| Description Of Item | Collection of notes under the heading ‘Property Instincts’ (the evolutionary or genetic predisposition to acquire or retain property) from the collection of Thomas Laycock. Consists of six pages of handwritten notes, along with two newspaper cuttings pasted in and one other page inserted.
One of the newspaper cuttings concerns the theft of a gold pin by a raven. A version of this story was found in the 8 Sept 1863 issue of the Western Times (of Exeter), but the exact source of this cutting is unknown. The other newspaper cutting details the bower-building habits of certain birds and suggests that the propensity for stealing shiny objects exhibited by magpies and jackdaws may be a remnant of an old bower-building instinct. This cutting appears to be from the 31 May 1862 issue of the Medical Times and Gazette.
The handwritten notes are on the subject of ‘Property Instincts’ and discuss various aspects of the human and animal instinct for acquiring objects, whether for survival purposes (such as food, clothes, materials for shelter etc.), or to bring pleasure or for sexual means. The notes also discuss kleptomania as a condition.
There is a separate note inserted between the pages on the topic of kleptomania and appears to tell the story of an unnamed physician who compulsively stole from his patients. The story appears in quote marks and may be attributed to someone at the end, but the writing outside the quote marks is not legible. |