out the Empire dwell entirely on the virtues of simples. The properties belonging to herbs, and to the leaves and fruits of plants, have been carefully studied by medical practitioners in all ages, but beyond this point these learned men have never got. They know nothing of anatomy, and of the composition of the simplest compounds they are entirely ignorant. Hence the status of medical men is a very low one. They are looked upon only as quacks and imposters, and occupy much the same position that certain herbalists hold among ourselves. The doors of the profession are thrown open to them without any qualifying examination to bar the way. Any one may set up as a doctor who chooses to do so, and so long as he is tolerably successful with his patients he is allowed to pursue his course unmolested; it is only when a patient dies under his care that the officials trouble themselves about him. This state of the law acts in two ways: for while it succeeds in deterring utterly incapable men from entering the profession, it makes practitioners extremely unwilling to undertake danger

ous cases.

Of physiology the Chinese know next to nothing, and their ideas as to the functions of the various organs are as vagne as they are absurd. Post-mortem examinations are unknown among them, and hence they derive what they profess to know solely from the traditions of the past, aided by their own imaginations. According to the highest authorities the body is a microcosm, and is composed of the five elements-fire, water, metal, wood, and earth. When these act together in harmony, the subject is in perfect health, but but when the balance is lost disease and sickness supervene. The great object, therefore, of the physician is to discover which of these, having gained the preeminence, requires to be repressed; and this is done by carefully feeling and com paring the various pulses of the body for, according to the theory of these wise men of the East, each organ has a separate pulse, which communicates with an ascertained part of the surface of the body, and as each organ is intimately connected with one of the five elements, it is easy to discover, by an examination of all the pulses, which one is at fault. A receipt book is then referred to, and from it is chosen a medicine either "to strengthen the

breath, to put down the phlegm, to equalise and warm the blood, to repress the humors, to purge the liver, to remove noxious matters, to improve the appetite, to stimulate the gate of life, or to restore harmony," as the case may be.

Of the functions of the brain they are a good deal in the dark, although from a well-known experiment they have derived the conclusion that it is to some extent the seat of the intellect. The unfortunate man who served to convince them of this fact was a member of the Han-lin College, whose great learning and wonderful memory had earned for him the soubriquet of "the walking library." It chanced, however, that while riding in Mongolia he was thrown from his horse to the ground with such violence, that the blow fractured his skull. A native physician who was called in, alarmed at the extent of the injury, attemped the strange experiment of substituting the brains of a cow for those of his patient. "But," adds the narrator, "the accident occasioned the utter prostration of his eminent powers of mind, and he became from that time forward a wholly different man from what he had been before." Another belief, not based upon experience, is that the brain, by means of the spinal cord, is intimately connected with the kidneys. The functions of some of the organs are thus described in a well-known work, entitled, "The Mirror of Medicine:"—

"The spleen rubs against the stomach, and grinds the food; it also keeps up the proper degree of heat in the five tsang. It moves the muscles and lips, and thus regulates the opening of the mouth; moreover, it directs our secret ideas, so that they become known to us.

"The liver regulates the tendons, and ornaments the nails of the hands and feet. "The heart regulates the blood-vessels, beautifies the complexion, and by its means we are enabled to open the ears and move the tongue.

"The kidneys govern the bones, beautify the hair of the head, and open the orifices of the two yin.

"The diaphragm being spread out like a membrane beneath the heart, and being intimately joined all round to the ribs and spine, thus covers over the thick vapor, so that the foul air can not arise."

The gall-bladder is believed to be the seat of courage; and, like the New

Zealanders, Chinamen imagine that by devouring the gall of wild beasts and fearless men they gain courage and daring -a theory which is not unfrequently submitted to the test of practice on the death of celebrated bandits and rebels, when the would-be graduates in bravery become eager competitors for the secret source of the deceased's former greatness. But of all matters relating to physiology, that of which they profess to know most, the circulation of the blood, is that of which they are pre-eminently ignorant. They apppear to make little or no distinction between the arteries and veins, and they hold the wildest ideas as to the course pursued by the blood through the body, and the purposes it serves. Fortunately Chinamen have a profound distrust of the pretended knowledge of the native doctors. They are far too practical a people to remain blind to the powerlessness of those practitioners in cases of real illness, or to ignore the superior skill and science of European physicians. The importance of health is sufficient to dissipate all prejudices, and men who would as soon cut their children's throats as allow them to attend a mission school, do not hesitate to apply to the foreign i-sangs for advice for themselves, their wives, and their families. Of this disposition on the part of the natives advantage has been taken by the various missionary societies, and hospitals have been established in Peking and at many places along the coast, where the good effected has been incalculable. Not only have they been the means of disseminating throughout the empire a general knowledge of the superiority of foreign medical practice, but they have acted as schools of medicine for a number of intelligent natives who, while assisting the medical men in the treatment of the patients, have graduated in the science. The printing press, also, has done good work in opening the eyes of Chinamen to a knowledge of the anatomy of the human frame, the causes of disease, and its cure. Four works by Dr. Hobson deserve special notice, from their intrinsic value and from the favor with which they have been received by native scholars. His first production, in 1851, a "Treatise on Physiology," was extremely popular, and was republished at Canton by a local magnate, accompanied by a laudatory preface. Six years later he brought out the "First

