings. The 

 system fell into disuse in 3000 B.C. when the Emperor Tchang- 

 Kai invented hieroglyphics. In colour, in shape, and in the 

 way the colours are mixed the Quippus, or knotted cords of 

 the Peruvians, when they were discovered by the conquering 

 Spaniards, were remarkably similar to these. Not only was 

 all acquired knowledge recorded in the Quippus and only 

 understood by the higher classes, but also the whole national 

 budget, the revenue and expenditure, the census, the occurrence 

 of wars, and the government annals were set down. More- 

 over, certain specially skilled officials were appointed to keep 

 and interpret the records as occasion demanded. For a single 



1 The German words are similar, Buchenstab, means a beechwood rod ; 

 Bnchstab, a letter or character. 



