564 



NATURE 



{April 12, 1888 



acquisitions of the assumed types, but the amount of 

 genius which a reviewer must possess must far transcend 

 this if he can prove that people should learn to think 

 before they can remember anything. 



Ten years ago the training of children to work while 

 studying was deemed chimerical. " It had been tried," 

 we were told, " and it had failed." But it had not been 

 tried properly or sensibly. Ten years hence memory and 

 quickness of perception will also be taught to classes of 

 pupils as a preparation for thought. What man has been 

 we all know, but what man may be no one can tell. This 

 only is certain, that Science now holds in her hand, at last, 

 the key to Nature, and that ere a decade shall pass 

 there will be such revolutions as no supernaturalist ever 

 dreamed of Charles G. Leland. 



TELEGRAPHS IN CHINA. 



''pHE progress of China is by no means so rapid as 

 -*■ some interested persons would have us believe, but 

 beyond doubt the empire is at last moving in a direction 

 favourable to the adoption of Western arts and sciences. 

 The simple fact that telegraphs are being provided 

 there is in itself evidence of the wonderful change which 

 has taken place in the past few years in the attitude of the 

 ruling body, and which not even the most sanguine among 

 us could reasonably have anticipated, to go no farther 

 back than the period of the Chefoo Convention in 

 1877. 



When, however, we find it announced that a complete 

 network, as it were, of telegraphic connections is in course 

 of formation there, it may be worth our while to ascertain 

 whether the foundation of this statement is sound and 

 trustworthy ; and in making an examination we shall find it 

 convenient to refer to the substantial progress made and 

 the elaborate system which exists, not merely upon paper, 

 but in absolute perfection, no farther away from China than 

 thirty-six hours' journey by steamer. 



Japan may indeed lay claim to the possession of a net- 

 work of telegraphs ; and to obtain an idea of the work to 

 be done in China before a similar claim can be established 

 there, we need onlyreflect that taking mileage and popula- 

 tion into consideration the whole of the Japanese Empire 

 could conveniently be deposited within the boundaries of 

 even one of the eighteen provinces of the Flowery Land. 

 To arrive at a basis of calculation, therefore, we should 

 have to multiply the total length of the existing Japanese 

 telegraph lines at least ten times before any comparison 

 could be instituted. If we were to contrast the East and 

 West, which, however, would be scarcely fair, we should 

 find that a telegraphic system as the term is understood 

 in Europe means something yet immeasurably more 

 extensive and intricate. 



Casting aside, then, the extravagant impressions which 

 are often conveyed by the brief telegraphic intelligence 

 which reaches us periodically from the Far East, it is 

 matter for congratulation that the outlying provinces of 

 China are gradually being brought into communication 

 with the capital by the aid of electricity. Yunnan, on the 

 extreme south-western border, has recently been connected, 

 and other equally remote provinces will doubtless be 

 reached without loss of time. With millions of labourers 

 ready to work, the guiding and controlling forces, if 

 present in sufficient numbers, might carry on opera- 

 tions simultaneously, if necessary, in all the eighteen 

 provinces. And undoubtedly there will be a decided 

 advantage in throwing up the lines in almost any fashion 

 so long as they can be made to convey a message, if even, 

 as is most probable, the entire system has to be recon- 

 structed at no distant date. The main object is to so 

 familiarize the natives of the interior with the aspect of 



these intrusive posts and wires, that they will combine to 

 protect rather than destroy them. And here we are 

 reminded of one point in which the Chinaman differs 

 essentially from his near neighbour the Japanese. When 

 first telegraphs were introduced in Japan, in i87i,the most 

 violent opposition was encountered in the more remote 

 regions at the hands of the agriculturists, who were by no 

 means disposed to acquiesce in all the regenerative pro- 

 jects of the Government of" Benevolence and Light." In 

 China the opposition emanated from the Government 

 itself, inasmuch as considerable diplomatic pressure had 

 to be brought to bear ere the introduction of a telegraph 

 of any kind could be sanctioned, and it is tolerably safe to 

 assume that in the peaceful interior of that vast empire 

 nothing like strenuous objection will be raised to the 

 formation of the line if only it be the aim of the engineers 

 to wound the susceptibilities of the farmers as little as 

 possible in selecting sites for the poles. In Japan the 

 Government was very willing, but the people in many 

 instances were not : in China it has been difficult to con- 

 vince the Government, whilst the people are eminently 

 docile. 



The attitude of ready submission to law and order which 

 characterizes the Chinese farming class affords reasonable 

 ground for the belief that, unless there be a false step on 

 the part of local officials, the telegraphs of China will 

 enjoy an immunity from half the evils which have attended 

 the introduction of the system into other lands. But 

 something will certainly depend upon the policy pur- 

 sued by the mandarins : it must be one of conciliation. 

 Cultivated land is so exceedingly precious to the Chinese 

 farmer that he can ill afford to have his property disturbed 

 and partly occupied, even if it be to the extent of a square 

 foot or two only, in order that posts may be planted to 

 carry the wires. The system of farming adopted tends to 

 the cultivation of a few acres merely by any one individual, 

 but by diligence and attention a small plot is made to 

 yield practically two and even three crops where one only 

 would be raised in an equal space with us. This is the 

 reason why the good will of the local residents, officials or 

 farmers, will have to be secured. 



When these initial difficulties have been overcome, 

 a glorious field will await the development of the 

 telegraphic system. Instead of following in the track 

 of the railway, or journeying side by side therewith, 

 the telegraph will be the forerunner and instigator of 

 improved means of locomotion throughout this immense, 

 almost unknown, region. Even if its effects were limited 

 to the comparatively handy centres of the tea and silk trade 

 there would, in a twelvemonth, be ample justification for 

 its establishment. 



It is one thing, however, to have erected a line of 

 telegraph and another thing to provide adequately for its 

 maintenance in efficient working order, without which it 

 would be better not to construct it at all. When communi- 

 cations are interrupted for days together, as must inevitably 

 occur in the absence of a thoroughly complete maintenance 

 organization, the public confidence must be shaken any- 

 where, and certainly this will apply in full force to China. 

 It is to this most important consideration that early 

 attention should be directed, for the trouble begins the 

 moment the lines are thrown open to the public. When once 

 the merchant has experienced the sensation of being able 

 to complete a bargain on the instant, he is apt to resent 

 fiercely any curtailment of his privileges. It may not be 

 out of place, therefore, to allude to the experience of the 

 pioneers of telegraphy in Japan as evidence of the para- 

 mount necessity for establishing this branch of the service 

 on the soundest basis possible. To begin with, testing 

 stations ought never to be farther apart than a day's 

 march on ordinary roads, and trained men are needed at 

 these stations to be held in readiness to set out, on a word 

 from head-quarters, with the necessary tools. Herein is 



