82 NATURAL SCIENCE [August 
soul above species-mongering and section-cutting ; in other words, 
it will be welcome to all readers of Natural Science. 
NATURAL SCIENCE IN JAPAN 
THE historian of science in Japan is too apt to restrict his view 
to the influence of European science, to the introduction of New- 
tonian and Darwinian philosophy and of the Linnean system, 
forgetful that there were philoscphies and systems in the Far 
East centuries before, or else thinking wrongly that these were of 
small account. In an admirable Introduction to the first number 
of Annotationes Zoologicae Japonenses, Prof. K. Mitsukuri corrects 
this error. Early in the eighth century of the Christian era there 
was already established in Japan an Imperial University with 400 
students, devoted to Ethics, History, Jurisprudence, and Mathe- 
matics. There was also an office for Astronomy, Astrology, Calendar- 
compilation, and Meteorology,:as well as a Medical College with 
professors of Medicine, Surgery, Acupuncture, Necromancy (the art 
of healing by charms), and Pharmacology. In connection with the 
last-named branch of study, much botanical information was acquired. 
Towards the end of the ninth century the large Imperial library 
contained numerous medical works, among others, on the diseases 
of women and the diseases of the horse. In later times, under the 
Tokugawa Shoguns, natural history, especially botany, was exten- 
sively studied, and elaborate works were published, of which Prof. 
Mitsukuri instances the ‘Shobutsu Ruisan’ issued early in the 
eighteenth century, and the “Honzo Komoku Keimo” by the 
celebrated teacher of natural history, Ono Ranzan, published in 
1805. Honzd, which strictly means botany, seems to have come 
to include general natural history, for many of these works deal 
also with stones, metals, and all kinds of animals. In Rosny’s 
“Catalogue de la Bibliothtque Japonaise de Nordenskidld” we 
even find a note on fossil shells, which appeared so early as 1725. 
The naturalists also held meetings at which they exhibited their 
treasures to one another and to the public. The Garden of 
Medicinal plants at Tokyo was established in 1681. 
It was during the eighteenth century that western science first 
came into contact with the Japanese, through the medium of the 
Dutch language. The story of this and of the gradual development 
of modern science in Japan has already been told in our pages by 
Mr F, A. Bather (vol. iv., Jan., Feb., and March 1894); but many 
details are added by Prof. Mitsukuri. Zoology, he notices, had 
developed but slightly before the restoration of the Mikado in 1868; 
it was not till the appointment of Prof. E. 8. Morse to the Chair 
of Zoology at Tokyo University, in 1877, that it made any progress 