Lines of the Practice of Surgery in the West," which he illustrated with upwards of 400 woodcuts carefully copied from the works of Liston, Ferguson, Druitt, Erichsen and others. A "Treatise on Midwifery and Diseases of Children" followed in 1858, and in the same year he published his "Practice of Medicine and Materia Medica." All these works met with the most unqualified success, not only in China but in Japan also, where they were reprinted with copious notes. Other works by Roberts, Kerr, Lobscheid and others, have aided in the same good cause, and are already bearing fruit by giving an impetus to scientific enquiry, and by breaking down the prejudices which stand in the way of the introduction of other branches of Western knowledge into China.

The study of the geography of the Empire, and of the structure of its language, has occupied the attention of some modern scholars, and the works of many of them are marked by deep research and great critical acumen. But their indisposition to enquire into the languages, history and geography, of foreign countries, narrows the field of their observation, and diminishes the interest that is felt in the results of their labors.

From the nature of things, however, the sciences, and especially the non-applied sciences, must for many years to come make but very slow progress in China. Within a narrow circle of scholars they will doubtless be more and more cultivated, and gradually a knowledge of them will leaven the whole land. But at present they do not find favor with the governing classes, who in all they do look for some immediate advantage, and are unwilling to trouble themselves about any branch of knowledge which is not, in some way, subservient to the practical interests of their class. For science, as science, they have no love. They are willing to use it to serve the ends they wish to gain at the moment, but they are equally willing to discard it as soon as those ends are accomplished. As an instance in point we may quote the equipment and disbandment of the Lay-Osborn expedition in 1863. Being sorely pressed by the Tae-ping rebels, the Chinese Government determined to establish a steam navy, which was to be commanded by Englishmen and manned by natives. In prosecution of their scheme, they purchased a

fleet of despatch and gun-boats, but before they arrived the danger was passed. Colonel Gordon had captured Nanking and crushed the rebellion, and as a natural sequence the Government threw over their agent Lay, and sent the vessels back to England. Since that time other motives have been at work, which have in duced them again to seek the aid of foreign mechanical science. At Tientsin, Shanghai, Nanking and Foochow, they have estabished arsenals; and, at the three latter places, dockyards also, where vessels of war are built, and every kind of munition of war is manufactured, under the direction of foreign engineers. At Foochow the arsenal is situated on the banks of the river Min, where, in combination with the yards for the construction of vessels and their armaments, have been established schools, in which natives are passed through such a course of instruction as to fit them for taking the command and management of vessels and dockyards. About 300 young Chinamen are here engaged in studying navigation and mechanics under the superintendence of between sixty and seventy teachers, artisans, &c., most of whom are French. A half-pay English naval officer presides over the school of navigation, and has so far succeeded with his pupils as to be able to provide good and efficient native crews and engineers for the steamers employed on Government duty along the coast. Already several transports carrying guns, and gunboats, have been successfully launched from the dockyard, and others are rapidly approaching completion. The former vessels have been employed in carrying the imperial grain to the north, and although they are entirely manned and officered by natives,

it is noteworthy that no accident has as yet befallen any of them.

