404 



NA TURE 



[February 4, 1909 



tioii of its chase was surely written by one wlio loved 

 " the sport." 



We would freely acknowledge the literary charm, 

 the wealth of metaphor, the artistic qualifications, and 

 the excellent powers of observation of our beachcomber. 

 At the same time we direct attention to some faults 

 in his work, because we hope to see it pass into a 

 second edition and become a classic for naturalists. 

 In the first place a hundred pages are dragged in quite 

 irrelevantly at the end on the characteristics of black 

 bovs, while the last gin on Dunk Island died in igoo. 

 The chapters are unpleasantly broken up into sections, 

 often absolutely disconnected. The studies of the in- 

 terrelations of climate, of soil, of plant life, and of 

 animal life are what make the works of our great 

 naturalists of enduring value. Our author is peculiarly 

 vivid and discriminating where he allows himself to 



The circumstance most affecting the labour of a 

 Japanese in studving chemistry and other sciences, at 

 least in the earlier days, has been the necessity to 

 acquire ideas through one or more foreign tongues — 

 English, German, French, Dutch — as far removed in 

 grammar from his own tongue as could well be. This 

 fact does, indeed, add seriously to his labour in his 

 vounger davs, but it is ultimately quite other than 

 detrimental to his progress. For this labour is largely 

 due to the necessity from the first of getting a clear 

 notion of the meaning of terms, which, when obtained, 

 should be a precious possession to everyone. So, too, 

 it may be said of the apparent burden on the youthful 

 Japanese of having to acquire facility in writing, anil 

 that, too, with a soft brush, the vast and elaborate 

 script of his own language. For, whilst it is true that 

 to do so takes years of school life, it is certain and 



-Alcyonaria (leathery Corals) and Oysters. From " The Confe; 



of a Beachcomber. 



di aw such pictures, and we would have more of them. 

 He has half-a-dozen islets at hand, and the varied 

 coast of Queensland. .Scientific terms and names 

 should be "carefully checked to ensure correctness. 

 Lastly, an index is essential. J. -S. G. 



CHEMISTRY IN JAPAN.' 



ALTHOUGH a very few Japanese, through read- 

 ing works in Dutch, had been experimenting in 

 chemistry some fifty years ago, it was not until about 

 a third of a century back that the science began to be 

 taught in Japan by experiment and by courses of lec- 

 tures, and that soon after young men of that nation, 

 already trained in chemistry, were to be seen, though 

 rarely, in British and other European laboratories. 



• Collection of Papers contributed on the occasion of the celebration of 

 Prof. J. Sakurai"s jubilee. Reprinted from the Journal of the College of 

 Science, vol. xxv. (Tokyo, August, 1908.) 



NO. 2049, VOL. 79] 



quite obvious that the task gives such delicacy of touch 

 and such deftness in the use of the hands as proves 

 invaluable afterwards in the arts and in the laboratory. 



Somewhat more than a year ago, the half-jubilee or 

 twenty-five years' professorship of chemistry in Tokyo 

 of Dr. Joji Sakurai was celebrated by his colleagues, 

 pupils, and other friends. To enlarge upon _ Prof. 

 Sakurai 's career as a chemist not being the object of 

 this communication, it suffices to say of him that he 

 is no stranger in this country, that he is the author of 

 well-known researches, that his influence as a teacher 

 in Japan has been great, and that he is now the direc- 

 tor of the Imperial College of Science in Tokyo, as 

 well as one of the professors of chemistry. 



The particular purpose of this article is to direct 

 the attention of those interested in scientific develop- 

 ment to an incident in connection with the jubilee 

 which, though common enough in similar cases in 

 Germany, seems quite remarkable in a country so 



