354 



NATURE 



[August 12, 1897 



tin is also sprinkled on the surface. The aluminium is then 

 heated over the Bunsen flame till the flux just melts ; it can then 

 be quickly spread where it is wanted with a piece of copper 

 wire or thin glass rod. As the temperature is further raised the 

 flux decomposes, and the tin readily alloys itself with the sur- 

 face of the aluminium ; while the flux is decomposing, the tin 

 can be spread in a continuous layer by means of the little glass 

 rod or wire. 



Instead of cadmium iodide, fused lead chloride may be used 

 in a similar manner. 



I should like to substitute some of the less volatile alkyl- 

 ammonium chlorides for the ammonium chloride, but have not 

 had opportunity. A. T. Stanton. 



THE STUDY OF NATURAL HISTORY IN 

 JAPAN. 



A NEW publication, entitled Annotationes Zoologicae Japon- 

 ■^^ enses, has just been launched at Tokyo, under the 

 auspices of the Zoological Society there. In 1888 the Society 

 commenced the issue of a monthly journal — the Dobutsugakti 

 Zasshi (Zoological Magazine)— m the Japanese language, and 

 the periodical is now in its ninth volume. About two years 

 ago a department written in European languages was added to 

 the magazine, and the new publication may be regarded as 

 another step forward in the same direction. The old and the 

 new magazines will be carried on as separate publications ; but 

 while the former will be exclusively intended for Japanese 

 students, the latter will be issued primarily for the purpose of 

 making the progress of zoology in Japan better known outside 

 that country. For the present, the Annotationes will be pub- 

 lished quarterly, and the intention is to widely distribute it 

 among all institutions and societies interested in zoological pro- 

 gress. In the future, therefore, zoologists may chiefly look for 

 contributions to their branch of science from Japanese sources 

 in two publications, viz. in the /ownal of the College of Science, 

 Imperial University, for elaborate memoirs, and in the new 

 periodical for shorter notices and papers. Other publications, 

 such as the Bulletin of the College of Agriculture, will, of 

 course, occasionally publish articles on zoblogical subjects as 

 heretofore. 



In introducing the new journal, and defining its aim and 

 scope. Dr. K. Mitsukuri, Professor of Zoology in the Imperial 

 University, and President of the Tokyo Zoological Society, 

 gives a brief retrospect, which is abridged below, of the progress 

 of zoology in Japan. 



It is probably unknown to most persons in the West that 

 early in the eighth century of the Christian era there was 

 already established in Japan an Imperial University with four 

 departments — Ethics, History, Jurisprudence, and Mathematics 

 — and with the prescribed number of four hundred students. 

 There were also, at the same time, a bureau devoted to 

 Astronomy, Astrology, Calendar-compilation and Meteorology, 

 and a Medical College with professors of Medicine, Surgery, 

 Acupuncture, Necromancy (the art of healing by charms), and 

 Pharmacology. The last-named branch of study included the 

 collection, cultivation, and investigation of medicinal plants, and 

 thus a considerable amount of botanical knowledge must already 

 have been acquired by that time. Towards the end of the ninth 

 century, when a catalogue of books existing in Japan was com- 

 piled by the order of the then reigning Emperor, the Imperial 

 library was found to contain 16,790 volumes, divided into forty 

 departments — and this in spite of a disastrous fire of some years 

 previous. Among the medical works were some with very 

 modern sounding titles, such as " The Curing of Diseases of 

 Women," and " On the Methods of Healing Diseases of the 

 Horse." Japan in those early days derived its culture from 

 India, China, and Korea ; but the details above enumerated 

 clearly show that educated society must already have attained 

 a high degree of civilisation. 



