204 REVIEWS OF RECENT BOOKS 



assigning to the ancient Chinese of burning-lenses belongs to this 

 category of modern myths based on misinterpretation of terms." He 

 shows without difficulty how Forke and Schlegel have been lead astray 

 in their common error. 



Indeed, even if the Chinese have known the lenses and some of 

 their properties, they are nevertheless not their inventors; their 

 knowledge of them came from India. The first historical mention of 

 them is found in the T'ang shu in connection with a tribe called 

 Lo-cha (fi^J) living on an island in the eastern P'o-li (§|flj) archipel- 

 ago (Bali) ; according to the annals their country produces fire-pearls 

 (huo-chu ^c 3^c) ; when held against the rays of the sun "mugwort 2 

 and rushes will be ignited at once by fire springing from the pearl." 

 It is possible from this text and from another taken from Kiu T'ang shu 

 to conclude, that these fire-pearls were convex lenses of rock crystal 

 which were used to generate fire for cauterising purposes ; to conclude : 

 they were used for the same purpose as the copper or bronze mirrors 

 of an earlier period (a text from the fourth century mentions this 

 practice). 



It is furthermore known that in the second quarter of the seventh 

 century the Champa offered to China burning-lenses which he had 

 procured from the Lo-ch'as. But how had the Lo-ch'as, a savage tribe, 

 obtained them ? Mr. Lauf er says : from India, although unable to 

 show in what manner ; more especially from Kahmir which, in the 

 T'ang shu, is indicated as producing fire-lenses; the Chinese term : 

 huo chu represents the translation of a corresponding Sanskrit word. 



China has received the fire-lenses from India as Europe of the 

 middle ages and the Arabs received them from Greece and from Eome. 

 The following problem then presents itself : "in what reciprocal 

 relation or obligation are India and Hellas ? Mr. Lauf er concludes 

 that the priority belongs to Hellas considering that in 423 Aristophanes 

 in "The Clouds" mentions burning -lenses and it is likely — for very 

 good reasons — that India at that time did not know them. The 

 Hellenic Near East should thus have made the lenses known to India 

 between the fourth and the sixth century and from there they have 

 passed into China at the beginning of the seventh century. 



III. — In this short article Mr. Laufer describes a brazier which he 

 has purchased in China for the Field Museum at Chicago and which 

 probably dates from the Ming dynasty. The peculiarity of this brazier 

 is that it is furnished with a Cardan suspension ; filled with live coal 

 it may serve as a bed warmer as the vessel cannot be upset. Mr. 



2 Artemisia vulgaris, a plant common in China and used for 

 cauterising the skin. 



