ON CHINESE HOROLOGY, ETC. 217 



ciety, there is none more valuable than the assistance they afford to the 

 study of the laws of life, upon an accurate knowledge of which a 

 rational system of medicine, a true medical science, must be based. 

 Physiology is indebted for its present state of advancement, almost ex- 

 clusively to the assiduous cultivation of the natural sciences. 



The rapid sketch above given is sufficient to indicate the usefulness 

 of the natural sciences. 



ON CHINESE HOROLOGY, WITH SUGGESTIONS ON THE 

 FORM OF CLOCKS ADAPTED FOR THE CHINESE MARKET. 



BY D. J. MACGOWAN, M.D. 



The wide-spread territory, the varied productions of her soil, and the 

 high position of China as an agricultural State, lead us to expect that 

 no inconsiderable addition to European and American agriculture would 

 result from a careful survey of the various points accessible to 

 foreigners, and it would doubtless be found that many plants, indi- 

 genous to her soil, are capable of being naturalized in one part or 

 another of the American and European continent. 



In a manufacturing point of view, although there is much less to 

 repay research, yet there are some branches of industry the investiga- 

 tion of which could not fail to bring valuable facts to light ; and, if no 

 more can be done than to point out defects in Chinese labour, which 

 our artisans can supply, that alone would prove mutually advantageous 

 to the two great nations on the opposite shores of the Pacific. 



Clock-making, which forms the subject of this paper, is a case in point ; 

 and it is believed that, with a modification to be suggested, American 

 clocks can be made an article of extensive import into China. For a 

 long period the importation of clocks and watches, chiefly the former, 

 into China from the continent of Europe, was little short of half a 

 million of dollars annually. This trade has nearly ceased, partly owing, 

 no doubt, to the rapid impoverishment of the country by the opium 

 traffic, and partly to the fact that native manufacturers are able to com- 

 pete with foreigners. Yet clocks are not often met with in China ; they 

 are generally confined to the public offices, where it is common to find 

 half a dozen all in a row. The number annually manufactured cannot 

 be large, for in the richest cities of China clock-makers are not numerous. 

 At Nankin there are 40 shops ; at Suchau, 30 ; Hangchau, 17 ; and at 

 Ningpo, 7 ; the average number of men employed in each being less 

 than four, who are mostly occupied in repairing watches and clocks. 

 The cheapest clock they make costs 7 dols. Some are worth as much as 

 100 dols. — the most common price being about 25 dols. each. A manu- 

 facturer estimates the number of clocks made at the above places at 



VOL. IV. S 



