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On the Natural- Historical Writings of the Chinese. By 



M. ScHOTT. 



The Chinese, whose literary efforts have hitherto been 

 chiefly directed to History, Geography, and Natural History, 

 have in these departments far surpassed all the other Asiatics 

 in completeness, accuracy, and the discrimination of objects. 

 The simple and clear arrangement of the rich materials col- 

 lected by them renders the use of their works, when we have 

 mastered the difficulties of the language, much easier than 

 the evident absence of a really systematic mode of treat- 

 ing subjects would lead us to expect. The most important of 

 their works in which information is given on natural produc- 

 tions are, 1. Actual treatises on Natural History ; 2. Encyclo- 

 peedias and Dictionaries ; 3. Narratives of Travels in foreign 

 countries ; and, 4. Geographical Treatises. 



Treatises on Natural History (or rather descriptions of na- 

 ture) are first of all mentioned in the annals of the dynasty 

 Han ; and the oldest which have reached us belong to the 5th 

 and 6th centuries. Altogether their number is reckoned at 

 about forty. The newest, and that which makes the greatest 

 claim to completeness and criticism, the Penti ao-kang-mu of 

 Li'Schi-tschin, is a work of the 16th century, and has been re- 

 published frequently without alteration. The author made 

 use of all his predecessors, gives extracts from an almost in- 

 conceivable number of other works, and finished his own in 

 26 years. The Fen-ts ao-kang-vm is divided into 52 books. 

 Each article of the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms, 

 contains the following paragraphs : — 1. The different names 

 which the natural object receives in China ; frequently with in- 

 formation as to the cause of its appellations, and when exotic, 

 with the addition of its Indian, Turkish, and other names. 

 2. The actual description ; under which head are given the 

 particular locality of the production, its external characters, 

 and all its non-medical properties. These two paragraphs 

 are, as it were, the disinterested portions of the article, and 



