the consequent repetition of the name of the smaller. Any unit, whether it
be a single thing, a dozen, a score, a hundred, a thousand, or any other
unit, is, whenever used, a single and complete group; and where the
relation between them is sufficiently close, as in our "gross" and "great
gross," this form of nomenclature is natural enough to render it a matter
of some surprise that it has not been employed more frequently. An old
English nursery rhyme makes use of this association, only in a manner
precisely the reverse of that which appears now and then in numeral terms.
In the latter case the process is always one of enlargement, and the
associative word is "great." In the following rhyme, constructed by the
mature for the amusement of the childish mind, the process is one of
diminution, and the associative word is "little":

One's none,
Two's some,
Three's a many,
Four's a penny,
Five's a little hundred.[125]

Any real numeral formation by the use of "little," with the name of some
higher unit, would, of course, be impossible. The numeral scale must be
complete before the nursery rhyme can be manufactured.

It is not to be supposed from the observations that have been made on the
formation of savage numeral scales that all, or even the majority of
tribes, proceed in the awkward and faltering manner indicated by many of
the examples quoted. Some of the North American Indian tribes have numeral
scales which are, as far as they go, as regular and almost as simple as our
own. But where digital numeration is extensively resorted to, the
expressions for higher numbers are likely to become complex, and to act as