it up on the back of the finger; but if you pass a finger over a string to pick it up, you must pick it up on the ball of the finger, or in the bend of its first joint (Fig. 5). In some figures the hands alone are not sufficient to carry out the necessary steps, and certain strings or loops must be held by the teeth (Fig. 10), or on the finger of a second person. Almost all of the string figures here recorded are solitary games, only a few need two persons and only one two persons and two loops of string.[1]
I have divided the description of each figure into a number of movements, every one of which represents a step toward the completed pattern; in this way it is easy
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to remember the order of the steps, and it enables reference to be made to one or more steps in a figure without the necessity of further description, for some figures are mere variations of others, and a few are made by combining movements of several figures with one or two new ones. The descriptions have been prepared with the utmost care, and have been tested on people who knew nothing of the game.
There is, therefore, a reason for every direction which is given; some may seem superfluous, but these mark the points where experience has shown that a pupil is liable to make a mistake. None of the figures is very difficult, the really difficult ones are yet to be recorded, as we can see by examining the finished patterns from the Marshall Islands given at the end of the book.
No trouble has been found in teaching string games to children of the kindergarten age, and the games can be made as interesting to all children as to adults,
- ↑ Drs. Rivers and Haddon's nomenclature is as follows:
"A string passed over a digit is termed a loop. A loop consists of two strings. Anatomically,anything on the thumb aspect of the hand is termed 'radial' and anything on the little-finger side is called 'ulnar; thus every loop is composed of a radial string and an ulnar string. By employing the terms thumb, index, middle-finger, ring-finger, little finger, and right and left, it is possible to designate any one of the twenty strings that may extend between the two hands. A string lying across the front of the hand is a palmar string, and one lying across the back of the hand a dorsal string. Sometimes there are two loops on a digit, one of which is nearer the finger tip than the other. Anatomically, that which is nearer to the point of attachment is 'proximal,' that which is nearer the free end is 'distal.' Thus, of two loops on a digit, the one which is nearer the hand is the proximal loop, that which is nearer the tip of the digit is the distal loop; similarly, we can speak of a proximal string and a distal string. * * * A digit may be inserted into a loop from the proximal or distal side, and in passing to a given loop the digit may pass to the distal or proximal side of other loops."
