1. By collecting things, man can give free rein to his inherent avarice. 2. Whether the desire to collect is inborn or not, is not clear. 3. At any rate, it makes its appearance very early in life. 4. Hardly a little boy is to be found who does not collect something: marbles, stamps, coins, cheese labels or birds’ eggs. 5. Children are concerned not so much with the quality of the things they gather, as with the number. 6. They will proudly tell you they have 4876 stamps and go on counting and re-counting them, like a miser going through his hoard. 7. They engage in a primitive kind or barter and drive hard bargains: two match-boxes equal four stamps and so on. 8. Most of us grow out of this tendency. 9. Those who do not, become obsessed with their collections and throughout their lives go on adding to them relentlessly; classifying them scientifically; and boring their friends with long accounts of their progress. 10. Those few who have made a successful job of collecting money, find new and exciting toys to buy: expensive antiques, rare pictures, and autograph manuscripts replace the tin soldires and cigarette-cards of their childhood.