BOTANICON SINICUM. 35 
a volume of drawings illustrating the Rh ya. See Tang shu, 
section on literature. Kiang kuan lived in the 4th cent. (see his 
biography Tsin shu 83), according to some authorities in the 6th 
cent. The drawings of the Rh ya now extant are generally very 
rough and, so far as plants are concerned, seldom enable one to 
recognize what particular plant is intended. 
The original information given in this ancient dictionary with. 
respect to natural objects is extremely aphoristic and fragmentary, 
not more than three, sometimes four characters being devoted to. 
each name, and as I understand, these characters represent the 
book names and the popular names of the plants and animals 
without other explanations. Each phrase of the Rh ya is followed 
by the commentary of Kuo P‘o, The sounds of uncommon words 
are always given, 
The Rh ya had already been commented upon by several Chinese 
scholars previous to Kuo P‘o, In the History of the Sui (section 
on literature) three authors of the Han period are mentioned, who. 
had written commentaries on this dictionary, viz: # 36 Fan 
Kuang, %\ jx Liu Hin (first cent. B.C.) and as x Li Sin. 
3h $% Huo P‘o was a celebrated scholar and expositor of the 
Taoist doctrine who lived A. D. 276-824, a native of Wen hi hien 
(Kiang chou, Shansi). His literary appellation was 3 ff King 
ch‘un. He was invested with the posthumous title #/, §& £f 5F 
Hung nung hiin shou (Prefect of the ancient department of Hung 
nung, in the present Ho nan). See his biography Tin shu 72. 
His preface to the Rh ya reads as follows: (see Bridgman l. c.) 
This book, the Rh ya, is designed to exhibit the general scope 
of education, to point out the sources of poetic composition, to. 
colleet and arrange the phrases of past generations, and to 
discriminate the real distinctions between things that seem to be 
identical. 
It is in deed a safe conduct for men of all professions, a lags to. 
all arts, a deep fountain for the scientific reader, and a flower 
garden for the “ belles lettres ” writers. 
Ifa work be desired that will enlarge our knowledge of all 
things, free us from every delusion, and extend our acquaintance 
with the various departments of fiatueal history, there is none so 
useful as the Rh ya. 