Coming to more modern times, it is known that, during the 

 long peace of two hundred and fifty years which the rule of the 

 Tokugawa shogitns secured for Japan, literature, the arts, and 

 all peaceful industries were developed with remarkable vigour 

 and rapidity, and that the study of natural history shared in 

 this progress. Apart from that innate love of nature and the 

 natural which was ever showing itself in poetry and other arts, 

 the study of natural products was always pursued, ostensibly with 



NO. 1450, VOL. 56] 



the purpose of collecting materia medica, or of discovering 

 things that might be used as food in case of a famine, or of 

 identifying objects mentioned in the Confucian classic, "Shi- 

 King." But it is not difficult to perceive that naturalists looked 

 in reality beyond these simple or utilitarian ends, and investi- 

 gated animals and plants for their own sake, although the 

 principal aim of their researches seems to have been the com- 

 paratively barren one of establishing a relationship between 

 Japanese products and those described in various Chinese works 

 on natural history. Frequent were the excursions and ex- 

 peditions undertaken with the view of collecting natural objects, 

 among which plants were especial favourites, and all parts of 

 the country seem to have been tolerably well explored in this 

 way. Numerous were the treatises on natural history, pub- 

 lished or unpublished. Many of these were encyclopaedic in 

 their comprehensiveness and size, such as " Shobutsu Ruisan," 

 by Inao Jakusui (1000 parts, early in the eighteenth century), 

 and " Honzo Komoku Keimo," by Ono Ranzan (48 parts, 

 1803). The last-named naturalist was so famous for his ex- 

 tensive knowledge that, we are told, his pupils were nearly one 

 thousand in number. Prof. Matsumura, in his book on the 

 enumeration of Japanese plant-names, gives 306 titles of 

 Japanese works on botany compiled previously to 1868. Many 

 of the natural history volumes had beautiful coloured illus- 

 trations, which serve their purpose even at the present day. 

 natural history displays were of common occurrence, when 

 naturalists came together with their treasures, and showed them 

 to one another and to the public. Of these the exhibitions 

 given by Hiraga Gennai in the middle of the eighteenth century 

 were perhaps the most celebrated. The present Botanic 

 Garden of the Imperial University was established early in the 

 Tokugawa period, viz. in 1681, and was long renowned as the 

 "O Yaku En" (Garden of Medicinal Plants). The mastery of 

 the Dutch language by a few earnest physicians in the middle 

 of the eighteenth century is one of the greatest triumphs ever 

 achieved by patient scholarship. Originally undertaken with 

 the purpose of ascertaining something about Western medicine, 

 their efforts soon exerted an influence on all branches of 

 learning. The whole rich treasury of Western civilisation 

 became suddenly accessible through the channel thus opened of 

 the Dutch language. It is not possible to over-estimate the 

 effect of the new acquisition on the progress of Japan. Suffice 

 it to say that the country would not be what it is to-day but for 

 this leaven which had been working through and through the 

 whole mass of society for over a hundred years before the 

 Restoration of 1868 enabled it to bear its legitimate fruit. This 

 innovation, together with the visits of Thunberg (1775) and 

 Siebold (1821), had due eff"ect upon the natural history studies 

 also. The system of Linne, especially in regard to plants, 

 seems to have been well grasped, with very little delay. The 

 most famous productions of the new school on natural history 

 subjects are probably "Shokugaku Keigen " (Elements of 

 Botanical Science) by Udagawa Yoan, 1835 ; and " Somoku 

 Zusetsu " (Icones Plantarum) by linuma Yokusai, 1832 — the 

 latter being a standard work at the present day. It is perhaps 

 a circumstance interesting enough to record that a work on the 

 use of the microscope was published in 1801. 



Looked at from the modern standpoint, the natural history of 

 the pre- Restoration period (before 1868) was without doubt 

 strongest in botany. The science of zoology seems to have been 

 greatly backward in its development compared with that of the 

 sister science, and its study was probably similar in method 

 and aim to that of the Middle Ages in Europe. It seems to 

 have concerned itself mostly with making commentaries on 

 Chinese works of natural history, like " Honzo K5moku," or 

 with identifying Japanese objects with names given in those 

 writings. Excepting a little on birds, fishes and shells, hardly 

 any work that can be called scientific, in any modern sense, 

 seems to have been accomplished. Nevertheless this school did 

 an immense service by showing that the study of natural objects 

 was worth the best efforts of intellectual men. Names like 

 Aral Hakuseki, Inao Jakusui, Kaibara Ekken, Ono Ranzan,^ 

 are among the most honoured in the annals of our learning. 



With the restoration of the Emperor to his full power, in 

 1868, came the wholesale reconstruction of all political institu- 

 tions, and the country has been, and is still, going through such 

 a social revolution as has seldom been witnessed in any part of 

 the world. Along with many other things, the old school of 



1 All these names are given in the Japanese fashion, with the surname 

 first. 