The arsenals at Nanking and Tientsin are more entirely devoted to the manafacture of rifled guns, torpedoes, and all kinds of munitions of war. That at Shanghai resembles more nearly in its constitution the establishment on the banks of the Min, but differs from all three in that a staff of translators are there constantly employed in rendering into Chinese European scientific works and important newspaper articles on similar subjects. This, then, is the measure of support which the rulers of China are at present disposed to give to science. They are willing and anxious to spend thousands of pounds annually in building men-of-war, but not one penny will they expend in furtherance of scientific truth. They lay out vast sums in the purchase of Armstrong guns and Minié rifles, but they lend no helping hand to the spread of such useful branches of knowledge as, for instance, chemistry, mineralogy and electricity, among the people. It is plain that we must not expect them to take any initiative in advancing science; and if we had only them to look to, the scientific future of China would be dark indeed. But, as we have already said, there is growing up among scholars of the present day a keen taste for scientific enquiry. Wealthy gentlemen are devoting their time and their money to the reproduction of the works of ancient native authors and of modern foreign writers on scientific subjects; and while the Government is patronising only those arts which conduce to war, the merchants are rapidly adopting steam and the telegraph for the more peaceful purposes of trade.Popular Science Review.

It would be impossible in a few lines to give any adequate notion of a great system of education in any country. But before describing a visit to a Parisian school, a very slight mention of the whole subject may be useful. Education in France, for the higher classes of society, is carried out somewhat in the following manner. The head of all education is the Minister of Public Instruction, who is aided in his duties by a Council of Public Instruction;

then follow certain subordinate councils, known respectively as the Academic Councils and Departmental Councils. The educating of the people thus forms one great state department, entirely taken out of the hands of private persons; each individual concerned with it, from the lowest usher to the most learned professor, is a government official, responsible, through various subordinate stages, to the chief minister. The institutions by which the work of

teaching is carried out are Lycées and Communal Colleges: the two differ but little, except that the teaching in the colleges does not reach so high a grade as that of the Lycées. There are also a few private institutions, usually in the hands of some religious body, such as the Jesuits' school at Vaugirard; but even here the course of instruction follows much the same track as in the actual state schools; many of the same profesors are employed; and being subject to state inspection, and certain other official requirements, they are really semi-governmental institutions. In the city of Paris there are six great ancient and celebrated Lycées: Louis le Grand, Napoléon, S. Louis, Charlemagne, Bonaparte, and Bourbon; and two colleges, Stanislas and Rollin. At these, with the exception of Charlemagne and Bonaparte, the pupils are either externes or internes, who are subdivided into pensionnaires and demi-pensionnaires; the latter being boarders who do not sleep at the Lycée, but, in all other respects, are like pensionnaires and externes, who come simply for the lectures, and live and receive tuition more comfortably and under more parental supervision at some of the numerous boarding-houses which are to be found in the neighborhood of the Lycées. The staff of a Lycée is twofold, administrative and tutorial. The first comprises the proviseur -who is the chief manager-the censeur, and the économe, or steward. Their duties are entirely confined to the general management and supervision of the school in all except educational matters. The tutorial part contains, firstly, the professors or lecturers, and professeurs titulaires, who are assistant-lecturers and tutors. Neither of these have any other duties than to teach; and in order to attain one of these posts, they must have passed an examination in the subjects and manner of teaching, and have attained the age of twenty-five. Among them are many distinguished literary and scientific men, whom the outer world knows not as lecturers at a Paris Lycée, but as authors and savants of European fame. Under them are the maîtres d'étude, or ushers, who act as ever-watchful guardians of the boys, old and young, by night and day, in school-hours and in play-time, but who take no part whatever in the duty of teaching. There are also two chaplains who perform the services, and lecture twice a week; but those boys

who do not belong to the Roman Catholic religion are allowed to receive instruction from ministers of their own denomination; difficulties on religious points do not seem to be one of the educational stumbling-blocks of France.

Suppose we take now the Lycée Louis le Grand; it will show very clearly the general working of secondary public instruction in France; and a short description of the building and arrangements, as I saw them on a somewhat gloomy February morning, will make the account more vivid. The Lycée Louis le Grand stands in the centre of the scholastic part of Paris: on every side is something to remind the stranger that he has quitted the gay for the grave; the streets are known as the Rue de l'Ecole de Médecine, Rue Laplace, and by other names, each savoring of learning. The Lycée itself faces the narrow, ill-paved Rue S. Jacques, and externally differs much from the fresh-looking Lycée S. Louis, half-way up the Boulevard S. Michel. It still remains, however, the largest of all the Parisian schools, containing about one thousand scholars, and continues as famous and well conducted as when it was the Jesuit school of Clermont, and Louis le Grand visiting it, and exclaiming: C'est mon collége,' the next morning saw, with Jesuitical tact, the words engraved on the stone front, Louis le Grand,'

