80 THE INTELLECTUAL RISE IN ELECTRICITY. 



acter of their own, but only with syllabic, and not phonetic, 

 symbols. They are credited with the invention of gun- 

 powder, but it is an open question whether they did not 

 get it originally from India. They knew of it as early as 

 250 A. D., but then only used it in fire-crackers. No evi- 

 dence exists of its use as an agent of warfare earlier than 

 the middle of the I2th century, nor did the Chinese know 

 anything of its propulsive effects until the reign of Yung 

 loh in the I5th century, after it was first employed for 

 festival and ceremonial purposes. 1 They invented the 

 abacus, but not the positional value of figures. 



On the other hand, the credit of first printing from 

 carved wooden tablets, or from movable porcelain type, 

 inventing India ink, chop-sticks, silk manufacture and the 

 macadamization of streets is seldom denied to them. 

 Their persistent conservatism, to some, is a potent argu- 

 ment in support of the proposition that whatever they have 

 adopted must be sanctioned by immemorial usage. On 

 this ground many of the pro-Chinese writers take a firm 

 stand. Barrow, for example, considers that the astrological 

 inscriptions on the card of the modern Chinese compass is 

 quite sufficient evidence of an extreme antiquity. They 

 have engrafted upon it, he says, "their most ancient and 

 favorite system of mythology, their constellations and 

 cycles, and, in short, the abstract of the elements. That 

 a people so remarkably tenacious of ancient custom, and 

 thinking so very meanly of other nations, would ever have 

 submitted to incorporate their rooted superstitions by en- 

 graving on the margin the sacred and mystical characters 

 of Fo Shu with an instrument of recent introduction and 

 barbarian invention " he regards as incredible. To this 

 may be added the fact that to the magnet the Chinese have 

 always paid divine honors. "An astonishing number of 

 offerings," says the missionary GutzlafT, "are brought to 

 the magnet; a piece of red cloth is thrown over it, incense 

 is kindled before it, and gold paper, in the form of a 



1 Barrow: A Voyage to Cochin China in the years 1792-3. Lond., 1806. 



