538 



NATURE 



\Oct. 6, 



should consi ier the strength and rigidity necessary in a 

 sea-going vessel. It would however be unfair to compare 

 her with a ship of modern build of the same size. Even 

 the designation " ship," as applied to her, is apt to convey 

 a false idea. She is in fact a very large sailing rowing- 

 boat. 



These ancient vessels may be considered as consisting 

 of two distinct sections, each having its special use and 

 function. The portion above the beams is the hold 

 proper, the useful space. Here the crew had their abode, 

 and here was carried probably all that the vessel had to 

 carry, and this portion is comparatively strong. The 

 material is no doubt here also of small dimensions, but 

 what there is has been judiciously distributed, is of good 

 quality, and has been well put together. It should also 

 be remembered that the weight carried was small in 

 quantity as compared to the carrying capacity, and con- 

 sisted principally of live cargo, and this kind of loading 

 is much less trying to a vessel in a seaway than a similar 

 loading of dead weight would be. The lower portion of 

 the ship, on the other hand, had a different kind of duty 

 to perform. It had to supply the " form " necessary for 

 small resistance and rapid locomotion, and to float the 

 upper section : keeping this in mind it will be found that 

 her construction gives evidence of a great deal of prac- 

 tical skill and ingenuity. Every pare of the vessel is 

 sufficiently strong for the duty expected of her, while at 

 the same time economy of weight of material has been 

 studied throughout. It will be seen that the weight of 

 the superstructure is taken entirely by the floor timbers, 

 the ends of the beams resting on them, while the beams 

 are supported amidships by the props stepped in the 

 ■throats of the floors. There would therefore be very 

 little stress on the ties of the bottom planking, which 

 latter, there being no counteracting pressure on it from 

 the inside, would always tend to cling to the timbers by 

 the pressure of the water outside. The only weight of 

 any moment which would tend to separate the two sec- 

 tions of the boat is the mast, and this tendency is met by 

 the " branch " of the step being secured to the "fish." 

 Still there can be no doubt that this boat must have 

 possessed a pliancy and mobility in a heavy sea which 

 ■we should look upon as ominous in a modern sea-going 

 craft. Her real safety consisted in a tough and elastic 

 outer skin, which would be the more invulnerable from 

 not being made unduly rigid at any point. Thus her 

 apparent weakness was her real strength. Mr. Archer 

 has not been able to discover anything deserving the 

 name of a bolt in the whole structure. The stoutest iron 

 fastenings are the rivets in the scarfs of the keel and the 

 nails securing the inside knees, and they are no stronger 

 than ordinary 4-inch spikes. 



It seems probable that such a boat would be capable of 

 great speed, even under oars alone ; with a fair wind she 

 must have been very fast. Mr. Archer has assumed a 

 low water-line, and finds that at this trim her displace- 

 ment is 994 cubic feet, or 28'4 tons ; area of immersed 

 midships section 24 square feet ; extreme length on load- 

 line, Ti feet 3 inches ; and draft of water 3 feet S inches. 

 Allowing 10 tons for her complement of 100 men with 

 their accoutrements, leaves 1S4 tons for the vessel, with 

 inventory, stores, and equipment, and this allowance is 

 probably ample. The areas of cross-sections are obtained 

 by multiplying the ordinates of the curve by 4 feet. 



LEARNED SOCIETIES IN JAPAN 



IT is now a little more than ten years since Japanese 

 students began to flock in large numbers to the 

 various schools of Europe and America, after the great 

 revolution which completely altered the political, and in 

 many respects the social, organisation of the country. 

 Many of these young men travelled and studied at their 



own expense ; but the majority was selected by the prin- 

 cipal Government departments, and the expenses paid 

 from the Imperial funds. For six or seven 5 ears the 

 numbers continued without diminution ; but soon after 

 the commencement of the Satsuma rebelhon in 1877, 

 when the heavy strain on the Imperial Exchequer caused 

 by the suppression of that outbreak began to be felt, it 

 was decided to economise the public expenditure in 

 various ways, and amongst others by reducing the num- 

 ber of those studying abroad at Government expense. 

 The result of this measure, which was forced on the 

 Ministers by unfortunate circumstances, was that many 

 Japanese young men who spent some years in the prin- 

 cipal educational establishments of western countries, 

 returned to their own land with a sound training in their 

 respective branches of study. It would not be desirable, 

 even if it were possible, to enter here into the question 

 how far they have fulfilled the hopes with which they were 

 first sent abroad. Many of them have had brilliant 

 careers amongst their foreign fellow-students, and, on the 

 whole, we believe they have done as much as any body of 

 English students, similarly placed, could have in the same 

 time ; but it is another question whether they are fitted to 

 assume the places held by the foreign professors and in- 

 structors in the various educational institutions of the 

 country. It was to this that the Government looked when 

 they were first despatched to Europe ; but, from a com- 

 bination of causes, it is doubtful whether the laudable and 

 patriotic desire to be, as far as possible, independent of 

 extraneous assistance, has been so completely fulfilled as 

 was originally anticipated. 



One result has undoubtedly atte.ided this great influx 

 of men trained after we, tern methods, namely, the thirst 

 for scientific knowledge of all kinds amongst the educated 

 classes in Japan. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that 

 Japanese literature, as an indigenous product, is for the 

 present almost in abeyance. If we examine the monthly 

 catalogue of books for which licence to print is granted by 

 the Censorate in the Home Department in Tokio, it will be 

 seen that a very large proportion is composed of transla- 

 tions or adaptations of European or American scientific 

 or literary works. Besides translations made at the ex- 

 pense of the public departments, wc find private indi- 

 viduals throughout the country utilising their knowledge 

 of a western language by translating from it, for the 

 benefit of their countrymen. Thus, not to mention 

 innumerable " Lives " of Wellington and Napoleon, or 

 translations of " Gulliver's Travels," " Robinson Crusoe," 

 and other books of this description, the works of Huxley, 

 Carpenter, Peschel, Darwin, Tyndall, Quatrefages, Lyell, 

 Buckle, Mill, &c.,&c., have all been translated or adapted 

 with more or less success for the Japanese reader. 

 Societies, on the European model, have also been formed, 

 and it is with these that we are chiefly concerned at 

 present. 



Centuries before the Royal Society of Great Britain 

 was founded men interested in the pursuit of some study 

 or accomplishment in Japan had formed themselves into 

 societies, some of which still exist. Collectors of an- 

 tiquities, of coins, of the handwriting of celebrated men 

 of ancient times, met at stated intervals to exhibit and 

 discuss the authenticity of their treasures ; _cf(?-players had 

 their owm organisation, with branches in all the chief 

 towns throughout the country, and headquarters in the 

 capital, where the leaders met for trials of skill. These 

 latter even had a kind of magazine in which problems for 

 solution were set, and the moves in remarkable games 

 recorded. These meetings generally took place in the 

 evening, at some well-known house of entertainment. 

 There was no formal reading of papers, with discussions 

 afterwards ; a member exhibited some new object, related 

 briefly all he knew about it, and asked for any further 

 information that could be afforded by those present. 

 Frequently also these meetings were used for effecting 