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Let us suppose, then, that any boy-we will call him Louis Delorme-has reached the age of seven, and that his parents have determined that he shall go through the whole course of the Lycée. He enters, and is forthwith placed in the lowest class of the division Elémentaire,' the classe préparatoire; from thence he proceeds into the eighth and seventh; and is then transferred into the sixth class, the lowest of the next division, that of Grammaire,' but not until he has passed a satisfactory examination in what he has been taught since he entered the school. He now quickly passes through the sixth, seventh, and eighth classes; and we hope to find him, at the age of fourteen, fit, if he likes, to go upwards into the Division Supérieure,' and continue his studies, or to be turned out into the world sufficiently learned to pursue a mercantile career. In France, as in England, this is supposed to require less culture and more years of practice than any other profession, though it sounds

almost a truism to say that those whose daily avocations do not lead them towards literature or science, and the tastes which they induce, are those who most need their refining effects in leisure hours or later life. Young Louis has, then, thoroughly learnt, or is supposed to have done so, the subjects given in the prospectus, which now lies before me, and from which the following extract is taken: In the first two divisions, the subjects of study are-Reading, Writing, and the recitations of select extracts; the elements of French, Latin, and Greek Grammar explained by authors from each language; Sacred and Ancient History, and that of France; Geography, the elements of Arithmetic, and a little Geometry; Drawing from Nature, and Lineal Drawing; together with Vocal Music and a course of Gymnastics. The study of modern languages begins in the first classes, and goes on regularly to the sixth, by means of a practical teaching, so that at the end of his course of study a pupil will know perfectly whatever language he may have chosen. It is even possible for quick and hard-working boys to carry away with them an accurate acquaintance both of German and English.' Again another examination, and our young friend is safely in this highest division, and passes with credit through the third and second classes, through those of rhetoric and philosophy, where he has had opportunities of learning, in addition to the subjects already mentioned, but in a more advanced form, philosóphy, mathematical sciences, chemistry, and natural history. Being a hard-working and clever boy, he has at the earliest period possible, when he left the class of philosophy, taken both the degrees of Baccalauréat ès Lettres and ès Sciences, degrees quite equal to those of a 'passman'at an English university. He is now twenty years old, and has any liberal career open to him.

But the whole of this regular course was not obligatory, for, had he so wished, he might, after a certain period, have taken up one special subject, with a view to some particular profession. This would have fitted him to enter the Military School of S. Cyr, the Ecole Forestière, or any one of the special colleges which are attached to most of the professions in any way under the control of the state. The cost of this education is both directly and indirectly cheaper than in England-directly, be

cause the charges are very small; indirectly, because the teaching is far superior as a whole to the best which we can obtain here; and indirectly also from the fact, that the boys have no opportunities of spending money in expensive amusements or luxuries, which, though perhaps hardly expenses -yet add considerably to the cost of a school education, such as boating or cricket clothes, fittings of studies, and the thousand and one odds and ends which any parent can easily call to mind.

A pensionnaire in the elementary division pays-and this is inclusive of board, lodging, tuition, class-books, stationery, and gymnastic lessons-the very small sum of one thousand francs (forty pounds) per annum; in the next division, twelve hundred francs (L.48); in the next fourteen hundred francs (L.56), and if he studies special mathematics, fifteen hundred francs (sixty pounds)-all these charges being, I need hardly remind the reader, regulated by the state. The charge for the externes is extremely small; for instance, by a recent decree (August 10, 1872), to take the highest and lowest divisions only, the sum payable is only four hundred and fifty francs (eighteen pounds) and two hundred and seventy francs in round numbers (eleven pounds); and again I repeat, this education is not only cheap, but good; and though, as I shall presently show, we may congratulate ourselves upon the supe riority of our school arrangements as regards the social condition of the boys, yet, from an educational point of view, our system of teaching can scarcely be considered equal to that of France. There are yet, however, some extras. On entering the Lycée, a scholar pays a lump sum of ten francs to the library, which he can then use during the whole of his stay; then there are music, fencing, dancing, riding, which includes both leçons au manége and promenade; divisions and lessons at which an English school-boy would be apt to laugh exceedingly, associating as he does riding and learning to ride with rough ponies and meets' with the hounds. Lastly, comes swimming, and, as a matter of fact, every boy becomes an adept in this art before he leaves school. Etonians and Radleians alone, of all the mass of English schoolboys, learn it regularly. It would be well were it introduced into every school in England; but, as long as we continue, with a strange neglect of natural opportuni