II. 



Natural Science in Japan. 



II.— PRESENT. 



''P HE mere mention of the various institutions, in connection with 

 i which it will be convenient to describe the scientific develop- 

 ment of modern Japan, is enough to show how enormous the advance 

 of the last quarter of a century has been. They are The College of 

 Science of the Imperial University at Tokio, the Geological Survey, 

 the Imperial Museum at Ueno Park, the Learned Societies, and 

 various other educational bodies that have for part of their task the 

 dissemination of natural knowledge. In the above order they will 

 now be considered. 



The Imperial University, or Teikoku Daigaku, consists at the 

 present day of the six Colleges of Law, Literature, Science, Medicine, 

 Engineering and Agriculture. These Colleges have had very various 

 origins, and their rather complicated history is detailed in the 

 University Calendar (Z. P. Maruya & Co., Tokio). The Science 

 College, with which we are chiefly concerned, sprang, together with 

 the Colleges of Law and Literature, from an institution of some 

 antiquity founded by the late Tokugawa dynasty and revived by the 

 present Imperial Government after the Restoration of i86S. Up to 

 1885 the College of Science undertook instruction in many practical 

 and technical subjects ; but in that year a Department of Technology 

 was created, to which the courses in Engineering, Mining, Applied 

 Chemistry, Naval Architecture and kindred subjects were transferred. 

 Since then the College has devoted its entire attention to the pure 

 sciences, without too curiously considering whether they were 

 *' required for the purposes of the State," as demanded by Article I. 

 of the Imperial Ordinance. 



In this College of Science there have been established seven courses 

 of instruction, or what we should call Schools, each of which extends 

 over three years. They are in Mathematics, Astronomy, Physics, 

 Chemistry, Zoology, Botany and Geology ; but the last three alone 

 concern us now. Neither of these three courses offers any definite 

 instruction in either Physics or Chemistry, such as would be the case 

 at an English University. But since a student who seeks admission 

 to any College has to produce a certificate from one of the Higher 

 Middle Schools, or to pass an equivalent examination, it is probable 



