lO 



NA TURE 



[May 5, 1 88 



wards continued at Nanking, where, under the auspices 

 of the Viceroy, an establishment was commenced for the 

 pubhcation of useful books. Many valuable works, such 

 as Mr. Wylie's translation of Euclid, the DiiTerential and 

 Integral Calculus, Dr. Edkin's translation of Mecha- 

 nics, and similar treatises, have already been republished 

 there, and the establishment is still in e.xistence. 



While Mr. Hwa was engaged in this kind of labour, 

 Mr. Hsii was called upon to perform a task of a very 

 different kind. The Viceroy required him to build 

 a steamboat, and reluctantly he consented to make the 

 attempt. He first made a model of an engine from the 

 somewhat rough illustrations in Dr. Hobson's work before 

 referred to. This proving to be a success, he was en- 

 couraged to proceed with the more difficult task assigned 

 him. By means of Chinese tools and materials, and such 

 ideas as he contrived to get through looking carefully 

 over a small steamer at Anching, he managed to prepare 

 his designs, and commenced his work with no foreign 

 assistance whatever. He met with a most determined 

 opposition from local officials, but, assisted by his son 

 and encouraged by the Viceroy, who took a lively interest 

 in the proceedings, the work was at length completed ; 

 not, however, without at least one entire failure. The 

 steamer, which was of twenty-five tons measurement, was 

 able to make 255 //, or about 85 miles, in fourteen hours, 

 and to do the return journey in less than eight hours at 

 her trial trip on the Yang-tse in 1865. The Marquis 

 Tseng, now ambassador to England, also took great 

 interest in this little craft, giving her the highly classical 

 name of IVaiig-kao or Yi'l/otu Swa>i, and making several 

 trips in her on the Yang-tsze. 



It will be readily granted that the experience gained 

 under so inany difficulties ought to have given Mr. Hsii 

 and his son somewhat of an insight into foreign arts and 

 sciences, and to have raised them far above the level of the 

 best of their fellow-countrymen. Not contented, however, 

 with the small stock of knowledge they felt they pos- 

 sessed, they made several visits to Shanghai, in some of 

 which they were joined by Mr. Hwa, with a view to 

 making new mental acquisitions. During these visits 

 they made the acquaintance of Mr. Li Shan-Ian, the 

 celebrated native mathematician, who was then translat- 

 ing with the Rev. J. Edkins and Mr. Wylie such works 

 as Whewell's "Mechanics," Herschel's "Astronomy," 

 Euclid, the Calculus, &c., at the London Mission. On 

 these occasions they added largely to their intellectual 

 attainments. They also gained many new ideas from 

 other well-known Sinologues, such as the Revs. Messrs. 

 Muirhead and John, and Dr. Williamson, for whom they 

 often express much respect. 



At length deciding to settle in Shanghai for the conve- 

 nience of carrying on their investigations and studies in 

 the vicinity of foreigners, they obtained from H. E. 

 Tseng Kwo-fan a mandate attaching them to the staff of 

 officials at the Kiangnan Arsenal, which had recently 

 been commenced. Here they arrived in the beginning of 

 the year 1867, and soon endeavoured, in connection with 

 the Arsenal directors, Fung and Shen, to organise 

 methods by which their long-cherished hopes might be 

 reahsed and their thirst after knowledge satisfied. Their 

 aspirations finally resolved themselves into a definite 

 form, and led them to devise a plan for the translation 

 and publication of a series of treatises on the various 

 branches of Western learning that should bear some 

 resemblance to the EncyclopcciHa Britannka, of which 

 they had ordered a copy from England. In this manner 

 they hoped not only to instruct themselves, but to diffuse 

 the knowledge they had acquired with so much pains 

 among their fellow-countrymen, and leave behind them 

 a lasting name throughout the Empire. It was also 

 imagined by them that such a series of treatises would 

 prove especially useful as text-books in various edu- 

 cational establishments of a high order, which it was 



then hoped would soon be instituted in the different 

 provinces. 



This scheme was warmly taken up by the directors of 

 the Arsenal, who easily obtained the pemiission of the 

 Viceroy to begin to carry it out on a small scale by way 

 of experiment. Various foreign gentlemen were applied 

 to for their services, but without success, till at last a 

 commencement was made by Mr. Fryer, who at that time 

 was editing the Chinese newspaper published at the 

 North China herald C)ffice in Shanghai. He was asked 

 to purchase a collection of suitable European books, and 

 to begin at once to translate a work on Practical Geo- 

 metry with Mr. Hsii, jun. Subsequently Mr. A. Wylie's 

 services were secured for a treatise on the Steam Engine, 

 with Mr. Hsii, sen., while Dr. Macgowan undertook the 

 translation of a work on Geology with Mr. Hwa. These 

 three books, which formed the beginning of this large 

 undertaking, were translated at the residences of the 

 Europeans above named. It soon became manifest, how- 

 ever, that it would be impossible to carry on the work 

 successfully except at the Kiangnan Arsenal, where the 

 books were to be printed and published, and which is 

 distant about four miles from the foreign settlement. 

 Here Mr. Fryer was pressed to give his whole time and 

 attention to translation, and in June of 1868 commenced 

 his labours in a building which was set apart for that 

 purpose. The earliest publications gave such satisfaction 

 to the Viceroy at Nanking that he ordered the operations 

 of the translation department to be extended ; the imme- 

 diate result of which was the addition of Mr. (now Dr.) 

 Kreyer to the regular staff. Subsequently when the 

 Government school for interpreters had been removed 

 from inside the Chinese city to the arsenal, Mr. (now Dr.) 

 Allen's services were re-engaged to conduct it, and he 

 was further asked to give a portion of his time to the 

 work of translation. Dr. Kreyer, after rendering effective 

 service as a translator for some time, left his post for that 

 of interpreter to the Taotai of Shanghai, much to the loss 

 of the deparlment. The vacancy was afterwards filled 

 by Dr. Suvoong, a Chinese graduate of the United .States, 

 who has begun to enrich the collection of books by 

 translations of medical and other works, for w'hich task 

 his long residence and studies in America have well 

 qualified him. 



The number of the native members of the staft' has 

 been subject to frequent changes. At present there are 

 five Chinese gentlemen who are engaged either in writing 

 the translations or in preparing the various books for 

 publication. Among this number Mr. Hsii, sen., is the 

 only one who has remained constantly at his post from 

 the commencement, and whose desire for knowledge does 

 not yet appear to abate, although he is now well advanced 

 in years. Others have worked for longer or shorter 

 period.s, and then have either grown tired of such mono- 

 tonous labour, or have accepted official appointments that 

 were offered to them. This continual changing has not 

 been without injurious eftects in some cases. Either im- 

 portant books have been left half finished, no one liking 

 to take up another's work, or if finished the manuscripts 

 have been taken away or passed from one to another, so 

 that after the lapse of a year or two they cannot be 

 found. 



Among the officials who have left the work for higher 

 appointments may be mentioned H. E. Li Fung-pao, the 

 present Minister to Berlin; Mr. Hsii, jun., who has just 

 started to join him as secrjtary, and who was lately 

 Director of the Shantung Arsenal ; Mr. Hwa, who has 

 been Director of the Tientsin Powder Works, and now is 

 Resident Curator of the Chinese Polytechnic Institution ; 

 Mr. Wang, who is a director of the Tientsin Arsenal; and 

 Mr. Hwang, an aitaclu' of the Chinese Legation in 

 London. The names of several other gentlemen in im- 

 portant positions might also be added, all of whom were 

 at one time or another on the staff, and manifestly derived 



