126 RECENT BOOKS BY A CHINESE SCHOLAR 



to do no more than call attention to the names and leading 

 ideas of each one of these valuable contributions. 



"Characters Used in Divination in the Shang Dynasty." 

 IS* SB £ b % & 5fe). Published in 1910. 



Chapter I is devoted to an examination of history : 



(1) as to the location of the capital of the Shang Dynasty, 



(2) as to the names and posthumous titles of the emperors of 

 this dynasty. Chapter II is devoted to the rectifying of 

 the manner of writing names : (1) the author maintains that 

 the characters used by Shih Chou are the correct ancient 

 form, (2) that the ancient hieroglyphic characters suggested 

 their meaning by their form without any regard to a fixed 

 number of strokes composing them, (3) a discussion of the use 

 of these characters in determining character reading of the 

 inscriptions on ancient bronze vessels, (4) a, correction of the 

 errors of Hsu Shen in the Shao Wen. Chapter III is 

 devoted to the methods of divination : as to (1) Chen 25 which 

 was the laying straight of divining rods, (2) Ch'i 26 which was 

 evidently intended, to mean the hollowing out of the shell 

 of the tortoise, (3) the application of fire 27 in burning the tor- 

 toise shell, (4) production by heating of the dark crackled 

 lines, 28 (5) reading of these lines for the purposes of pro- 

 gnostication. 29 This chapter also contains a discussion of the 

 books of the various dynasties on subjects connected with 

 divination and of the terms used in these books. It is a book 

 difficult to understand by any reader who has not a good 

 knowledge of the Book of Changes — I King. 



"Tallies and Badges of Various Dynasties." 



(m ft ft m m *) 



In two volumes. The original volume is dated 1914; 

 the Supplement is dated 1916. 

 The Introduction is a discussion of the various books 

 which mention these objects, commencing with the Supple- 

 ment of the K'ao Ku T'u, and their use for identification 

 purposes or warrants of office. The earliest tally given is 

 one of two halves in the form of a tiger with inscriptions on 

 both parts. Later tallies are made in such a way that the 

 inscriptions on the two halves fit together when the tally is 

 closed. In all, fifty-two examples of tallies are given in the 

 original volume and eight in the Supplement; eighteen 

 examples of badges in the original and thirty-one in the 

 Supplement are mentioned. There is a lithographic ilius- 



25 * 2C 



m 27 rj 28 ifc! 29 «r 



