REVIEWS OF RECENT BOOKS 217 



temporary sojourners, who, after completing their work, return whence 

 they came. The greatest benefit the Occident has conferred on the 

 Orient is the bringing to it of natural science, which has caused more 

 progress in civilisation during the last fifty years than during the 

 previous five thousand. In return for this, the East has given the 

 West one of its discarded religions. The progress of Japan has been 

 due to her application of Western science under the tutelage of 

 Europeans. A ferment of socialism pervades the book, of a kind that 

 is calculated to be entirely misunderstood by most oriental people. 

 The general tenour is such that one cannot but commend the censor 

 who held up the book for two years. 



Chinese Pottery of the Han, Tang and Sung Dynasties. Pakish- 



Watson & Co., New York, 1917. 



There is a suspicion that this volume is a glorified trade catalogue, 

 yet happily there is no mention of money, so it may be accepted as 

 untainted with commercialism. Suffice it to say that it is beautifully 

 printed and the seventeen coloured illustrations extraordinarily good, 

 notably Nos. 133, 61 and particularly 132. It is difficult to understand 

 why No. 30, a glazed earthenware dog of the Han dynasty period, 

 is included except that there is a demand for ugly quaintness ; some of 

 these figures of distorted animals and mankind, by a sort of reversion 

 to totemism, commanding very high prices. Perhaps the explanation 

 may be found in the subtle distinction between artistic and intrinsic 

 value mentioned in the text. It is also hard to find sufficient reason 

 for perpetuating so promiently the pair of crudely designed and 

 coloured Sung jars, No. 109. There is a good summary of the chief 

 characteristics of the earthenware of the periods dealt with, derived 

 from well known authorities to whom due acknowledgement is made ; 

 but the description of the actual exhibits is strangely crude and in- 

 consequential. 



La Temperature en Chine et a Quelques Stations Voisines. 



published by the Mission Catholique at T'ou-se-we, 1918. 



This monumental work has been compiled by Pere H. Gauthier, 

 S.J., director of the Zikawei Meteorological Observatory, from daily 

 observations made at 100 stations. The compilation was begun in 1913, 

 and shows the result of persevering work carried on for 50 years. 



The book, which is in three volumes, is divided into two parts : 

 (1) an introduction, which is dealt with later; (2) the results of 



