EDITOR'S TABLE. 



557 



dollars, the average being ten cents. Dur- 

 ing the first year the expenses of the " Scien- 

 tific Book Depot " were covered by the profits 

 on the sale of four thousand five hundred 

 dollars' worth of books, maps, and charts. 

 During the second year branch depots were 

 opened at Tientsin, Hangchow, and Swatow, 

 and the total sales for the year amounted to 

 six thousand dollars. During the third year 

 depots were added at Pckin, Hankow, Foo- 

 chow, and Amoy, and the sales of books 

 largely increased, so that about seventeen 

 thousand dollars' worth of books had been 

 sold by the end of 1887, and some of them 

 had found their way to the most distant 

 parts of China, and also to Corea and Ja- 

 pan. At least a hundred and fifty thousand 

 volumes of this scientific and educational 

 literature had been disposed of, in addition 

 to considerable numbers of maps and charts. 



The demand for Western learning has 

 been greatly augmented during the last 

 year by a remarkable change in the scheme 

 of the competitive examinations whereby 

 successful candidates for literary degrees 

 obtain honors and offices. In ihc past, only 

 a knowledge of the native classics, with skill 

 in the use of the native hieroglyphics, has 

 been required of the scholar. Now, geogra- 

 phy and natural philosophy have been add-d 

 to the subjects for examination, and this 

 action of the Government has turned the 

 attention of students throughout the empire 

 in a new direction. The indications are that 

 China is to follow Japan in the path of 

 progress in Western science and philosophy, 

 though it may be with the slow step that 

 accords with the magnitude of the nation. 



Adele M. Field. 

 Swatow, CmNA, Februai^, 1SS8. 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



CULTURE AND INTELLIGENCE. 



THERE is a decided improvement in 

 this country in favor of what is 

 known as " culture." Between sum- 

 mer schools of philosophy, Cliautauqua 

 courses of study, and various other 

 schemes of similar nature, we have an 

 almost embarrassing choice of means 

 for intellectual improvement. Young 

 people all over the country are study- 

 ing the great masterpieces of literature, 

 ancient and modern. Now it is Dante, 

 now it is Chaucer, now it is Victor 

 Hugo. There is no doubt at all that 

 this is useful work ; at the same time 

 there is just one caution, as it seems to 

 us, to be given. In all this study what 

 is supremely wanted is an objective 

 point ; otherwise we shall have, as the 

 result of it all, a lot of people taking 

 pride in their literary Iric-a-lrac., and 

 yet with minds ill furnished for every- 

 day purposes — destitute, that is to say, 

 of a vigorous practical intelligence. We 

 might, perhaps, without danger of fall- 

 ing into serious error, go so far as to 

 say that some of the tasks prescribed 

 by the organizations to which reference 

 has been made are not in every case 

 suited to the minds that attack them. 

 A person of naturally comprehensive 



mind, capable of taking a wide survey 

 of things, and with daily occupations 

 that tend to promote mental balance, 

 may undertake an exhaustive study of 

 Dante without throwing the general 

 structure of his or her thought and 

 knowledge out of all symmetry ; but 

 we should not feel like guarantee- 

 ing an equally harmless result in the 

 case of some of those whom we see 

 bending over such tasks, and who, if 

 they take possession of Dante in any 

 real sense, will have something on hand 

 out of all proportion to the volume and 

 mass of all their other mental acquisi- 

 tions put together. In cases such as 

 we have in view there is Just this alter- 

 native : Dante is either learned in some 

 effective fashion, or he is not learned to 

 any purpose worth mentioning. In the ' 

 former case there ensues a certain lop- 

 sided development of culture, in the 

 other we have a mind more or less 

 spoijed by a mere show of knowledge 

 and the affectations to which superficial 

 acquisitions seldom fail to give rise. 



The main point, however, to keep in 

 view, and that toward which our cau- 

 tion is directed, is that all knowledge 

 should be rated in exact proportion to 

 the effect it has in promoting a sound 



