by their skill in the sciences, then the Chinese are but a few stages in advance of barbarism. Educated they may be, but their education consists almost solely in knowing how to read and write, as the common people of our own country. On abstract science they set no value, apart from obvious and immediate utility, and hence it forms no part of their studies. If they stumble upon any useful invention, without any effort of the mind, or without going through the by-paths which every man must tread, if he would wish to attain true scientific knowledge, it is all very well; but if not, the Chinese are content to remain in a state of ignorance.

This peculiarity of the Chinese character seems to be the result of the mode of education practised among them. They learn much of antiquity in their schools, but very little of things which may turn to present use. Their teachers, indeed, both by example and precept, inculcate that the world has attained the ne plus ultra, or utmost point of science, and that their pupils may discard thought beyond that which is required for the instruction which they impart. Such a system is an effectual barrier to all improvement.

The actual state of the sciences in China may be compared to their condition in Europe during the middle ages. Thus, for instance, they combine the sciences of medicine and astrology, which was the deplorable condition of the healing art in France and England at the above-mentioned period. In their scheme of physics, on which are based all their medical as well as other theories, the same ideas are discovered as are to be found in "A modest Treatise of Astrologie," written by

one Lilly, in 1647. ruling over the stomach and the earth; Jupiter, over the liver and wood; Mars, over the heart and fire; Venus, over the lungs and metal; and Mercury, over the kidneys and water. Their reasoning on the subject is carried to the extreme point of absurdity. "As," say they, for example, "the upper part of the body partakes of the Yang, and the nature of the heaven, the medicines suited to that part of the body are the heads of plants; while the body of the plant is for diseases of the middle, and the roots for the lower parts."

Both describe Saturn as

Such errors being at the foundation of the Chinese medical art, it cannot but follow, that the whole system partakes of the nature of quackery. Their list of remedies for diseases are as multifarious as they are absurd. At the head of all drugs stands gin-seng, the vivifying effects of which are said to be so great, that if a piece be put into the mouth of a person just deceased, he will again revive! Tea, in various modes of preparation, is much valued as a medicine, and different parts of rare animals are included in their list, with the reputation of multifarious properties. As a drastic medicine, the croton tiglium is used in combination with rhubarb. For the alleviation, or removal of local pain, they apply the moxa, or actual cautery. This moxa is prepared by bruising the stems of an artemisia called gae-tsaou in a mortar, and then selecting the most downy fibres. These fibres are set on fire upon the part affected, and are said to consume without producing any severe pain. This it would appear from Sir W. Temple's testimony, who applied it when in Holland to a part affected by the gout with success,

sometimes answers the end proposed; but it is very different with the remedies applied by Chinese physicians in general. Many notable instances of their ignorance is recorded by Staunton, in his "Embassy to China." When, however, a Chinese physician has been unsuccessful, he consoles himself with the native adage, “There is medicine for sickness, but none for fate!"

Of anatomical knowledge, Chinese physicians are utterly destitute; and though they occasionally practise a species of forensic medicine, to ascertain from external indications the mode in which any person came by his death, it is but superficial. A mash, composed of grain in a boiling hot state, is laid over the body, and when it is removed, the judgment is formed from the appearance of the skin and muscles. Their forensic medicine, therefore, is little more than that species of augury used by the ancients to foretel events; namely, by the appearance of the entrails of an animal offered in sacrifice. Notwithstanding, when the Chinese abandon theory, and are guided by the rules of common sense, they can produce something useful in the medical art. A work founded on personal experience, called Chang-seng, has been written by a medical practitioner, which contains some useful knowledge. It is an essay on diet and regimen, and is arranged under the four heads of the passions, diet, the actions of the day, and rest at night. In chemistry, also, as allied to medicine, the Chinese have made some progress. They are, in fact, possessed of a variety of active preparations of quicksilver, nearly similar to those in use among Europeans. But this knowledge, as in general when they approach the

confines of science, may, perhaps, be fairly attributed to the European missionaries, for the Chinese have not yet learned to think for themselves. Before they do that, the sway which despotism and superstition hold over their minds must be broken, and the barrier of custom thrown down.

Of the mathematical sciences, with the exception of the elements of arithmetic and astronomy, the Chinese are entirely ignorant.

The arithmetic of the Chinese, as well as their weights and measures, are based on the decimal scale. Decimal fractions, are their vulgar fractions, or those in common use. Their numbers

are written in words at length; that is, unlike the Arabic system of numeration, where the powers of the numbers increase or diminish decimally, according to position. The inconvenience arising from this in calculation is obviated by the assistance of the suân-pân, or "calculating dish," similar to the abacus used in our infant schools for the purpose of teaching numeration. This "calculating dish" has balls of wood, or ivory, strung upon wires in separate columns, of which one column represents units, with a decimal increase and diminution to the left and right. The board is divided longitudinally, and each ball above the division represents five, while each below it stands only for one. In arithmetical operations, this machine is always used; but at Canton they sometimes write down numbers in abbreviated marks, and place them like our Arabic figures in numerical order.

Concerning the science of astronomy, something

has already been said in a previous chapter. See page 65. On this subject, Gutzlaff remarks:"The study of astronomy is encouraged principally to furnish the empire with a calendar. Every year, there are three kinds of almanacks published with great solemnity, in Chinese as well as Mantchoo, and forwarded to all the provinces and tributary states. In the smallest of the three, which is the most common, the year is divided into lunar months, with the order of the days in each; the hour and minute of the rising and setting of the sun; the length of the days and nights, according to the different elevation of the poles in every province; the hour and minute of the conjunctions and oppositions of the sun and moon, or the new and full moon; the first and last quarters, with the hour and minute; and when the sun enters into every sign and half sign of the zodiac. The second calendar contains the motions of the planets for every day of the year, as they are to appear in the heavens, with the planets' distance in degrees and minutes, from the first star of the nearest constellation, with the day, hour, and minute, of its entrance into every sign. The third calendar, which is presented to the emperor only, in manuscript, contains all the conjunctions of the moon, with the rest of the planets, and the appulses to the fixed stars within the extent of a degree of latitude. In all of them, lucky and unlucky hours, days, and months, are pointed out; and the proper time for everything, as marriage, travelling, building, etc., is given. By combining the horary and other characters, the comparison with the constellation