PROCEEDINGS. 471 
toads (ancient and modern) and their condition, trade routes, modes 
and cost of travelling and of conveyance of goods and accommodation 
for travellers, and noteworthy bridges, viaducts, ete. throughout 
China ; the work might ultimately lead to the publication of a much- 
needed map of the highways and trade routes in the interior. It 
would, he considered, be an advantage if correspondents would for- 
ward photographs of the important bridges in their province, together 
with brief notes of the number and span of the arches, dimensions - 
and estimated weight of the larger blocks of stone used in the con- 
struction of the bridges. Such photographs and notes would 
undoubtedly impart additional interest to the subject. 
Dr. Enxins then commenced his lecture “ China 35 Centuries 
Ago” with the remark that no advantage was gained by cutting 
short the antiquity of civilised nations. Civilisations have usually 
been found after careful inquiry to be much older than was 
thought. The true foundations of the Chinese civilisation were 
laid in the third millennium before Christ, when the people taught 
by the sages Jearned their various occupations. It was at that 
time that the present system of government, in respect to some 
of the offices, commenced. Honan was the garden of China at that 
time, and it was there that the capital of the empire was fixed both 
in the Hia and in the Shang dynasties. The fertility of the land 
has been described by Richthoven, who compares the rich appearance 
of the agriculture to that of the most fertile portions sabia te 
More precisely, the capital of China 35 centuries ago was suite 
Fu. Capital cities were built where the people were numerous 2 
well-to-do —made so by agriculture, so that they had a learned class 
and were able to maintain with their superflaous wealth as _ : 
physicians, diviners, schoolmasters and astrologers ef the aie 
of the government military and civil. The character ° _ 3 saa 
dynasty (1776 to 1154 8.c.) was moral and panbicere Hs pga oie 
with the Chow period when religious usages of often _— cee 
_ form than before were adopted in profusion and the people phe 
~ customs deserted the simplicity of ancient life. ‘The ancient neh 
: Kas ek ate collections testify to the 
now preserved in the imperial and private ™ aiuayt aid! “ak 
mechanical progress made by China at a ree 
