We no longer have to forage for survival, yet hunting and gathering can still make our palms sweat.

Shortness of breath, palpitations, loss of hearing, glazed eyes, sweaty palms. Though not terminal, these are the signs of a disease that can last a lifetime. It's the bug of collecting.

A yard sale sign can trigger the symptoms. Flea markets can't be passed up. A newspaper ad for an auction a few hundred miles from home gets the blood pumping. Internet auctions can be a whole other addiction.

The bug isn't contagious and not everyone suffers from it. Sometimes we don't know how the fetish developed or when-it's just there.

My own passion is for cream pitchers. It can't be just any cream pitcher-it needs to fit within a set criteria. It has to "speak" to me before I add it to my collection. It needs to serve a purpose in my lifestyle-maybe cream for two on my table, or a pitcher to serve eight. I might envision a delightful sauce in it, or a bouquet of tulips. It needs to be the right shape and heft. It needs to be a bargain. And I need to choose it.

I've surveyed friends about their collections. One teapot aficionado has a collection ranging from the teeniest doll's teapot to one that sits on the floor on a stand that allows for pouring. A few friends collect teddy bears and dolls, some old, others of a particular vintage. Marbles, bottles, stamps and shells are popular. Someone I know collects lists-not literally, but he can rhyme off all the ranks in the navy, for example. One friend has a 20-plus walking stick collection. She'll be ready if she ever needs one! I met a chap who has more than 40 motorcycles in his garage. A couple of friends collect paintings of people, and some simply collect people around them.

And then there's the friend who collects thoughts. She is a delightful young woman who usually sits quietly in a group. She says her thoughts are sometimes triggered by conversations of friends-she puts snippets in her mind and thinks about them later. This helps her to form her own opinions, or simply gives her pleasure. Sometimes her thoughts are sparked by words in print. She often compares her thoughts from one medium or occasion to another. And since she spends a fair of amount of time alone, she gets much pleasure by contemplating her thoughts.

What is it about these collections that give us such satisfaction? We dote on them, arrange and rearrange them, and constantly want to add to them. It doesn't matter if they have significant or little monetary value. They may be on display for the public in a museum, on our walls and desks or in our yards. Or they may be tucked away in drawers or safety deposit boxes. They are always in our minds as special treasures, whether they're in view or not. Common to all of us who collect is that we suffer from a strange fit of passion that gives us comfort.

Our longing to add to our collections may be provoked by many things. The strongest may be nostalgia. Toy collectors often speak of having similar toys as children. A new toy found at a flea market or auction brings that happy period to life again.

Wayne MacKay is known for many things-he's a respected law professor at Dalhousie University, he sits as a member of several national and international boards, he is consulted frequently as an expert in constitutional law, and he is a former president of Mount Allison University. He grew up in rural Nova Scotia, Mount Thom to be exact, and as we in northern New Brunswick would say, is "a local boy who done good."

The Wayne I know is a friend with a great sense of humour and a passion for collecting Dinky Toys, die-cast miniature model cars and trucks. He can spout the history of Dinkies-the manufacturing firm in England operated from 1934 to 1980-and he can talk about the pre-war and post-war model differences. In fact Wayne can wax eloquent for hours about many aspects of Dinkies-sometimes yawning or interrupting is needed to change the subject!

As a kid in his country setting Wayne played with the popular toys. When he went to town he drooled over displays of the cars and trucks; he worked and saved to have more. He added Corgis because they started making cars that were part of the pop culture, like the batmobile or chitty-chitty-bang-bang car. Some of the toys he had as a child are in his collection, but most were worn out or left behind as he matured-girls probably consumed his interest instead. Still, he maintained his infatuation for the little cars.

As an adult Wayne started collecting again, and he now has more than 400 Dinky and Corgi toy vehicles. In fact he has a room in his house just for them. He concedes that part of his passion for collecting them may be to compensate for having only a few as a poor kid in the country. Part, too, relates to him being always the educator. Dinkies add to his knowledge about more cars than he can afford to keep in his garage… he drives a Volkswagen but can claim to own an Austin Healy, a Rolls Royce, a Daimler and many more! I think his Dinky models give him more pleasure than the real models might!

Like most of us collectors, Wayne lives for the thrill of the hunt. He says that searching for a model car is almost as much fun as buying it. He's a bit pickier now than he was at the outset of his fanaticism. He likes to find a Dinky in its original shape, preferably in its original box. I think he'd mortgage his soul for the right pre-war Dinky-they are in short supply, since many were melted down as a contribution to the Second World War effort. But then he admits he's torn between those in good shape because of their value, and those used and loved and played with by someone near his own vintage.

Think about your own childhood-I bet you can remember having collections of hatched robin eggs, bird nests, rocks and no end of other stuff that had great meaning at any particular moment. I remember my own, usually stuff from the beach where I grew up. And I certainly remember some of the stuff collected by my sons. Mothers have a knack for seeking out sources of decaying collections and removing them!

Is this collection mania a passion, obsession or an addiction? I want to think it's a form of reusing and recycling-I get joy from both the collecting and the use of my pitchers. No harm in that, is there? Happy collecting!